“Bullshit.”
The smile faded from Tolian Gryffin’s face immediately. He was unfamiliar with the human profanity, but the tone of its delivery told him all he needed to know. Admiral Harry Ransome was calling him a liar.
“You should be careful Admiral. You’re not amongst friends now. And you’re a long way from home. If you choose to question someone’s honour, you should be prepared to test that notion.”
Harry downed his third glass of something the bartender had called Monster Blood, and grimaced at the strength behind it, before looking Gryffin right in the eyes.
“You’re telling me, that there is some magical and mystical phenomenon on the edge of known space that can somehow transport anyone who enters it, back through time? And not only that, but it has the god-like ability to figure out when you were happiest in your lifetime, and dump you out of said time travel at just the right moment? I think you’ve been drinking too much of this ‘whatever-the-fuck’ it’s called, my large green friend.”
Harry motioned to stand, but the effects of the alcohol forced him to appear to change his mind, and sit back down again. Not wishing to appear foolish, he attempted to continue the conversation.
“And just how exactly do you know about this?”
Gryffin saw that he had, through one method or another, gained at least a small percentage of Harry’s attention. Now it was time for the hard sell.
“I know, because I’ve been there.”
Harry made a dismissive gesture, but Gryffin saw there was something in his eyes that betrayed his true feelings. He needed to know more. Whether he would use that to ultimately dismiss the idea, or use it to convince himself to embrace it, only time would tell.
“But you’re still here.”
Gryffin nodded.
“It may surprise you to know Admiral, but I am the happiest I have ever been, right here, running all of this.”
He gestured around him at the corroding pipework, groaning doors and filthy floors of the bar they were currently sat in.
“Here? In this, and forgive me for being so blunt but, shithole?”
Gryffin laughed a hearty belly laugh.
“You think this is a shithole? My friend you have no idea.”
Although the line was delivered in a jocular fashion, those last four words were tinged with menace. Harry felt as though Gryffin had essentially told him to fuck around and find out. He decided while he focused on overcoming the effects of the Monster Blood liquor, he would try and absorb whatever notions Gryffin was about to bestow on him.
“I travelled there with a small crew. There were nine of us altogether. We had heard the rumours, but I, like you, was dismissive. For me, it was more a scouting mission for raw materials, and anything new we may find in the area. At that point, the Saraswathi System was practically uncharted. But there it was. A huge great red and violet energy nebula. We travelled along its outer edge for two days and still failed to make it to the centre of its perimeter. There were no signs of anything we could scavenge, and no nearby moons or planets to trade with. What there were, however, were incredibly high levels of tachyons.”
Now that was a word that captured Harry’s attention. Tachyons only meant one thing, and until this very moment, they were deemed to be theoretical.
“Tachyons… as in…”
“Time travel, Admiral, yes.”
Harry blew out his cheeks but despite the new information, he remained sceptical. However, that scepticism was not as deep rooted as it had been at the start of this conversation.
“But you’re still here, which means you didn’t go in. So how do you know the rumours were true?”
Gryffin downed his own glass of liquor, and gestured for another from the barman.
“There was a man among my crew who had encountered a species at our previous port of repairs. I believe you may have heard of them. Darla.”
Harry felt every fibre of his being sober up instantaneously. He knew the Darla alright. And boy did they know him.
“I see I am correct. My crewman spent the night in a bar very much like this, discussing this Horizon phenomenon with the Darla male. He was the one who insisted we explore it at once. I suspected that there had been some kind fo mental manipulation from this Darla, because this man who I had served with for almost a decade, was not one to make rash decisions. In the space of a few hours, his personality was mutated into some kind of desperate creature. When we reached the Horizon, and I refused to enter, he shot three of my crew, drove a blade through my stomach, and launched an escape pod into the Horizon.”
Harry glanced down to where Gryffin’s hand was stroking a large scar on his abdomen, visible through a gap in the material.
“Your man, did you ever see him again?”
Gryffin smiled and nodded as the bartender brought over another two glasses.
“He’s pouring your next drink.”
Harry stopped reaching towards the glass, and looked up at the bartender who was now smiling at him, taking some sort of perverse pleasure in pulling the surprise on the human Admiral.
“Pleasure to meet you Admiral,” spoke the bartender. “My name is Sunyi Kamen.”
Harry was unsure of where to look. Clearly the bartender was not living what Harry would call his happiest moment. How could he be? He felt as though this was a hugely elaborate hoax and he was the punchline of a joke. Hazing for the new species in town. But Gryffin’s voice lowered and the smiles faded.
“You see Admiral, Sunyi here went into the Horizon. He found himself twenty years earlier, standing at the bedside of his no longer deceased wife, precisely five minutes after the birth of their daughter. He had returned to his happiest moment. And now, twenty years later, he found me and told me all about it.”
“And his family?”
“Living happily on a nearby ocean moon. Sunyi takes the transport home to them every night. So you see Admiral, the Horizon is real. It allowed Sunyi here to save his wife and child from their brutal murder at the hands of thieves a decade ago. An event which he had previously been off-world for. Now what would you do with a power like that, hmm?”
Harry felt as though his brain was going to melt. This was impossible. There was no way that anything like this could exist, let alone have provided him with a living breathing example. No, this was still feeling like a cruel joke to him. But it did force him to think long and hard about when he had indeed been at his happiest. Could he even remember it? So much pain and strife and war had burned through his fairly short lifetime. But then he thought of her. The day Harry met his wife for the first time. Annette had been assigned to escort Harry around the opening of the new shipyard in southern Spain. Ultimately, of course, this would be the very place which constructed the Odyssey, but back then it was to be used for smaller, interstellar craft to ferry supplies to and from the colonies on both Mars and Jupiter. He had fallen for her immediately. Her laid back approach to the rules, telling him shortcuts to get around the red tape of getting decisions made. She knew a considerable amount of information for someone who was merely a low level clerical officer. That was the moment that he knew, should this Horizon exist, and he were to enter it, that he would find himself at once more.
But he couldn’t indulge it. He had seen too much, learned too much and experienced the harsh truth of reality to lose himself in fantasy. There was already too much at stake. It wouldn’t help him save the Earth. Even when he and Annette first met, the planet was already doomed, it had simply started more slowly than the rate it was currently decaying. There was far more at stake, and he couldn’t afford to deviate from his plan. Find a new home for his people, track down his attackers, and get as far away from Drusilla as possible.
“I’m sorry Mr Gryffin, but I just don’t believe such a place can exist. Thank you for your hospitality, and I bid you a good day.”
Gryffin did not appear disappointed as Harry approached the entrance to the bar. In fact, he was rather pleased with how the conversation had gone. Harry, suddenly remembered through the fog of the alcohol and the sensational conversation he had just had, that there was one unfinished piece of business.
“Mr Gryffin, how did you know my name?”
Gryffin stood and towered over his apparent time-travelling barman, and glared intensely at Harry.
“I believe we have a mutual friend.”
Harry did not need to ask any further details. He knew who this mutual friend was. And he suspected she had a long mane of blue hair. That was all he needed to move his legs forward. His mind was set. Finish the repairs, gather the supplies, and get the fuck away from this place as fast as the star drive would carry them.
Moments after Harry exited the bar, Gryffin did the same. Having watched her commanding officer and his new associate throughout their conversation, Kelly thought she would be erring on the side of the Admiral. The side of logic. The side of common sense. And yet her thoughts drifted back to those of her father. Killed during the first offensive on Mars. She thought back to the week before when she had revealed to him that she had been accepted into the academy and how proud he was of her. The weekend that they spent together training alone in the forests of Yellowstone national park. That was the happiest time of her life. She could change his mind about leaving for Mars. She was the one who had ushered him out the door when he was reluctant to go. And he had never come back. But this time, this time would be different. And with that thought in mind, Commander Kelly Dresden stood up from the booth in the dark corner of the bar, and headed over towards Sunyi.
“Another round Miss?” he enquired.
Kelly shook her head.
“Tell me everything you know about this Horizon.”
Just outside the entrance of the bar, Tolian Gryffin glanced back inside at the Commander, and smiled.
“Mission accomplished.”