Chapter 30

From the Beginning

Kensinge lit the small candle in satisfaction. Sure, with the portal track fully functional now, all the electric devices in the world were at their disposal, but there was still something to be said for the simplistic beauty of a candle. She liked to watch the flame bounce and flicker and reach into thin air before dying away again. It was a living thing, mesmerising, and she was always a little sad to have to put it out. With all the gases and pollutants in the future air, open flames had been banned since before she was born, so a candle was a delightful novelty of the past. She placed the magnifying bulb over the flame as her chief of security entered.

"You wanted to see me?"

Kensinge raised her chin and stared seriously at him.

"Esteban. Sit down."

He glanced around in vain for something to sit on. Kensinge inwardly tore herself to shreds for not thinking of the problem sooner. So much for trying to appear in control of the situation. She smiled briefly and began to drag a heavy plastic crate out from the corner of the room. When he saw what she was doing, he jumped to help her. She wasn't sure whether she was more grateful for or infuriated by the help, but within seconds, they had both taken their seats at the small table. Esteban sat quietly and waited for her to tell him why he had been summoned. After ducking to the door and looking out for a few seconds, the uneasy scientist returned to the table and sat near him, folding her hands on the rough surface. When she spoke, she did so in such a low voice, that he had to lean forward a little just to hear her clearly.

"How much do you know about the Probe?"

He leaned back and shrugged.

"It's a device that the future government sent back in time to detect whether this world was inhabitable for humans and whether it existed in the same time stream or an entirely new one. Correct?"

"Yes. And no." Kensinge continued as her head of security frowned. "I mean, yes, you're correct, but what you described is only scratching the surface of what that device is capable of. The Probe can map terrain for hundreds of miles, both above ground and under it. It can identify life forms. It can transmit through fractures by locating them."

Esteban nodded slowly. This information was more detailed than any explanation he'd heard before, but it wasn't necessarily surprising. Kensinge took a deep breath and continued, making up her mind to commit to the conversation.

"This device contains the technology to create time fractures."

Esteban was nonplussed.

".. create them."

Kensinge nodded in affirmation.

"Correct."

"How many of these devices are there?"

"As far as we know .. one."

The soldier stared at her.

"And they sent it millions of years into the past? Why on earth would they do that?"

Kensinge shrugged, evidently prepared for the question.

"To protect it. To preserve it. This is a safeguard, a backup. Good thing, too. The original experiment was closely guarded. Only a few people knew about it." She hesitated. "It was kept in one location."

Realisation suddenly dawned on his face.

"Hope Plaza."

"Hope Plaza." She confirmed. He folded his hands together and stared toward the back wall with a frown. The more his mind came to grips with this new information, the more unanswered questions seemed to be cropping up.

"But why are we leaving the Probe in Terra Nova then? Why don't we just go get it?"

"It's safer there for now." A moment of worry creased her forehead. "I'm only telling you this because you've proven yourself to be loyal and reliable, and you seem to have an element of common sense, so against my better judgement, I trust you. I'm just not sure our employers can be similarly trusted. I haven't told them I've been able to get in there yet. It's safe in Terra Nova for now, but they'll get impatient one day. I'm sure they're already beginning to wonder what's taking so long .."

Esteban nodded slowly.

"But won't they just make another one?"

Kensinge shook her head.

"The blueprints have disappeared, along with the scientist who created them. He just .. vanished a couple of years ago. I don't think even the government knows where. They've tried conducting searches, but to no avail. I could figure out how to replicate it if I had the time to study it, but for now, it's safer back there."

"But if it's that important, why didn't the original Phoenix Group just take the Probe when they were within arms' reach of it?"

Kensinge snorted.

"You think THOSE guys were in the loop? Those guys were nothing more than trained apes, hired by a group of power-hungry warlords intent on making money off the new world. Cretans." Kensinge spat out in disgust. "They were never worthy of it."

"No .." Her head of security agreed, glancing around as though he could see past the rickety walls into the trees and oceans and sandy beaches that surrounded their little home away from home. They were living in a paradise, albeit a dangerous one. Only a group of idiots would want to destroy it for profit. He looked back to Kensinge to see a flicker of a smile on her face.

"You understand, don't you? That's why I chose you. You have more sense than most of these military robots."

"Even soldiers have to survive on something." He responded quietly. She shrugged.

"Be that as it may .. we all have a choice. Destroy this world or protect it."

Esteban looked at her warily.

"You're beginning to sound as though you're on the Terra Novans' side."

"No." Kensinge eyed him coldly. "I'm not on any side. I'll destroy them if I have to. This world is bigger than any of us."

"And you believe you're the best person to protect it."

Her expression seemed to soften a little as she turned her eyes back to the flame.

"I have to be."

Esteban frowned at her.

"Hold on, I thought you were hired by the government for the same reasons - prepare the world for them so they can come in and do whatever they want with it."

"Yes and no." Kensinge smiled a little. "Like I said, we all have a choice. My employers - also Lucas Taylor's former employers - still have the same old goal. What they don't realise is that they're not in charge anymore. They're being usurped from within."

Esteban's frown deepened.

"What do you mean?"

Kensinge folded her arms on the table and eyed him carefully.

"First of all, I want to know what motivates you. If it's money, I'll make sure you get more than you'd ever hoped for if your loyalty remains with me. Money's easy. If it's power, I'll give you the running of the colony when we take over. Goodness knows, I've no desire for it. So what is it?"

Esteban looked down at his hands and was silent for a long moment.

"I've been in this line of work all my life. It's all I know." He looked her in the eye. "Freedom. No more orders, no more serving. When this is all over, I go where I want and do what I want, with enough resources to get me by. That's all."

"'That's all'?" Kensinge's resulting smile was the most genuine he'd seen from her thus far. "Very well. You shall have it."

"Good." Esteban smiled briefly as well, then resumed his usual demeanour. "Now .. you were saying?"

The scientist frowned.

"There's so many different groups trying to get their hands on this place, I hardly know where to begin when it comes down to it. Everyone seems to be working for three different sides at once, everyone's a double agent. Even I am."

Esteban shook his head slowly, trying to reign in his confusion long enough to put the pieces together in his mind.

"Start from the beginning."

Kensinge nodded resolutely and leaned forward on the table.

"Alright, let me explain it this way. Back when Commander Taylor was sent through, the government was more complete than it is now, less fractured for lack of a better term. They all thought they were working for the same goal - prepare the new world for them to eventually escape to. They wanted to flee here, to abandon old Earth and the people in it and seek refuge in this place."

"But they weren't all working for the same goal."

"No, obviously, they weren't. There was a series of corrupt officials working from inside the government that had alternate plans for the new world. Those officials simply wanted to leech what they could from the world and destroy the rest, in order to get rich and live out their days, ruling in comfort back in the future. Such a small-minded view, they didn't realise that they were cutting off their noses to spite their faces. Nevertheless, they couldn't see past the dollar signs in their own eyes, so they wiped out anything that stood in their way. Those officials sent Lucas and the Sixers to tear the colony down from the inside. Taylor had grown too strong for them and they didn't want to get their hands dirty. They also sent the original Phoenix Group .. and me. And you."

Esteban nodded gravely.

"I figured as much."

"Except what they didn't know was that there were a few members of the government that had become aware of their schemes. Senator Anderson, for one. He died last year blowing up the new Hope Plaza, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Anderson realised what they were up to and bought the Sixers out himself, selecting a woman to lead them that he knew would remain loyal to him under any circumstances that might arise."

"Mira."

Kensinge nodded.

"Mira led the Sixers as though she was working for the corrupt officials. She walked a very fine line. Their job was to protect the new world from anyone that might try to harm it, preserving it by any means necessary, all while monitoring and attempting to control Taylor. What overcomplicated matters was that Anderson suspected Taylor was working for the corrupt side of the government. It seems he was wrong, but I suppose the ongoing tension between the Sixers and the colony helped to keep up appearances."

"Taylor discovered they were working against him?"

"He was furious. One night, the Sixers abandoned the colony and vanished. They'd been at war ever since until Hooper gave them a common enemy to fight. As far as we know, they've moved back to the colony, though there are still some .. stress fractures."

The soldier's mouth curled up into a half-smile.

"So it would seem."

"Yes." Kensinge took a deep breath and glanced around nervously. "By now, most of the original government have been removed in favour of the corrupt ones if they haven't become corrupt themselves, not that the original selfish lot were much better. Fairly recently, they made a deal with the military leaders. Power in exchange for muscle. The government of today is so interwoven with the military that it's almost impossible to tell one from the other anymore. They're two sides of the same coin. There are very few decent politicians left, but they do exist, though they don't know the truth. As far as they're concerned, the only existing fracture was destroyed. They spend their time now focused on helping and reassuring the people, not that there's much they can say or do. There's no substitute for hope."

Esteban nodded again. The situation was complicated, but he was keeping up with it so far.

"And Lucas?"

"Oh, Lucas is just a jerk." Kensinge grinned. "In the end, I don't think the government controlled him as well as they thought they did. He was in it for his own reasons, and so he was only told what he needed to know in order for each side to get what they needed from each other."

"And you?"

"I'm working for the same people you're working for." Kensinge bit her lip. "Unless I'm not. I told you the officials who hired us didn't know what the Probe was capable of."

Esteban watched her closely, waiting for her to continue. Kensinge stared at the dying candle in front of her.

"I also work for another organisation. They're called the Guild of Scientists."

"I've never heard of them."

"No, you wouldn't have." Kensinge's mouth twitched a little. "They work from the shadows, like most organisations nowadays, I suppose. You never really can tell who's with who. Anyway, they were led by Anderson, before he died."

She looked up at her head of security quickly, watching for signs of surprise on his face. There was none.

"Since his death, they've gone further underground, become more secretive than ever. We don't really know who leads us now. He doesn't allow anyone to meet him face to face. But he funds the operation and tends to rely on our judgement rather than giving us orders, so no one really cares so long as he signs the cheques, so to speak."

"What's the point of this guild?"

"To create. To protect. To advance science. We had to band together or the government would have bought us all out. We wouldn't have had a choice. As it is, the ruling authorities still rely on us for projects and things, but we work outside of government bounds. They're not happy about it, especially when they're kept in the dark, but there's not much they can do about the situation." A spark of satisfaction lit up her eyes momentarily. "When it comes down to it, we're the only group that knows what's really going on. It was one of our member that created the Probe. The government used it, but they didn't know the capabilities of the device they were borrowing."

"So now what? What are the guild hoping to gain through all this?"

"Oh." Kensinge shrugged. "Money, power, they're about as self-interested as all the rest, but they also value life. They live by a code of ethics, unlike most of these cavemen. We understand that sacrifices sometimes have to be made, but that the benefit must far outweigh the cost. Nothing is wasted."

"So."

"So .." Kensinge finished grimly. "The government wants the Probe back, because somehow it seems they've managed to get wind of how powerful it is. The guild also wants it back, but they're concerned they won't be able to protect it, so for now it stays here. We're using a priceless device to spy on our neighbours .."

Her mind seemed to wander for a second, but when she turned her attention back to her head of security, her manner was as grave as ever.

"But as far as anyone else is concerned, we work for the military government. And none of the information I've shared with you leaves this room. Understood?"

Esteban nodded again, then after a moment of silence, he stood, his respectful demeanour taken up again as he addressed her.

"Thank you."

Kensinge looked up and met his solemn gaze.

"For what exactly?"

"For trusting me."

Before she could reply, the door swung open and another solider charged wildly into the room.

"Ma'am!" He slid to a stop directly in front of them and glanced from one to the other apologetically. "Sorry to interrupt. We've had an unexpected arrival."

Kensinge stood in alarm.

"Who is it?!"

The young soldier was suddenly at a loss for words. He wrung his hands anxiously.

"It's .. It's .."

"Me."

Kensinge stared up at the shadowy figure filling the doorway. The young soldier in front of her gasped and moved back towards the wall. Esteban looked from the stranger in the entrance to the face of the woman beside him. He was alert and ready to defend her if need be, but she didn't seem at all concerned. In fact, he thought he could sense a hint of satisfaction in her expression. She was pleased to see this man. After another few seconds of silence, Kensinge tilted her head dryly.

"Simon, are you going to spend all night haunting my doorway or are you going to come in?"

The stranger grinned and entered, the dim candlelight reflecting off his white teeth. Kensinge addressed her two soldiers calmly.

"You two are dismissed. Simon's an old friend."

Esteban led the way out of the room, taking the younger soldier with him. He wasn't happy about the situation, but she had left him little choice in the matter. Despite their apparent partnership, he was still obliged to keep up appearances and obey her orders. He sent his younger counterpart away and stationed himself nearby to keep watching over the shack. Inside, Kensinge raised an eyebrow.

"I assume there's a reason you're here and this isn't just a friendly visit."

Simon shrugged.

"Well, it's a friendly visit as well."

"Hm." Kensinge watched her candle fizzle out and throw the room into blackness once more. She turned back to Simon's dark outline. "Shall we go for a walk?"

"Please." The voice came from somewhere in front of her. "I'm sorry to say I can't stay long. I was only sent to deliver a message. But I'd be delighted if you walked back to the dock with me."

"Very well." She stepped past him and out into the moonlight. "You better get talking then."

Simon wandered beside her as they left the shack behind, casting a brief glance at Esteban in the distance.

"Does he always look at you like that?"

"You said you had a message to deliver." Kensinge prompted impatiently. "What is it?"

"You have to understand that I only want what's best for you. You're playing a dangerous game out here. I know how you think." He stared out across the shimmering water contentedly, scratching a phantom itch in his synthetic arm. "I've come with both an instruction and a warning."

"A warning? Ominous." She folded her arms and followed his gaze out across the ocean. "You know I don't act recklessly or without calculation."

"And yet .." Simon shook his head and glanced sideways at her. "These aren't petty criminals you're making deals with now. They're a lot harder to manipulate. I urge you to be careful. You can only bend the system so far before it swings back and slaps you in the face."

Kensinge smirked at him.

"Bold words coming from the guy that had a neck beard in college."

Simon laughed.

"That was a mistake."

She nodded her emphatic agreement and stared up at him again.

"So why are you really here?"

Simon met her eyes for a moment and then continued walking out across the dock. There was a small boat tethered alongside it that Kensinge didn't recognise. Simon paused as he reached it and turned her to face him.

"Lucas Taylor is coming."

Kensinge blinked at him in surprise.

"Here?"

"Yes, here. We're not sure exactly when, but it shouldn't be long. He probably won't be alone. Keep a look out. Our esteemed leader has made a deal to extract him from his .. current circumstances."

She nodded in understanding.

"He thinks he's been saved. He's walking to his death, isn't he?"

Simon's half-smile was his only reply.

"What am I supposed to do? I'm not an assassin."

Simon shrugged.

"Get your men to dispose of him, I don't care. That big lug over there ought to do the job fairly efficiently, but make sure you witness it, and check that he's really dead afterwards."

"Naturally. We wouldn't want a half-dead traitor scientist walking around here, would we? This place is weird enough already."

Simon eyed her.

"So you'll do it?"

"I'll see what I can do."

He groaned under his breath.

"Heather, this can't be a repeat of last time. You have to do as you're told."

She snorted humourlessly.

"Yes, Mum."

Simon put a hand on the side of his boat, swaying gently with the comforting up and down motion of the vessel.

"I'm serious. The boss wants him gone, so either way, he's a dead man walking."

"I'll take care of it."

Simon's eyes bored into hers, as though he was trying to telepathically convey to her his own sense of urgency.

"Make sure you do. If you fail, it's on all of our heads. We're to have no mistakes. Understand?"

She tilted her head and raised an eyebrow teasingly.

"Naw, you scared, Simon?"

"Understand?"

Kensinge stared up at her childhood friend with a bored expression.

"Yeah, whatever."

"Good." He breathed out deeply in relief and jumped into his boat, vaulting over the rail with surprising agility. As he untied the knot that held him steady, he looked back at Kensinge one last time.

"I'll be back to collect the body when the job's done. Don't fail."

"I never fail."

With a low hum, the white and blue watercraft powered up. Simon threw a brief wave back toward the docks as he departed. After a few seconds, a stunning flash of blue briefly lit up the length of the coastline. It faded as quickly as it had appeared, and once again, all that remained was darkness, though a picture had been burned into Simon's mind in that instant as he looked back, an image that would forever haunt him, though he never knew exactly why. Black as the night itself, but made all the more striking by the silhouette of electric colour that surrounded it - the ghostly outline of a lone figure on the docks.