Relative temporality: Ta6Lo64000
Zone: Sector I, Inaccessible area
Location: Unlisted
Control: Nobody (officially)
Affiliation: Nobody (officially)
A device materialized abruptly in normal space, as if it had appeared out of nowhere. Its silvery ovoid shape displayed a gigantic symbol of the Administration… But none of this was in the visible spectrum thanks to its camouflage. Thus, in this apparent void, similar to the rest of space, it advanced, undetected, while a drama was playing out inside.
In the control room, the pilot room, there were three people. Sitting at one of the secondary posts, a small creature with green skin nervously twitched her ears, longer than her head. Despite her concern, a glint of defiance shone in her eyes as it squinted at the barrel of the weapon pointed at her forehead.
The one holding the weapon was a Hom, a hominid with DNA and appearance relatively close to Humans. His body seemed calm but his gaze expressed fury. One of his hands held a proximity jammer, deactivating electronic devices within a radius of about two meters, while the other was ready to pull the trigger of his enormous pistol, switched to manual mode.
Finally, the third person was a Ham, a woman of the Hom species. She observed the situation with a vaguely confused air. Her brain had understood perfectly what was happening, but an irrational terror at the facts that had just unfolded kept her from really realizing it.
“I'm going to kill you,” the Hom calmly told his target, “how dare you do this to us, Xini?”
Beads of sweat were forming on the forehead of the so-called Xini, moistening the neoplastic barrel of the weapon. She still fixed her remorseless eyes on those of the Hom and her smile was both nervous and contemptuous.
“What are you suddenly complaining about,” she said ironically, “my maneuver allowed us to definitively shake off our enemies. Wasn't that what you wanted?”
“You sent us a hundred years into the future! By the Secret Council! How do you have the arrogance to... Are you crazy? You may have nothing to tie you to life, but I... we... we had families, friends...”
The Ham approached, staggering slightly as she refused the conclusion she had reached. While her mouth stated a question, she already knew the answer:
“Xini... You said we would arrive in a hundred years... That was a joke, wasn't it?”
The little creature turned her eyes in her direction.
“I never joke. I sometimes ironize. And I didn't say in a hundred years, but in about a hundred years. If you're lucky, that time is maybe half as long: I tried to mitigate the effects of the stasis field as best I could. Even if the enemy had pursued us, he would arrive well after us... I suppose...”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
The Hom violently pushed Xini against her own seat, keeping the gun pointed at her head. He threatened her:
“Give me one good reason to keep you alive, you pioutrerie!”
“Tsss, you Homs really like to come out with your ready-made phrases...”
“Is it that,” the Ham asked in a trembling voice, “since your species is reputed to be among the most intelligent in the universe...”
“It's the most intelligent, without a doubt... In any case, from the point of view of intellectual capacities.”
“Okay… Can you reverse time, or travel back in time… In short: can you give us back the time that you… that you just stole from us?”
The Ham barely held back her tears as she admitted the reality out loud. It didn’t seem to move Xini, nor bring her the slightest remorse.
“No, Domeria. Time doesn’t exist: there is no past or future, outside of our conception of them. The present is all that exists, and there is no way to return to a previous state.”
There was a slight noise as the Hom changed the mode of his weapon to one that projected deadly rays.
“I repeat my question,” he said with a grim look, “what reason do I have to keep you alive?”
“You are not completely stupid and you know that you cannot move around in this unknown area without my help. So put that weapon away instead of putting on airs.”
“I think I will rearrange your face first: that, at least, I can do…”
Xini made a violent movement as her gaze filled with fury.
“I have no moral lesson to receive from you, Libre Lhom! You blame me for having projected you into the future, but without me, you would be in a stasis cell for many more years than those lost! And besides, how dare someone as despicable as you blame me for what I did? While you yourself are mentally controlling your crew member?”
The Hom paled. Domeria frowned, looking back and forth between the two antagonists. Why this accusation? And above all, why didn't Libre answer immediately?
“Libre?” She asked. “What does she mean by that?”
“Don't listen to her, Sava. I don't have any mental powers or similar devices.”
“Okay.”
Yes, that wouldn't be very logical: if he had an extraordinary ability linked to “T” energy, it would have been recorded in his file. If he had a device... He had just said that it wasn't the case...
Xini smiled fiercely and her ears vibrated slightly as she spoke again:
“See? Do you think you should be convinced so quickly?”
“I don't have any power of that kind!”
“Yes, you don't have any... You use a mixture of chemicals and psychological manipulation. What? Why are you making that face? You're wondering why I know? I studied the effects of this drug, because it was used as the basis for the development of the special programs of the SECURA chips. I immediately noticed its use in Miss Domeria. Headaches, thoughts replaced by another suggested one, concentration problems? Is there a single clue I was missing?”
Sava Domeria turned her gaze to Libre. A gaze that was slowly tinged with horror as her thoughts cleared.
Stepping away from the prisoner, the Hom gestured wildly and tried to justify himself:
“It’s not what you think: I used it the first time. I had to be certain that you weren’t in the service of… of those terrorists. It’s a truth serum…”
“That’s a name they sometimes give it,” a ruthless Xini added, “but you didn’t stop there just once: you continued to use low doses to keep her more receptive to your suggestions. The more she trusted you, the more easily your slightest instructions were accepted, even allowing you to reduce the doses…”
“Shut up!”
The Hom pointed his weapon at Xini’s forehead again, but he no longer had the impassive demeanor of before. His gaze went from this Xerinean creature who didn't seem to believe he could shoot, to his comrade who was looking at him with growing horror.
“Shut up?” Sava asked. “Is that the great homtest's argument against these accusations? Everything is explained now: why do I keep getting dizzy and having headaches, why did I so easily agree to follow you on this crazy adventure... why do I... I... What was true in everything I've thought and felt lately? Huh? Tell me? I don't... And that other crazy woman who threw us a hundred years in the futur... My parents... I...”
“Sava, I...”
“Shut up! You... You lied to me, manipulated me... How dare you continue to call me by my first name? I hate you!”
Lhom clearly saw a few drops, tears, fall to the ground as she turned her back on him in contempt.
“Well,” Xini snickered, “now that’s settled, maybe we should worry about where we are and what’s around us, don’t you think?”