Cordelia powered down the STAR and sat there with her eyes closed. This had gone better than she had expected. She had actually seen David get rescued. By herself! And nothing bad had happened, being there in the same moment, in the same spot, so the theories that this would result in disaster could all go into the trash compactor.
"You need to see a doctor," she then told herself. The bandage that the helpful young man had put on her arm was working but is was also slowly colouring red, which was bad news. Even she knew that.
An hour later, the rag that had been the sleeve of the 2199 shirt lay on the bathroom floor, on the remains of the actual shirt. She'd have to get rid of all that. And she'd have to visit the doctor. Cordelia carefully washed her arm. The young man from the square was right; it had been a clean cut. And, so she saw, it wasn't very deep, which was good, otherwise the blade would have gone through several muscles. She used an old sheet to wrap up her arm again and put on one of her thick, warm robes. She knew she had to eat something and get some rest. The day had been long and intense. Without sleep she wouldn't make it through the next twenty-four hours without keeling over.
~
The next morning she found that it was pretty darn difficult to get into an appropriate dress, even when she forgot about the stupid corset. It pained her to rip open the sleeve of the dress but it had to be done. No one would be able to cut her arm without slicing through the fabric of the sleeve first.
She was in luck though: the doctor had time to see her as soon as she came in.
"My, Miss Lexington. What happened to you?" The doctor was a young man, but she had learnt he knew his trade well. She told him how someone in a crowd had suddenly gone berserk and slashed her arm with a knife, and no, she had no idea who'd done that. It was as close to the truth she could come. The doctor didn't ask more questions though. He put some iodine on her arm, which stung like mad, and put a clean bandage on it.
"I think you should come and see me again tomorrow, Miss Lexington, so we can make sure there aren't any infections."
She thanked him and promised she would do her best to come again, but even as she did so, she knew there was probably little chance she'd actually make it.
Cordelia allowed herself the luxury of getting a hansom to go home. Usually she liked to walk, but her arm gave her quite some bother so she thought it best to do this.
When the carriage came to a halt in the street where she lived, Cordelia saw someone in front of her house. She recalled the person but couldn't place him. Only after coming closer, she recognised the man. It was Hendrix, one of the time-agents.
For a moment she considered turning around and walking the other way, but the man had already seen her. He came walking to her, showing his hands. There was something wrong here, she understood, because he'd been with this other fellow. Parker. Why was he alone? Was this some kind of trap? She put a hand in her purse where she always kept her little surprise for unforeseen moments.
"Miss Brown..."
"Lexington," Cordelia snapped at him.
"Excuse me." The man made a small bow, which struck her as odd since he wasn't from here. "Miss Lexington. I need to talk to you."
"What is there to talk about?" She didn't trust the man. "And where is the other guy?"
Cordelia noticed the hansom-driver was still there so she ordered him to leave, which he did. Slowly.
"Maybe it is best to take the discussion inside," said the time-agent. "I am very sorry about the mess there." Cordelia stared at him for a moment. How did he know about the mess she'd come home to? Curious now, she opened the door and made him go in first. She wanted him where she could see him.
"Living room," she ordered. "Take off your coat and put your weapons on the floor before you sit down."
"Of course." The man, Hendrix, did as she had told him and sat down on the couch. From there he looked at her as if he hoped she would sit down too. She didn't. "Very well," he said. "By now you may be aware that what we told you was the truth. There is a bounty-hunter after you. It is that same bounty-hunter who arrived here, inside your house, and abducted your friend."
Cordelia nodded non-committedly. So far his story checked out but maybe he had teamed up with the woman in leather and this could be a trick.
"We registered the arrival of her STAR in this street and..."
"Wait." Cordelia had to know. "You registered the arrival?"
Hendrix nodded. "Development hasn't ceased since you left in such a hurry, Miss Bro... Lexington. We can trace STARs much better than before."
"Okay. Go on."
"Since we knew about the bounty-hunter, we made it to your house as fast as we could, came in and found the woman as she was, ehm, subduing your friend." Subduing. That didn't sound good. "The bounty-hunter then shot my partner. He was dead instantly." Hendrix paused for the shortest moment and took a deep breath. "She fired at me too so I had to hide. Moments later she had disappeared in her STAR."
"With David." Cordelia knew that had happened because she had seen David with that big woman. Then she recalled something. "I'm sorry about your partner. You say she fired at you. I didn't find any marks of that anywhere."
"Short-range pseudo-plasma," Hendrix said. "State of the art weaponry. Its lethal payload evaporates if it doesn't hit anything in 0.3 seconds. Very effective when it hits and untraceable if it doesn't."
Cordelia had never heard of anything like it, but weapons had never been her field of expertise.
"When I returned to our STAR, I discovered that the bounty-hunter's unit was equipped with a tracer as well. She had damaged my unit badly so I had to go back to 2252 to have it fixed before I could come here to talk to you. I barely made it back there." Agent Hendrix shrugged and stared at the floor as he said, "I am sorry about Parker too. He was a very good agent and my friend." Then he looked at Cordelia again. "The offer still stands. I can arrange for you to meet with Mrs Orwald. As Mrs Orwald has already requested." He tried to make Cordelia feel guilty but she was used to that and caught the attempt. Still, after all this, it might be worthwhile to talk with the widows of her former employer.
"Okay. I will meet with her, but on my terms. I am tired of people trying to play me like a ball."
Agent Hendrix said he was fine with whatever proposition she had as a meeting place. "Mrs Orwald will come. Unless it is a very cold place."
"Don't worry. I don't like cold places either." The conversation was interrupted by a knock on the front door. Cordelia hesitated. Did she trust the man enough to leave him here? It would be hard to sell if she opened the door carrying all his guns so she picked up one that she knew. "Wait here." She went to open the door.
"Miss Lexington?" A young man with an envelope in his hand looked at her.
"Indeed."
"This is for you. I had to convey that it is urgent." The man handed her the envelope, wished her a nice day and walked off. Cordelia saw the Royal emblem on the paper. Urgent. That meant she had to get rid of Agent Hendrix. She returned to the man who still sat there. None of the remaining weapons had been touched, which made her believe his story a little more.
"Bad news?" Hendrix asked.
"I don't know yet," Cordelia said and immediately she could slap herself in the face. She shouldn't tell anyone about her business. "Bueno. I will talk with Mrs Orwald and you can arrange that," she got back to this business.
"Just name the place and the time and we will be there," Hendrix said.
Cordelia thought for a moment. She wished she had more time to come up with a clever and safe spot but she didn't have that luxury. "New York City. 1995, August 1st at noon, between the two World Trade Center buildings." She knew they still existed then.
"Very good choice."
"And you can get up now. Get your weapons." Cordelia stepped back, holding on to the gun she'd taken from him. Better safe than sorry. Hendrix however just took his belongings and pointed at the gun in her hand.
"If you want, you can keep that. It's a feisty little gun that is good for short-range problems," he said. "Much easier to hide than the Skreller-gun. I assume you still have it?"
"I do. It has served me well on several occasions," Cordelia said. She felt safe in telling him that. He did seem a bit surprised since the Skreller was quite a fierce assault weapon.
"Wonderful. I will take my leave then and we'll meet in New York."
"1995," Cordelia confirmed. "Until then." She followed Hendrix to the door and locked it behind him. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she felt ready to open the envelope.
"Miss Lexington. Please report to Location C tomorrow at 7 in the morning. Stop." That was all.
~
Cordelia felt like a wreck the next morning. She had done her best to get some sleep but now knowing where David was now, and what he might be facing, troubled her a lot. Despite that she knew there was nothing she could do about it until she returned to March 2199, and before she could do that, she had to visit Location C. Once that visit was behind her, she would first visit New York to find out how all this time-agent and bounty-hunter stuff was connected. And then she would make her way to the big square and rescue David. She knew she would. She had watched herself doing it.
"So here we go," she told Norbert and herself as she sat down in the pilot's seat and set the coordinates for Location C's cellar. "I wonder who needs rescuing from the opposition now." She pressed "Go" to go there and find out.
She was a few minutes early, as she liked to be. It made a good impression and that way she felt a little more in control. At exactly seven the door was opened. The usual two soldiers came in to inspect the cellar. Cordelia recognised them; she had seen them several times before. After the inspection it wasn't just her regular, grey-haired contact who came in but there were three other people with him. Cordelia remembered the last visit in which he had spoken of something going wrong somewhere in India. This might be the thing.
"Miss Lexington. These gentlemen are Mr Bowers, Mr Spencer and Mr Humphries. It is imperative that they are taken to India as soon as possible. I trust you are able to accomplish that, as you said so in our latest conversation."
"Absolutely, sir," Cordelia said. "As long as they know where we have to go."
"The location is classified and on a need-to-know basis only," Mr Humphries said, looking at Cordelia as if she'd been dragged in from a sewer.
"If I have to take you there, that's quite a lot of need-to-know. Sir."
"Humphries, good man, Miss Lexington is entirely trustworthy," her contact said. "She does need to know."
Humphries looked as if he was abused but he took a sheet of paper from his pocket and handed that to Cordelia. She looked at it. It was a hand-drawn map, clearly sloppily copied from an actual map. At least there was a name on it. Sooragondanahalli. If it was a village, Norbert would know how to find it. After asking, to be certain, Humphries confirmed that Sooragondanahalli was indeed their goal. Cordelia was impressed that he could actually pronounce the name.
"Do we need to be in a specific location of that town?" she asked.
It was Mr Bowers who told her there was a small town called Panna in the region called Madhya Pradesh. "If you can take us close to there, we would be very grateful."
"That should not be a problem," according to Cordelia. "If you are ready, we can go. Do you have any luggage?" The two men who would take charge of overseeing the mining both had a suitcase. They were rather sizeable but Cordelia knew that wouldn't be a problem.
The two soldiers carried the suitcases into the cellar. Cordelia insisted that the passengers would bring their own luggage into the STAR. She didn't want too many strangers going in and out. Of course, Mr Humphries looked shocked at her words but the other two simple accepted her words and picked up their luggage. The suitcases had to be brought in one by one, but Bowers and Spencer said that was quite all right.
Before Cordelia allowed the three to enter the STAR, she made them promise not to speak about what they were going to see inside the white container. "It is highly confidential and classified," she said. The two who were going to India to stay there were a lot more cooperative than Mr Humphries, who stated that this was unheard of and he would not abide by her wishes.
"This is not a wish, Mr Humphries," she said. "This is a demand. If you don't agree, you get to stay here. It's simple. It is my machine so I decide."
Her older contact agreed with her and urged Humphries to agree with her. The man took too long for Cordelia's taste.
"Mr Bower. Mr Spencer. Please put your luggage inside the machine. It looks as if we are going to India without Mr Humphries."
Humphries then hurriedly agreed but Cordelia said no to him. She didn't trust him to stay silent.
"Soldiers. Arrest this woman," Humphries said.
"Mr Humphries," said the older man, "this is not necessary. Soldiers, lower your weapons." Cordelia noticed that the weapons went down much faster than they had come up to point at her. That gave her the moment she needed. Bower and Spencer were already inside, with their belongings, so she hopped into the STAR and closed the hatch.
"What about Mr Humphries?" Mr Bower asked.
"He will stay here," Cordelia said. "Now. Please sit down there. You will experience many strange things. One of them is a voice in the machine. Norbert, do you know a place called Panna, in..."
"Madhya Pradesh," Mr Spencer helped her out. The coordinates as well as a map appeared on the screen in front of Cordelia.
"Is there a place where we can arrive without being seen?" The coordinates shifted slightly.
"We will arrive in the jungle, not far from Panna," Norbert said. His voice made the two men jump up and look around. Cordelia told them to sit down and assured them this was normal inside the STAR. A few sounds came from outside. "They are shooting at us," Norbert clarified the sounds.
"Time to go then." Cordelia copied the coordinates, adjusted the time-shift lever and pressed "Go".
~
The transfer to India took fifteen seconds.
The two passengers were confused when Cordelia said they had arrived, because in their reality - until now - this kind of journey would take days, not seconds, but after she had opened the door, the men knew they were indeed in India.
"I suggest you unload your luggage and then find your way to Panna," she suggested. "I'll stay here with your luggage until someone comes to pick it up." She had a look at the screen and pointed in a direction. "If you go that way, you will reach a road. Turn left and from there it will be a quick walk to Panna."
"This is... remarkable," Mr Bower said as he bent down to pick up the first large suitcase with his colleague.
"It is indeed, dear Bower," Mr Spencer agreed as they hauled the semi-chest outside. Soon the other one was unloaded as well. The men, already sweating as they weren't dressed for this climate, promised to return with someone to collect the luggage. Cordelia watched them work their way through the jungle. She was impressed with the two. She had expected much more drama over all of this, but these men had a mission and they were going to get the job done.
It took less than twenty minutes for Mr Bower to return with a few men who came to pick up the suitcases. The Indian men stared at the STAR and also at Cordelia in one of her new jumpsuits but Bower made them work and soon the men had dragged the luggage to a cart that was waiting on the road.
"Our gratitude, Miss Lexington," said Mr Bower, "for this amazing experience. You can trust that this magnificent machine's secret is safe with us."
Cordelia thanked him and she knew he was telling the truth. "Good luck getting your business in order here, sir."
"We shall. Long live the Queen." The man raised his hat and walked off. Hat in hand. Very smart.
Cordelia closed the hatch and wondered if she should get back to Location C to report on the delivery. Her quick departure after the shooting hadn't covered that part of the task, so she decided to go there, just to be certain. She quickly set the coordinates for the cellar and left the sweltering humidity of India. After a quick visit to an empty cellar, she returned home. The visit to Madhya Pradesh had left her feeling sticky. It made her need a bath and only after that she felt presentable.
With a cup of tea and something to eat in hand, she parked herself on the couch and sighed. David should be sitting next to her. After eating she would go to March 2199 and get him.
As she ate, she thought about the visit of Agent Hendrix and the death of his partner, Agent Parker. Was that man really dead? Because of the bounty-hunter? Would Mrs Orwald know more about that? As she considered all those things, her mind changed. She wouldn't go to rescue David just yet. He'd be saved anyway. First she had to have this talk with Mrs Orwald.
Cordelia went through her extensive wardrobe and picked something that wouldn't make her stand out in 1995. She muttered as her injured arm made it hard to change clothes. Before putting on her 1995 outfit she checked her arm. The bandage was still clean. Good enough for another trip. Another day.
"Norbert, how are we on energy," she asked as she entered the STAR again.
"Sufficient for now," was the answer.
"Good." She slipped into the seat again. She'd spent a lot of time here lately, she realised, as she set the temporal and location coordinates for New York.
It wasn't hard to find an abandoned warehouse from where she could take a public transport unit called taxi. The driver took her as close to the World Trade Center as possible. She thanked him, paid with the local version of money and walked to her destination. She was early, as usual. She didn't want any surprises. In her shoulder bag she had the small gun that Agent Hendrix had left with her. It was the little things that counted, she knew.