The Sands of Time #35

 

"Hillier's gone?"

"I only turned away a moment, and then she was... gone," Maia replied. 

Joon was livid but he could see Maia was already angry at herself. He considered using the inhibitor collar but he knew it had limited range. He went over to the comm panel. 

"Is there a way to address the entire place?" he asked. 

"Yes," Valerus replied. He was already scanning surveillance monitors. He came over and thumbed a circuit. 

"Hillier." 

Joon waited a moment. 

"We will find you. There is no escape. You know you're safe with us. What are you doing?"

He knew he wouldn't get a reply, glanced over at the scientist. Valerus shook his head. No sign yet. He motioned for Maia to come help him look. 

Joon paced, fuming. This was all his fault. 

"I can't find her. I need to get things we need before leaving. You continue to look for her. I'll be back quickly."

"No. No one goes alone." 

"I'll stay here, keep looking," said Maia. "I've got Howie." 

"What's Howie going to do?"

"I have this." She patted a pistol in her waistband. 

"Where'd you get that?" Joon demanded. 

"At Poseidon. Val gave it to me." 

Joon looked at Valerus, who shrugged. 

"She asked if we had an armory, wanted to be armed." 

"You need to come with us." 

"No. What if she... it comes back here?" 

"She can't work the controls." 

"Actually, we don't know that, do we?"

Silence. 

"What does she have to gain?"

"Survival. Of all of us, she has the least to gain by going back. To Earth, I mean. She's from the multiverse. She's free now. Maybe offing us, or just fleeing, is her endgame." 

"Alright. But keep your eyes open. I don't like this." 

Valerus was already heading out. They hadn't gone far when Joon reconsidered. Splitting up was dumb. He told Valerus to hold on, went back to where Maia was. 

She was gone. 

Where was Howie? 

Joon was so angry he could barely see. 

He went to the monitors to find her. 

There she was. 

"I know where she's going," Valerus said quietly. 

"How could she know the layout?"

"She can't." 

Was it Maia? 

They were at the office Valerus used when onsite. He was retrieving certain things he had told Joon he would need. Various papers, encrypted passwords. Something wrapped in protective bubble wrap. He showed this to Joon, who wanted nothing more than to get after Maia. 

Why had he brought Hillier along? How could he have been so ignorant?

"You need to look at this," Valerus was telling him. "There is so much you don't... Here." He unwrapped the object and held it before Joon. 

It looked like a crystal. It was multifaceted, about the size of a watermelon. Heavy, when Joon took it before handing it back. 

"This is a crystal of the ithyri," Valerus was telling him. "The Precursors, near as we can tell, used these... somehow... to control the Gates. Or fine tune them. Whatever. They are priceless, and we only have a few. This is the only one I have. It's inert, but if we had a live one..."

"Yes, fine. I don't care, really. I need to find..."

"You should care! This is more important than the lot of us." 

"People matter more to me than... those things," Joon replied. 

"People aren't really going to matter if you don't pay attention," Valerus told him. 

Joon was keeping an eye on the doorway. Valerus had thought Maia was heading here, based on her location, but there was no sign of her. It was driving him nuts that he could be monitoring her from the workstations, but instead they were wasting time here. Although he knew Valerus was imparting valuable info. 

"I know where we can get a live crystal. If it's there still," Valerus muttered. 

"Where?" 

"Horus." 

"Horus?"

"Another place..."

"Do you people tire of using mythology to name these places?" 

Valerus looked at him blankly. 

"What's it for?"

"They use a harmonic... it's almost like music... to interface with the Gates. The Directors thought I was crazy until I had a success. We had several crystals by then but other than the one hidden away I have no idea what they did with the rest."

"Great. Let's go find..."

"Hellooo out there. Where did everybody go?" Hillier's voice, on the intercom. 

Joon was seeing red. 

"I can see you all. Wow, you are all spread out. I suggest we meet up. Please assemble here ASAP." 

Joon wasn't sure what he was going to do when he got there but he was having very violent thoughts. 

They hastened back towards the control area and were almost there when the lights went out. 

Valerus swore. Joon had a moment of panic, then remembered something. 

"I think it's Howie. He eats energy. He did this once before, does it when he's upset."

"It's a he?"

"We've had that discussion," Joon replied drily. 

It was pitch dark. 

"I can't believe he could take out the entire complex."

"We really don't know their capabilities." 

They continued forward, Valerus trying to use the light from his phone. That didn't work. 

After a time Joon thought they were close. Valerus seemed to know the way even in the dark. He was talking to the man and realized he hadn't heard a reply lately. 

"Valerus?"

Then the lights came on. And the intercom. 

"Joon!" 

Maia's voice. 

"Where are you?" he yelled, before realizing she couldn't hear him, and naturally she'd be at the center where the controls are.