The Sands of Time 60

 

 The Gate was humming as they came through. Stella was at the controls, Mallory assisting. They both had their goggles on, the lights of the Gate reflecting weirdly. Joon had to take a moment, rest, the Gate taking its toll on them. Only Hillier seemed unaffected. Mallory came over to hug them. 

"How was Pangea?" she asked. 

"Wonderful. Amazing. We have some important news, but we'll talk about all that."

They were allowed to go and rest, all save Joon, who went into conference with Stella. 

*******

"You're not joking."

"I am not."

Stella pondered everything Joon had told. Mallory joined them. 

"You really need to fill me in on everything," Joon asserted. "Everything about that previous team."

"I provided you with a dossier on the team," Stella replied. "Have you read it?"

"Not yet," Joon admitted. "We were pretty busy back there."

"Understood. You can catch up now that you've returned. Pay attention to Yvette Templeton and Jack Tyler especially. They were co- leads on the expedition and one or both are probably in command."

"So we think they're avoiding us and using Gates other than our own?" asked Mallory. 

Joon nodded. 

"And you met... you?"

"Why do you think he appeared... alone?" Stella asked. 

"I got the impression this was almost a game to him."

 

That was disquieting. 

"He mentioned us being several moves behind."

"So... next move?"

No one answered. 

"Here's how I see it. I need to secure the Triassic. We have a base there and a ship. The technology discovery of the... well, I guess after Gates and whatnot it's not THE discovery of the century, but certainly comes close."

"The other question is how or if we catch up to the other team. Do we assume they're enemies or is alternate Joon a wild card and the rest of the team unaccounted for?"

"He kept saying us," Joon replied. "He wanted to know if you'd sent us back to kill them."

"We have to assume this alt Joon is somehow working with them. But why would they go rogue?"  "And how do we get to them?" 

"Also... there are samples," Joon added.

*******

Later Joon was in his quarters. Maia was sleeping, with Howie floating up by the ceiling. Joon spoke gently to the floating orb as it came towards him in greeting. He heard a cooing and the little creature turned pink, a sign of affection. Joon was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to sleep, but he needed a look at that dossier. 

Just a little while. 

As he settled in he noticed something strange. There was something on his desk. Glowing blue. He moved some documents aside and there it was. An object about the size of an iPad, but alien. Weird glyphs on it, with alien contouring- like the control panels on Ancients technology. But why was it here? 

Then he realized... alt Joon must have been here.