The Time of Humanity

By Marius A Smith

When the timeline suddenly changes, with all life on Earth having been consumed by an alien entity in the twentieth century, the crew of the newly commissioned time ship Dynasty travel into the past to prevent that chain of events from occurring. During their investigation they discover that the unknown adversary who framed William for smuggling has also had a hand in these events, and that the entire human race is under threat in a way that even Temporal Security is powerless to prevent. Even time travel may not be enough to prevent the annihilation of humanity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marius A Smith
• Release date: Mar 31, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476409399

Marius A Smith

Marius Augustus Smith was born in 1981 in Adelaide, Australia, and is a life-long fan of science fiction. He has travelled to many places around the world, with many more he has yet to visit, although some destinations can only be travelled to in the mind (at least until the invention of warp drive!). Also having an interest in history, especially ancient cultures, and Egypt in particular, Marius has incorporated these interests into his books. His favourite authors include Alexandre Dumas, Kevin J. Anderson, Drew Karpyshyn, Anne Rice and J. K. Rowling. Some of his not-so-common experiences include shovelling coal in a 1920s locomotive, and being an extra in a police line-up. Marius currently lives in Australia with his wife.

Book preview

THE TIME OF HUMANITY

The Course of Time

BOOK TWO

Marius A. Smith

The Course of Time:

Larissa

Cerah

From Time to Time

The Time of Humanity

Time and Time Again

The Time of Sacrifice

Mysteries of Time

From the Depths of Time: Part One

From the Depths of Time: Part Two

Time’s Curse

In Times of War: Part One

In Times of War: Part Two

Copyright © 2024 Marius A. Smith

This book is copyright under the Berne Convention.

Published by Marius A. Smith at Smashwords

All historical individuals or places mentioned or referred to in this book are portrayed in a purely fictitious sense. All other characters are purely fictitious, and no resemblance to individuals living or dead is intended.

No part of this work may be reproduced or copied in any form without the prior permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.

Chapter 1

Test Flight

As a weapon, time is only as deadly as the person misusing it; the more power they have over it the more drastic the consequences.

William and Luke were on their way back to Luke’s quarters after having gone for dinner at Green Tim’s on deck 38 of the time station Epoch. A few hours earlier Luke had made his final farewells to his short-term girlfriend Cephra O’Neil, and even though they’d only been seeing each other for a relatively short time, he’d already developed strong feelings for her, so much so that his normally voracious appetite had been greatly diminished.

I’ve never seen you eat so little, William commented. I’ve seen kittens eat more than that.

I just wasn’t that hungry, Luke said dismissively. The synthblood was good though.

William had insisted that Luke have some synthblood, the synthetic blood substitute used by twenty sixth century vampires, hoping that its empowering effects might lift Luke’s mood, but to no avail. William had used it himself on many occasions, especially before going on missions into the past, and had figured that its effects would be even greater on Luke since he’d only been a vampire for a matter of days, but Luke had only had a few sips of it just to try it. I hadn’t realised that you two had become so close so quickly. After all, you’d only been seeing her for what, a month and a week?

Something like that. She certainly is a remarkable woman.

I only knew her a few days, but I’d have to agree with you.

I guess I’ll just have to move on, like she said. But it was great while it lasted.

She did seem really nice. You were lucky to be with a woman like her at all.

And don’t I know it.

At least you know she’ll be happy, serving on a xenoarchaeology ship.

Fulfilling her dream, Luke said. He couldn’t help but smile at the thought of how happy Cephra would be in her new career, and how much of a fantastic job she’d do of it.

They went around a corner and almost collided with Zahlmann, the lanky scientist who’d taken up residence on Epoch to conduct his own research, who had a perpetually grumpy demeanour and was bald other than a wreath of grey-tinged black hair around the back and sides of his head. He also had a rather conspicuous mole on his right temple. Not being a member of Temporal Security, he wore a long, well-worn, old-fashioned white lab coat over his rather plain civilian clothing, even when he was outside of his lab. It was certainly a surprise to cross paths with him, being a dedicated recluse who rarely ventured out of his lab.

Oh, it’s you two, Zahlmann said without enthusiasm.

Did you miss us? Luke asked cheekily.

About as much as the Titanic missed the iceberg, Zahlmann replied. To William, he added, Well you’ll be pleased to know that Walker’s been developing that idea of yours day and night since I passed it on to him. He’s had his whole science team refitting an escape pod with new circuitry that he’s been building for it. Don’t be surprised if he contacts you about it in the near future.

Thanks for passing it along to him, Professor, William said.

Zahlmann shrugged. As long as it keeps him occupied and out of my hair for a while.

William and Luke couldn’t completely keep the smirks off of their faces as they tried unsuccessfully not to glance up at Zahlmann’s balding head.

Zahlmann gave an exasperated sigh. Really? That’s all it takes to amuse you two? He looked at Luke more closely. You weren’t a vampire before, were you?

Just had the operation a few days ago.

Zahlmann looked him up and down, as unimpressed as ever. It doesn’t do anything for you.

Could be worse, Luke said, looking the professor up and down in turn.

By the way, how did those scans of yours go? Zahlmann asked, though his expression portrayed no genuine interest.

I’m afraid all we found were a few spikes in the background radiation in relative proximity to each other, but nothing definitive, Luke replied.

Didn’t you compensate for the shift in the frequency of the temporal signatures caused by the background radiation?

Should I have?

That’s what disguised them from showing up on Epoch’s sensors in the first place. I thought you would’ve known that.

William and Luke looked at each other in the sudden realisation that the readings that they were planning to re-scan for had probably been easily detectable the whole time if they’d known how to find them.

I guess you’ll just have to go back and try again, properly this time, Zahlmann sighed.

Thanks, Professor Z, Luke said, and he and William hurried away to fetch a couple of omniscanners.

Minutes later they proceeded through the labyrinth of maintenance passages in an area at the heart of the station, close to the giant quasium reactors, where Luke believed the recently executed traitor John Tylvius had been receiving instructions from a being in the future. As yet they didn’t know who the being was, or who else might be working for him, and hoped that by re-scanning the area they might find the temporal signatures or any other clues that would shed light on the mystery before their adversary’s future plans came to fruition, certain that there had to be more to their plans than the smuggling of narcotics that William had been framed for. They did know that the being was male from when William had encountered him in the ancient American city of Palachimeru. Unfortunately, he’d escaped before William could get many answers, but they were sure that there was a major operation being carried out in which Tylvius had only been a pawn, and certainly not the mastermind.

When Luke was sure that they were in the place where he’d detected the radiation spikes the first time, when he’d come with Cephra, they activated their handheld omniscanners and set to work, slowly moving along the narrow maintenance passages in the area together as they examined their readings. This time they’d set their scanners to compensate for any variances caused by the background radiation like Zahlmann had suggested. William had his scanner’s search parameters set specifically for foreign objects or devices that could facilitate temporal transference or transmission, or DNA traces. Luke’s was set to analyse local energy fields and emissions. Luke also carried a small tool kit with him, just in case of the unforeseen.

Ten minutes into their search they were interrupted by the arrival of Ensign Colin Finch, who was carrying two big steaming mugs.

What’ve you got there? William asked curiously.

A couple of hot chocolates with a hint of caramel for you guys, I mean for you sirs, since officially I’m on night shift duty, Colin replied. I wasn’t sure if you liked coffee or tea, so I figured hot chocolate was the safest option.

Hot chocolate sounds perfect, William said, gratefully accepting one.

Thought I’d earn a few points with my superiors, Colin commented offhandedly.

It’s working, Luke assured him after cherishing a sip.

Colin smiled. I tried calling you guys to invite you to poker on Friday night but I couldn’t get through on either of your multi-coms, so I asked the computer for your location. You were a bit hard to find. Your life signs went off the radar when you came down here.

And the sensor resolution’s pretty poor this close to the reactors, Luke muttered.

Actually, speaking of off the radar, I just heard from a friend of mine that the body of a Temporal Security commander who’d been declared missing in action while on a mission in the Scáth Sector was found on Mars several days ago, Colin said.

That’s curious, Luke said with interest.

But they’re keeping it very quiet, and off the official record, which seems to make it all the more mysterious.

That it certainly does, William agreed, wondering if Ralph Smithers might be able to shed any more light on that situation as a matter of interest.

So what’s the admiral got you doing in this part of the station? Colin asked casually, then quickly adding, If it’s alright for me to ask.

Searching for further evidence of illegal mischief, William responded with an exaggerated tone of mystery.

You’ve already pinned Tylvius, Colin said.

Just making sure we haven’t overlooked anything, Luke responded.

Well, all the best with it. I’d better go have my dinner and get back to the scanning room. See you both later, and hopefully on Friday night, Colin said, and went back the way he’d come.

The two vampires took a few sips of their hot chocolates and resumed their scans.

I’m not picking up anything unusual, Luke said a little despondently after almost half an hour. But I’m sure this was the section.

Let’s just keep going until we find something, William said, attempting to encourage him, although he too was beginning to get discouraged by their fruitless search. If we’re here long enough Colin might even bring us a bowl of wedges or a slice of pie.

Let’s take our time then.

Getting your appetite back?

All this is actually helping to keep me too occupied to think of Cephra so much, despite the fact that she was the one scanning around here with me last time.

A while later, still having had no luck with their scans, they took their tools and the neglected mugs that were still half full and went deeper into the station’s service passages.

I’m not sure why this comes to mind now, and I was going to tell you about it earlier, I just didn’t want to interrupt what time you had left with Cephra, but while I was in exile I had a weird sort of dream about a boy living in the distant past, we’re talking roughly five centuries ago, William said, hoping that Luke might be able to make more sense of it than he could.

A weird sort of dream, huh? Luke raised an eyebrow.

Well to tell you the truth, I’m not convinced that it was just a dream. It was too real, like a sort of psychic connection. I felt like the boy was letting me see something through his eyes, but at the same time he didn’t seem to be aware of me at all. William paused for a moment to gauge whether or not Luke’s reaction was one of serious consideration or of dismissing it as nothing more than the imaginings of a restless night’s sleep.

Some sort of psycho-temporal connection? Go on then, what happened?

Grateful that his friend was willing to hear him out, William said, His name was Arnold, nine years old, living homeless in the early twenty first century. I suppose it was a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but he witnessed a Temporal Security mission in progress, and in the end one of the agents shot him for it, even though he’d helped pull a wounded squad member out of the line of fire, which didn’t seem to make sense. I wasn’t able to focus on the shooter’s face clearly. If only I could’ve seen what they did with his body afterwards. But being through his eyes I guess that’d be impossible.

If it wasn’t a dream, how could this kid from centuries ago send you the memory after he’d died? Luke asked, perplexed.

I don’t know. I was hoping you might have some idea.

I’m not a psychic medium, but I’ll tell you what I can do. I’ll dig around in the database and look for anything about missions to the twenty first century involving a child being killed.

William smiled. I’d appreciate that. If anyone can dig up something that’s hidden in the database, you can.

What about your friend Ralph? Luke asked with clear resentment of the man.

Some of what he comes up with are unproven rumours or conjecture based on information from unnamed sources.

He’s got friends in sly places, eh? Luke remarked with a grin.

That’s for certain. He does produce something solid a lot of the time, but it can be hard to tell those occasions apart from the rest. The main reason I believe what he said about Talamayn and the Sapphirus Tempus is because I saw the recording myself. Everything you turn up is always solid fact, so frankly I trust your information more that his.

Luke was silent before saying idly, Still, I hope Ralph isn’t mixed up in this necrozine business.

Why would you think he is? William demanded.

It’s just that he has access to info way above his clearance level, and he knows a lot about your exile. He’d be an asset to whoever’s behind it all.

Getting agitated about what seemed to be an unfounded accusation about another friend, but still trying to maintain a level of diplomacy with his best friend, William said, I understand that you two don’t get along. You blame him for not getting that girl you really liked at the academy, and he blames you for him not getting her either, and I’d certainly agree that he can sometimes be a big-headed know-it-all, but he’s not the sort of person to be affiliated with a drug smuggling operation through time. Frankly, it’s about time the two of you put all of that adolescent intrigue behind you and got over such an old argument. You guys used to be friends before that falling out.

That’s what made it such a big deal. Luke drew a deep breath and held it for a moment before saying, Okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get you heated up. I was just worried that you might not be thinking objectively about all possible suspects, if we’re lucky enough for it to be someone we actually know, or will know. If it’s not, it’ll be a lot harder to track them down.

William took a deep breath and sighed. No, I’m sorry. You’re absolutely right; I shouldn’t dismiss him from the suspect list yet, not without proving him innocent first. I need to be open to all possibilities.

Good of you to admit it. Regardless of whether or not you were being objective, I was probably pointing the finger out of personal dislike. I trust your judgement, so I’ll help you prove his innocence, not his guilt, Luke pledged.

Thanks, William said sincerely.

And while I’m considering everyone as a possible suspect, even the ancient vampire Talamayn and that Sapphirus Tempus that puts all of time and space at his fingertips, and Ralph with his mysterious information sources, I’ll refrain from jumping to conclusions without a justifiable reason.

And I won’t cross people off of the suspect list just because I like them or think they’re probably innocent.

So, what do you want to do if we can’t find anything out about Arnold? It’s not very likely that whoever shot him recorded it in a mission log.

Then we go find a psychic medium, William smiled jokingly. When I was thinking about Arnold I thought about how lonely he felt, no family, no friends. It got me thinking about my own parents before they died. I wasn’t much older than Arnold at the time. They were dedicated stellar researchers, you might even say obsessively dedicated. I don’t remember ever being very close to them. They weren’t particularly warm people, being so absorbed in their research. But still, I should’ve done more with the time I had with them.

I know how you feel, Luke said with equal regret. I wasn’t close to my parents either. I haven’t thought about them in a long time. I don’t even remember them clearly now. I always figured you and I were put in the same class at the academy for moral support because of our mutual young orphan situation.

Maybe you could look up both of our parents when you dig around in the database so that we can each get to know our folks a little better, William suggested.

I think I will, Luke agreed. Just because they’re deceased doesn’t mean they need to be dead to us. They continued scanning a little longer before Luke said, I remember you telling me that the name of the guy in the black robe that you met in ancient Mexico started with the letter M.

That’s what his accomplice from that era said when he was about to say his name. But the guy in the robe attacked him before he could say any more.

Well I was thinking that M could be the first letter of an alias, not necessarily the person’s real name, so your idea that it could be Fleet Admiral Morgan could be way off. It could be anyone. For all we know it’s Admiral Rivette.

That hooded guy’s voice didn’t sound old enough to be the admiral. Even though he spoke softly, it was definitely the voice of a much younger man.

Then wouldn’t Morgan’s voice have sounded too old as well? Luke pointed out.

William shrugged. Maybe. Although, I’m pretty sure Morgan’s actually a decade or so younger than the admiral.

It’s always possible that this being used some sort of voice altering device. When you told me the story you did say that there was something vaguely familiar about it while at the same time being a voice that you didn’t quite recognise. It could even be a woman.

I suppose it’s possible. M might even be the initial of a middle name that they go by as an identity for conducting their nefarious activities.

I think it all comes down to the fact that they wear that hood. Either it’s someone we know or would recognise, or that hood’s just very comfortable.

William smiled. Maybe it’s someone we’ve yet to meet who we’d recognise in the future if we saw them now.

You know, by the time we find out it’ll probably be too late. For all we know, the person we’re looking for is the Grim Reaper.

William rolled his eyes. Let’s keep going.

After another ten minutes of scanning and taking the occasional swig of his no-longer-hot chocolate, Luke said with frustration, I’ve still got nothing. I don’t get it.

Keep scanning, William encouraged. Remember that the range is down to about three metres because of the radiation. I’m not having any luck either, but... wait a second. Since when do any of the conduits in this section need reinforced energy shielding?

They don’t, Luke confirmed. Well not in this area anyway.

The energy signature of the shielding’s generator didn’t even register until I was within a couple of metres of it.

And I’m starting to pick up temporal signatures, although even doing it Zahlmann’s way they’re difficult to pinpoint exactly. But they’re not all in exactly the same place. The guy in the robe must arrive at slightly different locations sometimes, probably to avoid creating a concentrated signature over time that would be more easily detectable.

That sounds likely. Give me a hand with this panel, William said, beckoning Luke over.

Together they pried a panel from the wall to reveal a square box mounted amid the station’s circuitry. Around its sides a dozen protruding blue rods pulsed slowly in sequence in a clockwise direction.

The energy shielding’s inhibiting our scans of the device, Luke said.

Reckon you can shut it down?

Give me a moment. Luke took an instrument from his tool kit and made some adjustments to it, causing it to give off a bright flash. Try scanning it now, he suggested.

William repeated his scan, this time getting some results. It’s some kind of compact temporal transference unit. I’m detecting a second one in the opposite wall. They seem to work in conjunction to create a focal point. It resembles our own temporal transference technology in principle, only this is significantly more advanced.

So Tylvius was receiving his orders from someone visiting from the future after all, Luke said. He wasn’t just receiving transmitted instructions. The visitor, presumably the black-robed guy you met in ancient Mexico, would be able to use this installation to come here to meet, give orders and supply the necrozine, then transmit himself back to his own time. If their equipment’s like ours it transmits but can’t retrieve, so he set up this gear to get back to his own time afterwards. Or if it’s developed to the point where it can retrieve as well, he might just need this setup to create a focal point to lock onto this deep in the station and through the background radiation. But just think, if transference devices could retrieve we’d have no need of time ships any more.

That would make our missions a lot easier, but a lot less interesting, William speculated. With a sudden thought, he asked, Have you got a molecular stimulator in that tool kit?

Luke pulled out a device that looked like a thin pencil-sized torch, which he handed to William.

William took it and held it vertically over his half full mug. When he activated it there was a soft purple glow that shone down at the liquid inside. Seconds later he handed it back to Luke and took a sip of his drink, which was once again steaming. That’s much better, he said with satisfaction.

Luke smiled, secretly wishing he’d thought of it first, before doing the same to his drink and returning the device to his tool kit. It’s also possible that this setup was installed for the benefit of his followers in this time, in case they need to make a quick getaway. In any case, perhaps we can somehow use this transference unit to locate the visitor’s temporal point of origin and send a squad of our people through.

That’s a good idea, except that this unit’s been partly disassembled. It’s no longer operational, just in a standby mode that keeps it shielded. It seems that whoever Tylvius was working for has come back for some of the components, and will likely remove the rest later. They must know that we’ve traced them here.

Then it stands to reason that to take the parts back to their own time they might’ve set up another transference point.

Which would also imply that they intend to continue visiting.

The two vampires were pleased with their deductions and went immediately to report their findings to Admiral Rivette.

What an interesting discovery! the admiral said, sharing in their excitement. He leaned back in his seat behind his large office desk and considered what they’d told him. Well done, both of you. But I wonder why only some of the components were removed. From your description, it might’ve been less troublesome to have taken the complete units.

Luke shrugged. Maybe they wanted us to find it for some reason.

To put us on a false trail perhaps?

Or so that it could be quickly reassembled at some point in the future as a secondary escape option.

Laurence Hartley might be able to learn something from the devices.

The fact that there are several temporal signatures in the area could suggest that the person in the black robe was meeting with several accomplices at different rendezvous points who were possibly all unaware that there were others, William said.

That sounds like a plausible conclusion, the admiral agreed.

And sir, I’d like to request that you not share these discoveries with Fleet Admiral Morgan, William suggested.

For what reason?

I have reason to suspect that he could be involved, so I think it would be unwise to make our findings known until we can be sure.

I see, Admiral Rivette said thoughtfully. It would explain...

Sir? William got the admiral’s attention after a few seconds of silence.

I recall a couple of occasions when I tried to reach the fleet admiral at his office or on his multi-com and got no response. Some involvement in this affair could be the reason for that. And he did just happen to be safely on Jidai during that major historical upheaval that temporarily wiped out most life on Earth while you were in exile, until the timeline was restored. However, I would like something more substantial to go on before we jump to any conclusions, as it could all be purely circumstantial. If there is a second installation I want you to find it and deactivate it, and report directly to me. If whoever’s behind all this managed to get Tylvius they may have other operatives also. Report only to me until we find out who we can trust, and anyone we do deem trustworthy we need to be absolutely certain about first.

Agreed, Admiral, William concurred.

Dismissed, the admiral said politely. As the two vampires left he activated his office computer and proceeded to bring up information on the whereabouts of Fleet Admiral Morgan during the past few months.

*

As William strolled with Luke towards Green Tim’s for lunch the next day he received a call on his multi-com. He pulled back his sleeve, and the face on the watch-face screen was that of a thin middle-aged man with a touch of grey in his hair and moustache. The collar of an orange uniform jacket was also visible. He touched the screen to answer it.

Commander Herschel, this is Lieutenant Reginald Walker of the science division.

It’s nice to be able to put a face to the name. Zahlmann told me to expect a call from you at some point. How are things progressing? William asked.

We’ve nearly completed a prototype of the compact engine cells with spatial rift amplifiers. Being the man who originally came up with the concept I thought you might like to take a look.

Thank you, Lieutenant, I’ll be right there, William replied. Come on, Luke, this should be interesting!

Minutes later the two vampires were inside one of the science labs, a large L-shaped room, where several of the scientists were examining a large disc-shaped device on a workbench. The disc had a diameter of a little over half a metre and was fifteen centimetres thick.

Commander Herschel, welcome. I’m Walker. It’s an honour to meet you, the man who’d called said as he shook William’s hand enthusiastically. Indicating the disc, he said, This is the compact engine we’ve designed for a time pod, based on your ideas. We’ve run it through every possible test now, except of course for a trial flight. But even throughout the theoretical stages we’ve been able to pursue new avenues of research inspired by this project.

Fascinating. William was genuinely impressed that the science team had already succeeded in creating what was merely an idea on a data pad several days earlier.

With the assistance of another scientist, Walker turned the heavy disc upside down. The underside was divided into quarters. Each of these four sections is a compact engine cell. The spatial rift amplifiers are already built into them.

That’s incredible! Luke couldn’t contain his awe. What’s the thrust?

Well, as you know, any ship needs at least four individual cells to safely pass the speed of light for stability reasons. Normally a single engine cell is several times the size of this complete unit, but these compact cells, when connected to a low-mass pod, will each have an estimated thrust output of five times that of a regular cell.

William and Luke were both amazed.

So the total maximum thrust of this unit is roughly 6,000 times the speed of light? William asked.

That’s right, Walker responded proudly.

That’s more than twice as fast as the average time shuttle, Luke said delightedly. Will this engine work on larger ships?

Unfortunately no. Their mass is just too great. This smaller engine can’t generate and maintain a stable field around something that large. But being small, we’ve also been able to construct a time drive that’s more compact than that of a regular Mark V time pod. It’s connected directly into the compact engine to be one complete unit for time and space travel, making it the first workable hybrid system.

I didn’t think it was possible to make a unified system without it destabilising and tearing itself apart, William said.

Normally that’s true, which is why all ships have separate time drives and spatial engines despite being able to operate them simultaneously. But all of our tests show that we may finally have succeeded! Walker said ecstatically.

Does that make a lot of difference, having a combined drive? Luke enquired.

It means that you could safely launch it from inside this room rather than having to eject into space before engaging the time drive. Once the hybrid drive’s engaged it’ll shift the pod outside of the normal limits of time and space and matter altogether, and enable it to pass through walls and bulkheads as if they weren’t there, as it will temporarily cease to be in our known space-time dimension. You see, it will remove the entire pod outside of space and time, as opposed to simply enveloping it in a spatial rift and a time field, Walker said excitedly, using his hands in a series of rapid movements to illustrate what he was saying, though the gestures were indecipherable to either of the vampires. William and Luke looked a little confused, so he said, Put simply, think of it as projecting a wormhole outside of our space-time dimension that leads directly to the destination in time and space.

Doesn’t a regular time drive do something like that? William asked.

Not quite, that’s more like temporal displacement in one direction or the other, which you could say squeezes the time of departure and the temporal destination closer together around the ship to cross from one to the other in a shorter time, forwards or backwards. But with this unit it’s more efficient than even that form of time travel. As far as space-time is concerned, the pod no longer exists at all until it reaches its landing coordinates. It travels in such a way that the journey through space and time are one, as opposed to the two synchronised journeys of physical movement and accelerated displacement through time.

I’m still slightly confused, to be honest, William confessed, as the principles of the technology had taken a different turn to what he’d originally envisioned. But it looks highly promising, and it certainly is intriguing. Perhaps you could send the finalised schematics of the completed hybrid system to my quarters so I can study them when I have more time to soak it all in?

Of course, Commander. I did have a single spare engine cell lying around that you could’ve taken and examined, the original working prototype in fact, but it seems to have disappeared somewhere. I’ve probably just misplaced it. But rest assured, the pod should be fully assembled and ready to launch within two days, Walker said, exuberant at the appreciation his work and efforts were receiving, as well as for the scientific triumph itself. He even waved boyishly as the two vampires left the lab.

Well, he seemed to enjoy the attention, Luke commented once they were out of earshot.

He certainly did, William agreed. If we didn’t leave then, we might never have gotten away.

*

Two days later the two conspirators enshrouded in loose hooded robes like monks’ habits were discussing William in the deep, dark and secluded recesses of Epoch’s infrastructure as they had many times before.

Herschel will be piloting a modified time pod on its trial flight today, the black-robed master said.

What must I do? the one wearing a brown robe asked.

It’s unnecessary for you to do anything. I’ve already obtained a copy of the schematic and have sabotaged the project. Even if he survives he won’t be able to return. And if he dies they’ll never find his body. In addition, I’ve created a fallback plan in case he does miraculously find a way back.

Why not simply shoot him?

It’s too premature for actions like that. This way if Temporal Security does a forensic analysis the evidence will be less conclusive and harder to trace. My projections of possible future timelines indicate that Herschel is the greatest threat to our success, closely followed by the human race as a whole, particularly Temporal Security. But rest assured, if no other discreet method succeeds and he’s still alive when the time comes for action, I will kill him personally.

Is it possible for him to be turned to our cause?

Perhaps, the black-robed being said with consideration. But for the time being we must be patient as our plans unfold. Go now, and take no action until I give you further instructions.

The brown-robed being turned and hurried away, and the black-robed figure dematerialised in a shimmer of blue light.

*

In the main science lab, Walker led William over to the finished project. The upright cylindrical capsule was half a metre taller than the height of a man and less than a metre wide on the inside. The door was a transparent panel that made up the entire front third of it. William thought that there was something vaguely familiar about it, something in the back of his mind that he couldn’t put his finger on. He figured that it must be because the basic design was adapted from the Mark V model of time capsule that was currently in service as the standard escape pod on time ships, but somehow it seemed like something more than just that.

Would you care to step inside? Walker offered.

Sure, William said, and stepped in. There was only just enough space for him to stand upright, with control panels lining the inner walls on either side of him, which were very different to those of a normal Mark V, and circuitry hanging above his head that wasn’t yet housed within the minute upper section. It’s a bit cramped. I’ve been in a sarcophagus that had more space than this. He stepped out again and a nearby scientist stepped inside and began making final adjustments before securing the circuits into their places overhead. So you’ve managed to fit a hybrid spatial engine and time drive, a life support system, sensors, and a navigational system into this little pod? That’s incredible!

It’s also equipped with a temporal recall beacon as a safeguard, being a prototype. For instance, suppose the navigation system fails; you could activate the beacon and send a signal to us here at this point in time. We would then be able to trace you and link the station’s time drive to your own and bring you directly back along the temporal link.

It seems you’ve thought of everything.

Now we just need a test pilot.

That’ll be me! William said enthusiastically.

But Commander, aren’t you needed here? Walker asked.

I spoke to the admiral about it on my way here. He said it’d be fine since things are quiet at the moment. And I’ve familiarised myself with the operational controls from the schematics you sent me. Besides, this new technology initially came from the idea that I submitted. It seems fitting that I should pilot it.

Very well, I guess I can’t argue with that. As I’m sure you can tell, its construction is roughly based on the Mark V escape capsule, although its systems are quite different. On Earth they’re already working on another two upgrade models to be used on various classes of time ship, so until we come up with a suitable name we’ve been referring to it as the Mark VIII time capsule. It’s a somewhat insipid designation, but it’ll do for now.

I’m sure you’ll come up with something imaginative. Have you run a full systems check? William asked.

Last night before I left the lab. Everything’s in perfect working order, Walker said confidently. To be honest I didn’t get much sleep last night, with the excitement of it being finished and ready for the trial flight.

At that moment Admiral Rivette entered, accompanied by Luke and Larissa. All three wanted to be present for the launch.

Admiral, we’ll need you to authorise the launch, Walker said, and led him to a control station on the other side of the lab.

William took the opportunity to quietly ask Larissa, Do you know of any reason why I shouldn’t do this?

No, I wasn’t informed that this even took place. But if it was a significant moment I’m sure I would’ve been told, she answered.

Good luck, Will, Luke said with an affectionate slap on the back.

Walker returned and informed William, We’ve set the landing coordinates for the Moscow Research Centre in Russia, ten minutes into the future from the moment of departure. They’ll be expecting you.

That’s not very far, William said with disappointment.

Well it is only a trial flight, Walker said apologetically. We’ll give you somewhere more interesting once we’ve confirmed that it works properly.

And if it doesn’t work?

Then you’ll just end up back here, if you even leave at all. We’ve programmed it with failsafes in case the hybrid drive destabilises, Walker said, dismissing the possibility of it not working since every one of the previous night’s tests and diagnostics had produced better than satisfactory results.

Everything seemed to be in order, so William stepped inside the Mark VIII capsule. Walker carefully checked that the door had sealed correctly when the vampire was in place as comfortably as he was going to get.

William felt a rush of excitement. He tried not to let it show too much, as everyone outside the capsule was watching him, and he didn’t want to be seen grinning like a semi-bewildered idiot on what might be a historical flight. He checked on the panel to his right that the course was correctly laid in. Next to the readout was the activation control. He looked at the group of people waiting around the capsule with anticipation, most of them the scientists who’d worked with Walker on the project. Assuming that the trip was a success, it would open the door to a new era of technological advancement. If it wasn’t... he decided not to think too much about that, and trusted that Walker had been thorough in checking the capsule over the night before. Without further ado, he activated the capsule. Instead of the familiar green ripple of energy that time drives produced, the capsule was enveloped in a blue ripple. A little worried by the fact, William watched as the sight of the crowd in the lab was slowly replaced by a vortex of shadowy swirling colours. It was as though he was inside a dark dimensionless rainbow. The prismatic vortex seemed to twist randomly all around him in a constantly changing motion with no apparent pattern. While it was fascinating, it was also unexpected. Travelling though time had never produced anything remotely similar to what he was seeing.

He glanced at the navigational readout and knew immediately that something was wrong. The course no longer indicated that he was heading for Earth, but that he was hurtling aimlessly through time and space. Very awkwardly in the capsule’s narrow confines, he reached up and pried off a small maintenance panel just below head height to reveal the navigation circuitry. The system had been tampered with. The primary directional circuit was missing, and in its place was a foreign circuit of an unfamiliar design. Using the scanner function on his multi-com, he was able to determine that its purpose was to initiate an entirely random course right after the capsule dematerialised. He decided it was best to activate the temporal recall beacon before he got too far away, but again he discovered a system fault. Removing another panel he saw that part of the transponder circuitry was also missing. He tried to make contact with Epoch using his multi-com but without success, which he figured meant that he’d already shifted through time. Multi-coms weren’t equipped with temporal transmitters, being too small to fit the required circuitry. The only thing that was in his power to do was wait until the capsule landed somewhere and then formulate a plan from there.

Chapter 2

Keriale

How long until we know if it was successful? Admiral Rivette asked.

The course was set for ten minutes into our future. That’s still another seven minutes away. In all likelihood if there was a problem he would’ve rematerialised back here immediately, Walker said.

What do you mean, in all likelihood? the admiral demanded. Are you telling me that you planned the launch without being certain? Were all of the systems even checked before the launch?

Yes, sir, last night. I ran the checks myself, with Frank’s assistance, Walker said, intimidated by the admiral. He immediately felt guilty, considering that perhaps he hadn’t tested everything well enough. Perhaps he’d been so impatient to see the results that he hadn’t ensured enough failsafes.

We were very thorough, Admiral, one of the other scientists, Frank, said in support.

You’d both better hope that he rematerialises in Moscow, the admiral warned.

Why was it enveloped in blue light instead of green? Larissa asked Walker.

That, I have to admit, wasn’t something that we’d anticipated. By all reasoning it should’ve been green like when a normal time drive is in use.

Admiral Rivette tapped Luke’s arm. Let’s go to the temporal scanning room and see if we can locate the capsule using Epoch’s sensors.

Luke nodded and followed the admiral.

*

As the capsule began to materialise, and the blue shimmer around it started to fade, William immediately knew that he wasn’t in Moscow. He found himself in the middle of a thick jungle of plants that resembled bamboo trees, with large drooping leaves that grew at regularly spaced distances all the way up their straight and narrow segmented trunks. A quick scan using the capsule’s sensors revealed that he wasn’t even on Earth, dispelling the thought that he’d landed somewhere in Asia or even South America, although the planet did have a predominantly nitrogen and oxygen atmosphere. The air was slightly thinner than Earth’s but the oxygen level was higher, which made up for it pretty closely. The planet was mostly covered by a massive ocean. There were only two relatively small continents, both of which would be better classified as large islands. William had landed on the larger one. The other was less than a quarter of its size, only eight kilometres offshore at its nearest point. The positioning and shape of the landmasses had a vague similarity to that of Britain and Ireland, but on a much smaller scale. There were very few mountains and lakes on either of them, with all readings of the evidence of seismic activity being almost zero, making it one of the most tectonically inert planets when cross-referenced with those listed in the database. It had no moon, which contributed to why that would be the case.

The sensors also revealed a power signature near the latitudinal centre of the larger continent, closer to the western coast, although strangely it was the only detectable power reading on the planet. It was possible that the world was uninhabited, and that someone else had landed here too, as the development of technology by an indigenous species would’ve resulted in numerous power readings. The sensors also showed that the bamboo-type plant life covered the majority of the two landmasses.

The bamboo jungle was so thick that he had difficulty opening the capsule door. The sky was semi-darkened with gathering grey clouds. He estimated the time to be either just before sunrise or shortly after sunset. The air was cool but humid, and had a fresh smell like that of a rainforest. The leaves all around him rustled softly as a gentle breeze swept through them.

The thought crossed his mind that he might be able to adapt the circuitry of his multi-com to act as the missing component for the temporal beacon, but he couldn’t be certain that it would work. He decided not to, at least not until he’d explored any other possibility, estimating a high risk that it would overload the multi-com and damage both systems. It would be more useful to keep his multi-com intact, at least for its scanner capability. If he tried launching the capsule again it would only send him to another random location in time and space. For all he knew he might end up in the ionosphere of a gas giant or on the surface of a volcanic moon, with no idea whether he was in the future or the past, just like now.

The capsule’s navigation system showed that he’d travelled a considerable distance across the galaxy to an uncharted system in a matter of minutes. Not even the name of the local star was listed, or if it was the corrupted navigation system was unable to positively identify it. He decided to make his way towards the centre of the continent where the power signature was located. It was only ten kilometres away, and if someone else had landed here they might have a spare transponder circuit that he could wire into the capsule. The larger continent wasn’t even 1,000 kilometres in length and was nearly 150 kilometres in diameter with a slightly crescent shape. The capsule had landed seven kilometres from the shore of the bay. He could tell that it was a small planet by the way he felt a bit lighter than usual. As he pushed his way through the jungle he took a gravity reading on his multi-com, which indicated 0.84 of Earth standard.

The more worrying thought than anything else was that someone had again used sabotage to get him out of the way. The first time had been when he was framed and sent into exile, and numerous systems on the shuttle had been tampered with in an attempt to ensure that he didn’t arrive at his exile location alive, which he’d attributed to either the late John Tylvius or his black-robed master. It was obvious to William that he was still considered a threat, meaning that the plan he’d stumbled onto, of which necrozine smuggling was only a part, was still in operation, which made it all the more imperative that he find a way to return to Epoch.

*

Walker was in communication with the Research Centre in Moscow when Luke entered the lab with Admiral Rivette.

We couldn’t detect the pod anywhere on Earth within the range of Epoch’s temporal sensors, Luke informed Walker.

Reluctantly, Walker faced the admiral. I can’t tell you how much I regret what’s happened, sir. You have my assurance that I will not stop until I’ve located him.

The admiral was obviously controlling his mood when he spoke. Continue searching. Hopefully he’s just late. I take it there’s been no signal from his beacon?

No, he must not have activated it. But we’ll have someone constantly on standby for that signal.

The admiral glared at him for a moment, then turned and silently left the room.

Is there anything else we can do? the scientist named Frank asked Walker.

Walker sighed. The only other thing I can think of is to call Professor Zahlmann down here in case he can come up with something.

Things really are looking grim, Luke muttered.

*

William had been on foot for a good twenty minutes when he came across a blackened humanoid corpse lying face down on the jungle floor. The dried remnants of the flesh clung firmly to the skeletal structure as though it’d been both melted and burnt onto it. Several shoots of the overabundant jungle plant had sprouted through the charred-looking remains. A quick scan revealed that the body had been there for more than four hundred years. Residual mineral traces in the bones that matched those in the soil suggested that the being was indigenous to the planet. It appeared that the planet might have a population after all. His multi-com’s limited scanner showed indications of life sign readings, but they were imprecise, so he couldn’t be sure if they belonged to intelligent life forms or animals, or even how many there were in any given direction. He left the body and moved on.

Eventually he came to a clearing where the ground was too rocky for the bamboo trees to grow well,