Chapter One

I have never liked being threatened, and I did not respond any better to it here than I had anywhere else before. And so, in anger, frustration, and desperation, I lashed out and kicked the nearest wall as hard as I could with my boot heel. A crack appeared in the metal. Surprised, but gratified, I continued kicking until I had opened a hole big enough to walk through.

As I stood for a moment looking at the cave-like tunnel beyond my improvised doorway, Willaway fairly ran past me. Normally, I would have been just a bit put out by the rudeness of such a move, but I could not fault him. I sensed great relief from him and smiled. Whoever the Voice was, it had not won yet. And if I had anything to say about it - and I usually did - it would not either.

I finally managed to catch up to him when he stopped indecisively at a fork in the cave-like tunnel. So deep in concentration on which tunnel to take was he that he jumped when I approached him and touched his shoulder gently.

"Sorry about that." I apologized. "Sometimes I forget how quietly I move.

He nodded, relaxing once more, and we stood staring at the divided passage for a moment. Then he pointed to the right. "This way." he said and headed off in the designated direction. How he knew that I did not know, but he was obviously certain . . . or as certain as one could be in such a situation. So I ran off after him.

We rounded bend after bend until we came to another fork in the tunnel. He stopped and sat down at the mouth of the tunnel we had just come out of. His expression told me he had thought that would lead out, and he was now more than just lost. I sat down beside him.

"What now?" Willaway looked hopelessly at the three tunnel choices before us.

I looked at our three new options carefully. Any one of them could be the way out or lead us deeper into the maze.

While I considered, I leaned back against the wall of the tunnel we were currently seated in. As I did so, my mind was filled with images and thoughts. It was overwhelming. I shook my head to clear it and reflected on what had just happened. I had touched solid rock, and I had been given . . . what?

"Are you all right?" Willaway was genuinely concerned. Whether this was because he truly cared for my well-being or simply because he did not wish to be left alone here, I could not tell.

I nodded affirmatively at him, he relaxed again, and I went back to my musings. Touching the wall had exposed me to a mind of - no, minds. Lots of them. And all of them were thinking of one thing . . . leaving this place.

And one mind overshadowed all the others. This one knew the way out, and now I knew the way out.

It occurred to me to wonder at that. Could this be the Voice? No, its underlying Psionic feeling was not the same. This one possessed warmth and kindness; the Voice had not. It had only felt . . . malevolent and dangerous.

I stood and gestured toward the center tunnel, indicating that this was the way we should go. He looked at me as if to say 'How do you know?' but stood and followed me without question. It was as though he knew I had the answer to this maze and was willing to chance the danger to find his way out of this Hell.

We continued down this fairly straight tunnel for quite some time until we came to a place where the tunnel turned abruptly to the left. I placed my hand against the wall, this time prepared for the barrage.

Again my mind was assaulted by the Others here; but in this part of the place, two of the minds which had belonged to Willaway's original party - I knew this because one of them wondered if he was all right by name - were very near. The worried voice belonged to a woman . . . Leanna. The other belonged to a man . . . Varien. They were very near. Just in front of me.

I blinked and stepped back, looking at what was in front of me. Just in front of me was a solid stone wall. Behind this wall must be another of the rooms like the one Willaway and I had escaped from, I reasoned. It had probably looked like this from the outside too.

I considered the wall carefully before striking it with my boot heel as I had our prison. It was a risk that it would not work and I would just look foolish; but it had worked on our Prison, so why not on this one?

As I expected, the wall buckled instead of chipping away as stone should have done. I kicked again, creating a hole. I continued the process until I had created a hole big enough to crawl through.

This revealed, as I had also suspected, metal walls, floor, and ceiling. Inside this room stood three beings, two human-looking and one feline. As I entered, the man stepped between me and the woman protectively. I stopped, not wishing to provoke him. I could feel his power from here.

"Who are you?" The man Varien asked me in a calm, measured tone. The woman Leanna was watching from behind him.

"I am Celia. I was a prisoner just like the three of you." I answered his question, standing perfectly still.

"What is this place?"

"It appears to be some sort of holding area." I answered again.

"What have you done with the others?"

I shook my head. "I did nothing with the rest of your group." I answered once more. Then I added after a beat, "Willaway is unharmed. He is waiting in the tunnel just outside."

They both looked suspicious for a moment; then Varien nodded, and they followed me back out into the tunnel. After each had exchanged stories with the others, Willaway looked back at me. "How did you know they were there?"

"Because she's a Telepath." Varien answered the question for me. "I sensed her in my mind just before the wall was broken through."

Willaway, remembering that I had said as much in our own confinement, nodded, accepting that reasoning and asked, "Where do we go now?"

"Left." I answered, and we continued on our way.

"How does she know where we're going?" Leanna asked quietly. She knew there was more to that than the simple Telepathy but not what that 'more' was.

"I don't know," Willaway answered, "she just . . . does." He suspected it had to do with my reaction to touching the cavern wall, but he could not explain why, so he did not mention it just now.

After traveling for another hour and finding neither a turnoff nor any more of their party, we began to get tired and discouraged.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Willaway asked as we stopped to rest.

I placed my hand to the wall, listened for a moment, then answered, "Absolutely."

"Celia, may I ask you a question?" Varien asked.

"Certainly. What do you wish to know?"

"Where are you from?" After a pause, he corrected himself. "Or, rather, when are you from?"

I considered him and the group carefully, then formulated my answer based on their collective understanding of temporal mechanics. I sat forward, eyes fixing on his for a moment before touching each of the others.

"Actually, Varien, you were more correct the first time." I explained, drawing an arc in the dirt on the floor. "Assuming that space and time are flowing together in one direction from the beginning" here I indicated the beginning of my arc "to the end" here I indicated the end of my arc "in a curve," I traced my finger over the arc "then each of you exist at one point along this space-time curve. You, Leanna, come from Atlantium, here." I pointed to a spot near the beginning of my arc. "You, Willaway, come from 1963 and here." I pointed to a spot a little further along my arc. "And you, Varien, come from 2230 and here." I indicated a spot even further along my arc.

They all sat silently looking at the "space-time curve" on the floor for a moment before Willaway pointed out, "You still haven't answered Varien's question. Where do you come from?"

I watched their reactions as I pointed to a spot away from my arc. Leanna's eyes widened slightly. Varien nodded as if he had suspected as much. Willaway's eyes slitted in suspicion. And the cat, S'Lel, turned his back to me and began a thorough cleaning.

Willaway continued looking at my drawing suspiciously, but said nothing. Varien's eyes met mine, and I could see that he knew and understood. "Then you are of The Continuum?" It was a sort of question within a statement.

"Yes, and no."

"I'm afraid I don't quite understand." Varien said.

"I am not originally of them, but they do claim me."

Varien nodded understanding. The others looked even more confused, but they did not press. We settled in and rested while we could.

After resting for about four hours, we started down the tunnel again. It turned and twisted eight more times before it broke sharply to the right.

I stopped at this right-angle turn and laid my hand against the wall. Just as with Varien and Leanna, I felt two minds close to me, just behind the wall. I stepped back and lashed out with my foot. Again, the wall buckled instead of chipping away.

I continued this, as I had done before, until I had created a hole large enough to crawl through. Varien poked his head through and said something. A male voice belonging to Fred answered, then Varien exited followed by the young, black doctor and the boy, Scott Jordan.

Now that the group was once again complete, they all exchanged hugs and their joy at finding the others safe and unharmed. When this was completed, their attention turned to me. Varien, Willaway, and Leanna were waiting for me to indicate the way out. Scott was curious, and Fred just wanted to know who I was.

Varien answered Fred's unspoken question. "This is Celia. She seems to know the way out of here."

"How?" Fred asked.

I did not hear Varien's answer as I again consulted my guide. "This way." I said as I indicated the way down the right-turning passage.

We traveled in silence for some time before we came to a place where the tunnel widened out into a large cave. Here we stopped to rest against Fred's protests that we should leave here as quickly as possible.

Conversation among the members of the party was carried on around me. I had a need to rest and no desire to talk, so I sat against the wall at the mouth of the tunnel we had just exited and lost myself in the thoughts and images of the place,

There were many people and places here. It would be easy to simply flow with them. Only when one fought them did it become overwhelming. Lost in the memories of some creature or other, I drifted off to sleep.