Child of Time (25 page)

“How did you do that? I’ve never seen an ice
elemental before.” Jeremy was looking at Kiyan with awe.

“It looked like a hybrid ice and fire elemental.”
Fred offered. “Besides how did we get here?” I remember being on
the Avenger but I remember living here most of my life. Everything
is fuzzy more than six or seven years ago.

“I don’t think we were here more than five or six
years ago. We have to go before anyone comes.” Kiyan walked over to
one of the courtyard exits and placed his hand on the thick steel
gate. Blue flames flickered around his hand as frost formed over an
area of the gate. Twisting back Kiyan shifted his arm into ice and
brought the full force of his body into the swing. The metal
shattered from an area around the impact and clung to his hand.
Trying to shake it off Kiyan felt the metal around him in a new
way. Getting an idea he thought for a minute before raising his
hand. Connecting with the energy of the metal he felt lines of
force that radiated from his body and returned in a loop. Examining
the metal more he realized that he could manipulate it like earth
bending. Shifting the properties of the gate he repelled the fluid
metal from him. Opening his eyes he saw that the gate appeared to
explode out and solidify wherever it touched.

“Cool, how did you do that.” Fred nearly forgot their
situation.

“I think it is a part of earthbending. You could
probably do it too.” Kiyan was pleased with his discovery. He was
calculating values and scenarios with his mind and fine tuning the
energy levels needed to manipulate metal. At the next door Kiyan
focused for a moment and the door melted into a puddle before
solidifying.

Fred picked up a piece of the melted door and
examined it a moment before suddenly trying to drop it. It had
re-melted and was disappearing into his skin. He was about to
comment on the occurrence to Kiyan when a guard that had been
trapped in the school by the lockdown came around the corner of the
hallway. Clearly still terrified by the telepathic attack he began
firing wildly. Blue arcs vaporized the bullets when they hit
Kiyan's shield and Fred reacted by throwing his hands up. He
watched as metal strands flew out of his fingers towards the guard.
Arcs flew as the webs wrapped around the unconscious guard. They
didn't meet anyone else as they escaped. Once outside they slipped
into the assembling crowd as the main security force arrived.

--------

Theo appeared in downtown Sidney. He had sensed the
change in the timeline and knew there was little that could be done
about it. Some sort of temporal reset wave had passed through
space. Likely the result of the altered timeline on earth. The
ships had temporal shielding and were hardly affected. The problem
was that the disturbance seemed to be concentrated at the Avenger's
location. The resulting overloads had caused Kiyan, Ray, Fred,
Jeremy and Corban to become displaced in space time. Theo would
have been displaced to if he had been so close to the convergence.
He would simply have returned to energy and moved back to his time
and place. Kiyan couldn't do that yet. The other two boys had been
around Kiyan all their lives so had absorbed a fair amount of
temporal energy. Corban had only been sent to the planet but the
rest had been sent clear to the epicenter of the disturbance. Until
the drakken could be stopped from rampaging the known universe,
spending time trying to correct aberrations in time lines would
only be pointless. The drakken would have the resources to make
more changes if they were not stopped from coming.

Theo connected with the mind of a person nearby and
learned what he could of the current situation. He finally decided
that his best bet would be to infiltrate the security force in
order to find the missing boys. He shifted into the uniform of an
officer and walked out of the alley looking like a ranking SF
officer. He noticed that people gave him a wide berth as he walked
down the street. Scanning the mind of a nearby police officer he
found the local SF headquarters. After seeing his rank the guards
at the door waved him through. Inside he was met by the local
officer in charge who asked him for ID. Planting the memory of
having seen the proper ID, Theo demanded access to the database and
order the captain to inform him if anything happens.

“With all due respect colonel, but we are busy
working a school attack and don't have time for anything else.” The
captain seemed flustered.

“Well tell me about it captain.” Theo didn't think
that Kiyan would be involved with a school attack but anything
could help.

“It happened this afternoon and we have reports that
some sort of new weapon was used capable of melting through
reinforced steel blast doors. There are no witnesses and several
people that were injured in the attack are suffering from memory
loss. One of the guards that may have witnessed something is
currently in a coma and the hospital is trying to remove some sort
of metal restraint. They used a freak storm to get in and out
without being seen. Like I said I don't have time for this, I have
to go.” The captain was losing patience.

“I think I will just go and look over the crime
scene. I'm just here to observe and offer suggestions as part of a
random inspection.” Theo ordered one of the nearby officers to
drive him to the crime scene.

-----------

Ray had remembered who he was years before and had
been spending the ensuing time trying to find Kiyan. The link
between them had been severed which made the search difficult. In
his search he had aroused the interest of the security force.
Hiding in the shadows was something he had become quite good at.
Few people ever saw him and those that did never knew what they
saw. His latest lead had been that Kiyan was living near Sidney.
The refugee camps had grown into ghettos and were filled with
hundreds of thousands of people so that was only marginally
helpful.

Ray heard the sounds of someone screaming for help
around the corner. Crawling along the wall he was soon over the
three men mugging the woman. Dropping on them soundlessly two of
the muggers quietly collapsed. The third turned on Ray with a
knife. Over the years Ray had learned to use his body as a weapon.
The mugger swung the knife and Ray deftly broke the wrist holding
the knife then slammed the mugger to the ground with his hand on
the miscreant’s chest. There was a few cracks as the mugger
struggled for breath before passing out. The fight was over almost
before it began. The woman cowered in front of Ray before he turned
and walked away. Turning a corner he turned his holographic emitter
to stealth and was soon leaping from wall to wall as he continued
his search. He had overheard a conversation between two SF
patrollers about some strange things happening at a school. It was
worth checking out.

Arriving at the school he slipped past the officer in
charge of the investigation and into the building. He watched as a
man wrapped in some sort of metal webbing was moved to an ambulance
then continued inside. Standing still as a group of people walked
by he was invisible and unnoticed. Rounding a corner he saw a door
that appeared to have been liquefied then blown outward. Not seeing
any signs of Kiyan he was about to go when he saw the scorch marks
on the floor. In another spot there were a couple of foot prints in
the cement.

---------

Theo arrived at the school and decided the first
course of action should be to get the camera footage. The school
security office already had SF personnel there. “Can I see the
tapes?”

“About that, the camera for the courtyard was
disconnected a couple minutes before it happened and there was some
sort of interference with the rest when it happened. So no trace of
the footage survived of the incident.” The officer that was looking
through the computer explained. “The strange thing is that the
first camera was disconnected here and the rest were blocked
remotely. I still haven't got them working yet.”

Returning to the courtyard Theo saw the footprints
first then the burn marks. The blown out gate suggested that the
individuals had been inside the courtyard when the school went on
lockdown. Theo closed his eyes and tried to scan the last couple
hours. Usually it wasn't that difficult but this time it took all
his strength and all he got was a couple glimpses. He saw a flash
of a fight then a glimpse of a blur. There was a minute where he
couldn't see anything then he got an image of a boy covered in blue
flames. It had to be Kiyan. Looking at the burn marks he discovered
that they had been made with intense cold not by heat. Sort of like
a freeze burn. The gate metal was altered somehow.
A metal
bender?
Theo didn’t know how long the boys could have been
trapped in this timeline. It was possible that they had picked up
some new skills.

Casting his mind out Theo felt an alien mind near
his. He wondered if whoever it was knew anything about the events.
It was then that he realized that the individual was cloaked.
Scanning the area he saw a slight distortion of light that betrayed
the alien. He telepathically compelled everyone to leave the room
so he could question the stranger in peace. Theo wasn't completely
prepared for the rapid attack that followed. Spinning and blocking
without an opportunity to land any strikes of his own they danced
around the courtyard. Not being able to see his opponent very well
didn't help. Finally landing a strike of his own the cloak
malfunctioned long enough for Theo to recognize Ray.

“Stop, it’s me!” Theo shouted before Ray came back in
for another strike.

Ray paused for a moment before he saw through the
disguise. “That explains how you found me. Where are the
others?”

“I thought you would be with them.” The possibility
that the group had been separated was not very promising.

“You have no idea what I have gone through finding
looking for them.” Ray laughed before continuing. “I landed in
Africa six years ago. From there I went to America and searched
through facial recognition databases. I finally found Jeremy just
before the bombs fell. If you hear any stories of a radioactive
dragon just ignore them. After that everything was chaos and all
the survivors fled. I tracked Jeremy here but only knew that the
boat he was on landed here. As for the Kiyan I have no idea. He
hasn’t left a trace.”

“Fred is here also and the three of them were
involved in this thing at the school. At least I'm pretty sure that
they were. What I do know is that one of them was on fire and
unless there are some other elementals here then it has to be
them.” Theo was glad that he had Ray to help him. “I think that
they would have tried to get as far as they could from here. If
they have been here for six years then that would explain why Kiyan
isn't able to connect with me.”

“I agree, if they have remembered who they are then
our search could be harder.” Ray though for a moment. “I believe
that Kiyan would have tried to keep a low profile so he may have
headed interior where there are less people. The other option is
that he may have decided to risk escaping the mainland and hiding
on an island nearby. My guess is the second.”

Theo opened a com channel to the Odyssey. Atlas
responded. “Can you make a search for human life signs near here
that are in groups of three ages thirteen to twenty?”

Of course commander. Atlas was silent for a moment
before continuing. “There are 211 sets on the continent. 34 near
you. If I expand the parameters offshore there is one set moving
out in the open ocean.”

“I'm going to go with the offshore ones, thanks
Atlas.” Theo began moving out of the school complex. Ray was
cloaked again and followed him. They found an area that didn’t have
prying eyes in order to teleport.

Once clear Theo contacted Atlas again and asked for
an update. “The life signs have moved into a high radiation area
and I would have to decloak in order to scan through it. I can give
you a projected position though.” Theo agreed and Atlas activated
the transport procedure.

They found themselves floating in the ocean without
any thing in sight. Ray shifted and was soon airborne. “Ah the air
under my wings. It has been too long since I last flew.” Theo
shifted and launched himself into the air also. Theo’s form was
similar to Ray’s but larger.

“You speak the truth. Nothing quite matches the joy
of flying.” Theo made a couple rolls before striking out in the
direction the group had been moving.

---------

Kiyan’s water bubble was effortless to maintain. He
and Jeremy were moving at a rapid speed over the waves. Fred had
figured out how to do something like magnetic levitation and was
not having difficulty keeping up. Kiyan sensed strange energy
buildups as they proceeded but nothing dangerous. They hoped to
find an abandoned island where they could plan their next move.
Kiyan had telepathically connected them while they traveled and the
ideas were flying back and forth. One of the options was to hide
until they were found. Another option had been to build a drop ship
from the detailed plans in Kiyan’s memory banks. The third option
was to construct a beacon but they were afraid that it might call
the drakken. Sighting an island in the horizon they soon came to a
stop on the sandy beach. They looked around at the desolate
landscape around them. There were signs that the island had once
teemed with life but now all that remained was the blackened dead
plants.

“Well I doubt that anyone else is here.” Jeremy
glumly announced.

“I think you are right.” Kiyan made a scan and didn’t
detect any life. Kiyan paused for a moment when he thought he
sensed a signal but couldn't tell. “We need to get underground.
That would be the best way to find materials.” Fred took the hint
and began bending a tunnel. They were soon busy working. A short
time later they broke into the empty magma chamber of an old
volcano. The magma had long since drained away and the chamber was
cold.