Time Salvager (28 page)
Elise put her arms around him and leaned on his shoulder. “You did good, big guy. Lots of people are going to have full bellies tonight.”
He grunted. “Would have done better if the merchant had a little whiskey with him.”
“Did they have whiskey back then?”
James shrugged. “Whiskey, mead, ale, wine? Who cares. I’ll drink anything right about now.”
One of the Elfreth must have overheard him, because a few minutes later, a young man walked up to them. He eyed James up and down as if about to start a fight, and then tossed him a dented tin flask. He banged his chest twice with his fist and pointed at his heart. “Chawr.”
James caught the flask and, with more than a bit of skepticism, uncorked it and took a sniff. Whatever was inside smelled like a dead animal soaked in tar, but it was definitely booze of some sort. James raised the flask to him. “Thank you, Chawr.” This was the first time anyone in the tribe had showed him a kindness.
The man stared at James very seriously and nodded. “For food. Fair even.”
James stared at the flask and shrugged. In his case, it probably wasn’t a bad trade. He was barely fighting off the shakes. He took a swig and nearly spit it out of his mouth. His knees buckled and he almost dropped to one knee.
Chawr howled with laughter. He slapped James on the shoulder and joined a group of his friends watching in the distance. They all looked over at him, whooping and joking as they walked away. James was pretty sure they were now just making fun of him.
“Don’t spill a drop,” Elise teased. “Wait, you’re turning red. Are you sure that’s what you think it is?”
“Definitely not,” James gasped, in between labored breaths. It was in fact alcohol, though he was sure it could probably run a diesel engine. He bent over, still gasping for breath, not sure if he should thank those young Elfreth or kick their asses. Finally, after several minutes, when he felt back in control of himself, he shrugged and took another swig. It still burned his throat like the abyss but he was ready for it this time.
“You’re unbelievable,” Elise said. “I can smell that crap from your breath. You stink like a fire-breathing dragon.”
“What’s a…”
“Never mind.”
For the rest of the day, the two sat in the middle of the bustling field inside the six towers as the Elfreth prepared a feast. It seemed they had also invited some of their neighbors, as a few other groups of natives James had not seen before came shortly before dinner. The two groups embraced and the festivities approached.
The anticipation for dinner was building. At that very moment, James felt something he hadn’t felt in a long time. A small wave of contentment washed over him as he stood in the center of this community, flask of wasteland liquor in hand. For a brief instant, he felt like he belonged. Sure, no one spoke with him, or even looked him in the eye, but he had brought them this gift, and for now, they accepted him. No, they tolerated him a little more. He still saw the distrust in their eyes and their wariness when he was around, but this boon of food, though a terrible and inefficient use of his power levels, time traveling, and health, went a long way for these people. Plus, it got him some liquor, which for him felt much needed. It had been days since he last had had a drop.
James’s eyes wandered over to Elise. Since she had come to the present, she had been mostly subdued, often crying in her sleep. Now, being here with these Elfreth, her old self was starting to peek through. It was rare to see her smile like that. It reminded him of the first time he met her on the Nutris Platform.
Their eyes met and he thought she blushed, though it could have been the reflection of the fire. That alone was worth retrieving supplies for these savages. Still, it was a high price. Elise had no idea what she had asked for in making that jump for something as inconsequential as foodstuffs.
Now, a nine-point-three-day or 1,632.2-kilometer radius of time and distance around where Salih died was a dead zone, the chronostream ripped and permanently no longer accessible for someone to jump into. The time and distance varied based on a planet’s rotation or whether the jump was in open space, but the impact was still the same.
In a singular case, it could be overlooked, but unregulated in mass quantities, it could devastate the chronostream. That was why the agency weighed the worth of every jump into the past. By now, they would also have been alerted of his illegal jump and sent auditors to investigate. It would be only a matter of time before they tracked him down.
James looked down at his shaking hands. Also, without a miasma regimen, which was carefully guarded by the auditors within ChronoCom, the lag sickness was slowly killing him. He inhaled and felt the sick oily sensation that now seemed permanently stuck in his throat. The twisting in his guts felt natural now, as if the spasms of pain wracking his body were simply a part of who he was. And with every subsequent jump, it would just get worse.
Levin tapped his foot impatiently as the search team returned from the Mediterranean Sea. The agency had detected an illegal jump in that vicinity and dispatched the team to investigate hours ago. Unauthorized jumps were rare, since they were serious offenses. There usually weren’t more than two to three dozen a year within the entire solar system, and most were caused by chronmen.
At first, Levin had immediately suspected that it was James, possibly fleeing to some time in the past where he hoped to escape from justice. That’s what most fugitive chronmen did. However, hiding in the past was dangerous, since any ripples in the chronostream caused by the time traveler could be detected by the agency. No, hiding in the present usually was the smartest way to stay under the radar.
What was even more surprising to Levin was the fact that the monitors detected a return jump as well only a few hours later. It must have been a very short trip back to the past for the culprit. That would mean whoever it was—Levin hadn’t ruled out James yet—wasn’t trying to hide in the past but had dropped in for a quick salvage. The mystery deepened.
Standing on the roof of the building of the skyscraper ChronoCom had converted into an outpost, he paced back and forth as the search team’s collie landed on the roof. He nodded as they filed out, saluting him as they passed by to go down into the building. All the men were accounted for.
Levin had learned from his former mentor early on to always receive your men when they returned. “If you’re willing to send men out on a dangerous mission, be willing to see them home,” Landon had said. A young Levin had taken that to heart, even if Landon had fallen from his once noble ways.
Several of the savages and settlers who scrounged a living in these wastelands had confirmed sightings of James recently; his hideous collie was easily distinguishable from the rest of the ChronoCom fleet. Any monitor who crossed his path would be hard-pressed to survive the encounter. To be fair, it was not completely unexpected. Regardless of his mental state, James was a skilled chronman. He had been put on the short list multiple times to be raised to the chain. His downfall at every review was his temperament and mental instability. This recent violation of the Time Law only proved that denying him the auditorship was the right decision.
The sun had just disappeared along the western horizon. Levin waited until he was the last one on the roof before heading downstairs as well. Tomorrow, the search would continue. He was about to walk inside when he saw a glimmer of light. It shot across the night sky and turned abruptly. He watched as it grew larger and larger. A ship. Not ChronoCom, by its exhaust signature; agency collies used an older, atomic-spark propulsion system that emitted a whitish-yellow trail. It was a reliable, if not slightly inefficient design that had been used since the twenty-third century. This moving light had a blue tail, and moved with a smaller signature.
“See it?” Levin thought to the night watch.
“Yes, Auditor,” Jerkis, the monitor on duty, answered. “Hailing for rights.”
“One of ours?”
“Just received ChronoCom codes. Valta signature. Valkyrie class attack ship.”
Levin sighed. Corporate bureaucracy was the last thing he wanted to deal with. Levin had hoped to ditch Kuo behind at Earth Central when he began to hunt for clues of James’s whereabouts. It seemed she’d found her own ride.
The last thing he needed was interference and delays from soft off-worlders who didn’t know how Earth’s delicate global community operated. There were different rules down here in the wilds than up there in space.
“Confirm with the director on this ship,” Levin said.
“The planetary director had just contacted us about the Valta contingent,” Jerkis said.
Valta’s contributions to the agency were significant, and with their investment into ChronoCom came influence. Levin was pretty sure his job was about to become much more difficult.
He waited alone on the roof of the building as the sleek Valta ship, looking like it had just left the space dock, came to a hover over the roof. Protocol would warrant that he should call up his senior officers to greet the Valta contingent, but in this case, Levin was going to allow his men the rest they deserved. He watched the ship land and come to a rest in near silence. The blue glow of the ship powered down with a low hum and then the hatch lowered.
Levin noted at least nine pieces of technology that were more advanced than anything ChronoCom used just by eyeing that landing. He wondered about their weapons and shields as well. What else was Valta keeping from everyone else? The corporations were holding out on the agency. He recognized Sourn first, walking in what looked like a deep-space mining suit, complete with placement thrusters and high-rad shielding. And like the ship, the suit looked brand new. The off-worlder must be really worried about his exposure to Earth’s toxic atmosphere. Levin’s face turned to a grimace when he saw another person follow the Valta liaison down the ramp.
“Auditor,” Sourn said, maneuvering awkwardly in his giant suit, “how goes the manhunt?”
“It goes.” Levin bowed. “Tracking an elite operative is much like putting together a complex puzzle.”
“I’m sure you’re very familiar with Securitate Kuo by now.” Sourn gestured. “Could we speak inside? I find these wide open spaces disquieting.”
“Welcome to Frankfurt, Liaison.” Levin gestured toward the door leading downstairs. “Please, this way. You’ll find the atmospheric conditions downstairs well within off-world survival parameters.” A poor jest, but one that would probably calm Sourn’s fears. The conditions downstairs were no different from those on the roof. The space was just more enclosed.
Levin led them down the flight of stairs two levels to a large open room with a circular table. He had commandeered this area as his command center and ran the operation in this region from here.
Sourn looked around, sniffed at the layers of dust caked on everything inside. “Intolerable,” he muttered. He looked at Levin’s three officers working in the room, and then back at Levin.
“Leave us,” Levin ordered. The three men dutifully complied, leaving him alone with Sourn and Kuo.
When his men had left, Levin sat down in his chair at the head of the table and gestured for Sourn and Kuo to do the same. He leaned forward. “So to what do I owe this visit?”
Sourn was about to sit down on one of the chairs, and then thought better of it. Instead, he walked to the map of Europe and studied the markings Levin and his team had made on it.
“The culprit with the woman from Nutris is still at large?” he asked.
“Chronman Griffin-Mars and the individual suspected to have been brought from the past are still unaccounted for,” Levin said.
“And the search from that unauthorized jump?”
How much of his operation does Sourn already know about? How deep is Valta’s feed into ChronoCom? Were any of his men reporting directly to them?
Levin took a deep breath and checked his anger. “I sent a scout party to analyze the jump. There was an unauthorized return jump as well. Unfortunately, my team did not arrive at the location in time to intercept the return.”
“A salvage then?”
Levin nodded. “Originally, I hypothesized that it could be the fugitive chronman trying to escape to the past. Instead, monitors indicate he made a distance jump far back in the past.”
“For what purpose?”
“Unclear. Supplies, food, another human? Who knows what a chronman who no longer follows the Time Laws is capable of?” He emphasized his next words. “That’s why it is imperative that control of time travel be strictly regulated and controlled by the agency.”
Sourn grunted. “Seems you guys cause as many problems as you regulate.”
“I assure you we have this under control. In any case, this is a ChronoCom operation, one that Valta has no authority or vested interest in. If there is anything—”
“Valta has a vested interest in your mission. Do you have any information on who he brought back?”
“Negative, we believe it must be a straggler he had become infatuated with while he was on the salvage. Chronman James has a history of being alone. Perhaps…”
Sourn raised an eyebrow. “We could care less about your chronman. We have reason to believe the temporal anomaly that was brought back could be one of the lead scientists from the Nutris Platform. Your mission parameters are now changed. She needs to be captured alive.”
“That’s not possible,” Levin said. “Time Laws are not flexible. Violations cannot be allowed to stain the time line. Our objectives are clear.”
“Your objectives are now to support the capture of this fugitive. Confirm with your superiors if you must.”
At the same time, a message from Young popped into the queue in Levin’s comm band. He didn’t bother opening it. Of course Young would back up Sourn. The director and most of the leadership were in the pocket of the corporations. Now, it seemed even the Time Laws could be bought.
“How can I assist Valta?” Levin said, gritting his teeth.
Sourn gestured to Kuo standing next to him. “The securitate has been monitoring your progress and has made some recommendations. There are developments that have elevated Valta’s interests in this operation. From this point on, Securitate Kuo here will assume a larger role in this operation. You are in command, but she will be protecting that interest, starting with a direct order to keep the anomaly from the past alive. Follow her direction when she feels that intervention is necessary.”
