Scrapyard Ship 4 Realms of Time (26 page)

The quiet stillness on board the Perilous was full of anticipation. No one wanted to speak, to break the silence. The shuttle’s passengers waited for the time realms across the landscape to merge and settle into what, inevitably, would become the new reality for planet Earth.

Jason sat next to Grimes in the cockpit. Turning away from the view below, Jason scanned those seated behind him. Most were gazing out a porthole, as Dira attended to the two injured rhinos in the rear cargo area that was now freed-up to hold their bulk. Ricket sat quietly by himself, not looking outside and not looking particularly hopeful. Jason got up and moved to the open seat next to him.

“
Hey … Talk to me. What’s going on, Ricket?”

“
Captain, when I said I think I have it, that didn’t mean that I actually did have it.”

“
What are you saying?”

“
There’s little chance the Earth you know, your old timeframe, will ever be returned to you. I’m very sorry, Captain. I needed more time, perhaps a few more seconds. I failed you—I failed all of you.”

Ricket spoke just loud enough for the others in the cabin to hear him. Heads turned and shoulders visibly sagged; their expressions of hopefulness turned to worried puzzlement.

“
Welcome to the twenty-first century!”

It was Billy, shouting through an open comms channel. His voice was overly loud—making everyone cringe. Jason’s eyes moved to the time reference display on his own HUD. Sure enough, the current year had locked in—time was advancing in a steady, second-following-second progression. There was a collective sigh of relief. Billy and Rizzo stood and high-fived, while Chameli watched them with a confused, albeit amused, expression.

“
Looks like you got to finish in time after all. You got that beat-to-crap drone operational, Ricket,” Jason said, smiling.

“
No, Captain, I didn’t. What’s happened is nothing more than an unimaginable stroke of good luck. There may be some technical factors at play that brought us so close to our own time realm, but we’ll never know.”

“
What are you talking about, close to our own time realm?”

“
Our HUD’s time reference indicator is showing today’s date: May 4th.”

“
So?”

“
Today actually is April 14th. It is three weeks earlier, Captain.”

Jason thought about that and although it wasn’t perfect, the date discrepancy was certainly close enough that life on Earth wouldn’t be overtly affected.

Jason shrugged, “Close enough, Ricket. You have to take the wins in life as they come.”

Looking up, Jason saw that all heads had turned in his direction.

“
What? What the hell’s wrong with you people?”

Jason stared blankly back at their concerned faces. Billy was the only one not looking back at him. He was looking toward the cargo area. Jason spun in his seat and saw that Dira had stopped working on Traveler’s wounds and was looking back at him. There was concern—and something else—in her eyes. Then she mouthed the words that would change everything. “Nan is still alive …”

He still didn’t connect the dots. “What do you mean—” Then it hit him. Oh my God. Today is the day Nan and Mollie were attacked by Captain Stalls. The day Nan was mortally injured, later to die in The Lilly’s MediPod.

Jason was on his feet and moving toward the cockpit. “Grimes! Set a course to Southern California.”

Grimes turned in her seat as Jason sat down next to her. She glanced back at Billy, questioningly. Billy moved forward and crouched between them.

“
Hey, man, let’s think about this, okay? Just for a second.”

“
There’s nothing to think about. Do it, Grimes.”

“
Maybe you do have to think about it. There may be repercussions, if you save her. Things we may not even be aware of yet. You’d be changing the natural course of events for that timeframe.”

“
What do you think we’ve been doing this last week?” Jason asked.

“
None of that had an actual effect on our own timeframe. This is completely different.”

Jason saw the concern on his friend’s face, and the faces around him.

“
What would you do, Billy? What if it was Orion? What if she had died and you had the opportunity to revisit—to change—that course of events; to have her back in your life again?”

Billy didn’t answer. Jason’s eyes locked on Dira’s. She looked away, obviously hurt.

It was Ricket who broke the silence. “If the captain saves her, or doesn’t save her, there’ll be complications, or consequences, either way. Captain, there will be two Mollies, two Brians, and probably others … depending on who was off the planet at the time. I’m with you, Captain, on this one. Save her, if you can.”

Jason nodded. “Get us there, Grimes. Phase-shift the shuttle in just as soon as we get close enough.”

* * *

Teardrop was on the move, its energy weapon protruding from the open plate at the center of its body.

“
Warning! Outside security perimeter has been breached. Weapons fire detected. Plasma turret has been destroyed.”

“
Mom! Can’t you get it to shut up?” Mollie screamed above all the racket. “How many times does it have to say the same thing?”

Nan and Mollie huddled together as they watched the multiple security feeds up on the TV monitor. Once Stalls walked around the outside perimeter of the house, he returned to his shuttle. Several minutes later he exited, wearing a battle suit and holding a large energy weapon.

Stalls moved from one window to the next, pulling and prying at the metal security shutters. Eventually, he concentrated on the largest window shutter at the back of the house. Using the butt of his weapon he continued to pound on it over and over. Having little impact on the shutter, Stalls took several steps backward and fired; plasma bolts shook the house and left blackened scorch marks. The firing stopped as Stalls moved in to check the damage.

Nan watched as the tall pirate became more and more enraged. He began to use the butt of his rifle repeatedly. He stopped, out of breath, and looked up to the roofline. He raised his rifle and fired. Shingles flew into the air, some of them catching on fire.

The outside sounds heard inside the house were deafening.

“
Teardrop!” Nan yelled. “He’s shooting at the roof. The roof is coming apart!”

Teardrop, now behind them, was also looking at the security feeds.

“
He will soon find that the sub-roof is covered in metal plating,” Teardrop said, moving about the great room and rising up toward the ceiling. “No structural breach detected.”

With a large section of the roof shingles blown away, exposing the metal plates beneath, Stalls stopped firing and stood back. Then he was gone, heading back toward his shuttle.

“
Is he leaving, Mom? Has he given up?” Mollie asked.

“
I don’t know, Mollie. Maybe.”

In seconds the shuttle was back airborne and hovering over the pool. Its primary energy weapon came alive, concentrating its fire on the security shutters at the back of the house.

“
Structural breach in process, structural breach in process.”

Both sliding glass windows shattered as the security shutters went from a glowing amber color to bright white. Intense heat emanated in waves into the kitchen and back out into the great room. The large metal shutters disintegrated. Nan and Mollie ran for cover, seeing the shuttle hovering outside, behind the now-open rear of the house.

Nan watched as Teardrop moved with amazing speed, taking up a defensive position at the rear of the house. Nan, who had felt unsure if the drone would be able to defend them against the pirate’s shuttle assault, now felt some hope. Teardrop fired a continual barrage of plasma bolts into the belly of the hovering craft. The shuttle fired back, but Teardrop was so quick, darting from one position to the next, that the only thing Stalls could accomplish was further destruction to the house itself.

Teardrop rose into the air and moved in closer to the craft, concentrating its fire power on a singular spot on the hull.

The shuttle continued to fire back and Teardrop was struck multiple times, destroying one of its arms, and then it suffered a direct hit to its energy weapon. Several more energy bolts struck the drone and Teardrop fell from the air into the pool, where it immediately sank to the bottom.

“
Mom!”

“
I know, I saw,” Nan said back, never taking her eyes off the hovering shuttle. Both Nan and Mollie crouched low, hiding behind the wall next to the fireplace.

“
What’s he want, Mom? Why’s he doing this to us?”

“
I don’t know. He’s a bad man. But we’re going to show him he can’t get away with it, right?”

“
AI, are you there?” Nan yelled above the sound of the hovering shuttle.

There was no response.

“
Bag End, Mom, remember?”

“
Are you there, Bag End?” Nan tried again.

“
Yes, I am here, Nan Reynolds.”

“
What can you do to help us … to defend us against the intruder?”

“
Security deterrents within the premises are active and functional.”

“
What about outside? Is there anything else you can do?” Nan asked, taking another quick peek around the corner.

“
With the destruction of the plasma turret, there are no additional external weapons available.”

The shuttle was on the move again. Nan and Mollie listened as it moved over the house and landed on the driveway.

Nan reached over and pulled the small energy weapon from the holster at Mollie’s side.

“
You remember how to shoot this, Mollie? You remember what Orion taught you?”

“
I think so. But those were targets, not a real person.”

“
I know, sweetie, but you saw what that bad man did to Teardrop. We’re both going to have to be brave. Can you do that?”

“
I think so,” Mollie replied, not sounding all that certain.

Crawling on hands and knees they backed away from the wall to get a better look at the security feeds on the TV monitor. The shuttle’s gangway had been deployed and it took several seconds for them to see where Stalls had gone.

“
There he is,” Mollie said, pointing to one of the outside camera feeds.

Nan pulled out her own pistol, ensuring that the safety was off and set to its maximum charge. Mollie watched and did the same thing on her own weapon.

“
He’s coming around to the backyard,” Nan whispered. “Bag End, as soon as you have a clear shot of the intruder, shoot that fucker. Don’t stop until he’s dead.”

Mollie looked up at her mother with wide eyes and then nodded her head in silent agreement.

“
Security defense mode has been set to lethal,” the AI replied.

They heard his footsteps before they saw him. It became apparent Stalls was carefully making his way around to the back of the house, not taking any chances.

“
He’s right there, Mom,” Mollie whispered, never taking her eyes off the exposed back of the house.

“
Okay, shhhh, be very quiet now.”

His shadow moved across the deck like a stealthy black cat. When he finally came into view, he was no longer wearing his battle suit. Nan knew why. He wanted her to see him. His inflated ego had taken precedence over basic common smarts. Wearing snug-fitting black trousers and a dress shirt, he looked ridiculous. His long black hair, set loose, cascaded down his back. He was poolside looking down at Teardrop; she guessed he wanted to make sure the drone was truly out of commission. Satisfied, Stalls stood up tall and turned toward the direction of the house. Smiling, he brushed his long hair back one more time and headed for the broken sliding glass doors. Safety glass crunched under the soles of his boots. He hesitated, peered inside, and took a tentative step forward.