Fierce Future: Drastic Times, #0

By R.A. Rock

The time travel bracelets have been stolen!

But wait, then how did Yumi and Chad end up in post apocalyptic Manitoba?

All the action and adventure you love... with spaceships and time travel!  

Read Fierce Future now.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Windy Point Publishing Inc.
• Release date: Oct 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201805036

Book preview

PAPERWORK SUCKS.

I mean, technically it wasn’t paperwork that we were doing at this particular moment. And if we were getting really technical, we didn’t even use paper anymore in the year 2481 — and hadn’t for hundreds of years — but somehow the name had stuck.

Still, what we were doing wasn’t working out in the field.

So the opposite of that was paperwork.

In my brain, anyway.

How many of these labs did The Alliance space station have anyway, I wondered. The headquarters were huge, as big as a small city and the research division had been extremely well funded, so I imagined there were hundreds of these labs. We had already searched at least eighty of them in the preceding weeks.

I brushed off my hands and cringed at the dry feel of them. My nose twitched. My skin was eternally dusty these days and I was so tired of sneezing.

We had removed everything from every cupboard, drawer, shelf, and locked container in the lab and had spread it all out over the tables, looking through the piles of junk to see if there was anything valuable in here.

All part of our new responsibilities since we took down The Agency and were reconstructing it to bring it back to its original principles.

The Agency had been created to be a place where Protectors could find others like themselves and train their abilities.

Protectors are what the people who had developed mental powers are called. The people who have no mental powers are referred to as The Protected.

Needless to say, The Agency had drifted pretty far from its roots by the time we graduated from The Academy and we were forced to change things. But that’s a long story.

We could have asked other Protectors to do this searching for us but to be honest we were afraid of what we might find in the Finders division.

The Finders were the part of The Agency that no one talked about. They were like a Secret Service and Research and Development all rolled into one and with a decidedly shady bent. They were also the muscle at The Agency. They did all the dirty work. They enforced the President’s decrees. And they did some stuff that people should never do.

What might happen if someone else got their hands on any illegal tech that the Finders might have been working on was also a serious concern.

It wouldn’t be a good thing for the brand new Alliance of Protectors. We were pretty sure about that.

The Alliance was the name everyone had voted to call this new organization we were creating together. We liked it because it suggested equality and participation with full consent by all members. Which of course was what we were going for.

This brought my thoughts back to sorting through crap.

I pushed a half deconstructed comm unit to the side of the table that held the objects I had already sorted through. Then I poked at the remaining pile with my finger, wrinkling my nose.

We had to do this stupid job because it was our duty and we couldn’t quite trust anyone else to do it. But I didn’t have to like it. Two whole weeks we had spent at this particular task, twelve hours a day, going through every lab and workspace in the entire space station. And I was so sick of digging through old circuit boards, test tubes, and other Finder scientist paraphernalia that I could scream.

When I cut myself on yet another razor sharp piece of metal — because all of the shit was in pieces, of course — I clenched my teeth, stood up, and walked over to the wall. Leaning against it, I sucked on my bleeding finger and watched the others working steadfastly. I tasted blood and dust.

What the scientists had been doing deconstructing all of this crap was beyond me.

But I was done.

I was so done.

I had been patient with the political stuff.

And I had been patient with the organizational stuff.

And I had been patient with this damned boring janitorial stuff.

But I was done being patient.

This was ridiculous.

And I was fucking sick of it.

My finger had stopped bleeding and I crossed my arms, waiting for one of them to notice that I had stopped working.

Finally Chad looked up and my guts clenched. He had cut his copper coloured hair so short that it wasn’t even curly anymore. The beard he was sporting was a new look for him, but I guessed that he had chosen it more because he couldn’t be bothered to shave, than for any other reason. And his clear blue eyes had dark circles under them, like he hadn’t been sleeping well.

Not that I cared.

He frowned.

Why aren’t you working?

I’m done, I said, with a little shake of my head.

Done?

This is stupid. We haven’t found one useful thing in the entire time we’ve been searching.

Not true, Shiv said, without looking up from where he was combing through what looked like a bunch of little pieces of scrap copper. The sharp pieces made little scraping sounds on the table that grated on my last nerve.

Okay, I modified my statement. "We haven’t found one useful thing in the entire time we’ve been searching except what would interest a scientist."

Shiv gave a nod to say that now my pronouncement was correct.

We only have a few more labs to do and we’re done, Yumi, Grace said, pushing her long red curls out of her face for the hundredth time that day.

I had told her she ought to pull it back but had she listened? No.

And by a few more, I’m assuming you mean ten or twenty?

She scowled at me, her pretty green eyes narrowing.

I don’t know what you’re complaining about. We’re all as tired of it as you.

As tired of it as me?

That was not possible.

Give me a real mission and I’ll go do it, I said, directing my request to Chad, who was glaring at me. But I’m done with this pawing through garbage.

He appeared unruffled but I saw him draw a slow breath in through his nose — a sure sign he was making an effort to remain calm.

What if in these last three labs there’s something really valuable? Shiv said, logically. Shiv is gorgeous — the quintessential tall, dark and handsome guy — he’s also brilliant, practically a genius. He’s also logical to a fault, which was annoying at the moment because he was making sense. What if there’s something that could change our lives forever?

I snorted, making him look up at me.

What if it’s something that could improve the collective lives of everyone in the galaxy? He went on.

I squinted at him.

That seems highly unlikely.

But not impossible, he pointed out. Not even improbable. The Finders were working on a lot of cool stuff and they did leave most of it behind when they took off.

There was silence for a long moment as Shiv and Grace continued working and Chad stared at me, his face carved in stone.

We could use your help, Shiv said, his tone mild. And there had never been a statement that was less of an order, which is probably why I went back to work.

If Chad had ordered me, I would have been out of there faster than a starship jumping to SLS — supraluminal speed (or in plain language faster than light speed). But since Shiv had, oh so logically, pointed out that I would be making more work for them if I stopped, I decided to stay.

But only for Gracie and Shiv.

Chad and I were not really on speaking terms today.

Nor had we been for the past year.

Things had gone very well on Balcon from a work perspective. It was where we had destroyed The Agency for good.

It was also the worst day of my life.

And that was Chad’s fault.

We were in the same Circle and on the same team and that meant that we still had to work together. We spoke as seldom as possible and avoided each other the rest of the time.

That was good.

Because I was pretty sure that I hated Chad’s guts.

I also missed him so much I could hardly breathe.

As you can imagine, this makes for a lot of conflict in my life. I’m angry. And hurt. And grieving her loss. Torn by my need for Chad that’s balanced only by my anger at him.

So, yeah, just your average completely miserable person.

But I ignored it all most of the time and that seemed to work. Sort of.

After another hour, I sighed.

Can we at least take a break? I said, standing up. I need to move around. My ass is sore from sitting so long.

Grace stood up too and stretched.

I’m going to finish checking for secret compartments in these cupboards first, Shiv said. Then I’ll be ready to go.

Okay, Chad said, his voice sounding like he didn’t really want to concede but couldn’t think of a realistic reason not to. One hour. But we finish this room today.

Shiv was standing on a stool and had his long arm in the back of one of the top cupboards, pressing for the spots I had shown them to look for that would release the secret panel. Not all the cupboards had secret compartments but there were enough of them that it made sense to check each cupboard to see if there was anything hidden behind the back wall.

The reason I knew so much about Finder hidey-holes was because I had been courted by them more than once. Somehow joining them had never really seemed like a good idea.

Fine, I said, heading for the door. See you guys in an hour.

Grace and Chad were getting up and grabbing their stuff, preparing to leave. I opened the door and stepped through but Shiv’s whispered word made me freeze in my tracks.

Wait.

There was something in his tone that made me turn around.

What is it? I said, unable to stop myself from asking.

Shut the door, he said and this time it was definitely an order. I stepped back in and the door slid softly shut behind me.

The three of us went to where he was standing holding something in his hands.

Bracelets? I said, rolling my eyes in disgust. I turned and made a beeline straight for the door.

Not bracelets, he corrected me, reverence in his tone.

Time travel devices.

I STARED AT the bracelets and felt the world shift — the small lab filled with junk seemed to contract and then expand again.

I didn’t know what was going to happen. But I did know that those small devices were going to change our lives. Just like Shiv had said earlier. It wasn’t a precog or a vision of the future per se, but more of a gut feeling.

I ignored Yumi as she returned to where Grace and I were standing next to Shiv, but her lemon scent drifted over me, driving me insane with desire for her.

I ignored that too.

It was past supper time and Yumi was right to call a break. But it seemed as though everyone had forgotten about their hunger and fatigue in light of Shiv’s discovery.

Time travel isn’t possible, Yumi said, her dark eyes intent on Shiv’s hands — at the same time, Grace said, Put them down, Shiv.

We were all staring at the small innocuous looking bracelets.

Instead, Shiv touched one of them and it glowed blue with only the faintest of hums.

Shit, put it down, Grace said, raising her voice and skidding back till she hit the wall. Yumi and I moved away in sync and I frowned, not liking that we were still so in tune with each other.

Shiv seemed