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43: Danakil Depression

The Danakil Depression

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Adelfried

When the car stopped at their next stop, everyone again got out except for Federico, who had fallen asleep. “This is my favorite part of the pools.” Baba said, going to the back of the car and opening the hatch. Adelfried was amazed as he looked around him at the unearthly ridges of red and orange rock. They stood in a large depression several hundred yards in size in all directions. The landscape was covered in green lakes of acid crisscrossed with paths of yellow rock which would allow you to walk carefully between the scattered pools.

“No handrails so be careful, but very neat, yes?” Baba looked pleased with where he had taken them.

Adelfried leaned closer to Ying and Jim standing next to him and whispered, “This looks very familiar. I think we are near the entrance, but where are the fish?”

Ying and Jim stared at him like he was the insane wizard they had met the first day.

“Oh, and take these.” Baba dug into one of the duffel bags and pulled out a few pairs of glasses. “This one of the few spots you can see the tiny ESH laden fish in the ponds, but you need the glasses.”

Adelfried’s heart started to thump in his chest. “We are close!”

“Fish living in sulfuric acid?” Ying rushed to grab a pair of glasses. “This I gotta see.”

Glasses in hand, they headed down one of the twisting red and yellow walkways while Baba stayed with the car starting to set up lunch.

Jim slipped on a pair. “Maybe we can see the doorway with these.”

“Yeah, good point. Let’s spread out,” Ying said, as they fanned out along the pools.

When Adelfried put his glasses on, he saw the swirl of tiny fish previously invisible, flitting through the water. He walked from pool after pool, each with their own unique swirl before stopping to gently blow into one of the pools. This caused the fish to adjust their pattern to the disturbance. “It’s beautiful,” He said to himself as he continued to marvel at the patterns before yelling at Ying and Jim, who by now, had gone down a different path. “Have you seen the fish?”

But, to his annoyance, there was no response. Since their fight, he felt closer than ever with them. If anything, he should be happy. Small rude gestures like ignoring him were just a symbol of how close they had become. You can be the rudest with your friends, after all. This gave him a warm feeling he hadn’t felt since seeing Minna and Leyna. The Harpers really were becoming his family. He smiled to himself before looking up, to see Jim, Ying, and Baba facing a line of over twenty Sovs armed with silver assault rifles, standing on the shore across from them.

The female Sov, with the short black hair and dark reddish skin who had previously accosted them after the baseball game, stood front and center. She struck a friendlier tone than the last time they met. “We don’t want any bloodshed, please. We are only here to talk.”

Jim yelled back, “pointing guns at people usually doesn’t mean you want to talk.”

She replied coolly, “after our last encounter I am sure you would understand why we are taking precautions.”

Ying instantly responded, anger dripping out on her every word, “which encounter was that? When you tried to kill us in the parking lot or when you tried to kill us at the club?”

The red-skinned lady shook her head. “A simple misunderstanding, we didn’t know who you were.”

Jim nudged Ying to start walking back towards the car.

“And what does that mean?” Adelfried asked.

“We are here to propose an alliance. One that will benefit us all and keep everyone safe.” She pointed her weapon down and motioned for the rest of the Sovs to do so as well. “The Warlock of Stonehenge has an offer for you…Adelfried.” His neck tensed. How could they possibly know his name? “We can send you home. That is what you want, right?”

Something wasn’t right. Did they know when he was really from? How could they? He barely figured this out until just recently.

Ying fired back, “we can make it back home on our own, thank you very much.”

The red-skinned lady gave Ying a devious glare. “Oh, did you think I was referring to your quaint little house in the Houston suburbs?” She turned her menacing grey eyes towards Adelfried. “No, no, no… I meant back to your time, Adelfried.”

Terror and excitement cut through him like a razor. Had he been going about this all the wrong way from the beginning? In a shaky voice he said. “I am listening.”

“It’s simple,” the red-skinned lady continued. “The Warlock can send you back to your time. No more fighting, no more death, and you get to go home. We will even provide the Harpers with a large sum of money as an apology and provide them with our protection. All he would need in return is access to the Root.”

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How could they know all about him and the Root? He had only shared it with the Harpers, but they would never have told anyone. Perhaps the Warlock of Stonehenge really was all-knowing. Perhaps he was the ally Adelfried needed.

At this point they had huddled up near the back of Baba’s SUV. Ying looked at Adelfried and whispered, “I know you are seriously considering this, but I still don’t see how you can travel back in time, no matter how much you want to. It’s not scientifically possible.”

“You don’t know that!” Adelfried said, raising his voice above a whisper. “With the power of the Root it has to be possible. Look at all we can do: Travel through wires, float on air in a magical car, why not travel backwards in time?”

Ying put her hand on his shoulder. “There are scientific theories for those at least, but there is nothing that says travelling back in time is possible. And if it was, there is no way in hell I would ever trust the Sovs, not after what they’ve done.”

Adelfried was now defiant. “But…this is my only chance. I can’t stay here. I have to find a way home. You can’t ask me to give up on seeing my family.”

Ying’s voice firmed. “Adelfried, it’s not possible.” She looked at Jim and nudged him. “Hey, what happened to the voice of reason? Tell him.”

Adelfried cut in before Jim could respond. “This would mean we could get back to Evan and Kae, right now.” What would Jim say? Would trusting the Sovs be worth the risk?

Jim took a deep breath as his eyes darted back and forth between Adelfried and Ying, clearly unsure what to say, until in a faint whisper, he said, “no harm in hearing them out.”

The red-skinned, introduced herself as Maggie before launching into an obviously prepared speech on the Sov’s mission to save the world from corrupt governments that held too much power over the unfortunate people that lived beneath them. Their goal was to protect people, with and without ESH, from tyranny and the evils of humanity’s darkest vices running unchecked throughout the world. They believe in free use of ESH for everyone.

Adelfried noticed Ying started to squirm as if her temper was going to spew right out of her mouth until she cut Maggie off mid-sentence. “Okay save your ‘free the people’ crap. Let’s cut to the chase. Can you prove to me you can send someone back in time?”

“Only with the power of the Root.” Maggie said, trying not to sound agitated as she turned to Adelfried. “Simply provide the Root and we can demonstrate if you are worried about our sincerity.”

Ying scowled now, stepping in front of Adelfried into Maggie’s gaze. “But the Root is just an energy source, so you should be able to send someone back a little bit without it, right? So, prove to me you can do it? Just a few seconds, nothing dramatic.”

Maggie’s brow crinkled. “It doesn’t work that way. We need the power of the Root to generate enough energy. You see—”

Ying turned to Adelfried and whispered quietly, “You have to know they are lying. Just because you want this to be real isn’t going to make it so.”

Ying’s words echoed around in Adelfried’s head. He wanted her to be wrong, he wanted to believe in their fanciful stories. But his head refused to lie to his heart. He had to accept that if he ever wanted to see his family again, it wouldn’t be with the Sov’s help, but there was always Sahir.

Red

Red and FIST had managed to slip in behind the family as they watched them negotiate with the Sovs across a wide pool of green sulfuric acid.

“Well, I’ll be damned, Karen was right,” Red whispered to Meyers, who stood dutifully by his side. “I want a semi-circle around the family, but don’t get behind the Sovs, I don’t want any stray shots hitting our men. Once in position, wait for my signal.”

As ordered, the Wreckies circled in behind the Harpers, taking up positions hidden by the ample rocks leaving the family standing by the SUV with the Sovs on one side and the Wreckies on the other. When Red opened the case, the Magier-Morder’s decorated barrel radiated in the bright sun, as if it were excited to get its chance to serve its lethal purpose. He cracked it open and slid a dark red round into the chamber before snapping it shut with a sickening click. He looked over at Meyers who gave him a thumbs up.

Red was impressed at how much the Sov’s rehearsed script had improved since the last time he heard it, since it now included those without ESH, probably to be inclusive of the Harpers, he figured. He watched the local with the aggressive chest hair reach into a duffel bag in the back of the car. He grabbed two handguns, one which he slipped into his waistband and the other which he handed to the man who had to be Jim Harper.

Red signaled his team to make sure they knew two of the family were now armed, this might complicate matters. As he prepared for what he had to do, he tried to convince himself that what he was about to do was a necessary evil to keep the world safe. There was no doubt that if this wizard or his ESH fell into the Sov’s influence, the world would not be safe. But he couldn’t stop seeing himself and Lisa in Jim and Ying’s shoes, about to walk into a Sov trap. Only this time there was not going to be an escape for anyone.

After Maggie finished her long and winding lie about time travel, Ying Harper grinned from ear to ear. “Thank you for your well thought out story, but we have decided to pass on an alliance.”

Maggie’s voice was now cold. “Fine.” She pulled a scalpel from inside her jacket pocket. “Have it your way.” She reached out with her other hand. Ying lurched towards her like a marionette being pulled by invisible strings. In one swift motion she cut through Ying’s jugular. Blood sprayed from her neck like a crimson fountain. Ying crumpled to her knees at Maggie’s feet grasping her wound trying to stop the gush of blood pulsing from her neck.

“No!” Jim screamed, firing several rounds at Maggie. The bullets deflected harmlessly away by an invisible barrier.

Maggie looked down at Ying to consider her handiwork. She waved a casual hand towards Jim, Adelfried, and Baba. “Kill the rest.” She gave Ying a forceful kick to the face knocking her unconscious. She turned and walked off with Ying’s limp body floating behind her.

Jim and Baba fired shot after shot in desperation, but the metal slugs were deflected with ease. As anyone trained in ESH combat knows, metal projectiles are minor nuisances if you are expecting them, which is why MEARS were so popular when fighting an ESH wielder. The Sov’s focused their fire on Adelfried who was now being hit with over twenty beams. He was able to block their attacks with a shield, but it was obvious he was not trained in modern combat techniques. He couldn't return fire.

Red almost felt sorry for him.

“Orders?” Meyers called out.

Red’s trigger finger trembled as he stared down the sights of the Wizard Killer pointed at Adelfried’s back. His throat tightened watching Jim fire in desperation, almost out of bullets that did nothing in a battle he wouldn’t win. All Red saw was the same scene unfolding at Goblin Valley where he lost Lisa so many years ago. Except he didn’t have a gun aimed at his back. Would he have ended it then and there if he had known what he knew now? He could have died with a clean conscience, free of all the questionable things done since then in the name of love and duty. This would be a mercy killing, he reasoned with himself.

“Sir, orders?” Meyers said, now standing next to him.

“Get back in position” Red ordered. He lined the sights up again to ensure a clean shot. At least he would reduce their needless suffering.