The Sands of Time 63

 

 Jack and Joon were nursing their drinks in an observation area. Below them people went to and fro about their appointed tasks. Hillier was nearby but at a distance, allowing Joon time to bond with Jack. 

They weren't saying much, Jack was allowing Joon to think, form his questions. 

"So Yvette is Faction?" Joon asked. 

"Yes," Jack replied. "So am I, I guess you would say. I never picked the Faction, we were all just one team when we went back. And forward."

"How many trips have you taken?"

"Countless. I've lost count."

"Doesn't the Gate wear you out, physically, after a time?"

"Yes. Although the med technology here is... advanced."

Joon took a drink. 

"It was brave of you to trust the beacon."

"I figured if Joon... alt Joon... wanted me dead he would have shot me in the Triassic."

"That explains where he met you then."

"Oh... I didn't realize that was an issue."

"It's not," sighed Jack. "It's over and done with. Yvette would shoot him if she knew. But she doesn't."

Another drink. 

"What exactly are you doing?"

"We have different kinds of time travelers. We have those who are committed to the program. But even then there are differences. I don't believe in mindwiping, I'm afraid it takes our humanity, but Yvette and the Scholars insist. Then we have the looters, the deserters. Determined to make their ways using knowledge of time. We feel honor bound to stop them. As opposed to just letting them rampage through time, destroying everything. The last ones are the ones who just want to... live. They meet someone, or they reacquaint with the one who got away, whatever, and they just... pick a new life."

"Why not let them?"

"In some cases, we have. The problem is the more you time travel, the more fractured timelines you have, the more stress you place on reality."

"And cosmic horrors."

Jack laughed. 

"Sounds like you've been talking to Stella. She's not wrong though."

"So the time discrepancies make that worse?"

"Well, they certainly don't help. The Scholars feel that using Gates to cross interstellar distances is one thing, but time travel breaks a cardinal rule of reality... or whatever."

"Yet they're doing it."

"That's the question. Where do we stop? Do we fix the problem, or just... let it go?"

"With people running around."

"Right. Bad or good, they're out there. Can we let them run free?"

"You mentioned Scholars."

"The Scholars are sort of the ruling class. They run all this. Yvette is close with the Scholars now."

"Stella told me this was a refuge of knowledge. That things are bad on the outside."

"True. It's very bad here. This and a few places like it are all that's left, as far as we know. Or to hear the Scholars tell it. That's part of the issue. People want to go somewhere else, somewhere better."

*******

Stella brooded in the light of the tadpole tank. She had taken to coming down here, in the depths of Sanctuary, to be alone. Or as alone as she could be, with everything happening. The few technicians allowed here eyed her curiously but said nothing. They weren't used to Command personnel here. 

The Triassic... gone. 

Or at least not accessible. Did she dare send another team? She'd lost a lot of men. Grant was livid. She'd replied angrily that maybe he should deal with the Faction, so they wouldn't be in this mess, and had been told very clearly to have a care for her words. 

Joon was gone, Mallory had nearly died, and Maia. What to do about Maia? She'd been looking into her, and found something interesting. She'd been transferred in right around the time the artifact missions had accelerated- she was an artifact specialist, so that was plausible- but also right around the time Joon had joined Command. 

Coincidence? 

Joon had had a brief fling with Mallory, but that had cooled after Maia arrived. 

Coincidence? 

She shook her hair, annoyed. Was she looking for trouble now, as if she didn't have plenty? 

Behind her the thing in the tank thrashed. 

*******

"So are you playing both sides of the street?" Jack asked alt Joon, bluntly as ever. 

"I think my loyalty is pretty evident," alt Joon shot back. "I submit to Yvette's mindwipes, I do what I'm told. You people jerk me around more than Stella ever did."

He wasn't wrong. 

Jack lit a cigarette- Joon's smoking always made him want one. They were in an observation room, looking out over the outside. It was peaceful enough tonight, but appearances could be deceiving. In the distance they could see the towers of the ruined city, moss and vegetation turning everything green. 

After a while alt Joon spoke. 

"He deserves to know... about Maia."

Jack said nothing, exhaled. 

"Does Yvette know he's here?"

"Probably," Jack said. "I haven't told her, but she'll hear."

More silence. 

"You know, he has technology I don't recognize. I took this off him." He held up a strange device that had a magenta glow emanating from a button. 

"I've never seen anything like that," mused alt Joon. 

*******

"Ready for bed?" Hillier asked as she stripped. 

Joon smiled as he threw his shirt in a corner. 

"Enjoy the bed."

"Sleep with me," she insisted. "Not like that," she amended. "I know you're devoted to Maia. Just... don't let me sleep alone." She climbed into the bed. "I'll behave."

He didn't want to sleep alone either. He climbed in carefully and she squeezed his shoulder. 

"If you change your mind..."

After a while she spoke. 

"You know, we could do well here."

*******

Sometime in the middle of the night he rose, went out for a cigarette or fresh air, he wasn't sure. They had free reign to come and go, although there were limits. A guard was a discreet distance away, and he had no doubt they were being observed in other ways. He had been told not to venture far, especially at night. That chilled him somewhat. 

He lit a smoke and ventured a short way down the corridor. He was shirtless and it was cool. His guard watched him but stayed where he was. There was an intersection a short distance away, and Joon could see someone there. Curious, he approached. The figure was hooded, and seemed somehow familiar. 

She turned as he approached, and her cowl fell away. Dark hair, greenish eyes. Features he would know anywhere. 

"Joon."

Maia