Temporal Shift (Entangled Select Otherworld) (8 page)

“Yes. Just before, we’d gone to the planet, and I’d found some sort of consciousness. It communicated with me. Apparently, it had come to our universe through a black hole, been injured or lost and unable to get home. And it had been on the planet a long time, thousands of years.”

“Ten thousand, perhaps?” She shared a look with Thorne. “Old One?” she asked.

He nodded. “Must have been.”

“You mentioned them before,” Callum said. “Who are these old ones?”

“When we arrived on Espera, they were already there.”

“And they look like us?” Callum asked.

“We don’t know. No one has ever seen them—they sleep inside the mountains surrounding the Circle of Change. But I doubt they look like us. The Others, like Thorne, are a sort of hybrid. The Old Ones are a species that can reproduce normally but also have the ability to form a symbiotic relationship with other species. They produce the asexual polyps you must have seen in the birthing cave.”

“Meridian,” Callum murmured. He turned to Thorne. “Hey, can you do that—produce Meridian?”

Thorne shook his head. “Not yet. It comes with age. I’m too young.”

“And you’re what—ten thousand or so? Jesus.”

“The Ones remaining are old, very powerful, but they sleep most of the time. They hate change, hence the protocols.”

“The price of immortality,” Callum said. “An eternity of sleeping and making up pointless protocols.”

“Maybe,” Rico answered. “But it doesn’t have to be.”

Thorne shrugged. “Say that again when you’ve lived as long as the Old Ones.”

“Which is?”

“Hundreds of thousands of years. Maybe millions.”

Saffira shivered. The Old Ones were the creatures of their fairy tales, stories to frighten the children into obedience. They had no vampires or werewolves but they had the nebulous forms of what came before, that were huge as mountains, shaped as monsters, able to destroy whole cities with a thought, and wander through the labyrinths of time at will. No one knew how much was myth and how much was truth. And part of her hoped to never find out.

Thorne paced the room for a minute and appeared deep in thought. He came back, ran a hand through his hair, his wing tips twitched.

“You’ve thought of something,” Callum said.

“Maybe. I don’t know…”

“You might as well tell us, because we’ve got shit all else to go on,” Tannis snapped. “Did I mention I want out of here?”

“The ship is telepathic. She can be controlled by thought.”

“But only if she’s been programmed to respond to a particular person’s thoughts. Not just anyone.”

“But the Old Ones are powerful, immensely powerful; maybe they’ve somehow overridden the ship’s protocols.”

“Could they do that?”

“I don’t know. It’s just a theory, but it would explain why there’s no sign of damage. They’re telling the ship what to do.”

“Shit.” Tannis smashed her fist into the wall of the ship. “Goddamn if I’m going to stand around while some fucking aliens take over my fucking ship.” She turned to Thorne, a scowl on her face. “If this is true, can you do anything about it?”

“Maybe, but—”

His words were cut off as the main lights flicked on. Beneath her feet, Saffira sensed the ship come to life. She leveled out immediately and a hum of power filled the air.

“What the fuck,” Tannis muttered. “Have I ever mentioned that I hate not knowing what is going on?” She pressed the comm unit of her wrist. “Was that you, Devlin?”

“I’d love to take the credit, but I did nothing.”

“Well, just tell me she’s fixed then.”

“Like there was never a problem. I have no clue what just happened.”

“Well, our new friends have a theory and, as far as I’m concerned, it’s just one more reason to get the hell out of here before it happens again.”

“I’ll be there in a sec.”

Saffira glanced at Thorne. This was bad. They were running out of time. And did he really believe that the ship’s crash was due to the Old Ones? Though she supposed it made a modicum of sense. In theory at least. Were they waking? They’d been restless before, but they usually settled back into their slumber.

The doors of the transporter bubble opened and Devlin stepped out. “Let’s get these two to their shuttle,” he said.

Tannis headed for the bubble and he stopped her with a hand on her arm. “It occurred to me coming up here that if it happens again while we’re in the bubbles, we might be stuck. So we walk. You can explain this theory on the way. But I want out of here sooner rather than later.”

He walked up ahead with Thorne, listening, occasionally making a noise that sounded like complete disbelief. He glanced back at her once, his eyebrows raised as if to ask whether she believed it. She ignored the look.

Time was nearly up. Her nerves were knotting up tight. She almost wished it were the Old Ones and they’d do it again. The group came to a halt outside the shuttle Devlin had selected. The shuttle where they’d so very nearly had sex. He pressed a few buttons. “She’s fine. All we need is Callum to realign the mind control and explain how it works.”

“I’m on it,” Callum replied.

“Good.”

As Callum disappeared inside, Devlin turned to her and closed the space between them. He leaned in close and whispered in her ear. “Well, we nearly made your dreams come true.”

At his words, she swallowed. They couldn’t go. Silently she prayed to a god she didn’t believe in.

When she remained silent, Devlin stepped back and spoke to both her and Thorne. “You know, you could come along to the
Trakis One
, spend some more time on board, get to know us a little better. And take the shuttle from there.”

Saffira willed Thorne to say yes. She didn’t dare interfere, in case he had a plan, but she was running out of hope.

“I don’t think so,” Thorne replied, and she had to bite her lip to keep from screaming at him. “We must get back to our people.”

She gritted her teeth and forced her first foot onto the ramp. She didn’t want to do this. Then her second foot, just as Callum emerged from the open doorway.

“You’re all set to go.”

Bugger.

As she was about to step past him, an alarm shrilled out across the docking bay. A second later, the main lights flickered out, replaced by flashing red.

Saved at the last minute.

But by what?

Chapter Seven

“Shit. That doesn’t look or sound good,” Tannis said. “Anyone have a clue what’s going on?”

“It’s the life support systems,” Callum said.

“What about them?”

“They’ve shut down. As in we don’t have any.”

Tannis glared at him. “Great, just great.” She whirled around to face Thorne. “Your friends again, I suppose.”

He shrugged. “I really don’t know for sure. But it could be.”

“Can they do anything? Is there a safe distance?”

“I told you—I don’t know. No one knows much about them.”

“Great. So just how bad is it?”

Devlin had been pressing codes into a console at the edge of the docking bay, now he wandered back. “About as bad as it can be. It’s a total shutdown.”

“What does that mean exactly?”

“We have about thirty minutes until we run out of air. There are other things, but that’s the one that’ll kill us first.”

“What about backup systems?”

“Also off-line.”

“Shit, so they want us dead?” she asked Thorne.

“I don’t—”

“You know,” Tannis interrupted. “I’m getting really pissed off with you saying ‘I don’t know’.” She stepped closer and prodded him in the chest. “And if I do find out that you know more than you’re telling us then I’m going to…be even more pissed off.”

Saffira was sure she noticed a flicker of amusement flash across Thorne’s stern features. But he merely shrugged again. “I can’t tell you what I don’t know.”

“Hmmm.” Tannis scowled but she turned back to Devlin and Callum who were talking together in low voices. “So what are our options?”

“We’ve got air for thirty minutes. We’ve also got suits for space work which might keep us going for another day, maybe longer if they’re self-regenerating.”

“They’re not,” Callum said. “I just checked. They’re tied in with the primary systems.”

“What about the shuttles?”

“While on board they’re connected into the main setup. But once launched they should be independent.”

“Sneak away and hope they forget about us?”

“I don’t like it. The shuttles also have mind control. What’s to stop them taking over those as well? Besides, what can we do on the shuttles—we need to stop this.”

“Can’t we just shut down the mind control centers and fly her manually?”

“I’ve been trying,” Callum said. “And I can’t even access the centers. They’re completely closed off.” He turned to Thorne. “You’re a hell of a lot older than me, which presumably means you’re stronger. Can you get through?”

“I’ll try.”

Saffira watched as he went inside his mind, saw the total concentration on his face, which was weird—normally he was less obvious. But maybe he was trying
really
hard. After a minute, he opened his eyes and blinked.

“I can’t get through.” He opened his mouth as if to say more, but closed it again.

“What is it?” Tannis asked. “If you’ve thought of something—spit it out.”

“I can’t get through alone, but maybe if there were more of us… I can join with others of my kind and multiply our power.”

“Can’t you join with Callum? And there’s Skylar and me. Would we be enough?”

Thorne looked them over and shook his head. “Most of our people were crew members on the
Espera
. They were changed almost as soon as we crash-landed here. They’re over ten thousand years old.”

“And where are these people of yours?” Tannis asked.

“On the planet, scattered for safety, but I can call them together.”

“Let me guess—you’ll call them together at that place you wanted us to visit?”

Thorne inclined his head. “The Keep is the one safe place on the planet.”

“Very convenient. And if you do this to help us, what do you want in return?”

“Nothing.”

Saffira frowned at the word. Thorne should be taking advantage of this. She just hoped that if the Old Ones had taken control of the ship, they could somehow wrest it back. She needed this ship. “I think, if Thorne helps you
again,
the least you could do is listen to the Sisterhood.”

“Child, we must not push them for more than they are willing to give.” Thorne’s tone was soothing. He was definitely up to something, but she couldn’t work out what. “They are not the sort who put themselves out for causes not their own. We must accept that.”

“Hey, I think we’ve just been insulted,” Devlin said.

“Not an insult, merely a truth.”

“But they are the sort who pay their debts,” Saffira said. “And we’ll have saved them twice. We didn’t ask them to come here. They came for themselves. Now, they’ve awoken the Old Ones. Put us all in danger. The least they can do is listen. And then decide. If they still won’t help…” She shrugged. “We’ll have to accept that there’s nothing we can do.”

Actually, there were a whole load of things they could do. But there would be time to think about those options when they were safely down on the planet. The vision was tugging at her mind, stronger than she had ever felt—pulling her from this time. She needed the safety net of her sisters. As she rubbed her forehead, she caught Devlin studying her, his brows drawn together as if he wasn’t quite understanding what was going on.

Join the club.

But she had to play this out. She flashed him her best innocent smile, and his frown deepened, his gaze darting from her to Thorne, finally returning to study her. She was so tempted to peek at his emotions, but that was against her rules. Besides, he wasn’t hiding them. Most of the time he didn’t bother, as though he didn’t care whether people knew what he was thinking or not.

“So,” Tannis said, “how long will it take us to get from orbit to the planet?”

Devlin shook his head and broke their stare. He tapped something into the unit on his wrist. “Twelve minutes, more or less.”

“That means we’ve got fifteen left to explore other options. And if it’s ‘more,’ we’ll just have to hold our breath. Let’s go.” Saffira made to follow, but Tannis halted. “You two”—She waved a hand at Thorne and Saffira—“stay here. Daisy, you too. Keep them out of trouble.”

“Are they prisoners?” Daisy asked.

“No, I just want to know where they are.”

Saffira watched until Devlin disappeared into the transporter bubble and the doors slid shut on him. A wave of weakness washed over her. Too much emotion. She wasn’t used to it. Up until now, any excitement in her life had been limited to her visions and was hardly stressful physically.

“Are you okay?” Thorne asked quietly.

“Just a little shaky.” She glanced at Daisy. “I don’t suppose there’s some ice cream? I might never get another chance.”

Daisy grinned. “Why not?”

…

Already, the thin air strained his lungs. He kept his breathing deep and even, but his body needed more oxygen than it was getting, and he was feeling lightheaded.

They were coming in to land. Only minutes more and he could fill his lungs. Provided nothing else went wrong. If they lost control now, they’d likely crash into the planet.

His shoulder blades tingled and he turned slowly. He’d known it. She was watching him. She was always watching him. Slumped on the floor, her back against the wall of the docking bay, she clutched a bowl of ice cream, then lifted the spoon to her mouth and slowly licked it clean. A bolt of lust shot straight to his groin.

Not good. He didn’t have the blood to spare right now—his brain needed every oxygen-starved drop. Still, he couldn’t get the image of her coming apart in his arms out of his head. She’d talked about paying debts. She owed him an orgasm, and while he was pissed off about this delay to his plans, he meant to use the time to make sure she paid up.

He was an opportunist. He’d learned to be—to make the most of the situation he found himself in.

“One minute to landing,” Rico’s voice came over the comm system. “Get ready to breathe again, children.”

Devlin crossed to where Saffira sat and held out a hand. She placed the bowl on the floor, slid her palm into his, and he pulled her to her feet.

“You want to see?”

She nodded and, keeping hold of her hand, he tugged her to the viewer on the wall and switched it on. The screen filled with the planet, monochrome in the dim light of early dawn. No glorious sunrise here. Off to the left lay the city, and straight ahead an ochre mountain rose up above the sandy plain. They hovered above it, and now he could see that the mountain was hollow, as though it had exploded at some point. Rico lowered the ship gently into the hollow and landed light as stardust. The man could fly. Thorne had said that once inside they were safe, that the mountain protected them, it was impervious to the mind powers of the Old Ones, something in the rock prevented the passage of thought.

They’d flown in under cover of stealth mode, but really, if these Old Ones had control of the ship, surely they’d see right through the stealth thing.

There were too many inconsistencies and this was way too convenient for certain people. He studied Saffira while her attention was glued to the monitor. She glanced up and gave him a bland smile.

“Just how powerful is Thorne?” he asked.

Something flickered in the back of her eyes. She shrugged but remained silent.

“Powerful enough to override the mind control protocols on the
Blood Hunter
, perhaps?”

She pursed her lips. “Obviously not, otherwise he would have done so.”

“Of course, he would.” Devlin made no attempt to keep the sarcasm from his voice.

She dragged her attention from the monitor to him. “If you believe that, why are we here?”

“It’s not my choice. My suggestion was we try a little persuasion.”

“You could never make Thorne do something against his will. He’d never give in to torture.”

“Maybe not if we tortured him. But perhaps someone he cares for?”

Her eyes widened. She blinked a couple of times and something flashed across her face. Disbelief? Hurt? Why did that cause a little hitch of guilt in his gut? “You told them to torture me?”

“I doubt we would have had to go through with the threat. He would have caved.”

“But you would have?”

“We’ll never know now.”

She stared up at him with those huge, hurt eyes and the guilt swelled inside him. “Could you have tortured me?”

He’d done worse in his time. But maybe not to a woman he’d nearly made love to. Could he have done it? Probably not. Could he have allowed Rico to hurt her? Definitely not. He never expected someone else to do a task he wouldn’t do himself. But he’d keep that to himself. Better she thought the worst of him. That would rid her of her foolish dreams.

“So who said no?” she asked.

“Guess.”

“Tannis?”

“She was seriously considering it. The thing you have to remember about Tannis is her crew comes first, and she recently lost two members. She’s not about to risk the rest. Plus she hates being double-crossed.”

“Callum?”

“He and Skylar are Collective. They reckoned in the end that he was telling the truth and that he couldn’t override whatever hold these Old Ones of yours have on the ship. But they were willing to go along with the majority decision.”

“So did anyone say no? Why aren’t you torturing me right now?”

“Daisy probably would have—she’s a soft touch, but she was with you. No, it was Rico.”

“The vampire?” She sounded shocked. “Why?”

“Who knows with Rico?” He certainly didn’t believe it was through any scruples the vampire might have about torturing a pretty girl. He had an idea that Rico was just curious, intrigued by the whole time travel crap. He’d once told Devlin that one of the ways to survive immortality was to be incurably nosy.

“Hey, you two young lovers. Are you coming?” Tannis called from across the docking bay, and he realized with a sense of shock that the doors had opened while he was focused on Saffira. Already the air was sweeter, and his lungs no longer ached for oxygen.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go meet your friends.”

He headed for the doors, with Saffira at his side; her face still held that hurt expression.

“I didn’t ask for this,” she said chewing on her lip. “Part of me just wishes I could go and forget it all. I always dreamed of flying away.”

“Nothing to stop you. Tannis said you could come along.”

She shook her head. “It’s not possible. I have a purpose in life. I can’t just walk away. You know that better than anyone. Could you walk away from what you have vowed to do?”

“No, but I don’t have any dreams left to fulfill.”

“That’s sad.”

Yeah, he was a goddamn pity case.

He decided they’d chatted enough. Anymore and he might just burst into goddamn tears. Not waiting to see if she followed, he strode down the ramp and into a circular cavern. Though he supposed it didn’t qualify as a cavern as it had no roof but was open to the sky. Above his head, the darkness faded to a pale washed-out blue. Everything about this planet was muted. How had Saffira ended up so alive growing up in a place like this?

“Right,” Tannis said. “Devlin and Callum, work with Thorne and his people. If they can get access to the mind control systems, then disable them. Rip the bloody thing out if you have to. I want to be able to leave straightaway. This place gives me the creeps.”

It gave him the creeps as well. He’d heard that Trakis Seven, the planet where Meridian was discovered five hundred years ago, had been hell to visit and poisonous to anyone who didn’t get the Meridian treatment. While this place wasn’t overtly uncomfortable, something wasn’t quite right. He breathed in; the air held a faint scent like spice, but it was acrid, almost burning, that teased his nostrils.

“Me too,” Rico said. “Makes me feel like I have a gigantic hangover.”

“Yeah,” Tannis pressed a finger to her forehead. “Okay. The rest of us will go meet with this Sisterhood, see what they have to say.”

As she spoke, Devlin caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. A whole load of winged men emerged from one of the tunnels. He pulled his laser pistol free as the others did the same.

“Lower your weapons,” Thorne said. “These are my people. They’re here to help.”

Devlin shoved his pistol back into its holster, but couldn’t shake the feeling that help was the last thing they were going to get today.