Timeless (The Cartographer Book 3) (16 page)

The Terminal

Dark wisps of smoke drifted out of the entrance from inside the terminal. I turned to say something to Vigil, but when I saw the despair etched on his face, I decided against it. Vigil was probably lamenting the loss of his ride home, but my concern was focused solely on Lianne. I wasn't sure if, mentally, I would be able to absorb the loss of another person who had been close to me. Losing Kedge and Lianne in the same day would be too much. Despite all of Vanth's training, I would become broken—emotionally and physically.

Bofor exited the vehicle and carefully approached us. His worried look mimicked our own. “It doesn't look good. Do you plan on continuing?”

“We have to. We have no other option,” I admitted.

Bofor nodded solemnly and grabbed the guitar. “Let's do it then.” He slung it over his shoulder started toward the terminal.

Vigil stopped him. “You don't need to do this. This is our fight.”

Bofor cocked his head to the side and shrugged. “Yeah, it is, but you see, I don't like the Order and if I have the chance to make their life miserable, than I want to be the first in line to watch the carnage.” He smiled widely, revealing yellow teeth and less than pleasant breath.

He handed me the sidearm he had in the truck. It was smaller than any handgun I had ever seen. The barrel was no bigger than two inches and the trigger guard was almost as large as the handle. I looked at it skeptically.

“Are you serious with this thing?” I turned it over in my hands disdainfully.

Bofor's smile faded. “Never judge a corpse flower by its size.”

“Ok, whatever that means,” I grumbled.

Bofor sighed. “It means the weapon will be enough for you. Trust me.”

Without saying another word, he led us to the terminal. I became more anxious with each step. Despite my distrust in the weapon, it was all I had, so I resigned myself to making the best out of the situation. There would be trouble in the terminal and I needed to be ready, whether I had a pea shooter or a bazooka. We approached the first corpse apprehensively and I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the corpse was not one of ours.

“He was with the Order,” Bofor remarked. He crouched down and examined the body. “This fella here was stabbed.” He pointed to a gash in his left side, near the heart. He stood up and pointed to a trail of blood which led inside. “It appears he wasn't killed here.” He motioned toward the blood trail. “This guy was running from something.”

Most of the Stellar Horizon's crew carried rifles and plasma weapons. Only one person on board carried a weapon capable of leaving this particular wound:
Lianne
. I hoped we would find her in better shape than the soldier.

We entered the terminal and into a scene of carnage. A nearby vending machine bled exotic drinks onto the floor from several blaster holes, which pockmarked the machine. Several bodies were scattered around the terminal, but any hope I had faded when I noticed the wisps of black smoke that escaped the Stellar Horizon.

“
Damn this thing!
”

I gripped the handgun tightly. The shout came from the other side of the ship so the three of us approached cautiously. When we reached the other side of the ship, I noticed a panel had been opened and a person worked feverishly to repair some wires that had been singed. A blaster hole marred the hull next to it.

The person turned around to pick up a tool that lay on the ground nearby and when I saw who it was, I dropped the gun and ran to her. She saw me coming from the corner of her eye and tensed up, forming a defensive stance. I fell into her arms before she could even comprehend what had happened.

“Thank God you're alive!” My voice was muffled by her padded leather armor and muscled shoulder.

She pried me away and held me at arm's length. When I saw her face, my smile faded. Blood streaked her cheeks like scarlet tattoos. Her eyes were hollow, almost cold, and her mouth twisted into a fierce scowl. She appeared almost…
feral
.

After a minute had passed, she recognized me and the look faded. She smiled, but her feral look remained etched into my memory. I had to admit her look of bloodlust frightened me.

Before she could say anything, Jayce came around the corner with a rifle pointed in our direction, but lowered it when he saw us. “Sorry, I heard a commotion and thought it was more of them.” He gestured disdainfully toward the corpses scattered around the room.

“What happened here?” Vigil asked.

“They came for us and we took them out,” Lianne replied curtly.

“More will come,” Bofor said.

Lianne eyeballed him. “Who is this?”

“Please to meet your acquaintance,” Bofor replied and bowed low. The gesture was actually quite comedic due to his oversized noggin. It was like watching the ball drop on New Year's Eve. I had to chew back a giggle. “My name is Bofor and I come bearing gifts.” He gestured toward Vigil and I.

“There seems to be a rebel uprising brewing,” Vigil explained. “Bofor assists in providing safe passage for them.”

“He's a friend,” I added.

“Any friend of yours is a friend of mine,” Lianne responded. She returned to the panel and resumed her repairs to the ship.

Bofor shrugged. “I guess I'll let you get back to work. I better get home to Shmee or I will never hear the end of it.”

Lianne stopped fidgeting with the wires and lowered her head. She remained silent for several minutes. “Where is Kedge?” she asked before slowly turning to me.

I had to admit the question took me by surprise even though he had been noticeably absent from our group. I never expected her to ask about his fate. I knew there had been no love lost between the two. The concern in her eyes betrayed my assumptions and I hated myself for assuming the worst in her. However, when I answered her question, I shed no tears. Those days were long gone. An empty hole remained where sadness once stood on my heart. The only thing that could fill it would be satisfaction gained by destroying my enemies and the people who caused me this pain. I took a deep breath before responding and swallowed away the emotional scar left behind by his death.

“He didn't make it,” I muttered.

The disappointment in her eyes only caused my heart to swell with anger even further. At the moment, I made a silent pact with myself. I refused to leave Kedge behind on this godforsaken planet. I turned so fiercely to Bofor that he backed up a step and clutched his guitar-weapon defensively.

“We are coming back to reclaim Kedge's body. I will not leave him behind to rot here.” I moved past him and looked outside the terminal. “Gather your people. Together we will destroy the order before bringing Kedge home.”

“This isn't your fight lad,” Bofor replied. “There is no sense in getting yourself killed. We will take care of ourselves.”

I slowly turned toward the group. Blood burned through my cheeks like lava. “This is NOW our fight. We will be back and we will return the planet to you, but not before we reclaim our friend.”

I turned to Vigil expecting some sort of pushback or rejection of the plan. His fists opened and closed rapidly and he chewed on his lower lip, but he remained silent. I knew Lianne and Kedge did not get along, so when I turned toward her, I expected her to shake her head in refusal. She narrowed her eyes and I braced for her inevitable response. She responded, but it was not what I expected.

“We will return,” she said softly. When she noticed my expression of surprise, she shrugged her shoulders. “Did you see the size of the holes in my ship? Someone has to pay for that.”

Bofor nodded in resignation. “Well then, you better get going. If what you said about Jori was true, then they sacrificed themselves to take out that tractor beam. Braxii won't give you a second chance.” He turned to leave.

“Bofor wait,” I called. I ran to him and dropped my hand on his shoulder. “Thank you for helping us when no one else would. Defeating the Order is the least we can do to repay you.”

Bofor frowned and let out a long, drawn-out sigh. “Lad, I truly believe you believe that.” He looked past me, toward Lianne and Vigil. “Make no mistake, your friends only agree to what you propose because it will benefit your own rebellion.”

“That's not true—,” I argued, but he interrupted me with an outstretched hand.

“Our bonds may be iron, but our resolve is steel,” he continued. “Once we gain control of Gliese, we will not relinquish it to another tyrant. We will not repeat the mistakes of the past.”

“I give you my word that we will leave once we are finished. We have bigger fish to fry,” I assured him.

“I'm not sure what you're fryin,' but we will be ready.” He held up his hand with his thumb extended and his index finger pointing skyward. “Until then, be safe.”

“What does that mean?” I asked, gesturing toward his outstretched hand.

Bofor lowered his hand and smiled. “It is a gesture of good will.” He tossed me a quick nod and walked back to his truck.

When I returned to the ship, Lianne continued working on repairs. Vigil stared at me, but remained silent.

“What? Nothing to say?” I asked. “You don't have a '
you're a fool for promising him those things
' or any other such words of wisdom for me?”

“You are right Nathan.” His agreement threw me off and left me momentarily speechless. “Kedge sacrificed himself so we could escape. His death will not be taken for granted nor will we let him rot here like a dead animal.”

“Thank you,” I replied.

“Don't thank me. It is simply the logical thing to do.”

I rolled my eyes. “Learn to take a compliment, Spock.”

Lianne put the soldering tool down and slammed the panel shut. She spoke to me, but continued looking down, as if she wanted to avoid eye contact. “We don't have the manpower to engage this planet in a direct assault. You made a promise we cannot keep.”

“So we should just sit back and do nothing?” I snapped. “Perhaps the universe will fix itself in our absence?”

When she turned to me, her expression was more sympathetic than expected. Her violet eyes twinkled and her lips curled into a wry smile. “You are no longer the naïve boy I met aboard the Argus. The universe is a dark place, Nathan. It always has been and always will be. You have the power to provide the light and guide the way.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

She leaned over and kissed my cheek. It was soft and delicate and belied the bloodstains marked on her face—stains that had been incurred during a fierce battle. The action took me by surprise, but the softness of her lips as they caressed my cheek came as a bigger shock.

“It means you are a leader.” She straightened herself and ran her fingers through her hair. “Satou saw it in you. Embeth sees it in you. The Timeless even see it. The only one who doesn't seem to see it, is you.”

Her statement hit me hard. Her words rang with the truth. People have been counting on me. I was needed when it came time to unlock the universal map, Vanth chose me for training, and The Timeless chose me to come to Gliese as part of the delegation. I doubted myself the entire time while others had been placing their hope in me. Before I could respond, Gard rolled out of the cargo bay.

“
Captain Lianne, the repairs on the hyperdrive have been completed. The ship should now be functional and we can depart immediately
.”

Her sympathetic tone was replaced with urgency. “Good news! Jayce round up the crew and get us out of here.”

Jayce scrambled around the terminal, grabbing stray crew members who were either scavenging or scouting. I followed Lianne inside.

“I guess I'll head back to my room and figure out what to do next,” I muttered.

Lianne offered me a warm smile. “Slow down before you blow a gasket. Priority number one is getting out of here and relaying what happened here to Embeth as soon as we re-establish communication. Number two is measuring our current strength and putting your suggestion into action.”

“Yeah, you're right.” Despite my agreement, I shrugged off her words. I realized she was trying to be supportive, but I knew I needed to be more actively involved if we were to return to Gliese.

When I returned to my room, I slid in the seat behind the desk and removed my journal from the drawer. I placed it on top of the desk and stared at the blank cover for several moments. At first, I wasn't sure what I would write, but then I looked down at my artificial hand, a hand which had been stolen from me. I closed the hand into a fist and suddenly inspiration hit me. I opened the book and removed the digital stylus.

I wrote
.

Moro

His cell was damp, dark and cold. The humidity soaked into his bones. Despite his incarceration, he rather enjoyed the feeling. As an assassin, he felt at home in the dark. The detention wing of the ship wasn't always dark, so he tried to make the best of the darkness when it came. Guards flipped on the lights as they made their rounds through the halls. None of them took their patrol seriously since he had been their only prisoner. They would drift in, flip the lights on, stroll down the hall, cast him a cursory glance, and flip the lights off on their way out.