Authors: S D Taylor
“Fine, but . . .” Erin could not finish the sentence because a sudden pain shot through her entire body, causing her to have violent spasms as she sat tied to the floor by the unseen force. The pain only lasted 3 seconds but it felt like a lifetime to Erin. Her heart was racing and she could feel the slowly receding agony in every part of her body. She had an overwhelming sense that she nearly died from the shock, but she wondered if that was part of the experience. These people had very advanced technology, especially for killing and causing pain. She stared intently at the hybrid monster before her but said nothing more.
“You were told to remain quiet until your interrogation. Do you understand now?” The metal insect man turned his head to one side and pointed one metallic claw-like finger at Erin as he said it.
She nodded once, not interested in seeing if he would shock her again for answering a direct question. Even as she was feeling the shock, she noticed that Gaby and Peter were unaffected. Somehow, this monster was able to direct his pain inducer to an individual without any noticeable movement or specific attachments to the person receiving the pain. She had seen the pulse of electricity he used against Doug but what hit her was more subtle. Targeted at her alone and clearly calibrated to cause severe pain without causing death or injury.
It was clear to Erin that this had to be future technology, just as Doug had speculated. The temporal rifts caused by the vortex weapon on the Rasputin must have allowed this vehicle and these people to come from the future to the reality they were all sharing now. Unless these people knew how to create their own temporal rifts. It occurred to Erin, as she fought through the pain and humiliation of lying there, that these people may have worked out a way to control the vortex technology. Then everything went dark.
When she opened her eyes, Erin was in a cell with Peter and Gaby. They had bunk beds on either side and there was a small porthole where she could see the blue ocean and sky. The door was a clear, thick plastic with small air holes along the bottom and top. The front wall on either side of the door was also made of the same clear plastic. The other walls were gray metal like you might expect onboard a boat.
“What happened? We were sitting on that flying saucer and suddenly we wake up here.” Peter stopped talking and glanced nervously around. “Will they let us talk now? I don’t know what exactly they did to you, Erin, but I am not anxious to try it.”
Erin sat on the edge of the bunk and took stock of her body. She did not feel any residual pain from the shock she had received from the hybrid metallic man. “I guess if they aren’t here to listen to us, we might be safe to chat a bit.”
“Are you ok, Erin?” Gaby looked concerned. “I thought he killed you when you were writhing on the ground. Who are these people? Do you think they came here from the future?”
“It is the only explanation I can offer. There is nothing in our world like this. I know Doug thought so as well. We talked about it after the saucer destroyed the helicopter. The way it could maneuver seemed like something out of some alien abduction story.”
Peter studied the door and how it was hinged and locked. “I don’t understand how this door works. Even something this simple seems very advanced. If they aren’t from the future, I would be hard pressed to explain any of this.”
A slender young woman with shoulder-length blond hair and a loose fitting white garment that resembled a pilot’s flight suit walked into the hall outside their cell. She was slightly shorter than Erin and walked with an athletic military posture. “Fortunately, we do not have to explain anything regarding this boat or our hover vehicle. It would be far beyond your limited mental ability to understand and we have no interest in trying to educate you. But to answer your question, you are free to speak about anything you want now that you are on the boat. I am sorry if my mechanized assistant harmed you in his zeal to strictly follow my orders to retrieve you.” Her skin was very pale and she had dark brown eyes. By any standard, she was beautiful. But in a porcelain doll way that hardly seemed real. Coupled with the passive, slightly amused look on her face and obvious military bearing, this woman presented a pretty mysterious package.
Erin walked slowly over to the transparent wall to take a closer look at this new visitor. “May we know your name and why you are holding us captive?”
The blond woman turned toward Erin and looked her up and down, as if she was looking at a horse she planned to buy. She left the silence hang in the air for about thirty seconds past the comfortable point. “You are here because we plan to do some experiments and we needed subjects who had transited a temporal rift. Each of you meets our criteria. You will be going home with us and having a very interesting time. While it lasts, anyway. How long it lasts will depend on you.”
Erin pressed for her original question. “And what may we call you?”
The woman stared at Erin without emotion or irritation. “Perhaps you should call me God. Given the level of knowledge and technology difference between our worlds, that would be the most appropriate thing for you to call me.”
“If we refuse to feed your ego and want to call you by the name you are called in your world, would you allow us to?” Erin prepared for another shock, but it didn’t happen.
The woman in white laughed. “You are trying to provoke me in hopes of defining your boundaries. We are not so easily manipulated. But I have no ego to protect. My name is Dara. I do not mind if you call me that. It will neither irritate me nor endear you to me. But if it helps you to feel more comfortable, you have my approval.”
“Thank you, Dara. Do you want to know our names?” Erin glanced at Peter and Gaby, both of whom were watching Erin intently, half expecting her to be shocked any second.
“I appreciate your offer, but I would ask you a question in return. Would you name laboratory rats if you were using them for experiments?” Dara had a slight smile as she asked that ominous question.
Erin fought the wave of nausea that passed through her at that question and pressed on. “Yes. I named my lab rats in biology class. Even the ones that were dead and used for dissections.” Erin had not ever had lab rats or done dissections, but she liked the bravura spirit of the comment.
“Did you ask the rats what they called each other, or did you just assign them names that you chose?”
“I asked them their names. Back then we still had the ability to speak with rats.” Erin stared hard at Dara as she said that. She almost winked, but thought better of it.
“Fine. What do you rats call yourselves?” Dara was ready to go and was showing signs of impatience.
“I am Erin. This is Peter. And this is Gaby.” Erin touched each of them on the shoulder as she said their names.
Dara turned to go. “I am glad you were able to take care of that. I know how important it was to you. It turns out you are not the first woman named Erin that we have found on this island. But the other one was quite a bit older.”
Chapter 9
Doug lay on a cot in one of the tents that made up the improvised field hospital. He was unconscious and his breathing was shallow. But he was breathing. Ying and Megan sat nearby, watching him and wishing they could do something to help him. At least he was still breathing.
Tom was outside talking to Flying Raven. “You should not stay here any longer than necessary. I am worried those people will return and kill or kidnap more of us. If you and your people are off this island you will likely be safe from them.”
“Why do you say that? They can go anywhere with the flying disk.”
“Yes, you are correct, but the events that may have drawn them here have all been centered on this island. They must be from the future and I am guessing that they are here to either study what happened or clean it up. Either way, they are a threat to both of us and our people.”
The tall man who was the leader of his people looked out to sea as the sun was just beginning to appear over the far mountains to the east. “Perhaps you are right. I hate to leave a fight that is not finished, but my people are powerless against these new demons. We must think of the good of our tribe and not waste our lives on a fight with no possibility of victory.”
“Will your canoe be seaworthy after the repairs?” Tom saw that several men had been working non-stop on the bullet holes.
“Yes. They can fashion wooden plugs and secure them with tree sap. We will have extras in case they leak. We will get home just fine. My people and I will leave by midday. Thank you for all your help and for saving as many of my people as possible. You will always have friends on Haida Gwaii if you are ever in need of them.”
“Thank you. You and your people helped us greatly as well. Hopefully, we can destroy this new evil and free this island of it so you can return here in the future.”
Tom turned and walked to the last tent and entered through the flap. Ying was wiping Doug’s head with a damp cloth while Megan was dozing nearby.
“How is he doing?” Tom was worried that they could not possibly deal with the potential damage that Doug had suffered from the burst of energy that dropped him in his tracks.
“He has been very quiet, Tom. He is breathing normally now, but he has not been awake. I am not sure there is anything we can do for him except to keep checking to see if he is still alive.”
Megan sat up at the sound of talking and Tom hugged her. The close contact between them was like a drug that calmed their fear for just a few seconds. “Come outside with me, Megan. You need a little fresh air. We will be right back, Ying. Then you can take a break.”
“I am ok, Tom. Thank you. You and Megan take a walk. I’ll be here.” Ying had become a solid member of the team, putting her fear away and doing her job with no complaints and little thought of her own safety or comfort. Megan smiled at her and nodded.
Tom opened the tent flap and they went outside. He and Megan walked towards Peter’s machine gun nest and sat on the on the nearby grass.
“It all seemed simpler when we were just fighting the pirates and trying to get the vortex weapon. Now we are up against an enemy that we can’t understand, let alone hope to defeat. These guys from the future seem so advanced that we could end up as their slaves or worse.”
Megan hadn’t seen Tom so down, even when he was blind. Seeing Doug wiped out by the big metal insect man seemed to have taken a chunk out of Tom’s soul. “Tom, we have to keep from sinking into doubt or self-pity at this point. Sure, it seems like an impossible challenge, but we have survived against outrageous odds every day for the past week. Don’t give up now. We will find something to give us an edge to destroy these guys.”
“On some level, I know you are right, Megan, but seeing Doug lying over there, maybe dying, does something to me. And I can’t help feeling that we are in danger staying here. We have a choice of being killed by pirates with rifles or blasted to hell with rayguns by the future people. More than anything, I want to find a place where you and I can get away from all this and hide.
“That might sound good, but who wants to live in hiding. We need to get moving once Doug is better. Staying here is probably the only mistake we could make. If we are on the move, it is less likely that saucer vehicle and the insect man can find us.” Megan was trying to find a scenario that felt better than giving up. She could tell that at the very least she had Tom considering other alternatives.
“If Doug is well enough, we could find where Peter and John were hiding out. It was pretty comfortable from what John and Doug told us. But until Doug is conscious, I won’t know how to find it. At least it’s a plan. Sorry, Megan. I don’t mean to be so negative. I am thankful that you are ok and didn’t get shot or kidnapped. So please don’t think I am ungrateful. Things could be worse.”
“I can’t afford to get killed or captured, Tom. Somebody has to stick around and keep an eye on you.” She laughed for the first time in a long time and could tell that Tom appreciated it, even if his smile in return was little more than a slight change in the angle of his mouth. Megan patted him on the shoulder and got up to go check on Doug. “C’mon. Time to get back to making things happen.”
Tom stood up and watched the beautiful woman from Boston walk back towards the tents. It was hard to imagine that it was only a little more than a week since he met her. It seemed like they had been together for years. “Wait!” Tom ran to catch up to her. He took her in his arms and kissed her passionately. Then he held her as if he was afraid she would get away.
“What’s the matter?” Megan held him and looked him in the eye.
“I love you. I realized just now that I had to tell you. If anything happens, I wanted you to know.”
Megan kissed his cheek. “I think I knew. But thanks for making it official.”
They paused, sharing one more moment in each other’s arms, knowing that they may not get many more chances like this for a while.
“Let’s go find out how Doug is doing. It’s time we made something positive happen for a change.” Tom and Megan walked together, hand in hand, back to Doug’s tent.
“Where is Erin?” Doug was still lying in the same position, but he was now very much awake. “What happened to her? Ying won’t tell me and she is crying. What the hell happened?”