22

After two hours, they had reached the landing pad at the end of one of the tunnels five miles from the control chamber. Evaran sat in the front of the maintenance drone, while Levaran sat between Emily and a fidgeting Dr. Snowden.

It was a tight fit, and the strength of Levaran’s legs against Dr. Snowden’s surprised him. He had never really touched Evaran other than shaking his hand or clasping his shoulder, but Levaran’s leg felt like a coil full of muscle. Other than a hug, he had never been this close for an extended period of time. He caught Emily grinning a few times when he moved around.

The inside of the drone was dimly lit by all the consoles and screens.

He had his helmet down, so he was aware of the metallic smell along with something sweet punctuating it. He ran a hand along the back of his neck as the drone lurched off the top of the Torvatta and onto the empty landing pad. The screens showed a full view around the drone, giving him an excellent chance to study where they were.

The landing pad they were on looked like someone had grabbed a rectangular piece of metal and jabbed it into the metallic paneled wall at the end of the tunnel. A smaller tunnel stood out ahead of them. The only illumination came from small embedded lights along the sides.

There was a mist present, but he figured maybe it was steam or something.

“We are off,” said Evaran.

The inside of the drone shuddered as it moved.

“Bumpy ride,” said Emily.

“It will bob as we go, but I have added some shock absorbers to help smooth it out,” said Evaran.

Dr. Snowden moved around on the couch as they approached the entrance. It resembled a gaping mouth, but he knew that was his mind playing tricks on him.

“Relax,” said Levaran, laying a hand on his arm. “We will know here shortly if there’s a problem.”

Dr. Snowden gulped. “I guess better early than later.”

Levaran nodded.

As they entered the smaller tunnel, he noted that it had a ribbed pattern.

Metallic beams with elaborate designs formed an arc with a mesh-like pattern between them. The lighting had an orange tint to it, causing the hallway to look like there was a fire somewhere in the distance.

The small flying drones caught his attention. Unlike the other Time Wardens he had seen up to this point, these had a smaller body split into several parts, with tentacles hanging down. Each end of the body had a tentacle that resembled a scorpion stinger. He figured that whatever the light-blue glow was on the underside was what kept it in the air, similar to what V had. The Time Warden reminded him of a metallic wasp without the wings.

When the first Time Warden soldier crossed their path, one of the interior screens lit up.

Although Dr. Snowden saw unusual symbols, he knew what they meant. It was an issued challenge.

“Just a routine ping,” said Evaran. He tapped at the console, and the other Time Warden continued on. “I gave it a routine reply. It appears to have been accepted.”

“How do you know what answer it was looking for? I thought the data was purged on death?” asked Dr. Snowden.

Evaran turned his head halfway around. “From the data I mined at the facility in our universe. I was not sure if it would work here, but it appears it has.”

Dr. Snowden’s eyes widened. “You weren’t sure?”

Evaran turned back around. “There was a high probability it would work. If V were here, he could give you an exact percentage, but I would say it was in the nineties.”

“Oh,” said Dr. Snowden. He continued to study the screens as they strutted along the corridor.

Several other Time Warden soldiers passed by and issued the same ping.

When they came to a four-way cross, they paused for a moment.

“There should be access stations with information dotted throughout. Not all will be occupied. They are usually off to the sides, so we will try the left side,” said Evaran.

Dr. Snowden watched the front screen as the drone turned and headed left. The lighting seemed to be a bit more reddish in color, and he noticed that there were small open holes near the ceiling.

Emily pointed at one of the holes. “I remember those. We saw them in the facility that held Levaran.”

Levaran nodded. “Quick access tunnels. Soldiers can crawl through them to an area as needed. They also have maintenance controls in there, and although we could access that, being caught inside wouldn’t be good. Not a lot of room to maneuver.”

“Gotcha,” said Emily.

After twenty minutes of crawling around in the drone, they came upon an enclosed side room with an arched doorway. Evaran piloted the drone into the room.

Dr. Snowden noted that the room had ribbed walls like the tunnels outside, except that between each one was a screen embedded into the wall. Below them were several circular ports.

When Evaran placed the drone’s claw into one of the ports, he leaned back a bit as he studied the flow of information that appeared on the interior screens. Levaran handed Evaran her UIC, and along with Evaran’s, they lit up when placed on the console.

Dr. Snowden understood that they were downloading data on the Time Wardens. His skin crawled when another maintenance drone joined them in the enclosure.

The routine ping came through, and Evaran sent back an answer. After a tense moment, the all clear was given by Evaran.

Dr. Snowden realized that the exterior screen was showing the same statistics and metrics as it had before. It stood in contrast to the stream of data flying over the interior screens. He gestured forward. “Find anything interesting?”

“I have,” said Evaran. He spun around in his chair. “There are approximately eight thousand Time Wardens in this timeplex. In our universe, there were four hundred. That is a significant increase. It also appears that they are evolving. There are several new Time Warden types I have not seen before, and it looks like there are some organic hybrids they are testing.”

“Abominations,” said Levaran. “That would give them a foothold that doesn’t require the external requirements of a Time Warden suit.”

Evaran nodded. “This would greatly increase the reproductive aspect and their numbers. Being native to the universe has many advantages that they currently cannot enjoy. The biggest being that they cease to exist in the timeline when exposed to it.”

“How close are they to becoming semiorganic?” asked Emily.

“Still a bit away, based on what I am seeing,” said Evaran. “However, they have time on their side and, due to the time period they are in, no enemies. Although they would be a power player wherever they go, the universe is large, and filled with powerful races and beings. Since Levaran would interact with rifts more than others, she would encounter them on a more frequent basis.”

“Anchor stations would be easy to clear, but if they had planets full of these organic hybrids, that might be a bit more difficult to deal with,” said Levaran.

“Couldn’t you go back to the point when the planet was being populated and stop it?” asked Dr. Snowden.

Levaran shook her head. “The Time Wardens are time aware. If I were to do that while the timeplex was active, they would just take the rift nearest to that point and then fight me. However, I might be able to do that to some planets. Depends on the web of connections the Time Wardens have weaved.”

“Oh,” said Dr. Snowden.

Evaran spun back around to the front. He tilted his head while studying one of the screens. “Intriguing. We are now downloading the list of species and beings they have encountered, along with their threat assessment. There are some here I have not heard of before.”

“I assume the highest threats are the ones they lost to,” said Dr. Snowden.

Evaran nodded. “The top ones include the Geneers, a machine race that wiped them out in the far future. There is also mention of several beings who have given them trouble.” He rubbed his chin. “That could bear further investigation on my part in our universe.”

Levaran eyed Evaran. “You’re thinking of immortals.”

“I am,” said Evaran. “The Time Wardens would be no match for one, depending on what form it took.”

“Are these the same immortals from that other plane system? I forgot its name,” said Emily.

“You are referring to Druuzgortatares, the plane system of the immortals. That is what I was thinking of. Inside this plane, they would have a plane form similar to me and Levaran. An immortal can only be expelled.”

“Like the Hadryn, right?” asked Dr. Snowden. He recalled that the overlord had been more than a match for Evaran.

Evaran nodded. “They share similar traits. Immortals are quite devious. However, not all are bad.” He narrowed his eyes. “The Time Wardens have not expanded much into the Milky Way, it seems. The rift endings are contested there.”

Emily snorted. “I’m sure the Kreagan Star Empire wouldn’t let them expand if it found any.”

“Probably not,” said Evaran. “However, there are two other end points at different times. Intriguing. I do not believe these exist in our universe, but worth checking out at some point.”

Levaran grinned. “It’s high priority on my list to check out.”

Dr. Snowden noted that Levaran was spoiling for a fight with the Time Wardens. Where Evaran was cautious, Levaran was more gung ho. Of course the strength disparity might be a contributing factor. “I assume Emily and I can check out the data when we’re back on the Torvatta?”

“Of course,” said Evaran. “It would be a good primer on what exists. You can compare it to what I gathered from our universe.”

“Excellent,” said Dr. Snowden as his eyes lit up. He imagined days in the holo room conjuring up locations and the species and beings that the Time Wardens had run into. It was one of the highlights, learning about these types of things at a high level.

After another ten minutes, Evaran pulled off the UICs. He handed Levaran’s UIC back to her. “That took a bit longer than I expected, but we have the full data dump. We should move from here, as I suspect the security system has detected this.”

Evaran detached the drone’s arm from the circular port and maneuvered the drone out of the side room. They headed back the way they had come, and when they arrived at the four-way intersection that they had encountered before, they took a left toward the control chamber.

Dr. Snowden’s mind wandered as they continued on. He saw several packs of soldiers hustling past them. The sense that the facility was under a higher alert pervaded him. Maybe getting the data was something they could have done afterward. Then again, if they had to fight in the control chamber, they might not have had the time. It seemed this was a calculation that Evaran had made. According to the distance metric displayed on the screens, they still had about four miles to go. He hoped it would be without incident.

Emily cracked her back as the drone lumbered along. Although she was trying to appear strong, the thought of fighting another Time Warden predator without having trained for it ate at her. Training as hard as she had, only to be taken out so easily was not something she could simply forget. Levaran would have probably knocked a predator all around, but even she had limits when stung multiple times.

“Somebody’s mind is somewhere else,” said Dr. Snowden with a smile.

“Just focusing on the control chamber and when we get there,” she said.

“We are almost there,” said Evaran.

Emily nodded. It had taken them about two hours to go four miles. She knew this was the safer route, but the anxiety of getting inside the control chamber was beginning to build. While she was getting used to having some unknowns, the Time Wardens were an unknown that could punish with severity. There was not much on their way in, other than Time Warden soldiers and a few of the flying drones. Looking at her PSD, she saw it was around 11:45 p.m. Although she knew she should be tired, her adrenaline and nanobots were fueling her.

They arrived at the large arched doorway into the control chamber.

She scooted to the edge of the couch. The elaborate gold markings on the border were punctuated by metallic vines. Scanners near the top had a continuous set of beams sweeping the entrance. A new type of Time Warden stood at each side of the door.

They stood out to her because unlike the others, these had defined legs like a quadruped and also a body on top. Two towers stood on their backs, with a plethora of thick tentacles swirling around. The sturdier legs gave the appearance that they could support more weight than just the tentacles she had seen on the others. They could probably move faster too.

“And … what type are those?” asked Dr. Snowden.

“According to the data we retrieved, they are Time Warden guards. Highly specialized for defense and stationed at critical points,” said Evaran.

Emily nodded. “They look tough.”

“Perhaps physically, but they do not have paralyzing toxins. They rely on their shielding and also brute force. Although they can shoot energy beams, I suspect they are meant to tear their victims up,” said Evaran.

“Oh, that’s great,” said Dr. Snowden, smirking.

The scanners shot a beam over the drone they were in.

Emily tensed up.

Levaran laid a hand on Emily’s leg and smiled. “Relax. Those beams will register us as a regular maintenance drone.”

Emily nodded. “I’m cool. I was just thinking if we have to fight those guards, what the best approach would be. I haven’t trained against them yet.”

“Understandable,” said Levaran. “Your mist and stun beam combo should take out their shields. Then use the sticky beam to tie them up, or shoot another mist and stun beam combo to disable them.”

“Two combo shots or one combo and a sticky. Got it,” said Emily.

“Yeah … If it comes down to it, I’ll follow suit. Going toe to toe with that thing in close quarters is a no go for me,” said Dr. Snowden.

Emily’s eyes widened as they passed through the arched doorway.

The massive room they were in had pillars that stood equidistant throughout, with large spaces between them. In the middle of the room was a purple beam that shot from the ceiling straight through to the floor. Large, circular, raised edges marked where a semitransparent shielding covered the beam. Various small tubes ran off the shielding and to the walls.

The light emitted made her squint.

“That’s the connection?” asked Dr. Snowden, raising his hand over his eyes.

Evaran tapped at the console, causing the screens to dim. “You are correct. The center is pure timeline energy. The magnetic shielding around it keeps it contained, and the tubes running off split it into various buffers, which allows them to dilute it enough to be of use to them.” He pointed at the far wall. “The command interface is there.”

Emily wrinkled her eyebrows as she pointed at the large sphere embedded above the command interface. “What is that?”

“The Time Warden commander,” said Levaran. “It is interfaced into every system. If we need to get a command claw from it, we will need to have it come out.”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” said Dr. Snowden.

Evaran nodded. “I concur. I am going to head in that direction and interface with a few maintenance nodes to appear as if we are doing a routine check.”

“Sounds good,” said Emily. She watched with rapture as soldiers passed between the other two doorways in the room. There were other maintenance drones milling about and guards at each doorway. It surprised her that the room was not heavily secured, but she figured not many would make it this far. With that thought in mind, she said, “The Hoxscarus could rip through this place.”

“They could,” said Levaran, raising a finger, “but I sent them away. They were not meant to be involved in the plane outside their ascension.”

“They were, though,” said Dr. Snowden. “We saw it with the matter mages here, and in our universe when we met one.”

Evaran turned his head to the side. “It seems I told them to do some of it, although as Levaran mentioned, I would be against it and limit it if I could. However, that knowledge they gain from me is from a future event that I am involved in and is part of the time loop. Those should be the only instances we see them, unless we go outside the plane.”

“I understand, although I’m with Emily on this one. The Hoxscarus would make this place Swiss cheese,” said Dr. Snowden.

“We are with the Hoxscarus, in some regard,” said Levaran, raising her head a bit.

Emily grinned at Dr. Snowden.

When they worked their way around near the command interface, they paused. In front of the circular command port was a guard.

Evaran rubbed his chin. “Hmm, this could be tricky.” He tapped at the console.

The drone ducked off to a side room that had an open entrance. Once it was inside the room, Evaran moved it over to the farthest spot out of the line of sight of any Time Warden.

“I will need to go out there with the command interface claw. Emily, we will need your camouflage,” said Evaran.

Emily nodded. “How do we want to do this?”

“You can ride my back.”

“Got it.”

Dr. Snowden shook his head. “This is nuts.”

“We can do it,” said Emily, squeezing Dr. Snowden’s arm.

“Well, as a side note, we should probably think about adding camouflage to my and Evaran’s suits. Then you don’t need back riding.”

“It has moved up in priority on my list of things to do,” said Evaran.

Dr. Snowden nodded.

Emily activated her camouflage, and when Evaran and she were outside, she hopped onto his back.

They crept along the wall out of the side room and headed toward the command interface.

Emily thought she saw the guard wave a tentacle in their direction, but it went back to looking forward. Since they were coming in from the side, she understood that they were only outside the guard’s line of sight unless it decided to turn their way or wave a tentacle toward them and scan.

Her camouflage had turned out to be more useful than she had imagined. Maybe there was some enhancement that could give it a larger field. V already had stealth, and like Dr. Snowden, she agreed that he and Evaran could use it. Evaran had the ability to change his clothing appearance, so she did not think it would be a stretch to mirror the environment. She understood Dr. Snowden’s concern, but moments like this fired her up. Going with Evaran while deep in enemy territory was not something she gave a second thought to.

When they arrived at the command interface, Evaran inserted the command claw into the circular port.

She checked on the guard.

It still stood stationary.

She had wondered if it could smell them, but since they were in suits, maybe not. Her heart fluttered a few times when the guard swung its tentacles around. She figured that was maybe part of some rotation.

At one point, the tentacle was only a few feet away, but aimed up high.

She wondered if maybe the sensors had detected a command claw being used. Her lips drew flat when Evaran shook his head. He pulled out the command claw, and together, they began to creep away.

When they got back to the side room, another maintenance drone was there.

Evaran stuck to the wall while facing it and walked sideways. At one point, the maintenance drone began to turn, but focused on their drone when it waved a tentacle at it.

Emily figured Levaran had initiated some type of communication with it.

Once the other drone had left, they crawled back into their drone.

Evaran sighed. “The configuration is different. It would not activate.”

“I guess then it’s time for plan B,” said Emily.

“Which is … get it off the commander embedded in the wall, right?” asked Dr. Snowden.

Evaran nodded. “We will need a distraction to clear this room. It should then seal the doors. They will expect an attack from the outside.” He placed his UIC on the console and interacted with his ARI.

A projection of V and Edev appeared in split-screen mode on the front screen.

“We need a distraction,” said Evaran.

“Acknowledged,” said V.

“You got it!” said Edev.

After a few moments, the lights in the room changed color, and soldiers scurried out. Every other Time Warden except for the guard and the commander stayed in the room as the three doorways sealed shut.

Evaran interacted with the console. After a minute, he said, “I have secured the door access controls to the control chamber for now. This means the guards and soldiers outside will not be able to get in. They will try, so we will need to hurry.”

“So it’s just us, one guard, the commander, and a ticking clock then,” said Emily. “We can do that.”

Evaran nodded.

“So … how are we going to get the claw off the commander then?”

Levaran smiled. “I have an idea.”