Wyatt brought the photograph book with him to the common area, showing Jiya's photo to a curious Denise Christopher and Garcia Flynn. "So I get that Jiya's stuck in 1888, but how exactly are we going to get her? We don't have the LifeBoat."
Rufus was scribbling directions on a piece of paper, "Ever see Back to the Future III, man?
Wyatt shrugged, "Sure…but"
"Jiya told us where she parked the LifeBoat, we just have to go get it."
"And the LifeBoat is just going to still be there…and working 130 years later?"
Conner Mason chuckled, "It's designed to withstand the fabric of time – she's sturdy. But yes, we will probably need to refresh the circuitry and dust her off a bit."
Well, it was the only option they had without tracking down the Mothership, so a 130 year time machine hidden in the California wilderness would just have to do. If it's still there.
The coordinates led Mason and Rufus out to the literal middle of nowhere. Jiya had done a stellar job keeping the LifeBoat hidden for 130 years, they almost didn't see it. For one solid week, Rufus and Mason went to work carefully replacing the circuitry and "turning the wrench" to get the time machine back into commission. Rufus was getting anxious. He just wanted to get Jiya back home – safe. She had no one in 1888…since it appeared that Lucy wasn't along with her when she made the jump. Or maybe Lucy was hiding from Rittenhouse and that's why there wasn't a picture of her. Didn't matter, Rufus thought. Jiya would tell them everything when she was back with them and safe.
Wyatt was equally anxious to get Jiya back. The sooner she was home, the sooner they could figure out what had happened to Lucy. Not to mention, it would go a long way in repairing his friendship and trust with the team - particularly with Rufus - who was still understandably upset that Wyatt had screwed everything up with Lucy and acted like a "damn fool." He didn't deny it. He knew. And that's why he was hell bent on making it right. His job was to protect his team and he had royally f*d up.
After a few false hopes and a nights and days spent inside the cramped space of the LifeBoat. Connor Mason and Rufus came back to the bunker with the happy news that the LifeBoat was operational once more.
"Let's go get Jiya."
Lucy had no idea how long she had been out. There was no window in her tiny room, only a small sliver of light shone from beneath the door, but as she was inside a building, that could very well be from a well-lit corridor. Her arm ached where that hired goon of her mother's jabbed the needle in her arm and she was pretty sure she had a nice bruise on her wrist from where he grabbed her.
But Jiya was safe. She had escaped. At least she couldn't be used as leverage against her. Lucy sighed. Maybe it was better this way. She was out of the bunker, her presence couldn't hurt them anymore. Oh shit.
It had all come rushing back to her. Jessica. Jessica had been staking out the bunker for Rittenhouse. She knew every nook and cranny and they were all in danger. Rittenhouse was going to raid the bunker and most likely kill every one in it…and destroy or steal the LifeBoat. Lucy let out a shaky breath. There was nothing she could do to warn them, to save them. She could appeal to her mother. Maybe? But Lucy had a feeling that by asking to save her friends, it would only encourage them to destroy them all the sooner. As long as there was someplace and somebody for Lucy to run to, her mother knew that she would never submit to whatever future she and Nicholas had planned for her.
Scanty meals came and went. She was allowed outside of her cell a few times a day to go to the bathroom and to sit with her mother for a lecture. Lucy had no idea how much time had passed since she had been taken, she had no idea how long it had been since Jiya had escaped, until one day Emma Whitmore burst in while she was sitting with her mother and announced that the LifeBoat had jumped.
Huh, thought Lucy. We're usually chasing Rittenhouse. Why would the LifeBoat jump before the Mothership?
"Hmmm…they must have figured out the when." murmured Carol as she took a sip of her tea.
"I'm sorry, I'm a little confused. What are you talking about – figured out the when?" Lucy had a twisted feeling in her stomach that perhaps her bunker family caught wind of Rittenhouse's plot and used the LifeBoat to escape relatively unnoticed before the Silo was raided by her mother's goons.
Emma shot her a fierce look and pointedly looked at Carol as if to silence her on the matter, but Carol either didn't care or didn't think keeping this information from Lucy was important. "When your friend Jiya escaped, we received a signal on the Mothership's navigational computer that there had been a jump failure." Lucy let out an audible gasp. "We had no idea what that could mean, until Emma here explained that a jump failure typically means that the time machine gets lost in time – the destination remains roughly the same, but the time…well, that's where the big discrepancy lies."
Emma strutted over towards Lucy, arms folded at her waist and bending down to look her in the eyes, "She means, Princess, that Jiya didn't make it home – we've been combing the entire San Francisco area for a week looking for signs of the LifeBoat…news articles anything to give us a lead on its location"
"Wait, why? How?" Lucy asked, confused.
"For an academic, you're pretty dim" Emma spat out. "Obviously the LifeBoat would be stuck wherever and whenever Jiya was stuck – meaning that it would still be where she left it. Find it, and we've got the LifeBoat back. But apparently Mason and his team are a little more resourceful than we gave them credit for. They jumped from the present time to 1888 – San Francisco by the looks of it."
Lucy's brow was furrowed in thought. "How would they know that's where she ended up?" Did she send them a telegram?"
"Of sorts" said Emma. She threw down a printed photo of a woman who looked amazingly like Jiya that Lucy recognized immediately.
"I know this photo – it was in my book. The one that Jiya always liked to borrow." Lucy said with a disbelieving gasp.
"Time travel, right?" Emma said with a twisted smile. "Anyway Carol, Nicholas wants to form a team to go hunt them down. We take them out, we steal the Lifeboat. We find Jiya so that she can pilot it back for us."
Carol Preston tapped her fingers on her teacup, pursing her lips. "We had been planning to raid their bunker….but this could work. We might even be able to find Jiya first and strand the team in 1888, no need for bloodshed then" Carol winked at Lucy like that was supposed to make her feel better.
There was a soft knock on the door and suddenly Nicholas Keynes came striding into view. He touched Emma's elbow and made a slight bow to Carol. His granddaughter Lucy thought, her head spinning. "Carol, has Emma informed you of the developing situation? We want to leave as soon as possible so that we can get a jump on" he acknowledged Lucy with a nod "her former companions."
"Oh very well, Nicholas, who did you have in mind?" Carol asked setting down her teacup.
"You, me and Emma and Jessica. They are, by far, a formidable and deadly team. I also think it best if our dear Lucy accompany us." He rocked back on his heels with his hands clasped behind his back.
Emma absolutely objected and Carol looked almost fearful at the suggestion. She rang a bell and had Lucy taken out of the room. Lucy cast a concerned look over at her Rittenhouse relatives. Whatever they were planning on doing with her couldn't be good.
As soon as the door closed behind Lucy, Carol turned to argue with Nicholas "No, it's too soon, she's not ready. Her loyalty, currently resides with Mason's team. She will betray us at the first chance. She will absolutely alert them to our presence. They will be looking for her and she will be looking for them - we could lose her again."
Nicholas placed his hands over Carol's agitated ones and gave her a knowing smile. "It is her relationship with her former team that I'm counting on. I'm sure they will be searching for her and why not give them what they want? She will lead them directly to us…and to the LifeBoat."
Emma raised an eyebrow, "So you're going to use her as bait."
Nicholas nodded, "Precisely".
Lucy was left standing outside her mother's office in a brightly lit hallway. She was flanked by two guards and she noted that this place, wherever it was, was not nearly as posh as the place she was held before…though it was much nicer than the bunker. Still, she would take that ratty old bunker any day over the ostentatious grandeur that was Rittenhouse.
She wanted to be excited about the prospect of traveling to 1888 – if she was ever going to get away from Rittenhouse, that would be her chance. But the fact that Nicholas wanted her to go along, so soon after being captured, didn't sit well with her. They were planning on stealing the LifeBoat and her mother had even suggested leaving them stranded in 1888….so why did they want Lucy there?
So she could watch her friends suffer at Rittenhouse's hands? So she could be used as leverage against them? So they could be used as leverage against her? Tears stung her eyes as she thought about how much pain she was bringing down on all of her friends. She wouldn't do it anymore. Somehow she would warn them and then she would disappear. Maybe she would stay in 1888…be lost in time like Jiya was. If she was lost, then no one would be able to find her and use her as a pawn in a sick, twisted game.
Her mother's voice called her out of her thoughts, "Lucy, we are preparing the Mothership, you will be accompanying us and" she crossed the hall to speak softly to Lucy "I want you to do exactly as you are told. You will make me so proud, sweetheart, if you just fall in line. Your friends will be better off too." She patted Lucy on the arm and urged her forward.
Lucy took a deep, shuddering breath, blinked back her tears and followed her mother's lead.
