Aeon Legion: Labyrinth (40 page)

Karim frowned. “That is
level twelve. There is singularity tech down there that scrambles
sensors. Only Prometheus ever goes there, and he hasn’t visited it
in centuries.”

Hanns turned to Karim. “What
do you think is down there?”

Karim rolled his eyes. “Some
people say treasure, but what crashing idiot puts treasure in a
prison full of thieves? Who knows what's down there. Probably stuff
too horrible to kill so they lock it down there and throw away the
key. Considering the nasty things we have on level ten and eleven, I
would hate to imagine what's in twelve. It's why we have an emergency
ejection system.”

Hanns raised an eyebrow.
“Emergency ejection system?”

“Yeah,” Karim said,
gesturing to the map. “We can eject the entire sector from Saturn
City in the event of a containment breach or escape attempt. With the
nasty things we keep on the lower levels, it's better to jettison the
whole thing than risk contamination of the city.”

Hanns looked back to the map.
He had been on level ten once to help repair some singularity
technology that held in place the things imprisoned there. Each had a
number and containment procedure. All of them on level ten were
particularly nasty. Hanns himself was a level three prisoner, a level
reserved for temporal criminals with sentences less than a lifetime.
Most level three prisoners had a high chance of parole for good
behavior.

Karim smiled. “Regardless,
thanks for the help, Hanns. I'll put in a good word with Warden
Shamira. With any luck, we can have your sentence reduced to ten
years. Crashing End. At the rate you're going, I may have to give you
a job.”

Hanns returned a smile. “It's
no trouble at all, Karim. I enjoy working with this wonderful
technology. I like to put my talent to use.”

“I don't know how you do it.
I have never seen someone so naturally skilled with singularity tech.
It's kind of scary actually. I am glad you are so good-natured.”

Hanns continued to smile. He
was happy to find a place where his charm worked. It had allowed him
to gather a lot of intelligence. In fact, he had discovered nearly
all he was after, but now he needed three things. One was a way to
transport all the knowledge in the Archives back with him to Germany.
The second was a way to get to the Academy from here. Finally he
needed to discover just how the Legion detected his attempts to
change time and counter it.

∞

Hanns joined Emmerich who
leaned on the pearl colored walls that surrounded the prison yard.
Other prisoners strolled the yard. None had a standard prison
uniform. Tartarus made everyone keep their old clothes for easy
identification. Hanns had decided for both him and Emmerich to
discard their arm bands. People seemed to dislike it and Hanns found
it easier to make friends without the arm band. Now both he and
Emmerich wore field uniforms and the cuff devices attached to their
wrists and ankles which all prisoners had.

Those devices looked like a
smaller shieldwatch though the design was closer to a wrist watch
with a glass orb at the face. Hans had seen these devices attached to
the matching pair on the other wrist or ankle like handcuffs. The
guards used these when prisoners stepped out of line.

He and the other prisoners
also had a small pair of devices that fit in their ears called a
sonic cipher. This sonic cipher acted as a translator. Hanns hoped he
would be able to take samples of all these devices back with him to
Germany when he escaped.

Emmerich glowered at Hanns as
usual.

Hanns smiled. “Afternoon,
Emmerich.”

“Shut up, Hanns. Why are you
so happy to be here?”

“I keep telling you,
Emmerich. I am where I want to be right now.”

“That's good for you, but
why did you have to drag me down with you?”

“I tried to talk you out of
it, Emmerich. I warned you not to underestimate Silverwind.”

“Well if you are so smart,
then why you are in here with me?”

Hanns
sighed. “I told you already. This is
exactly
where I want to be.”

Emmerich opened his mouth to
protest when a large holoface appeared in the center of the prison
yard. All the prisoners turned to watch. Hanns and Emmerich joined
the growing crowd.

“Attention all level three
through six prisoners,” came a loud voice from the speakers. “The
Labyrinth will be opened again within a few months. The Aeon Legion
is asking for volunteers to help with its preparation and
implementation. If you are interested, please notify Tartarus
administration. Those who participate may receive a reduction in
sentence. End of announcement.”

Hanns's eyes narrowed.
“Labyrinth?”

“It's a training course for
the Aeon Legion,” came a woman's voice from behind Hanns.

Hanns turned to see a woman in
her mid thirties. She wore a desert camouflaged field uniform though
she had no insignia or badges. Like the other prisoners a pair of
shieldwatch like devices were attached to her wrists and ankles. He
guessed she was from a paramilitary unit given her more casual
stance. “Training course?”

Emmerich scowled after seeing
the woman's face. He walked off without a word.

“Yes,” she said, folding
her arms. “It's a final exam for the Aeon Legion. Basically a death
trap. They have prisoners from Tartarus fill it with all kinds of
nasty stuff. Monsters, traps, psychotic killers, that kind of thing.
They also give prisoners the option to fight the recruits.”

“They let the prisoners
attack Legion recruits? Wouldn't they lose a lot of recruits that
way?”

“A lot of the first year
prisoners jump at the opportunity. They think it's a good chance for
revenge. Those recruits though? Bunch of hardened commandos. I don't
know what they go through before that, but they are untouchable. I
just watched my first year. Glad I did. Those recruits are like the
Sayeret Matkal.”

“Interesting,” Hanns said
in a genuine tone. He would have to ask what this Sayeret Matkal was,
but he had more important questions first. “Where is the Labyrinth?
I didn't see it when they brought me into Tartarus.”

“It's in another zone. Under
that Academy where the Aeon Legion trains its recruits.”

Hanns nodded. “Ah. That
would make sense. I take it security is heavy there?”

“Not really. Most of the
prisoners they pick are the ones who have a good chance at parole or
are at the end of their sentence. Most wouldn't risk escape. Even the
dangerous ones have no where to escape to.”

Hanns curled a finger to his
chin. His plan was coming together. Two details remained. “Thank
you. What's your name?”

“Chava,” she said.

“Ah,” Hanns said, now
realizing why Emmerich disliked her so much. He could see it now in
her facial features. “Well thank you very much, Chava. You seem
like a nice lady. Why are you here?”

“Attempted murder,” Chava
said, her tone impassive. “I was part of a military unit trying to
finish up what the Forgotten Guns started. There were certain...
individuals we were trying track down.”

“Who?” Hanns asked.

Chava tilted her head. “So
what are you two here for?”

Hanns grinned. “Two counts
of attempting to remove unauthorized class two objects from time, one
count of attempting to alter history, unregistered time travel, and
willful disregard for the Temporal Accords.”

Chava rolled her eyes. “That
would be more impressive if I were new to time travel. What are you
really here for?”

“I tried to borrow a book.”

“History book right?”

Hanns sighed. “I didn't
think they would notice such a small thing.”

“They tracked you using the
Sybil.”

“The ones that have the
strange headpieces covering their eyes?”

“They are like an oracle or
prophet. They can see changes in time. If someone tries to alter
time, they see it and tell the Aeon Legion. They can't track you as
well in the Edge though. A lot of illegal time travelers try to
operate solely in the Edge. Most of the Edge is well patrolled by the
Aeon Legion's timeship fleet though so others operate in the Bleak.
Something about the End of Time blinds them.”

Hanns remained quiet for a
moment, trying to process this new information. He had seen a Sybil
at his trial. One option for his defense was to submit to a Sybil
reading. They explained that a Sybil could pour through memories to
prove guilt or innocence. He had almost thought about trying it, not
because it would have proved him innocent, but he wanted to see how
it worked. He had decided it was too risky. It might reveal his real
plan. Instead he used a plea bargain. “That makes sense. They never
moved against me until I started to alter things.”

Chava tapped her finger on her
arm. “So what time are you from? I thought I might have recognized
that uniform of yours.”

“Me?” Hanns said. “I am
from the year 1940.”

Chava nodded to Emmerich who
stood nearby. “And your friend. Is his name Emmerich Klein?”

Hanns brow knitted. “Um. Yes
actually.”

Chava's fingernails dug into
her arm. “From the SS right? He ran a camp?”

Hanns nodded. “SS yes. I
don't think he runs a camp though. You know your German history. What
time are you from?”

Chava walked away.

Hanns frowned, wondering if he
had said something to offend her?

Emmerich approached Hanns.
“Monstrous Jew,” he spat after Chava was out of earshot.

Hanns turned to Emmerich. “Now
Emmerich, you need to get better at making friends.”

Emmerich turned to Hanns.
“She's Jewish.”

Hanns sighed. He never
understood why so many of his fellow countrymen hated the Jews. Hanns
didn't care for Jewish culture, but hate them? A waste of energy.
“Emmerich. We have more important things to concern ourselves with.
Besides she didn't seem so bad to–”

Hanns fell backwards as Chava
wrapped a chain around his throat. She tripped Emmerich and pinned
him to the ground with her foot before turning back to Hanns and
tightening the chain around his neck.

Hanns gasped for air while
pulling at the chain.

“I will enjoy this you
monsters!” Chava said before clinching her teeth and pulling
harder. “First you, then Emmerich. Emmerich I'll kill slowly after
he watches you die!”

Hanns almost passed out before
the chain fell away when Karim tackled Chava. Another guard helped
Hanns and Emmerich. Chava struggled against him until he touched his
shieldwatch's holoface. The glass orbs of the devices at her wrists
and ankles glowed before they moved to meet each other. The devices
snapped her wrists and ankles together as though bound by cuffs.

“Nazi bastards!” Chava
screamed while she struggled against the guards who picked her up to
move her into isolation. “Monsters! I'll kill you! I hope the
Forgotten Guns put a bullet in Hitler's skull! We will never stop
hunting you! I'll hunt you just like you did to my family!”

Karim rubbed his forehead as
they dragged Chava away. “We can't possibly keep track of every
group that hates each other! Thank Aion the Sybil precogged this. You
okay Hanns?”

Hanns nodded. “What was that
about? She seemed so nice at first.”

Karim looked back to Chava.
“She is from your continuum’s future, part of Israel's time
travel project before it went rogue. They tried to use a time machine
to assassinate several war criminals and dictators in your
continuum.”

Hanns frowned as he thought.
War criminals? He wasn't a war criminal. Still it worried him. He
couldn't imagine what he or Emmerich did that warranted that kind of
hatred.

∞

Hanns was finally alone. They
had let him go off on his own to help fix singularity devices on
level three. He used the opportunity to contact his base. It was time
he updated them. He stepped into a darkened corridor and took out the
peppercorn sized time travel device he had attached to the back of
his teeth. The one they had not found in their search of his
belongings. The one they had mistaken for a simple filling. It glowed
when he pressed the sides.