Time Salvager (35 page)
“Focus on the upper left,” Grace instructed. She had to squint as she stared at the screen within her screen.
She caught the tail end of a fight, where armored security soldiers were flung across the air like rag dolls. One of the bodies almost flew into the Security Eye, which managed to veer to the side at the very last second. Then, hovering close to the ceiling, it moved in toward the target. At first, all Grace could see was a dark figure, something definitely humanoid, with two legs and arms. Then she gasped.
“Captain Monk,” she said. “Monk!”
He turned toward the Security Eye. “Oh, High Scion! I was not aware you were there. Please be at ease. Everything is under control. A security team is on their way to see you to safety as we speak.”
“I see how much things are under control,” she remarked dryly. “The security team will not be necessary. Call all your forces back. Do not engage the intruder.”
“High Scion? We must! That thing is tearing the ship apart!”
“Call your forces back or I will order you shot on the spot.”
Monk hesitated. “Your will, High Scion.” He nodded to someone off-screen.
“Good, keep our people clear of him. Do not impede his path no matter what.”
“Him, High Scion? Is there something you know about this being? As the captain—”
She turned the comm off and waited. What could possibly be the explanation for this? It couldn’t be because of the ship’s fusion sources. They were already depleted. It could be the weapons systems, but why wouldn’t he have retrieved them his first time here? Besides, most of them were drained from the battle. It could only mean one thing. Grace Priestly began to pack. A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door. How quaint. He punches a hole in her ship, kills over a dozen guards, yet knocks on her door.
“Come in,” she said, throwing on her travel cloak last. It was a good thing she hadn’t had much time to unpack when the
High Marker
was attacked. Who knew what awaited her wherever she was going.
The same time traveler she saw an hour ago walked into the room.
She stood up and greeted him as if this were an everyday occurrence. “You’re back. I must have left quite an impression.”
He nodded. “High Scion.”
Immediately, Grace noticed the changes in the time traveler. His skin was darker, red, almost as if burned, and his facial hair, which was bad enough before, was overgrown and unkempt. Disgusting.
The time traveler looked over at the easel in the corner. “Nice painting.”
“Was just passing the time by reminiscing, as one is wont to do before she dies.”
“Is that what Iceland was like back then?”
Grace smiled. “The Blue Lagoon. You know my history.”
“Everyone does, High Scion.”
“I told you to call me Grace.”
The time traveler looked down at the bag floating next to her. “Are you ready then?”
Grace’s heart filled with anticipation. Traveling through time had also been a childhood dream. It was what led her to study the field and enter the sciences. And while the uncertain future was something she feared, it couldn’t be any worse than where she was now. Still, he wanted something from her, else he wouldn’t have come back. Grace wasn’t one to leap blindly into the unknown. If she left now on his terms, whatever leverage she had would be lost.
“Ready to leave for your time?”
He nodded. “You already know where staying on this ship leads to.”
“Why the change of heart? What about the Time Laws?”
“I am following the spirit of the Time Laws by disobeying them.”
Grace raised an eyebrow.
“High Scion,” Monk’s voice bleeped over the comm. “Are you all right? I am moving teams to your area—”
“Stay the fuck out!” she snapped. “Comm off. Door lock. My authority.” She looked at the time traveler and smiled. “Sometimes, the consequences of the unknown are worse than the terrible ones you do know. I don’t even know your name.”
The time traveler bowed. “James Griffin-Mars, High Scion.”
“Call me Grace,” she muttered, mulling over his name. She had expected something fantastic and futuristic, but his name, like his appearance, was disappointing. Still, that tidbit of information told her much about the society he came from. Latin derivative. Old Western civilization. Possibly Christian-derivative religion.
Couple that with his familiar features and his mannerisms, not to mention his language … Actually no, he was speaking her form of space-speak too fluently. Language was the most easily mutated of cultural references, therefore logically he must be masking his native tongue. He could be well trained to behave in a fashion nonthreatening to her. By space, this could all be an act. Somehow, however, she believed him, and her instincts rarely failed her. That left only one thing to clarify.
“And what would you need me for in your future?” she asked. “My mind obviously.”
James nodded. “Among other things.”
Grace smirked. “My beauty? My sharp tongue? My leadership? Out with it, boy.”
“Humanity needs your brilliance and wisdom to save it once again.”
She harrumphed. “Wisdom is something I never had plentiful amounts of. And what would I do in your time?” There was a brief hesitation in his movements, and then she knew he was hers.
“There is an environmental catastrophe in our time,” he said.
She nodded. “Of course there is. There’s one in mine too. What’s your point?”
“We have a scientist who believes she can cure the plague. She needs your help.”
It was Grace’s turn to hesitate. This plague, known as the Terravira back at home, covered half the planet, and was said to be irreversible. Now, someone in the future had a cure? Her eyes wandered to the painting in the corner of the room, and saw the landscape that was her backyard as a child. Her family had left with the rest of the Technology Isolationists shortly after her seventh birthday, but she still remembered the beauty of the ice caps, or what little was left of them by the time she left. The Terravira had advanced so quickly in the years leading up to the mass exodus … Grace shook her head. Up until now, she had always considered leaving her people her legacy, but perhaps she had a higher calling. Could it be done? Was it even possible?
“I have questions,” she said, her voice soft and breaking.
“No time.” In a blur, James covered the distance between them and was hovering close to her. “Are you with me or not?”
There was a banging on her door.
“High Scion?” a voice said outside. “Are you all right?”
“I need to know now,” James pressed.
“Why the rush?” Grace said. “We have all the … we don’t have time, do we?”
James nodded. “The ship is moving fast, hurtling through space, not subject to the time and distance delimiters of time travel.”
“That’s how you’re able to jump back here so soon. Fascinating.” Grace walked past him and grabbed the canvas and tucked it under her arm. “Carry my bag, James,” she ordered as she returned to his side. “Now I’m ready.”
“Cut the door down,” the muffled voice on the other side of the room yelled.
“Brace yourself,” James said. There was a bright yellow flash, and then Grace suddenly felt the urge to throw up her tea. Then everything went black.
When she came to, the two of them were floating in the black of space. Her carryall bag and canvas had disappeared, and looking down, her chest was wet. She had a splitting headache.
“What happened?” she groaned.
“You passed out and then threw up on yourself,” James said.
So much for looking dignified. Grace suddenly had a severe case of vertigo and felt like throwing up again. She had had just enough embarrassment for the day and willed her body to stop acting so undignified. She reminded herself who she was.
“Now what?” she asked. “Where’s your ship? Or did you discover teleportation in the future?”
“Unfortunately, no,” James said. “My ship is on its way now. It will be here in a while. Again, our conversation lasted longer than I anticipated and I miscalculated the path of the
High Marker
.”
“How did you know the
High Marker
’s location?”
“Your ship had sent constant distress calls before it was lost. I simply extrapolated its trajectory and jumped into its path.”
“Which is why you slammed into it.” She nodded. There was a long pause between the two of them. “So now what?” she asked again. Grace hated asking. She was usually the one who knew everything.
James linked his arms around her waist and pulled her in close. “We wait, and then we save the world.”
The tension in the air became thick as soup the moment James and Grace Priestly stepped out of the collie. This was the longest he had been away from Elise since she had come to the present and she had come down to the garage to meet him. Her eyes widened when she caught sight of the Mother of Time draped on his arm.
At first, she was friendly to the beautiful and exotic but significantly older woman hanging onto him. She offered Grace a hand and smiled. “Welcome to the Elfreth. Thank you for joining us. I’m—”
Grace must have sensed something between James and Elise, and decided to assert her dominance, or just screw with him. “What a precious child,” she exclaimed to James, touching his shoulder in a more than friendly manner. “You didn’t tell me you had a daughter.”
Elise looked like someone had thrown cold water on her as she shot an incredulous look at Grace, and then a ferocious one at James.
He sighed, and of course Grace decided that this was the opportune time to further flame the situation in. She leaned in toward him and gave him a peck on the cheek, cooing softly. “Pet, I’ve stepped onto your world for about fourteen seconds and you’re already in trouble. I don’t think this time period can handle me. Your woman, at least, certainly can’t. She doesn’t seem very glad to see you. No matter, it’s time she learns who is in charge.”
James watched as she let go of him, though not before she gave him one last visible squeeze on the arm, and then sauntered down the ramp to greet all the gaping tribespeople as if she were some goddess that had come down from the heavens to meet the primitives groveling in the mud. The looks on the tribe’s faces ranged anywhere from fascination, bewilderment, to, in Elise’s case, barely suppressed hostility.
His initial concern with bringing Grace back was the elderly woman’s adjustment to such a grim place. Now he realized that the Mother of Time could thrive anywhere. It was everyone else who would have to adjust to her. He was pretty sure if Grace and Elise went at it, poor Elise would come out far behind, even though she was a third Grace’s age. The two women sized each other up, Elise with her hands on her hips and Grace barely acknowledging her with an upturned slant of the mouth.
“What a precious little dear. Could you call your father for me?” Grace said.
“I’d better bring him to you,” Elise countered. “We should probably get you a hover carrier as well. Most of our camp isn’t wheelchair accessible.”
“I think I’ll manage.” Grace bared her teeth. “I like to stay in vigorous shape.” She looked back to James. “Isn’t that right, pet?”
Elise’s scowl deepened. James shrank. He should have never listened to that voice in his head telling him this was a good idea. Well, he couldn’t change the past—actually, that was more untrue than it had ever been—so now he just had to face the consequences of his actions. Just in case, he stepped in between the two.
“Grace, this is Elise Kim, the biologist from the late twenty-first century who is going to save the planet from the Earth Plague.” He gestured to Grace. “Elise, this is—”
“Grace Priestly.” Grace lifted her chin. “The Mother of Time, High Scion of the Technology Isolationists, one of the six great millennial minds—”
“And my new assistant,” Elise snapped.
That stopped Grace in her tracks, and for a second, James withered, this time under both their glares.
“Is that right?” Grace said, regaining her composure a second later. “We’ll just have to see about that.”
The two stared each other down. James wanted nothing more than to get back into his collie and hide away for a few hours. Maybe this was a bad idea after all. Grace would never take a backseat to anyone, especially to someone she deemed inferior. He’d have to pull them apart and reason with them separately if these two were ever to get along.
“Why don’t you show Grace the lab,” James said, hoping to break the tension. “I know you’re both eager to get started on the cure.”
Elise nodded and gestured for Grace to follow. Grace responded by taking her time. He heard them start up an argument as they walked up the ramp.
“Is the Mother of Technology knowledgeable in World English?” Elise asked.
“Only that and eighteen other languages,” Grace said.
James watched them leave, looking bewildered. He hoped they didn’t stay at each other’s throats for long. Right before they disappeared from view, Grace looked his way with a mischievous glint in her eyes. That woman was without a doubt someone he had to watch out for. She was a slippery one; Elise was going to have to be on her toes, too. Chawr, who was standing nearby, grinned from ear to ear. He couldn’t understand the exchange that had just taken place, but he knew enough from their facial expressions to fill in the blanks.
“What are you looking at?” said James good-naturedly. The young hothead and his friends had come to him shortly after the night they tried to leave and offered to help in any way they could if James would teach them how to fly a ship. He agreed and made them the collie’s pit crew. “Go charge the batteries,” he grinned, “like I showed you.”
“Yes, Elder,” Chawr said, signaling to his guys to help him plug the solar generator in.
“James,” Smitt blurted into his head. “How did the retrieval go?”
“As planned. Thanks for the logistics. A little close on the entry but it saved some travel time. What about on your end?”
Smitt sighed. “They assigned me four new chronmen to take your place. Three Tier-5s and a Tier-4.”
