Hellfire Rebellion tw-10 Read online

  “I’m still not exactly clear on that.” she said. “How could he have changed the past without bringing about a temporal disruption?”

  “You’re asking me to answer a question that’s giving out top temporal physicists a lot of headaches.” Lucas said. “One possible answer is that it wasn’t a change significant enough to bring about a temporal disruption, though Lord knows, it was certainly significant enough for me! On the other hand, maybe it did cause a temporal disruption, only we’re not aware of the consequences yet. That’s one of the things that worries me. What if something terrible happens in the future simply because I didn’t die when I was supposed to’?”

  “I never did hear all the details. What exactly happened?”

  “Well, we were on a mission in 19th-century Afghanistan.” said Lucas. “We were with the British headquarters command of the Malakand Field Force, standing on a rock cliff overlooking a valley where the Bengal Lancers were fighting with the Ghazis. It was a bloody slaughter. The commanding general was there, watching the action, as well as the regimental surgeon and a young war correspondent whose name happened to be Winston Churchill. We were on the lookout for a temporal disruption that we knew was going to occur and we expected it to center around Churchill. who was the most historically significant person there. The rock we were on had just been captured from the Ghazis. They had sniper nests all over it and the infantry had charged and driven them all out. Only they had missed one.

  “While everyone was busy watching the fighting down below, this one Ghazi sniper got up from the rocks where he was hiding and drew a bead on the surgeon, whom he Probably mistook for the commanding officer. I just happened to glance over and see him bringing up his rifle. I yelled, ‘Hugo. look out!’ The surgeon was a veteran who’d just spent weeks pinned down by severe enemy sniper fire and he reacted instinctively by immediately dropping flat to the ground.

  “In an instant. I saw what I’d done by warning Hugo. The moment he dropped, he left Churchill directly in the line of fire. I made a dive for Churchill and at the same moment, the Ghazi sniper fired. Instead of hitting Churchill, the bullet struck me in the chest.” He took a deep breath. “Now this is where it starts getting very complicated.”

  “I don’t remember the bullet hitting me because, as a result of what Dr. Darkness did, that bullet never did actually strike me. The others saw the bullet hit me and they saw me fall to the ground with a big hole in my chest. Only it wasn’t me. See. during that mission, we encountered a commando unit of Special

  Operations Group from the parallel universe. They were the ones involved in the attempted temporal disruption. Among that unit was an officer who was my twin from the parallel timeline. my exact duplicate right down to the DNA. No way to tell us apart at all. Finn Delaney killed him, only that didn’t happen until after I was shot. What Dr. Darkness did was go back into the past and snatch my double’s corpse. He then clocked to the moment of my ‘death.’ and moving faster than the speed of light, he took me out of the bullet’s path and teleported me away. Then he put my double’s corpse directly into the path of that bullet, so that it would impact in the exact same spot left by the wound inflicted when Delaney killed him. An autopsy would probably have revealed that there were two wounds in the same place. but the point was that no one had any reason to believe it wasn’t me. Darkness had snatched the corpse seconds after death: the blood hadn’t coagulated yet and the body was still warm. And I was officially reported killed in action.”

  “So then you never really died at all.” she said. “The past wasn’t changed.”

  “Yeah, well, unfortunately that’s the part no one can figure out.” said Lucas. with a sigh. “Looking at it logically. I did die, because you’d think there had to be a moment when my death actually occurred, before Darkness went back and altered the scenario, but when it comes to temporal physics, all logic breaks down. By doing what he did. Darkness changed the past so that the bullet struck my double’s corpse, not me. and that became the past. Or maybe it didn’t become the past, maybe it was the past, because what Darkness did was part of the temporal scenario. Or maybe what he did was create a sort of temporal loop, in which there was a kind of… a kind of skip or something in my own personal history, but not the history of the timeline. Maybe, somewhere in time, there exists an instant in which I actually died… only nobody knows for sure and chances are no one will ever know, no matter how many damn tests they run on me. How the hell is something like that supposed to show up on some test?”

  “Good question.” she said. “But as the saying goes, why look a gift horse in the mouth? You’re alive. That’s all that matters, isn’t it?”

  “Maybe.” Lucas said, That how’d you like to go through life knowing that somewhere in time, there could exist a moment when you’d died, only you can’t remember it because in a certain sense it never really happened? How’d you like to be the only person in the world who ever experienced a temporal paradox. but has no memory of the experience? And what if ifs some sort of temporal ripple that could, at some point in the future. somehow catch up with me?”

  “Do you really think that’s possible?”

  “I don’t know,” said Lucas. “That’s the exasperating thing about it! I don’t think even that Darkness knows and he understands temporal physics better than anyone alive. The thing that really gets me is that he didn’t give a damn about me one way or another. He only did it because he’d implanted me with the only existing prototype of his new telepathic temporal transponder and he didn’t want to lose the only working model. I’ve got what amounts to an ultra-miniaturized. thought-controlled warp disc implanted in my body, bonded to some molecule somewhere, and any stray thought is liable to send me on a trip through time. Its already happened several. times. You have any idea what it’s like to go to sleep and dream you’re back in ancient Rome, then suddenly wake up to discover that you’re actually there?”

  Dr. Hazen shook her head. “Wow. I hadn’t known about that. I can’t say I envy you. Lucas. Frankly. I’m amazed they’re letting you go back on active duty. I hate to say it, but after what you just told me, I honestly feel that it’s my responsibility to pronounce you medically unfit.

  “You can’t.”

  “I’m sorry. Lucas.” she said. “Under the circumstances. I really have no other alternative.”

  “You don’t understand,” said Lucas. “I’m not asking you not to do it, I’m saying that you can’t Under ordinary circumstances, you would certainly have that authority, hut then these aren’t ordinary circumstances. By all means, do what you feel you have to do, but I’m telling you right now, if you order me removed from active duty. the brass will override you. I’ve got the only thought-controlled warp disc in existence. In effect. Darkness has turned me into a living time machine and the brass wants to see it tested in the field. They want to find out if it’ll work over the long haul or if it will induce the same atomic instability that Darkness suffers from. He tried an earlier version of the same process on himself and it altered his atomic structure irreversibly. And his condition’s getting progressively worse. Eventually. he’s going to discorporate and depart at multiples of light speed in all directions of the universe. The brass would sort of like to find out if that’s going to happen to me before they start to issue telempathic temporal transponders to the troops.”

  “I thought you said you had the only working prototype,” she said.

  “I do,” said Lucas, sourly. “Darkness said it would take a bloody fortune to produce another one, and before anyone’s ready to commit to that, they want to see if there are any bugs in mine. And since his own atomic structure is unstable, Darkness is on borrowed time, so the brass is anxious to get on with the field testing, which they can’t do if I’m removed from active duty.”

  “I think that’s inexcusable; Dr. Hazen said. it’s downright criminal. They’re using you as a human guinea pig.”

  “So?” said Lucas. “What’s the worst that could
happen? I could die?” He shrugged. “Hey, it’s not as if it’s anything I haven’t done before.”

  The comscreen in the lab emitted a short series of beeps and came on with an image of General Moses Forrester. the Director of the T.I.A.

  “Dr. Hazen?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Is Col. Priest still in the lab with you?”

  “Right here, sir,” Lucas said, stepping in front of the screen. “We just completed all the tests.”

  “Good. I need you up here on the double.”

  “I’m on my way.”

  The screen went blank.

  “I’m still going to have to recommend that you be removed from active duty. Lucas,” Dr. Hazen said. “I suppose the brass can override me. but I can’t in good conscience go along with what they’re doing.”

  “I understand,” said Lucas. nodding. “And I appreciate your concern, but even if they did follow your recommendation-which they won’t-you really wouldn’t be doing me a favor. I’d go crazy if they put me behind a desk or. worse yet, confined me to a hospital for tests and observation.”

  “A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. is that it?” she said, with a wry smile.

  “No, not really.” Lucas said. “It’s not some macho thing. Look at it this way. after all the years you spent to get where you are now, how would you fed if you were suddenly transferred to a national health clinic in Bakersfield?”

  She sighed. “Yes. I’m afraid I see your point.”

  “I’d better go. When the old man says ‘on the double.’ it usually means something important has come up.”

  “Good luck.”

  He smiled. “Thanks. See you around.”

  She waited till he’d left, then added softly. “I sure hope so.”

  Finn Delaney. Creed Steiger. and Andre Cross were already there when Lucas arrived. Everybody jumped when the old man said. “On the double.” Andre looked sharp. AS usual. but Delaney, also as usual, looked sloppy and unkempt. his uniform unpressed and his boots unpolished. In any other outfit, such a turnout would have called for disciplinary action. but Forester was an unusual commander. Ever since the T.I.A. had been combined with the First Division of the Temporal

  Corps and Forrester had been made Director. the agents of the T.I. A had not quite known what to make of their new leader. The men and women of the First Division. organized and led by Forester. had grown accustomed to what many senior officers in the Temporal Corps felt was an overly casual brand of leadership. For the agents of Temporal Intelligence. men like Col. Creed Steiger. it was a completely, new experience.

  Forrester cared less about how his people looked on the parade ground than about how their performance measured up in the field. When he had organized the unit, he had hand-picked all the personnel, many of whom had less than favorable military records and were deemed misfits in their former units.

  Finn Delaney was an excellent example. Large-framed, red haired and barrel-chested. with the appearance of an amiable bear, he had come within a hairbreadth of dishonorable discharge more times than he could count. His record was chock-full of infractions of just about every military regulation there was, from disobedience of orders to striking superior officers. He had spent his entire adult life in the service and his rank had fluctuated like the fashion industry. No sooner would he be promoted as a result of outstanding performance in the field than he would be busted for breaking some military regulation. He was on a first name basis with practically every officer who ever sat on a court martial. Indeed, he would have long since been discharged if it were not for the fact that he was an absolutely first-rate soldier, with a record of performance that was absolutely unsurpassed.

  Clearly. Delaney was a problem, but unlike many other senior officers. Forrester had known that a man’s worth as a soldier could not be measured by how snappy his salute was. Some of history’s greatest fighting men, such as George Patton. Benedict Arnold, and Julius Caesar. had personalities that were ill-suited to military discipline. Patton had been egotistical and insubordinate: Arnold’s unchecked ambition had led him to turn traitor: Caesar had been overly familiar with his troops and had seized power by turning his legions against Rome, but each man had been an unquestionably brilliant soldier on the field of battle. Delaney had a mercurial Irish temper and a contempt for what he called “military assholes.” but with a commander such as Forrester, who knew the proper way to handle such a man, he had steadily risen to the rank of captain and his disciplinary problems had fallen off dramatically.

  Creed Steiger, on the other hand, was the son of soldier whose appearance would find favor with the most nit-picking commander. He was blond and gray-eyed, hook-nosed, slightly cruel-looking, and solidly built. Like Lucas Priest, he looked like a model officer, but there the similarity ended. While Priest’s record was absolutely spotless. Steiger was a maverick. As the former senior field agent of the T.I. A.. he had often bent the rules, only unlike Delaney. he was adept at covering himself. His mentor in the agency had been none other than the late Col. Jack Carnehan, a legendary temporal agent codenamed Mongoose, who had instructed him in the complexities of being a professional chameleon. Carnehan had been virtually uncontrollable, with an unshakable belief in the correctness of his actions, regardless of what his orders were. But Steiger had learned the hard way that in an organization as complex and devious as the T.I.A., with agents that were so deeply buried under cover that there was often no record of their existence, orders from the top were frequently not to be trusted.

  The corruption in the T.I.A. ran deep. Steiger had never wanted any part of it, but when even the former director of the agency had been a secret member of the Network, there was no way of knowing if an order had been given legally or not. Yet now that Forrester was in charge. determined to root out the corruption and break up the Network, Steiger was finally able to do his job as he sawfit. Forrester had appointed him to organize and lead a special unit, the Internal Security Division. whose sole function was to police the agency and ferret out corrupt agents of the Network. It was a formidable task. Over the years. the Network had spread through the agency like a cancer. with its members both concealed within the agency bureaucracy in the 27th century and scattered throughout time. as well. Dealing with the threat posed by the parallel universe was difficult enough without having to battle enemies within their own organization. Both Steiger and Forrester had already survived several attempts upon their lives, in one case by a man Steiger had known and trusted for years. And many agents of the T.I.A. deeply resented having the I.S.D. constantly looking over their shoulders. Lucas did not envy Creed his job.

  As for Andre Cross. seeing her now, it was hard for Lucas to believe that the first time they had met, he had thought she was a man. Born in the 12th century. she had been orphaned at an early age and had survived a life of almost intolerable hardship. While still a child, she had learned to pass as a young boy in order to decrease her vulnerability and as she grew older. she had perfected the disguise. In her early teens, she had fooled an English knight errant so completely that he had taken her on as his squire and trained her in the arts of warfare, so that by the time she reached adulthood. she was the equal of most any man in fighting ability and strength.

  Her appearance was deceptive. Some young men were handsome to the point of being almost pretty and she had passed for one of those. She had worn her hair as men did and she had a compact and powerful athletic frame. She wrapped her chest to conceal her breasts, took the name of Andre de la Croix. and became a mercenary knight. It was in that guise that Lucas first met her on a temporal adjustment mission in medieval England. in the lists at the tournament of Ashby. In full armor and on horseback, they had jousted with each other and it was an experience he would never forget. When he thought of it, he could still feel the incredibly jarring impact of her lance. By the time they met again, several centuries had passed.

  She had become a member of the Temporal Underground and was taken from he
r native time to 17th-century France. where their paths crossed once again. She had helped Lucas and Finn defeat a group of temporal terrorists who called themselves the Timekeepers and they had brought her back with them to the 27th century. where it was determined that her temporal displacement would not have a disruptive effect on history. She was given a cerebral implant, programmed with an education, and made a member of the First Division. Since then, she had been a valued member of their team and she and Lucas had grown extremely close.

  They had become as intimate as two people could be without ever physically consummating their relationship. They had never said, “I love you.” to each other, but it was not something that needed to be said. Both of them knew it. felt it deep down in their souls, and yet they had always hesitated to take that final step. It was something neither of them ever spoke about. In fact, the curious nature of their relationship was that it went largely unspoken, as if they unconsciously desired their love to be idealistically platonic, and were hesitant, even frightened, to take it any further. Instead, they cloaked their feelings for each other in military camaraderie, in awkward brotherly and sisterly affection, and in hard-drinking fellowship, not unlike two male friends who were emotionally repressed and expressed their feelings for each other in punching one another’s shoulders and hearty slaps upon the back.

  Perhaps part of their problem lay in the fact that Andre never had an opportunity to be raised as a girl child. She never had a female role model and she was inexperienced in relationships, unable to express her deepest feelings.

  And though Lucas would never admit it to a soul-not even to his best friend, Finn Delaney, who knew it just the same-he had been painfully shy around women all his life. He could hide it well up to a certain point and he was not sexually inexperienced. yet in almost every case, it was the woman who had taken the initiative. often in exasperation. And those sexual relationships had been just that-primarily sexual. Stated simply. Lucas Pried, a soldier who had been decorated many times for bravery, was an abject coward when it came to love, as paralyzed with shyness and indecision as a young boy sitting alone in tortured agony for hours. trying to summon up the nerve to make his first call to a girl he had a crush on.