From where she stood next to Nataw, Kee smiled. “You met him in the future, and he chose not to kill you. I think Govan will be reasonable, provided we’re talking to the version of him who spared you. If we’re about to talk to a version of him that doesn’t know anything about that, it could become messy.”
“Great,” I thought back to her.
Tiger, meanwhile, had begun to sniff Nataw and Lee, starting with their butts and crotches.
I wondered if he’d still do that if he understood that they were older than our universe. Then it struck me that, given his understanding of English, he might have decided to start there because he’s a dog.
Nataw watched him and then scratched Tiger behind the ears. Then he said a word that my implant translated as Hideaway’s name in the language of a long-fallen galactic empire. “[Hideaway]. You’re a long way from home. I never liked the Abominators, but I did like what they did with your people. Dogs for hunting dinosaurs. Who’s a good boy?”
Tiger leaned in to the head scratches. Continue reading Engine: Part 8
Lee and Nataw stepped up to the group. I overheard Lee say, “I told you that I couldn’t go with you because I was already inside but from a different time. It wasn’t that far, but the future’s unpredictable.”
He looked over the group—both versions of the League and Jody’s unconscious body on the ground.
“This is Nataw. He’s a very, very old friend.” Then he winked.
Grandpa said, “One of your people.” Continue reading Engine: Part 7
The dog observed the hand and sniffed it, but didn’t lick it. Tiger was smart enough to know he didn’t want to taste the metal-and-ceramic gauntlet.
Within a few moments, everyone had arrived: the old Heroes’ League, the new, Prentkos, and both Jody’s and Colette’s unconscious bodies. Talk about not being able to save everyone. Being turned into Rook’s mind-controlled cyborg was still in this Jody’s future. Though I didn’t need to, I made a check, changing that future had the same problems as saving Travis. I checked on Colette, too, but hers wasn’t any different.
I could do it, but it wouldn’t be worth the price. Continue reading Engine: Part 5
“I have the ability,” she said, “but I’ll need ideas from you for how to do it. I’m not allowed to change the past on my own without the command of a living being.”
“Okay,” I said, and realizing that this might take long enough that people would notice, I asked, “How hard is it to stop time?”
The instant I thought it, I knew. Using the device, it wasn’t hard at all. Everything froze around me, and I told Spark, “Tell me if I’ve got this right. Because Lee left this place hidden and abandoned, all times from the moment that he left until now are accessible if someone opened a portal here and stayed?”
She nodded. Continue reading Engine: Part 4
Hoping that if Ray realized he’d been manipulated by telepaths, he wouldn’t decide to come back and kill me, I connected with the device and instantly understood how to send him back to his own time.
It was actually simple. Ejecting him to anywhere else would be hard and not just hard. It would also have consequences, changing the past in ways I couldn’t predict.
I hadn’t been wrong about my earlier guess about obvious subsystems to include. The GCD did include subsystems for predicting what would happen based on what someone had experienced in here and being sent back to their own time.
Using them, however, was another thing. Continue reading Engine: Part 2
As the stone touched my gauntlet, I connected with it and through it the Galaxy Core Device (GCD) itself. How did it feel to use a device that could destroy galaxies and create new ones?
You’d think it would be a moment of enlightenment or maybe ascension, since you assumed powers that you’d normally think were reserved for gods.
What surprised me is how normal it felt. I’d been absorbing knowledge from my implant on demand for years now. I’d been training with Kee to understand what Artificers could do for years and while I’d only been interfacing with Abominator and Artificer technology with those skills for a few days, it felt natural. Continue reading Engine: Part 1
With a wide smile, Magnus continued, “You might think you can avoid submitting to me, but are you willing to allow your friends and family to die for your freedom? If I were to strike the first Rocket with my power, you’d cease to exist.”
Then he began to laugh. “So what is it hero? Give me the ability to trust you or risk your very existence? Not to mention making me kill your grandfather.”
He smiled again. “Or you grandmother. It truly doesn’t matter which. What’s important is the end result.”
He frowned, glancing outward. Continue reading Magnus: Part 2
Then he started laughing. I’m pretty sure I even heard a “Mwha-ha-ha” somewhere in there. Then the communication ended, leaving me to hope that it was an ironic “Mwha-ha-ha,” because an unironic “Mwha-ha-ha” would be a cliche.
It called up mad scientist vibes at best and at the most horribly wrong end, it reminded me of how Artificer technology had been designed to destroy civilizations either through madness or temptation and runaway self-interest. Continue reading Stage Three: Part 2
Inside the room, we found the welcome committee. They were prepared for us, but there’s a difference between sending a bunch of guards to stand in the entrance in case someone gets through and executing a well-planned ambush.
This was not a well-planned ambush.
The guards here, and there were more than 20 of them, all of them with automatic weapons, weren’t in the best shape. Continue reading Stage Three: Part 1