Chapter 964: The Shadows of Twilight

Chapter 964: The Shadows of Twilight

When you sup with the Devil, it is best to bring a long spoon. Bill "Shaky" Spearman, Terran Age of Expansion philosopher and movie producer

We are each our own Devil, and we each make the world our own Hell. - Oscar Wildman, Age of Expansion Bongistan Warlord

She comes with either thunder and brimstone, or silence and sweetness. Either way, it is always best to remember that she is the Detainee, and bound for a reason. - Tal.re'k, Trena'ad philosopher.

The Detainee is at her most dangerous when you feel you are beyond her power. - Da'amn'dmo'o, Lanaktallan Philosopher, before his disappearance from a locked room.

Nakteti set down the multitool and sat down, wiping her forehead. Her fur was matted with sweat, working out in the shadeless sun. There were no clouds in the sky to keep the anomaly from beating down on her, the strange radiations emitted by the anomaly converted into standard sunlight by some kind of field generated by the innermost layer of the SUDS.

They were almost done.

One more separation, and the intertwined timelines, slices of the past wedged against the present, would be undone. The SUDS would return to operating at a single temporal point.

Then the work to put back together the shielding around the anomaly could begin.

Nakteti looked at the buildings around her. All of them had a slight second image, like a light case of double-vision after too many narcobrews.

A far cry different from the multiple overlapping versions.

Storm clouds began to form over her as the temperature plummeted. Nakteti looked up to see the clouds spiraling out from a central point that was a dark mass in the sky. She reached up and touched her temple, putting two fingers on her datalink and opening a channel to her ship.

"Chuck, I've got storm clouds. I don't remember the weather generator scheduling any rainfall for today," Nakteti said.

There was no answer.

"Chuck, are you there?" Nakteti asked.

No answer. No hissing of 'dead air' where the implant added the hissing noise to let someone know the system was working, there just wasn't anyone there. It was dead silence.

"Nakteti to Surscee, can you hear me?" she asked.

Dead air.

"Nakteti to Magnus, do you read?" Nakteti asked.

Still nothing.

She pushed up the power and tried again.

And got nothing.

She stood up, squinting at the clouds. Wind was picking up, heavy with the smell of rain, and drops were starting to patter on the asphalt of the parking lot the last of the temporal disruptors were being set up.

"Anyone at all, can anyone read me on this channel?" she asked.

Dead air.

Before she could say anything else a hand dropped onto her shoulder and a voice spoke.

"Being alone is bitch, isn't it?"

She shrieked in fear, throwing herself forward into a roll, landing on her catching hands before kicking off, her gripping hands pulling her daggers from her belt. She came up smoothly, turning in place, to stare at who had touched her.

The Lady Lord of Hell stood next to the disruptor, lighting a cigarette with a steel cased lighter.

"You look like a fool," the Lady Lord of Hell said through the exhalation of smoke, tucking away the lighter and pack in one breast pocket on her dark blouse. She reached out and put one hand on the temporal disruptor even as she took another drag and removed the cigarette from her mouth, exhaling smoke.

Nakteti heaved a deep breath, slowly sheathing her daggers. Her muscles were twitching, thrumming, as fear chemicals raced through her bloodstream.

The Detainee was wearing her typical dark charcoal gray skirt and blouse ensemble, belted at the waist with a black belt, cufflinks with an odd rune on them, the flag lapel pin, and the red flower at her throat. Black boots with silver buckles that vanished under the ankle-length skirt. Her fingernails were manicured and enameled with blood red coloration.

"What do you want?" Nakteti asked, knowing her voice was hard and harsh due to the fear. She pushed the urge to submit down and away, clenching her teeth.

"You," the Matron of Hell said simply. She exhaled smoke again, even though she had not taken a drag, only her gunmetal gray eyes visible in the faint suggestion of a face through the smoke. Lightning flashed, reflecting off the smoke.

"I will not let you take me," Nakteti said.

"No." Lightning hit so close that Nakteti's fur stood up and her fingertips went numb.

"Thrice asked, thrice denied," the Detainee said through the world-ending crash of thunder

She looked at the disruptor for a long moment. She pinched the top with two fingers, moving it over only a few feet before setting it down.

"So be it," she said. She looked off to the West, where lightning was raking the ground from the storm, then slowly to the east, her eyes narrowed, her mouth tight.

Her face hardened and she looked at the charge she had shifted.

Lightning began to arc from the sky and Nakteti realized with horror it was going to hit the disruptor/stabilization charge.

The Lady Lord of Hell touched the top and the charge fired off.

Through the howling of chronotrons, Nakteti heard the Detainee's voice even as the Matron of the Damned vanished as the lightning struck, missing the charge, the Detainee, and Nakteti.

"You'd have made an outstanding Hell Guide."

The explosion of the electricity superheating the air knocked Nakteti through the air and she hit the ground in a heap.

Darkness claimed her.

-----

"Easy now, milady," Magnus's voice was gentle. "You've got some burns. I gave you med injection, but your fur's a loss."

Nakteti's eyes fluttered and she opened them, looking up at the Terran, who was staring down at her.

"What happened?" Nakteti asked. She could feel the tingling burning of medical nanites at work, could smell burnt fur, and her right arms were numb.

"There was a slight radiation surge from the anomaly," Surscee said, from just beyond her sight. "Without the great panels, the SUDS tried to protect the surface with sudden storms, tried to discharge the energy as lightning by striking it into the superconductor grid built into the middle of the layer. Lightning hit our carefully planned setup, overcharging the system."

Nakteti sat up, wiping her mouth. Magnus helped her with careful hands.

Chuck was standing by the deployed disruptor/stabilizer.

"It's a good thing you adjusted for the slight elevation change," the Digital Sentience said. "If you had put it in the original position, the disruption would have failed and caused a cascade instead."

Nakteti slowly got to her feet, accepting Magnus's offer of a wineskin. The water inside tasted of limes and helped clear the strange taste of berries and tinfoil from her mouth.

"It wasn't me," Nakteti said. She looked around. "The Detainee came to me, told me each of you had sworn to serve her. Right before she left, she moved the charge and fired it."

Chuck frowned. "Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure," Nakteti said softly. She drew her sword slowly, grounding the tip and leaning against it.

Her legs were getting pins and needles as feeling came back.

"What's our status?" Nakteti asked.

"The layers are separating. The anomaly's gone back to normal," Chuck said. He pointed at the buildings at the bottom of the space elevator. "The mat-trans station came online. It goes to the primary control room."

"Hopefully we'll find the repair crew there," Nakteti said. She was breathing heavy. "Give me a minute to catch my breath and we'll head out."

Chuck nodded.

Nakteti looked at the other three. "I knew she was lying. None of you would break your oaths," she said. "We have come too far together. All of you value your own honor and your oaths too much to break them at the behest of the Devil."

All three nodded.

Nakteti looked at Chuck, straightening up. She slowly sheathed her blade.

"Where is the primary control room?" she asked.

Surscee smiled.

"Atlantis."