Chapter 27 : Retrieval

Location : West of Vienna, Austria
Era : Thursday 13 May 1790CE

The smoke coming from the burning farmhouse carried the sickening smell of burnt flesh.

“Those poor people. Can’t we do something?” asked Irmhild.

“If we jumped back in time to before he arrived and gave them high level tarka, then sent in a snatch team at just the right time,” suggested Ranjeet uncertainly.

“Even then it would be ... challenging,” said Alec sadly.

<I have an idea. Why don’t I just rip the bastard’s head off?> sent Lieutenant Ellen Sarkozi, launching herself forward out of the cover of the forest towards the horseman responsible for the devastation in front of them.

<”No, don’t,”> communicated both Alec and Varija. Acting as one, they each grabbed one of Ellen’s shoulders and hauled her back.

<”You can’t change the past,”> the Furies explained simultaneously, then looked at each other in annoyance.

“He has to meet me in Vienna in a year,” elaborated Alec, “otherwise we would not have even known to be here.”

They had arrived at the time and place the captured time criminal had confessed to last seeing his spacecraft. The farmhouse had been already ablaze and the younger version of Adonis Como had been finishing off his last victim, a mature woman, who was solid but short. The victim’s body lay like an accusation just outside the doorway of her former home.

They had all been upset, but Ellen in particular had difficulty controlling her rage. They had barely managed to drag her to the cover of nearby trees before Como finished what he was doing and turned in their direction.

Ellen had already been angry and frustrated over Varija’s refusal to hear the report on her three week mission to Mars. Varija had picked her up at their prearranged rendezvous and told her the debriefing could wait and 2299 was not going anywhere.

While witnessing Como’s atrocities sent the others into shock, horror and nausea, Ellen was consumed by righteous indignation and an almost physical need to inflict retribution on Como.

<What about all the other people he is going to torture, rape and murder between now and when you capture him?> Ellen protested.

Alec and Varija glanced unhappily at each other; neither had an answer to that.

<If I go out there to kill him, what could possibly stop me?> asked Ellen.

<”I don’t know,”> the clones answered. <And that should scare you, > continued Varija.

<Not everyone has your obsessive need to plan everything or the need to determine the outcome before making the first move, > argued Ellen.

<”Don’t dismiss my caution,”> Alec and Varija answered. “Most of our enemies are either, in prison, dead, or their careers are in ruins,” elaborated Alec.

<It was bad enough when there was only one of you. What did I do to deserve this?” asked Ellen.

“Whatever you do will he turn up alive in Vienna and cause enough death and destruction that I will notice him,” explained Alec. <You might suffer a stroke before you can strike him down, > suggested Varija. “He might spin around and shoot you,” offered Alec. <You might kill him, but afterwards someone puts him back together and sends him on his way, > sent Varija. “Whatever happens, nothing will have changed,” concluded Alec.

Ellen lowered her head, her shoulders slumped in defeat.

After concluding his business Como had wandered over to where a rather ugly looking horse was tied up on a railing. He untied the horse, mounted and rode off down a track away from their hidden observation spot.

“How did you manage to capture him?” Mark asked Alec.

“I dumped him in a hole and threatened to bury him alive if he didn’t give me administrative access to his tarka,” replied Alec.

When Como disappeared from view they emerged from their hiding place and walked towards a very peculiar building.

<I can’t understand how he thought this would fool anyone?> commented Varija.

Como had said he had left the spacecraft in a barn, however the strange edifice looked more like someone had completely covered a spaceship with random pieces of wood.

“He isn’t very bright,” noted Alec.

<He was bright enough to break the security on this ship, > rejoined Varija. <Maybe he never intended to return to his ship?>

“You guys should talk. Your disguises won’t to fool anyone either,” said Irmhild.

Varija and her team, Mark, Professor Jordán, and Ellen; were still in their bio-mech bodies, disguised only by long shapeless, hooded robes.

Alec and her team, Irmhild and Ranjeet, were in organic bodies and period clothes. Aside from being almost supernaturally good looking compared to the average eighteenth century native they could almost have fit in.

<Blame my impatience to get my hands on the spacecraft, > replied Varija. She transmitted the authorization code they had extracted from their captive and a door slid open revealing an airlock, that opened onto a corridor decorated late 23rd century style with an animated forest on the walls, floor, and ceiling. They entered and headed towards the nose of the craft. The cockpit sported eight chairs but no controls, the crew was expected to control the ship through their tarka.

Alec and Varija sat down and closed their eyes. They opened their eyes in astonishment. “Buddha on a stick,” exclaimed Alec.

<Language! Alec, > admonished Varija.

<”This ship is amazing”> they exclaimed at the same time. They looked at each other in annoyance. <”Stop doing that.”> They told each other.

<This is a 300 year old decommissioned warship, Kathryn’s Joy. Kiro and Jordán, plug in to the ship’s system and start analyzing its specs, > sent Varija.

<It has four C-S particles regulating a micro fusion reactor that’s a hundred times smaller than any reactor I’ve everseen, > remarked Jordán.

<There are logs detailing battles on Earth at New Atlantis in 2164, and in several other star systems.> observed Mark.

“Battle against enemies with names like the Orion Hegemony, the Terran Federation, the Principality of Heaven,” read Alec.

<Apparently Heaven is in the Perseus Arm, > joked Varija.

“Who knew?” replied Alec with a smirk.

<This ship has seen a lot of action. The front was sliced off during one battle and the human crew has been killed twice.>

“The weapons schematics are still in the system; we could re-arm the ship,” said Alec.

<Trust you to find the weapons.>

“Don’t get snarky at me.”

<Just saying, > sent Varija.

“Then say less.”

<We need to go before the neighbors investigate the smoke.>

“Everyone secure themselves in a chair,” warned Alec.

Mark was activating the webbing on his chair when he was jerked backward by the jump.

“We are still in 1790,” stated Alec.

<But we are now at the future site of Utopia, > explained Varija.

“The capital of New Atlantis,” Alec added.

The external feeds were now showing the white snowscape of the Transantarctic Mountains.

<Listening to the two of you is getting seriously creepy, > sent Ellen.

<”Two of us!”> they exclaimed. <We are not fungible units, > Varija added. “We are individuals,” asserted Alec.

Ellen looked at Alec then at Varija, who both had very similar expressions and body language despite one being organic human and the other bio-mech. <Right, > she sent.

“Just because you’re sleeping with my sister, doesn’t mean you can get snarky,” warned Alec.

<Alec, please!> requested Varija.

<I think Ellen’s wondering if Alec being part of the team will be a long term thing.> sent Mark trying to smooth things over.

Alec eyes narrowed. <”No!”> they both said. “We don’t get along,” added Alec. <We did once, > contradicted Varija.”Not since Defcon 2293.” <You still haven’t forgiven me for that.>

<That was the Defcon where you were recognized as a mage under the name The Fury.> sent Ellen.

“Wasn’t there some kind of terrorist attack?” asked Ranjeet.

<When a government does it they are usually called death squads, > stated Varija furiously.

“Was that the one in the Aksumite Empire? It was Tatienne Arden City, wasn’t it?” asked Irmhild.

“That’s the one. The Head Fox of the Maenads, Thórhildr Bellamy, tried to accept the award in our name. I came as Thomas Helrich, our other sister Meg came as Carine Ford, and Tis was providing over-watch. For some stupid reason we thought it was important to prove that Thomas and Carine were different people. It didn’t make any difference. Everyone was still convinced that they were both me, even when they had seen them both in the same place talking to each other,” rambled Alec.

“Are you called The Fury because there are three of you? There are only three, right?” asked Irmhild.

<No, it’s because of that stupid photo taken when I was sixteen. I was known as The Fury way before 2293, > sent Varija.

“You were supposed to protect us, Tis” accused Alec.

<There were eight death squads with six men each and it was your own boyfriend who took you down.>

“It was our boyfriend and they had his sister and parents hostage. In the end he paid for trusting the kidnappers.” muttered Alec.

Varija turned away and they fell silent.

“Do you feel like discussing what happened to your boy–” Irmhild started asking until Ranjeet clapped his hand over her mouth.

“It’s clear that they don’t want to discuss it,” he said.

<Perma-death, > sent Varija.