"This does not look good," Agent Hendrix said in the dark. "I'm not tied up that well. I'm sure I can free myself if I have enough time."
"We have to be quiet," Cordelia said. "The STAR is airtight and it's not operational. Talking uses up all our air too fast."
"But..."
"Quiet. I know something you don't."
"What?"
"Ssst." Cordelia had to keep them quiet.
Time crawled by, while the agent or Marybeth would occasionally make a short comment. The temperature inside the STAR was going up, with the three bodies inside, and breathing slowly became hard work.
Suddenly there was the sound she'd been waiting for. A screeching sound came from outside and something heavy fell on the floor. There was some fiddling at the hatch, which then opened. Someone with a light looked inside. "Thank goodness, I guessed right," the woman said as she put something on the floor. "Wait one minute, then get the hell out of here." The light vanished and muffled footsteps told everyone that the woman was running off.
"Yeah, you guessed right," Cordelia sighed, glad that the door was open and that air was flowing inside again. "There's a light on the floor, and a knife. Agent Hendrix, you're closest to them, do you think you can get us free?"
"Cordelia..." Marybeth sounded confused. "Was that you?"
"Yes. It was. Remember that I hurried off to do something? That was this. I wanted to make sure we'd be fine here, and a good thing I did."
"But..." Marybeth was even more confused. "You can't be twice in one place. Everyone says so."
"Everyone's wrong. I have proven that it's possible. And not just now; I did that a few times already. I think we should move out now." Cordelia wanted to leave this place as quickly as possible. They pushed through the two openings and were glad their own STAR was still there. Cordelia assumed the three bad ones had not given themselves the time to look for it; they just wanted to get away as fast as they could.
"Back to the factory floor, sometime around eight in the evening," Marybeth said. "That is where Harlow is. The factory will be closed then, and he might be able to trace the remaining two STARs so we can go after them again."
Cordelia laid in the coordinates and told Keisha, the system intelligence, to get them there. She really missed the "Go"-button.
~
Their arrival didn't go the way they had hoped. As soon as the STAR had arrived, they saw the bounty-hunter on one of the monitors. A moment later someone yanked open the door to the interior. It was Leo, holding a gun that looked preposterous in his small hands.
"Get out," Leo commanded the three. "Yeah, you too, Marybeth. We're not done with you."
As soon as they had left the STAR, the bounty-hunter pointed her weapons at the three. Merana, keeping a safe distance, shook her head.
"Thank you for showing us that little trick, Cordy," she said. "Very convenient to know it's safe to be in one place twice." She waved a hand. To Cordelia's shock a second bounty-hunter came from behind one of the STARs in the factory hall. This was very bad.
"I love this," one of the bounty-hunters said. "I'm in so fucking much control right now and I can shoot two of you at the same time."
"And it's about to get better," Leo cried out, pointing his gun in the air.
"No, it's not." Those words from Hendrix were accompanied by two shots. Merana and Leo, and even the bounty-hunter, had forgotten to check them for weapons, and Hendrix had one of those tiny guns in his pocket. Leo's gun dropped to the floor as the young man screamed and grabbed his shoulder. One of the two bounty-hunters also went down. Hendrix had shot her in the arm that held the gun, so now there was only one more bounty-hunter to deal with.
"Oh no, you don't." Again that rough voice. Cordelia gasped for air when a third bounty-hunter appeared, who pointed her gun at Hendrix.
"It will be a delight to shoot you twice," the first bounty-hunter said as she lifted her gun.
This was all wrong, Cordelia thought as she panicked and tried to think of a way out of this.
"Blllrrrr..." The third bounty-hunter dropped her gun and grabbed her head. The first one also dropped her weapon and did the same, while the one on the ground tried to mimic the movement with only one arm.
"What's happening?" Leo screamed as he watched the scene. Cordelia saw her opportunity and jumped into the STAR, to emerge with the Skreller-gun mere moments later. At least now the odds were better.
All three bounty-hunters were now down on the floor, writhing in a silent agony. One after the other had little explosions where their cyborg electronics were implanted. Everyone watched what happened in horror when the three cyborgs started to dissipate, as if they were made of vapour that got sucked away.
"What..." Leo stared at his sister, ignoring the blood seeping through his fingers. "What happened?"
"I don't know, you idiot," Merana snapped at him. "Grab your gun and shoot them!"
By that time Cordelia had walked up to Merana and pushed the barrel of the Skreller-gun into the woman's stomach.
"I wouldn't repeat that, Merana," she said. "Agent Hendrix has his sights on your dear brother. And now you are going to tell me why you sent this bounty-hunter after me."
"I'm telling you nothing," Merana said. "You aren't going to shoot me. I'm the heir to this whole company once Marybeth is taken care of."
"And who is going to take care of me?" the woman in question asked as she came closer.
"I will!" Merana grabbed the Skeller-gun and pulled. An instant later she was dead, because Cordelia had had her finger on the trigger, and Merana's pulling had made her fire the gun.
"Jesus!" Cordelia jumped back from the falling figure. "I didn't want that!"
"You killed her!" Leo screamed as he charged at Cordelia. Hendrix fired, hitting Leo in a leg, making him go down hard and falling on top of his dead sister. "No! Merana! You can't die on me! I need you, you know that!" Leo wailed as she didn't move or say anything.
"Mrs Orwald!" Harlow and two security guards stormed into the factory hall. "What..." The men slowed down as they saw the two on the floor and the big gun in Cordelia's hand.
"It's quite all right, Harlow," said Marybeth. "We will need an ambulance for Leo and it looks like a coroner for Merana." She was remarkably calm after all that had happened. Only at that moment did Cordelia notice she was still holding the Skreller-gun. Quickly she switched it off, before someone else got hurt. Or died!
"Would anyone know what happened to the bounty-hunter?" Cordelia asked. Neither Marybeth nor Agent Hendrix dared to guess.
"Miss Brown, if you would please leave the factory hall," Harlow said as he took the Skreller-gun from her hands. At first she wanted to object, but then recalled that the other one was still safely locked away in 'her' STAR.
Cordelia walked out with Marybeth and the agent. Marybeth assured her that everything would be dealt with in the best possible way. "We'll go back to my home, where you can visit your friend."
Friend. Cordelia's heart jumped as she thought of David. Yes, she had to see him.
On the way to the house, Cordelia still wondered why Merana and Leo had come after her. It didn't make any sense. "They were always kind, even though I always thought Leo to be a bit weird."
"Only a bit?" Marybeth shook her head. "He is insane, I would say, and until recently he only was like that innocently. Going after you, holding guns and recruiting a bounty-hunter moved him into an entirely different category of insane. The dangerous kind." She promised to find out as soon as Leo was able to be talked to. Which probably would be done by the arm of the law.
Cordelia nodded and felt tired. This had been a very strange day, filled with jumps and dangers. And now it was all over. Now she was going to David and see him. And perhaps eat something. And sleep. She felt she needed that.
~
"Hey, you there," Cordelia said, standing in the door-opening. David looked a lot better.
"Hello, you." He sat up and groaned a bit. "How are things going with the hunt?" He looked serious. Cordelia walked over to the bed and hugged him carefully.
"The hunt is over."
"What?"
Cordelia sat down on the bed and told him everything that had happened. "And now I am here and happy to see you." The thought of getting something to eat had already vanished. All she wanted to do was curl up next to him and drift to sleep with his arm around her.
"That's... quite a story." David too wondered what had happened to the bounty-hunter. He was shocked about what Merana and Leo had done. "I'm so glad you aren't hurt, Cordelia." He pulled her against him. "And what happens now?"
"I'm not sure. Leo will be patched up and he'll have to appear in court. We have video footage of almost everything. Even from what happened in the pyramid. Agent Hendrix has a camera hidden in his clothes." The man had told her about it on the way to this house. It would be invaluable proof against the two. "We'll have to be here until that happens, which shouldn't be too long."
"And after that?" David sounded a bit worried. "If everything is well again? Do you want to stay here?"
Cordelia sat up and looked at him. "I've really considered that, David. With Marybeth offering me that position... the one I always wanted." Again a wave of uncertainty washed over her. That job was really tempting - but David didn't belong here. She knew he'd be miserable here. Slowly she took one of his hands in hers. "What would you want?"
"I want you to be happy, Cordelia. I want us to be happy."
She wanted that too. Happy. Together. "I doubt you can be happy here, David," she then confessed. "This is a world that's so alien to you."
"I can learn all that," he said, smiling at her. "You can teach me." She admired his confidence but she knew she couldn't ask this of him. It would take him years, if he would actually get where he would need to be. And then he would have to find something to do. Learn a trade.
"It's late, David," she said. "I think we need some sleep first. Let's talk about this tomorrow, can we?"
"Of course." David held her hand for a moment longer. "Don't make any rushed decisions, okay?"
"I promise."
~
The following days they had hardly time to talk. Cordelia's time was mostly taken up by the police, who wanted to know everything that had happened to her since she'd 'disappeared' with a STAR unit. Everything was recorded and would be used in the court-case against Leo Branson, whose injuries proved to be a lot less than everyone had assumed at first. Within four days he had been released from hospital and transferred to a prison cell.
David was able to get up and move around without pain, so he accompanied Cordelia to as many places as he was allowed to. He was a special case in all this, because he was quite heavily involved but he wasn't a member of this time-space. Cordelia learnt that the law-makers were still struggling with such things. That was hardly surprising.
One day they got permission to see Leo. Marybeth would be with them, as would Agent Hendrix and a police-officer.
Leo looked very small in his cell. David was surprised to see nothing but a thin, plastic wall around the man.
"Don't underestimate this, David," Cordelia said. "That wall can withstand the blast of a Skreller-gun."
"And more," the policeman said.
"What do you want!" Leo ran up to the screen and threw himself against it. "Are you here to gloat? Stare at the man in the cell? Hell, if Merana was still here..."
"Leo. Be quiet." Marybeth stared at him, making him back away. "We want to know why you two did this. You are going to tell it one way or the other, so you might as well spare yourself the after-effects of the drugs and tell us now."
"Drugs?" David asked.
"Yes. If someone doesn't cooperate freely, certain drugs will be administered to make the defendant speak the truth. They are quite harmless and very efficient. The only disadvantage is that, afterward, the 'user' will go through several days of withdrawal symptoms."
"Oh."
"Your chemicals don't scare me," Leo said, now from what he considered a safe distance. "But I'll tell you. It is her fault." He pointed at Cordelia.
"My fault?" Cordelia hadn't expected that. "What did I do to you and Merana?"
"As if you don't know!" Leo started yelling again. "You, with your clever attitude. Getting the job Merana wanted. Then getting the better position that Merana wanted, at the team that works on improving the STARs. Every time you did something to make her look bad and stupid!"
Marybeth laughed. "Merana wanted to work in the factory? That is new for me. Merana was a spoilt person who seemed happy enough never having to work. She had everything she could want and so did you."
"No, of course not!" Leo walked up to the plastic screen again and hit it. "She wanted the position. She wanted people to look up to her for that. For having that position. So people knew she was as smart as she said she was."
"Oh, yes. She was very good at that," Marybeth agreed. "She wasn't so smart but she wanted everyone to believe she was." She looked at Cordelia. "Did you ever have any trouble with her? Did you give her a reason for that?"
Cordelia tried to recall every instant she had gotten into an argument with Merana. There were quite a few. "And most of them were about the factory and the work," she recalled, "but just about everything she said was so dumb..." "Merana wasn't dumb!" Leo screamed. "She was my sister and I loved her and she... was... not... dumb!" He emphasised his words by banging on the screen.
"I'm sorry, Leo, but she didn't know the first thing about time-movement physics and about the quantum tech that is behind it." Cordelia was stunned by the words of this man.
"And you do?" Leo banged his fists against the wall, making Cordelia step away even though she knew he'd never get through it. "As if you're so brilliant. You are nothing. Merana was Branson's sister; she deserved that job! And you killed him three years ago, and now you killed Merana too! I loved her so much..." Leo sank to the ground, reducing himself to a ball of self-pity.
The police-officer came closer. "I think this was enough," he said, pointing at a small device on his shoulder. Leo's confession had been recorded. That would make the proceedings very easy, Cordelia knew, because Agent Hendrix had filmed her and Merana, and the way Merana had accidentally killed herself by trying to grab the Skreller-gun from Cordelia's hands.
The visitors left the cell. Once outside, Marybeth asked what Cordelia and David wanted to do. "Remember," she said to Cordelia. "The offer for the position still isn't filled. It's yours if you want it."
"You should take it," David said. "You told me how much you want it."
Cordelia took a deep breath. "I know, and I've been giving this a lot of thought. It's tempting..." She took one of his hands. "But you are more so, and I know your place isn't here. It's in the end of the nineteenth century. And since my place is with you, that settles it. And by the way," she said, raising a hand as he wanted to talk, "we still have lots of things waiting for pick-up all through time."
David looked at her and smiled. "Your notebook," he said. "I think I understand your reasoning."
Cordelia turned to Marybeth. "Give the position to someone who belongs here. Who can throw his or her heart into it like I threw mine into David's hands. There's just one thing I would like to ask."
"Which is?"
"Could you have my STAR fixed so it's fully functional? I'm sick and tired of getting into a space-suit each time it has to recharge."
Marybeth looked surprised about that request and asked about the space-suit. "I see. Too bad about the job. You're perfect for it. But I will find another perfect person." She hugged Cordelia carefully. "And of course we can upgrade that STAR model. If you want, you can pick another one instead."
"Thanks, but I think we'd both miss Norbert."
~
A week later, David and Cordelia set the coordinates for her home.
"You press it," she said.
"No. You press it."
"Let's do it together then."
Two fingers pressed the "Go"-button and the STAR disappeared from the factory-floor.