58

Tracy Island, in the time lab-

You could pack an awful lot of prep into thirty swift minutes, and the Tracys were expert at that. Especially with a backup team, led by Grandma, on base. There were two forcefields. One to protect the crystal and time-leaping rescuers, one to safely contain whatever came back. If necessary, antimatter explosives within that external force bubble would annihilate its materializing contents. Brains had insisted.

One thing about the crystal, though; it could not be induced to put you exactly back at the time you'd left… or just after, even. There was always at least a week in between. Something to do with avoiding paradox, maybe. Brains meant to study the matter, just as soon as he was out of his own head, and just one person, again. That crystal and lab weren't the only things that had doubled.

John was in charge of the inner shield, the one defending them from death in a blizzard of tiny, flesh-stripping grey nanites. He'd programmed it to flex around structures and furnishings, but allow entry to nothing. Not even air. They'd get by on their helmet supply and emergency oxygen tanks, or they'd suffocate. Donned his yellow exopod, too, because you just never knew what could give you an edge, when you'd got down to your very last card.

He, Scott, Virgil, Max and Kane stood inside of that soap-bubble forcefield with Brains, as the engineer set up and triggered the jump. Grandma, Kayo, Gordon and Alan were standing by outside of the lab; worried, but doing their best not to show it. They were in the rescue business, after all. Risk was part of the territory, but they'd always come back; had always been successful, before. Surely, they'd be lucky… and blessed… and good… one more time. Hackenbacker had time jumped before. He was ready. Virgil Tracy and the others were not. One second, they were right there in a weirdly dimension-bent lab, then a brilliant blue glow filled the world and… sweet holy Mother of Christ.

The noise, that constant, chittering buzz-saw rattle, was what hit him, first. Then the grey swirling sandstorm of clattering particles; like some awful cross between a locust swarm and a forest fire at full, uncontrolled burn. Virgil stumbled on the now slightly canted lab floor, but his exo-suit locked up to prevent a fall. John put a hand on his shoulder.

"You okay?" he asked, sounding whisper-close, over the helmet comm.

"Yeah," Virgil responded, after taking a second to brace up. "Wasn't expecting, um…"

This. Any of it. Looking swiftly around, Virgil saw big shards of pocked perma-glass, a tattered banner and (just visible through the storm of hungry grey dust) a skewed, open doorway. Might've been the lab's other exit, once. Hard to tell.

John gave his shoulder a rough shake. Then, the astronaut went back to his coding, using a virtual keypad produced and maintained by Eos. He had a job to do, and very much needed to concentrate, so Virgil left him alone.

The Mechanic stalked up to the edge of their cleared space. Stood there, just about nose to nose with that blizzard of death. So, might a leopard confront an intruder; one he would soon have to fight.

At first, nothing happened. Then, the cloud redoubled its force, hammering and rasping at their glowing blue bubble, which bowed inward, knocking Kane back a few steps.

"Sh*t," he rasped. "That's a lot." Then, with a fierce, head-clearing shake, he strode forward, again. "I," he growled, "am Evan Kane. I will become the Kane. I am a master of all constructs and machines, and… you…will listen. You… will… obey."

Blood began dripping out of his breath mask, as though he were gritting his teeth so hard that he'd bitten right through to the flesh. And slowly, very gradually, a sort of aisle appeared in that screeching, pounding, flesh-hungry dust cloud; stretching from their position to the tunnel door.

Virgil took a risk, then. As their forcefield expanded to reach that doorway, the big cargo pilot took one of his own auxiliary power-packs, and clamped it onto the Mechanic. Kane grunted something. Couldn't possibly have been "thank you", any more than he'd just given that monster a hand. Nope. Nothing like that going on, here. Too much water, hatred and blood under that bridge.

"Let's go," Scott barked. "Brains, lead the way. I don't remember a bomb shelter, in our time. Just the safe room, so…"

Hackenbacker nodded, seeming more confident, suddenly. More himself.

"Th- That is precisely where the, ah… the sh- shelter was constructed, Scott. B- Bring the crystal, and come! I am p- perfectly willing to, ah… to s- sacrifice my lab wall and f- floor, and a return trip from this spot may be, ah… be unfeasibly h- hazardous."

Waving them onward, Brains shot for the newly cleared doorway and passage. John coded like mad, adapting the shield to constant attack, and keeping them covered while moving. He would not have been able to maintain their pace, if Eos hadn't directed him, through constantly shifting suit pressure.

The Mechanic moved like a sleepwalker, meanwhile, kept from breaking his neck by Max and… yeah. By Virgil. Go ahead, say it. No? Nothing? Good.

Scott walked beside Brains, just inside their force bubble and the Mechanic's painfully snow-plowed path. It was weird and sad, crossing all of that familiar, totally ruined territory. There was nothing left alive, anywhere. Not a blade of grass, not a stick or a twig of the former jungle. Nothing moved but five men and a robot, against a storm of life-ending dust.

Virgil found himself humming one of his own compositions, just to block out the constant screeching and pounding. The exo-suit's whirring clank helped a lot, too. Felt like a fifth wheel, until they finally reached the heavily armoured shelter, and found themselves blocked by a pitted and scarred steel hatch. Its mechanism was about fused solid, but that's why they'd brought Virgil Tracy. Because, there was nobody better, when you needed crap moved in a hurry.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Inside the shelter-

Nearly a month had passed, pleasantly enough except for the continual sand-storm howl, the battering shudder. Then, Amynr came rushing down from his post by the inner hatch.

"Honored Sheef!" the man gasped, green eyes so huge they just about swallowed his thin, golden face. "Something comes!"

Sheff had been drinking coffee down in the shelter, trying to teach Sharl and the rest how to play Bridge, using cards that he'd cut out and drawn, himself. Now, the lieutenant commander stood up, looked over at Sharl and Professor Moffat and said,

"Plan 3. Get everyone back to the restrooms, and barricade yourselves in there, as tightly as possible."

Moffy nodded and set to work. This was it. They'd known it would happen; that, sooner or later, their small, last-ditch post would be breached. There was no panic, just hustle, just like he'd taught them, and repeatedly drilled. Made him proud.

Sharl surprised the officer with a sudden, quick hug. Then, she stepped away to help with crowd control. He smiled, but there was not much to say, really. Either they were about to be saved, or… or the waiting was over, for good.

Most everyone had been tucked away safe, when Caleb went forward to join Sheffield and Pope at the inner hatch. 'Cause, y'know… he was part of IR, now. He couldn't just hide in the back. They didn't have much in the way of weapons, just two sidearms and Caleb's handmade, spiked club, but he meant to go down swinging, defending those people. Sheffield gave him a startled look, at first, then moved over a little, while Major Pope nodded and winked.

They heard a loud, grinding screech and crashing noise, like someone had ripped the outer hatch completely off of its moorings and thrown it. Caleb's heart began pounding. Almost jumped clear out of his skin when a light, long-fingered hand tangled itself in the cloth of his uniform shirt, right there at the back. Caleb made himself stand straighter, knowing that Kaise had chosen to join him, rather than wait and hide with the others.

"Hey, Babe," he whispered, as that something or someone next started work on the second hatch. This time, with steel-cutting lasers.

"Cabe," she whispered back at him. "I am loving to you. I am wishing a union."

Which was a pretty cool last thing to hear, y'know?

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Outside of the shelter, amid barely blocked nanites, and a quivering, snowflake-in-hades shield:

The first hatch had been a corroded and fused piece of junk. The second was still in good shape, but Virgil didn't bother trying to hack its electronic lock. As Max worked to contact his small, airborne doppelganger, Virgil cut on his shoulder-laser and began slicing steel like warm apple pie. Should have knocked, first, and told them to stand back, but he had to hurry, and honestly didn't think of it.

John had already re-coded their forcefield to lock onto the inner hatch, while Brains and Scott tried scanning for any dust infiltration, within.

"D*mn, that thing's shielded," Scott muttered, switching settings. Then, "Hang on… I got something. Detecting thirty-one… no… thirty-four lifeforms. But, three of those are awful small. Like mice, or something."

Brains nodded. Moving briskly around the group, he clasped everyone's shoulder, including Kane's, and then went over to stand as close to the hatch as laser-seared metal would let him.

When at last he sliced a complete circle, Virgil punched the white-hot cutout, which slammed inward with a loud, ringing crash. Peering inside, he grinned and said,

"Aww… a welcoming committee! You guys didn't have to get all dressed up just for us."

Then, he stepped on through, to laughter, whooping and back-slaps. Met his first tall, skinny weird person, and almost got run down by Brains, who shot through that barely-cooled hole to find Moffy.

"Somebody call for a rescue?" Cracked Scott, smiling for the first time, all night. Sheff grinned at him, and shook hands.

"Eh, I guess. Since you were in the area," he shrugged.

Took Brains awhile to leave off greeting Moffy, and everyone to stop talking at once, before they could start to reprogram their time crystal.