Beneath Unknown Skies

 

Joon and Maia ran. Through shadows, darkening shapes- they were running through tunnels, pursued by... what? It didn't matter, just running...

Joon awoke with a start. They were deep underground, dark. A fire, shapes moving in the shadows. Hillier awake as well.

From somewhere they could hear gunfire. Muffled explosions.

It had all gone wrong.

What were they doing here? 

He should never have come. Joon- another Joon, from somewhere else- had lured him here, and now he was several centuries ahead in time.

2472.

It hurt your brain to think about.

Stella, everyone back home, were dead and gone. And Maia... he had to get back to Maia. The temporal distortions, whatever... if he was with Maia, nothing else mattered. If the world ended... he could face that if he had her.

Come hell or high water... he had to get back.

Hillier was talking to  Valerus. That in itself was mind boggling. He remembered, not long ago, how she had killed him. A different him. Her dark form, crouched over him, only her eyes visible. Blood. Now they were chatting.

"Drunk on the wine of time travel," he was saying. "They can do it, so now they can't stop." Hillier was nodding. Her kind could absorb  the memories and knowledge of the people they killed. Psychic vampires. She had part of Valerus in her. A different Valerus.

Trish came up. "It's time," she said. She had a bandage over the nasty cut she'd taken on their way here. Her face would be marred. Some wounds... didn't go away. 

They rose, groaning. Was there ever an end? 

But now they were done running. Now they were going back. Back to Sanctuary. 

Enough running. Whatever came, they would face it together. There was hope that Trish could get through to Yvette, to Jack, that they could work this out. Maybe drive a wedge, save the program before the Scholars destroyed it. Joon wasn't even sure the program could be, should be saved. All he cared about was... Maia. Getting back. 

Beneath Unknown Skies

 

"How did they find us?"

"They tracked us,"  gritted Hillier. 

People were scrambling. Joon getting some very unpleasant looks. Daphne got up swearing. 

"They will have trouble getting at us," Valerus alone seemed calm. "The mutants are a nice screen, and we're pretty deep."

"I don't know," said Joon. "Those gunships..."

"Well, gunships are fine on the surface, but when they send troops here man to man that's different." 

Hillier nodded, remembering their ordeal. 

"And we won't make it easy for them. Someone certainly likes you," he said, touching Joon's shoulder. 

"I killed him," Hillier looked at Joon plaintively. 

"How do we get this tracker out?" 

Trish came over. "This is going to hurt." She put a tablet near his head, typed in commands. There was a humming noise and a sharp pain in the side of his head. She gingerly pulled a tiny device from Joon's ear. Then she threw it in the fire. 

"Nice," Hillier said. 

"I have to get back," Joon said. "All this running... am I going to be all over 25th century post apocalyptic Earth or am I going home? Maia."

"It's not that easy," said Daphne. "You've become a player in something bigger than you."

"I know," he said. "Thanks Joon for bringing me here," he said quieter. 

"Going back would be the last thing they'd expect," mused Valerus. 

"But then?" asked Trish. "Without me there we don't even have good intel on what's happening."

"Well, let's get secure and we can worry about that later." They could hear explosions overhead. 

*******

The sun was hot as waves rolled in. Maia sat on the beach, her feet in sand, as Howie keened and floated about. He seemed to like it here. She could hear some kids playing down the way, sails on the horizon. She was on Poseidon, about as far from Farpoint station as you could get. It had been a tough call. Go to Joon, or come here. A different Joon had given her that option. 

In the end she had decided to come here. Alt Joon's words- that she'd be arrested if she followed Joon- rang true. She wouldn't endanger him. And Hillier was with him. 

Hillier. 

She had hated that woman. But she also knew that if shit hit the fan, there wasn't anyone she'd probably rather have with him than Hillier. 

Joon and Hillier. 

He'd find them. Her and Howie. 

Beneath Unknown Skies

 

They sat eating around the fire. Underground, with the sound of rushing water far off. Occasional drones patrolling. There was a dog as well, for verifying people. He sniffed at Hillier curiously, and both her and Joon remembered a time not long ago when they had to kill a dog like this. 

"He senses something different about you."

Hillier looked at Leo Valerus, a sharp look. 

"How exactly did you... kill me?" he asked. 

Hillier didn't answer, kept worrying at the food. Tough. 

There was an awkard silence. No one really knew what to say. Then Joon ventured, "It was a different... time. Years ago, feels like?"

Everyone nodded. "Time," laughed Daphne. 

Trish was also there, just the five of them. They were eating some meat strips and not loving it. Not exactly the gourmet fare they'd become accustomed to back in Sanctuary. 

"Why did you run?"

"Maia- or an alternate Maia- tried to kill me. Or, rather, implant a brain slug in me. I was told the Scholars were going to apprehend me- for my own safety, supposedly. I opted to leave."

"Giving up your chance to return home."

"Well, I don't imagine they were just going to let me waltz through the Gate." 

"I suppose not. How is Joon? Your counterpart?"

"Broody. Jaded. He lost his Maia, and appears obsessed with helping me avoid a similar fate." 

"I always liked Joon. You. Pleased to meet you, by the way." 

A man came up to Trsh, whispered something. She got up to follow. 

"Are you what I think you might be?" Valerus asked Hillier. 

"And what's that?"

"An Intruder, they used to call you back in Sanctuary. 21st century Sanctuary. They know nothing of you here, I imagine. A shape changer."

Daphne looked at Hillier hard. 

Trish already knew. No sense lying. She shrugged. 

"So... you know what I know," Valerus continued. "We need to have a long chat, you and I."

Trish came back. "We have a problem."

Everyone stopped eating. 

"They know where we are." She looked at Joon. "When we scanned you... a tracker came up. Somehow they tracked you."

*******

The base was in chaos. Stella and Mallory were desperately packing, trying to only collect what was absolutely needed. Stella was watching the monitors, could see tentacles, entire sections of the base imploding. The tadpole's chamber was offline. 

And worse, there was something above the base now, in the air. Temporal distortions, convergences... whatever the eggheads called them. They were now happening. And they had told her the tadpole couldn't get out. She caught a glimpse through a monitor. It was huge, all tentacles and eyes. 

"Come on," screamed Mallory. She had files falling out of her hands. 

"Where are we going to go?" Stella sighed. She was almost done. 

Red alert was blaring. Where were they going to go? 

The door opened and Maia entered. She had a beacon in her hands.