The Sands of Time Ch. 36

 

"Joon. I'm okay. Well, now. But Hiller is out there..."

Maia's voice. 

Valerus was gone. 

Dammit. 

It was all coming apart. And Hillier was playing them like an instrument. 

What to do? He could get to Maia quickly, or try to find Valerus. Maia solved the problem for him. 

"Oh my... Joon, go back. Quick! Two corridors, right..." She sounded like she was almost hysterical. 

He sprinted the way she had indicated, and found Valerus. He was lying in a pool of blood, and leaning over him was Hillier. She turned his way as he approached, and all he saw were shadows where her face should be. And her eyes. 

She smiled at him then. 

He activated the inhibitor collar and smiled as she spasmed. He let it go on and on. 

"You'll kill her," Maia shrieked. 

Joon let it go for a while yet then stopped it. Hillier collapsed, practically unconscious. Froth dribbled from her lips. Her eyes fluttered open. 

"Bitch."

"I'll kill you for this," she smiled through bloody teeth. 

"You can get in line." 

"I'll be right there," Maia over the intercom. 

"Just the three of us," the shapeshifter muttered. 

"Why?" Joon asked. 

"He could close the Gate. He wants to talk to the Directors. I don't want that." 

"Why didn't you talk to us first? Maybe we could work something out." 

"You all don't care about me. Do you know how delightful his terror was?" 

Joon remembered then- her kind fed on fear. 

She licked her lips. "He was very terrified." 

"You bitch." He thought about turning on the collar and just letting it go. 

"Another thing I have to thank Stella for," she murmured, fingering her collar. 

Maia pounded up as Hillier slowly rose. 

"It is better than sex. The sheer terror, the fear. Pure ecstasy." She ran her hand over one of her breasts. 

"I want you to experience it, Joon."

Joon fought back the urge to hit her. 

"What now?" Maia cried. "He was our way home."

"I'm your way home, now," Hillier smiled. 

It was getting worse. They were getting reports of strange morphings- areas of the base suddenly changed, tunnels going to different areas. Stella herself had experienced it- she had tried to access a terminal and her hand went through it. 

What was going on back there? 

Not for the first time she regretted ever authorizing trips to the past. Dimensional doorways were one thing- but tampering with the timestream? They should know better. Nothing good comes after midnight- or traveling back to yesterday. Mallory came up, excited as always. 

"I'm told they have the ops center but their attempt to Gate to Poseidon went poorly. Someone on the other side closed it and they're having a heck of a time reopening it." 

"Closed the connection temporarily," Stella corrected. "They'll get through. It's not closed permanently."

"Well, yes." 

"Joon is performing well."

"Promote him?"

They both laughed. 

"What do you think is going on?"

"I think the Directorate is at war," Stella replied. "At war with itself. Who wins will determine whether we live. I've evened the playing field as much as I can. The Intruders- we need a better name- can sow chaos and slow 'em down. The problem is, once unleashed, how do you put that genie back in the bottle?"

"Plus the cybers you unleashed should assist." 

"Some."

"Have you thought about making a deal with the Intruders?"

"Ofr course. I've reached out. No reply. That Hillier was apparently their leader. They're rudderless without her."

"Ma'am. We have a secure communication coming in." 

"What do you mean, you're our way home?"

"I mean I'm Valerus now. I know what he knows."

"How would you?" Joon asked. 

"When he suffers, we not only eat their fear. We... learn things." 

"You're a monster," Maia breathed. 

"And Stella isn't?"

"She has never done that." 

"How many people has Stella killed?"

"Enough," said Joon. "Are you saying you... read his mind?" 

"I'm saying I have forgotten more about how Gates work then you'll ever know. But yes... I know much of what he did." 

Joon was collecting the stuff Valerus had been holding. He checked the crystal to see if it had broken, even though Valerus had said it was inert. 

"How much do you know?"

"Enough to get us out of here. I would have known more, if you hadn't so rudely interrupted. Absorption of memories and knowledge is like intercourse- it's best if you take it slow."

Joon was fingering the inhibitor collar control again. 

"I want this off, too," she said. 

"No." 

"Yes." 

"It'll come off at a time of my choosing," Joon asserted. 

"What exactly are you?" Maia asked. 

Hillier mimicked her. "Your worst nightmare." 

"But what do you want?"

"Well, I'm free now. Forever separated from my people. They consider those of us captured to be tainted. Reintegration would be awkward. I'm a free agent now. My overriding impulse is to be free. To consume. Not to be captured again. Once this is gone," the collar, "I can do anything." 

"Taking that off would be like killing ourselves," Joon said. 

"Yes. Although I like you, Joon. As I've said, I could show you things. You could... experience things." 

"You realize they're going to find us."

"All the more reason to leave." 

"Where?" 

"Where did Valerus want to go?"

Should he say? 

"Relax. I know already. I raped him. His mind." 

Maia knew she was deliberately trying to provoke, gritted her teeth. 

"Horus." 

"Why Horus?" 

"You know why. He wanted one of those," she said, indicating the crystal. 

"Why would you help us? If he was going to use that to maybe close a Gate."

"I don't know, Joon. Like I said, I like you. You, not so much," she directed at Maia. "But the main thing is me staying free. This Gate in particular is no longer an issue for me. I can stay away. There are many Gates. But I feel... invested in this. Stella took my people, took me. Maybe I get payback. Maybe not. But I know so much. I could have fun." 

"What do we do with him?" asked Maia about Valerus. 

 "Fuck that," snorted Hillier. 

"We don't have time. Sorry," Joon said to Valerus. 

As they approached the monitor area alarms were flashing. 

"It would appear they've found us."