Chapter 43
Kane met her gaze with a smile.
He could see the worry in Kaitlin’s eyes, feel it in her mind.
But it no longer mattered. He had no control over what his long-ago ancestors had done.
He only had control over what he did now.
“Don’t look so worried. I’ve come to terms with this.
So my great, great, great...whatever was employed to blow up a spaceship.
That has nothing to do with me. Or you.”
“Good. I think.”
All the same, he couldn’t help but wonder if things had turned out differently—if he’d never met the Kindred—would he have gone through with the mission?
He would presumably have known none of this.
Maybe the machine would have come to life, taken them here with the bomb to this time and place.
He would have seen a spaceship, and there was a good chance he would have considered it a threat to mankind and blown the fucker up.
“Why the cataclysm though?” he asked. “The bomb we saw wasn’t powerful enough to do that much damage.”
“It’s some sort of chain reaction from the ship exploding,” Melody said. “The Bhaxians probably didn’t know that would be the result, but they probably also didn’t care.”
“And we still have to stop it,” Kaitlin said waving a hand toward the time machine. “There are agents from the Tel Group in there right now.”
“The Tel Group always complete their missions,” Melody said. “This failure must have galled. Plus, the Bhaxians are still around. They had spies and traitors in the Bureau. When we picked up the first anomaly, they must have followed us back here.”
Kane looked from the crashed mothership to the silver time machine. There was still no sign of the Tel agents. “What the hell are they doing in there?”
“Probably setting the bomb to explode,” Melody said, “and resetting the time machine to take them safely away from the blast zone.”
“Can you go back and stop them from your end?” Kane asked.
“Now you know there are traitors, could you go back to before the first anomaly and warn them?” Christ, and then what would happen?
Would they all just cease to exist? It made his head hurt to think of all the things that had had to happen to bring them to exactly where they were now.
If any of those things were changed, the effects would ripple down through everything else, so nothing would stay the same.
“There’s no going back,” Melody replied. “When Quinn and I left, the Bureau was under attack from the Bhaxians. I’m pretty sure the whole facility was destroyed.”
“But you don’t know for sure?”
She raised her arm and pointed to the black strap on her wrist. “The transponders are dead. I have no contact with the future. It was destroyed.”
“Or,” Kaitlin suggested, “maybe we succeed, and the future is changed. And the Bureau never exists.”
“I like that idea,” Quinn said.
“I suppose,” Melody said. “The Krellians believe there might be numerous timelines running parallel to each other. So maybe somewhere, in another dimension, the Bureau and my friends and father will still exist.” She shook her head.
“I made my choice. I’m here and we have to stop them.
” She studied the time machine. “There’s no getting in until the door opens. It’s impenetrable.”
Kaitlin was staring at the time machine, almost willing it to open.
“I think we should put the reflector devices back on,” Kane said. “If they come out and do that mind-fucking thing, we’ll be finished before we start.”
She nodded and pulled the device from her pocket and placed it on her head. He did the same.
“Mind-fucking thing?” Quinn asked.
“Yeah, sorry,” Kane said. “Unfortunately, we don’t have a spare. And it seriously hurts.”
“I wish something would happen,” Kaitlin said.
She was holding the automatic rifle with ease, casually resting it on her hip.
He knew she’d had military training, but no combat experience.
Part of him wanted to tell her to get out of the danger zone, but he’d learned enough to know that was a waste of time.
He checked his own weapon over, then glanced at the other two.
Quinn was armed with some sort of laser pistol, no doubt from the future.
Kane’s fingers twitched with the urge to touch it.
But he didn’t ask. He got the impression that he wasn’t one of Quinn’s favorite people.
It wasn’t important—he was an acquired taste.
Melody appeared unarmed and he handed her the rifle slung over his shoulder.
“You know how to use it?” he asked. She could swap with Quinn if not. But she nodded.
“I studied ancient weapons as part of my training for coming back to your time.”
“Good.” And she certainly seemed at ease with the weapon.
“Now all we need is something to shoot,” Kaitlin muttered. “Where the hell are the fuckers?”
She was bristling with impatience.
Then, just as he opened his mouth to answer, the machine shimmered, and the doorway appeared.