CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

 

 

 

Nova clutched her side and leaned against Crusader's wall. Cal had barely finished stitching her up but she refused to stay bedridden. A soothing gel coated her bandaged hand and Cal had reset her ribs as best he could. She carried a box of Parapem strips in her pocket and was popping them like mints.

Cal lugged a fuel canister the size of a small child through Crusader's door and stacked it against four others. Other equipment from the Confederacy ships, including computer hardware and basic weapons, were loaded into the cargo pods; they would fetch a fair price in the shipyards. Luckily the Confederacy vehicles had also been packed with medical supplies because Cal had used everything they had and then some to patch her up.

"How's the fuel-cell coming, Crusader?"

"Whilst I have an interface with the laborbot, it would be faster for you to ask him directly," Crusader replied.

Nova's face flushed hot. How had she gotten the names confused?

"Does it matter who I ask?" she snapped. "Just tell me how long."

"Fifteen minutes until completion," Cal said.

She closed her eyes and leaned against the cool wall. Her latest dose of Parapem was starting to wear off and pain seeped up from her hand and chest. She shook her head and focused on Cal reattaching a new fuel cell to take her mind off it.

She frowned as she thought about the last few days.

"Did I do the right thing?" she said.

"When?" Cal asked.

"I killed them all, the Ancients," she said. "Who's to say they deserved to die so human colonies could live?"

"That is a question for philosophers," Cal said.

"I don't think they'll ever know."

"Then it's a moot question," Cal said.

"There are still voices everywhere."

"Temporal scans reveal abnormal readings around you."

"So what? I'm at risk of falling through time for the rest of my life?"

"Perhaps," Cal said. "The Cloud has no mention of such technology and my processors cannot conceive of such a possibility."

"Great."

"Based on what we've seen, it's exacerbated by your emotions. So stay calm," Cal said.

"Thanks." Her head drooped to stare at the floor. "Is there any record of something like this happening before?"

"Some have claimed to be able to reach into time, but they've all been proved hoaxes. You're the only one."

"I don't think I can control it."

"Then one day it will probably kill you."

"Was that a joke?"

"No."

The room spun and her heart hammered.

"You really should stay calm," Cal said.

Nova grimaced. The robot was right. "Just my luck I suppose."

"There's no such thing as luck."

"No, I don't think there is." Nova shivered and stared at the monsters at the edge of her vision. They leered back at her. She took a deep breath and shook the shadows from her shoulders. "That fuel cell ready?"

"Affirmative."

"And you set the charges?"

"Affirmative."

"Alright, let's get out of here."

She limped to the pilot's pod and prepared for ignition. She couldn't remember ever having been so happy to leave a planet, even when she left her childhood home of T—

She still couldn't remember its damned name.

She sighed as Crusader's thrusters engaged and they shot away from the planet, leaving the relics of the Ancients far behind.

Cal detonated the charges and a plume of flames engulfed the bodies, weapons, and ships until every last remnant of the Ancients was incinerated and turned into ashes.

Nova grimaced. If her latest run-in with the Confederacy had taught her anything, it was that they couldn't be trusted. She needed to get free of their damned influence and there was only one way to do that. She had to get past the border. The invisible barrier incinerated everything that tried to cross it, everything except Confederacy approved vehicles.

She dreamed of breaking through that fence and making it into true outer space; where even the Confederacy couldn't reach her. There had to be a way to do it; some smugglers could get past, but she had no idea how.

"Cal, start digging up everything you can on the old colonization ships. They had a way to get past the Confederacy border and we have to find out how they did it."

In the meantime, she had to find a way to stop herself from falling through time every time she got mad. She knew that if she didn't take control of it, it would consume her.