A timed escape.

 

No sooner than she had stepped out of the portal than Victoria had been attacked and put in shackles.  She couldn’t be sure what happened next but was she could be certain of was that she was woken up buy a painful goose egg growing on her head in a blindingly white room with lights that never turned off.  None of her guards would speak with her, it was clearly that in their eyes she was no longer anything more than dust on the wind. 

Prowling back and forth with no one to speak to, only the periodic in person guard passing by to remind her of the passage of time, she did what any caged animal would do and kicked the side of her concrete cage.

As she stood there with her foot still against the wall a small smile creeped onto her lips.  The facility was still decently new it seemed, but more importantly the ever important drive to find a lowest bidder was all to apparent in this place.  Her foot was now buried ankle deep into the wall.

Trying her best, Victoria had only been able to make a hole in the wall large enough for her head to stick through it before the sounds of heavy boots falling down the hallway.  With her time at a premium, Victoria stuck her head through the hall, trying to squeeze her shoulders through, but was only able to get her head and arm through when she felt heavy hands falling her body.  Ripping her from her hopes at freedom.

It wasn’t more than an hour of an interview, as her captors and trainers back in the air force described it.  with some nameless agent that they carted her off to a new cell.  A simple supply closet.   She wasn’t sure who decided that this was for the best, but after one private’s over eager examination  to make sure she hadn’t somehow gotten her hands on a weapon and found a place to hide in the unflattering pukey yellow tshirt they’d put her in, but she suspected it was one of those over thirst jackasses.

Once he had his fill, just a tentative taste, he was gone, though making it all too clear that he would be back once he as off the clock.  Before he was even gone Victoria had already spotted his gross incompetence in her new holding cell.  There were no cameras above her, and no guards standing in there with her, she was once again nothing more than a mote of dust drifting on the wind.

                After the door was closed she sat on the ground looking around taking in everything that she could see in this storage room.  All the while her hand was tingling as it hung over her head, the metal of the handcuff biting into her flesh ever so lightly, making it clear that she wasn’t going to be given the courtesy of sleeping on her back by her captors.

                Finally once she was certain that the door wasn’t going to burst open with her self appointed inspector along with a dozen of his closest friends she pulled herself to her feet.  The handcuff on her wrist wasn’t quite so cheap as her first cell’s wall. A lucky kick she was certain was far more likely to snap her own wrist than it was to snap the cuff’s chain.

                Still though she smiled at the shelving unit she’d been attached to, even though it was clearly far too heavy to move.  The people who had put it together had even bolted the legs to the ground her, but she recognized it as the same unit she had at home.  A simple gravity mount kept the upper half of the unit attached.

                It took some work and as Victoria worked on it she could feel something in her back getting ready to snap but before that could happen she felt a pop as the shelving unit separated and she was able to simply slide the other half of her hand cuff out. 

                With the hanging cuff still on her wrist she walked up to the door, pressing her ear to it. Steadying her breath, she listened.  To her ear there was no sound of people outside, all that she could hear was the sounds of air recirculation.  Placing her hand on the door her frowned a bit, as the handle refused to move, with only a keyhole for her to unlock it.

                She went back deeper into the storage room, while with her free hand she took her dangling handcuff and put it around her already cuffed wrist to make what felt like the most gawdy of bracelets.   Half way down the room she could feel a strong breeze, and looking to it, just above one of the storage racks she saw a large vent.  Climbing up to the stacks she pulled the face of the vent off, and was greeted with a hot belch of air, now that the cover was no longer regulating the air flow as intended. 

                Victoria was half way into the vent before she stopped, and went back into the storage area, and found what she wanted, a couple large white and blue bottles, along with some buckets.  With them in the vents she pulled the grate back on.   Pushing through the ducting she could barely see past her bottles as she went forward. 

Stopping to hold her breath as she heard the ruckus break room that sounded like two soldiers were about to start a brawl as the rest took bets.  One even going so far as to declare that rank was no object at this time like they were stuck in some 90s sci-fi.

Once the cheering for fight really picked up she continued her way through the vent for what seemed like ages.  She came to a new vent, where no matter how she strained her ears she couldn’t another soul.  Pushing out the vent, ever careful to keep it from falling she came out into the room.  It was a clean room, she could tell as she looked around.  Not one used for decontaminating the objects that are stolen from the past, but rather ones for the creation of the new tools for agents.  A real skunkworks.

Looking around there were no cameras this deep in, instead there were tools and half completed creations strewn about in various stages of completion, others ready to go their manuals half completed beside them.  One such device caught Victoria’s eye, it looked like a large compass.  It was one of the ones nearly complete notes beside it for her to read over. 

And so she did read them over, her escape nope yet discovered time was still on her time.  It was dubbed a Chrono Skipper by its creator.   It could steal tachyons during a jump to power itself for a new jump, and keep them in a what the writer called a Temporal Flywheel, which would like all fly wheels would after a time loose its charge.  There was one lamentation in the writings saying that this device would leave a detectable trace of the time and place that its user went to, allowing an adversary could follow them.  Worse still, for the time being the creators had allowed the Chrono Skipper to die, running out of its precious tachyon fuel.

Taking some thin copper wire Victoria fashioned a simple necklace to hold the Chrono Skipper and put it around her neck slipping it into her shirt.  As soon as she did she let out an audible gasp as just how cold the metal had been against her bare skin.

She was just going over to her next find in this room, a pistol that was being changed to look like it had come from a few hundred years before, but with a more modern reliability.  Though she wasn’t sure when it was supposed to appear to be from.  Just as she was looking for some information on the pistol and how it had been changed a klaxon went off.  It seemed someone had needed some cleaning supplies or that damned soldier had gotten thirsty. 

Instinctively Victoria grabbed the pistol and the spare rounds that had been at that desk before she made for the vent she came in through.

Back in the vent with her spoils from the skunkworks Victoria couldn’t hear much over her heart and the klaxon that screamed out her escape.  Making her way back she found herself at the room the fight had been breaking out in.

Through the slats of the vent she spotted in the corner a forgotten coat, that in the chaos of the alarm had been left there.  With not time to spare Victoria kicked the vent grate out and could hear it clatter on the floor below.  Along with her bottles and buckets that she’d been pushing around since escaping the storage room she landed on the ground.

The room was empty, thankfully for her, after having been a bit too hasty on jumping down to double check for her captors.  Going to the coat Victoria slipped it on even if it was poorly fitting it should at a glance keep those from charging her immediately.

Before running out into the chaos of the base she poured the contents of the bottles into the two buckets attempting to get them to mix, even as they bubbled and let off their yellow-green gas that was being sucked up by the vents to be recirculated amongst the soldiers.  Her sweet chlorine kiss.

In the hallways was a storm of bodies running every which way as soldiers with no sense of whom they were searching for, only that they were to be searching as though their lives were at stake.

Keeping her head down Victoria made her way for the Time Centre.  Hopefully in all this chaos she’d be able to open up a portal to her freedom.   As she got to it though, having been run into by countless soldiers who were all taking their corners too tightly, the ambre light as flashing, this was something that surprised her.  She’d expected any missions to have been halted but the light was on, there must have been a sperate emergency, it was just her devil’s luck.

There was a new announcement now, about poison gas having been detected and for personnel to dawn protective equipment while technicians were dispatched to investigate the source.  Some did, while others continued on their blind hunt for her.

She turned making her way for the embarkation room.   She ran as recklessly as so many soldiers had been, until she near the room.  There was a shout, one that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, one that she knew was directed at her.  A glance over her shoulder and it was that private who had moved her to storage closet they’d tried to use as a cell for her. 

His head was crooked as he spoke into a radio that was pinned to his MP’s uniform, while running after her.   There was still too much confusion for the soldiers she was running past to be of any help.

Then she was at it, the embarkation room, it was just past a single door, but it seemed the private had friends, other MPs who were guarding the door.  They were large and armoured, no hopes of her to get past them, and her tail was only getting closer as others made more of an effort to get out of his way.

A hard turn and she was through the door to the observation room, that was just off the embarkation room.  In it there were six scientists who had been taking notes for something that Victoria couldn’t fathom.

Now between her and the portal was just some glass.  The pistol was out and she shot it three times, the early revolver styled pistol only allowed those shots to go off before she slammed into the glass with her entire weight.

There was an explosion around her as shards of death fell everywhere, but she was through it, on the ground just a few metres away from the portal.  She was surrounded by a group of travelers who had been shocked by her appearance.

The men and women were all laden with clothes that would seem out of place in how old they were a thousand years.  She continued to stumble forward her exposed skin now covered in a myriad of tiny cuts.

From behind her she could hear the command to stop or she’d be shot.  She was so close to the portal now.   Still moving forward she turned her body to the private raising her pistol and pulling the trigger for the last bullet that it could hold.  It had been a blind shot, but it bit all the same.  Finding the supple flesh of the man’s neck, not enough to kill him, though she had hoped it would, but enough to cause him to drop form the shock of it all.

With the sound of his own gun going off, shooting into the wall beside him, Victoria fell through the portal.

She was surrounded now in a farmer’s field by disguised personnel come to a time to put something back to right, or so they say.  One of the agents there looked at her in horror before yelling to grab her.  But even his quick thinking hadn’t been enough, as those he ordered dove at her she simply flickered away, into a different time, leaving those who had been there nothing more than lumps on their heads as they slammed into one another.

Star shrines

In the city of the bear Häppchen, the trickster goddess was walking through the streets though she was very troubled at every turn she would run into both shrines and temples to various gods. From the rich streets and their temple to Intia, the god of guiding lights, to the docks on the grand river where many ships docked all with small shrines to Ambelle the goddess known for her beauty and ability charm the grand river itself, turning it from a bear that would smash ships on it shores into a calm mule for the men to travel with. Even the lover gods of Resta and Hydar, these two were best known for being the two stars that would rise in the morning, dance through out the day, and set together at night had managed a small shrine in the centre of town, even if it was mostly farmers who mostly gave them sacrifice.

Once the forgotten goddess was done with her business in town, she set out north along one of the minor roads, which seemed fitting to her in her sardonic way. These people treated her like a minor god, so she belonged on their minor roads. As the city shrank behind her she came to a fork in the road where some farmer had left field stones to bake in the suns. As she stood there deciding what road her future should be on, a thought occurred to her. If the men and women of this land would not erect a shrine to her she would do the work for them.

Whispering to the spirits that lived inside of these field stones. She told them how sad it was that their homes had been taken from where they had lived so long and forced them to bake under the hot suns. Maybe though, just maybe there was a shape they could change their home into that would keep these little spirits cool in the hot summer and dry in the wet winters.

Over joyed at this the spirits wanted to know what shape Häppchen thought they should change their stones into. So she told the spirits and as she did the stones moved and changed becoming for an instant like water before hardening again in a new shape. She watched with glee as the spirits changed their field stone homes into a shrine for her.

Once they were done she clasped her hands together with joy. While it wasn’t the covered in the delicate paints or fine woven gold and silver of other shrines, this was for her a grand monument to her and her being.

Delighted with how this shrine had turned out she placed a small morsel she had picked up in the town’s market down in the little shrine to herself. Without so much as an explanation to the confused stone spirits as to why she was leaving an offering in their home she was off, headed down the road to where her feet would take her next.

A week later Häppchen found herself once again wondering down that path while Resta and Hydar played in the sky above her, showing off the new beads Resta had been given by Hydar.

When finally she came to the crossroad she had a grand gift for these little spirits, a mirror of pure gallium. Perfect for the cool hands of any spirit, though in the warmth of a human or god’s hand it would surely melt to nothing. She found there not the little shrine the stone spirits had shifted their home into, but rather rubble laying by the road as that place had a new shrine placed where her sole shrine had been, destroyed by some farmer who erected yet another set of twined shrines to Resta and Hydar.

Looking up at the sky Häppchen glared at the two even as she already knew what the other gods and goddesses would say, with all their shrines, that shrines come and go, and it doesn’t matter if you loose a single one. It was something those with shrines to spare would never understand.

That night once the sky only contained the Milky Way, Häppchen made her way to the Mindont spring, where knowledge first flowed out from the underworld into the living world. Once there Häppchen spoke with many of the minor gods all of whom she was certain couldn’t count the number of shrines they had dedicated to them on one hand, though for some of them she doubted that it was for lack of fingers.

As the night went on and on Häppchen busied herself going from each of those who had decided to come that night and drink of the mystic waters at this spring. It wasn’t until the sky became a light grey that the two she had come seeking deigned to show their faces to those still gathered.

As Resta spoke with the goddess of numbers Edend, Häppchen spotted Hydar who while enjoying the atmosphere of those gathered at Mondont, she would catch the sad glint of loneliness in his eyes, and watch as a quick glance over to Resta would wipe it away, at least for a time.

“Ah she really is a treasure.” Häppchen said to Hydar just as he was starting to get that sad look in his eyes. For this comment all that Hydar gave back to Häppchen was an unamused scoff. “I suppose that could be said of her.” He eventually agreed as she continued to sit there, her eyes bearing down into his being. “But if only you could show her, oh but that wouldn’t be fair to all the other goddesses who wish for your smile.” She says more musing to herself than talking to Hydar.

This comment got Hydar’s attention to fix on Häppchen. “Show her what?” Hydar asked with a tone and force to his voice that made it clear to all, that were unfortunate enough to be listening in on what the two were speaking about, that this was in no way a question. “Oh, well you see I came across some mermaids who were in trouble.” Häppchen started to say. “I have no time for the ramblings of a fool.” Hydar cut her off just as her story was starting.

“Oh well yes.” Häppchen said, before continuing a truncated version of her story. “Well in short these mermaids gave me one of their excellent mirrors, but to those like you or myself, with fiery hearts the mirror would simply melt away and not be able to show us anything.”

As Häppchen spoke it was clear that Hydar wanted to interrupt her, but what she was saying had captured him enough to hold his tongue so far. “Now you see, one with a calm heart, and cool temperament.” She explained. “You mean like Resta?” Hydar chose to interject at that moment. “Yes, exactly like Resta.” Häppchen confirmed before continuing. “She could take this mirror and finally see just how lovely she is to you.”

With her story told Häppchen took out a small birch wood box and opened up the lid to show Hydar. The god out of a lifetime of habit reached out a hand to take the mirror but Häppchen snapped the box closed. “No!” She scolded him, doing her best to keep her voice low enough to not alarm any of the others here. “You, like I, are simply too hot headed to be blessed with this mirror.” She reminded Hydar. “You must take this box in it’s whole state to Resta. Then before she takes up the mirror you must tell her the story of this mirror as I have told you, only then can she be allowed to pick up the mirror. Do you understand?” She asked him.

With out so much as a nod, much less any word, Hydar snatched the box from Häppchen’s hand and walked over to his loved Resta. For Häppchen she was barely able to make it to the edge of the clearing where the spring lay that she heard a scream from Resta. On the ground where she had been standing was a birch box and a half melted gallium mirror.

Hydar didn’t know if he wanted to follow Resta and assure her that there must have been something wrong about the story, or if he wanted to find the trickster Häppchen and break her neck. He became hot with rage and would when his anger got to high burn the skin of all those he saw working upon the land, in particular he wished to burn the skin of Häppchen should she ever be found under his sight during the day.

While Resta became pale and dull in complexion compared to how she had been before she’d tried to view herself in that mirror. She ran as fast as she could, and was often out of reach for Hydar to catch up with, her beads becoming hard to see, except for the rare times she would meet and dance with Hydar in the sky. Her beads once again shining as they had when she was first given them.

Though even as they danced it would only last for a short time before she found herself running away from Hydar once again.

And so the twinned star gods of Hydar and Resta became the estranged gods, Hydar the Sun god, and Resta the Moon goddess.

Making camp

Sitting as she watched Taty busy herself Zelda stoked the little fire. The warm light felt good on her skin. Once the fire was going Zelda went to pick up the steel cooking tripod. As she lifted it she felt a shiver of pain shooting out from her shoulder. She bit down on her lower lip as she moved the thing onto her good shoulder as a sweat formed on her brow.

As she carefully took one step after another the tripod suddenly became light. When Zelda looked around she was nose to nose with Taty who had lifted the metal away from Zelda as if it was nothing more than a few bits of doweling.  “I can do it.” Zelda protested even as her body flushed with relief of having the weight of the metal off her.

Taty looked back over her shoulder. “It’s okay I’ve got this, why don’t you collect some snow?” She gives Zelda a smile before turning her attention to the fire and setting up the tripod.

Zelda comes to the sleigh and finds the tin pot. She empties the pillows that were shoved into it to be left with the rest of their gear, and also takes two small balls of prepackaged pemmican that each proudly proclaim their robust 400 calories, along with a small pick.

Taty has made quick work of the tripod getting it set up and moved some of the pieces of wood to keep them from pouring out of the cooking area. She turned to look at Zelda, pausing for a moment as she watched the other woman waddle with the tin pot bouncing off her thighs.  She gave a weak smile and a shake of her head as she let the other woman work. Going back to the tripod to make certain that it wouldn’t shift and spill everything onto the fire below.

With the pick in hand Zelda had gone to a snow drift and filled the pot with broken shards of ice and the clean white powder that had been under it. She pressed it down with the back of her gloved hand until she couldn’t any more and the snow and ice came to the brim of the tin.

Coming back to the fire Zelda has to squint, the sun was low on the horizon despite when she looked at her watch, seeing that it was nearly midnight. As she came the last few steps to the fire a deep part of her missed the regular diming of the lights when it was night, not the seemingly endless summer days that the surface had.

“That looks great.” Taty says to Zelda as she hooks the pot to the centre of the tripod. As Zelda turns back to Taty she notices the other woman holding up a pair of bowls. “So what’s for dinner?” Taty asks, holding out one of the dented bowls as Zelda fumbles in her pockets for the two pemmican balls. Taking the bowl she places the pair of balls in in. “Uh we’ve got, reindeer and cranberries or mackerel and candied peach.” She says offering Taty her choice even if her eyes betray her true wish as she watches the reindeer ball.  

Zelda watched as a treacherous hand went and plucked up the reindeer pemmican. “Oh I think you’re really going to like that one.” She manages to say as she takes a seat beside Taty in the pair of old nylon camping chair that had been patched at least a dozen times she could spot and probably more times that she couldn’t.

As the water got hot Zelda ladled out enough of the hot water to turn her pemmican into a stew. The two ate talking about nothing, Zelda with her pemmican stew and Taty enjoying hers dry. Taty then gave out a small gasp of surprise. Zelda looked up startled at what could cause Taty to make that sound when Taty pressed in close against Zelda’s good shoulder. “Do you see it?” She whispered into Zelda’s ear, her arm pointing to something off to their side. Zelda looked her eyes following Taty’s arm to a mount not far from where she’d been gathering snow before.  A part of her fearful that there’d be a raider standing there with a couple of his friends coming up over it. But all that her eyes could find was a few puffs of white cloud in a dimming side. “What?” She asks, lost as to what she’d missed.

“There was a fox!” Taty whispered to her with the excitement Zelda thought should be reserved for finding a lost friend like in so many stories she’d read growing up.

“N-no…” She says, feeling like she’d somehow recked the moment as Taty pulls away from her.

“Oh that’s too bad.” Taty says, going back to what little was left of her pemmican. “I’m sure you’ll spot one first soon.” She teases Zelda.

Letting out a sigh at missing the chance to see another living creature beyond Taty, Zelda turned her attention back to her stew, she took a few more bites from her stew she noticed a chunk of pemmican she’d failed at breaking up into her stew. She had to wonder just how tired she was to make a mistake like that.

Zelda mixed in just a bit more water to help break down the pemmican and took a hungry bite of it and her eyes went wide. The mild lean taste and explosion of tart in her mouth, she knew this. Her gaze shot over to Taty who looking just far enough away from her that Zelda was certain she could be seen from the corner of Taty’s eye but far enough that she’d deny it no matter how much Zelda pestered the woman about it.

Grumbling to herself got Taty to look over to Zelda. “Is your shoulder bothering you?” Taty asked, causing Zelda to glance away. In truth it was bothering her, there hadn’t been a point since getting wounded that it wasn’t, even if it was better than it had been. “We should check it.” Taty pressed with, after not getting a quick enough answer.

“Okay.” Is all that Zelda can say surprised at the force of the insistence. She angles her body a bit away from Taty for a little bit of privacy. “Do we have enough water for the old bandages?” She asks Taty to give her something to focus on as Zelda peels off her coat and top to check her wound.

It stings a bit as she unties the bandage and pulls the fabric away that has started to fuse with the skin. She presses with her finger around it and whinces as she does, while trying like always and failing to see the wound with her own eyes, even though it has remained out sight.

“Taty?” Zelda says, hearing the woman jump a bit as she readjusted some half-burnt wood. “Do you mind?” She asks, stretching out her neck even as it makes the wound scream out so that Taty can get the best look. “Any colour change?” She asks once Taty is over to her.

With the most gentle touch Taty’s soldier fingers can manage. Zelda can’t help but jump a little at this touch, her stiches bulging but never tearing.

Taty smiles so that Zelda can see her expression before answering. “It’s still red, but it doesn’t look like you’re getting any infection or anything.” She says happily and truthfully before adding on. “It’s starting to close up to.” She says with a bit too much excitement in her voice even as the wound still looks to be as long as her index finger, the same as the day she got it.

Zelda gives out a relived sigh, it hadn’t felt like that, she’s glad to hear, that she isn’t screwing up everything.

Once Taty was done examining Zelda’s wound she went to check the perimeter of their makeshift camp for signs of other travelers while Zelda went and got the bedroll so they could get some sleep.

With the sun finally set the two were in a single large sleeping bag on top of some feather weight panels that insulated them better from the ground. The two were close, they couldn’t afford the lost energy by each having their own sleeping bag.

When they started out they’d agreed they’d take turns sleeping on the fireside but each night Taty would forget who had been fireside the night before and claim it was Zelda’s turn to be fire side, and when Zelda corrected the record on that Zelda would still wake up fireside.  After a point she just had to give up on this.

Every night went the same they would bed down and as soon as her head found the pillow she’d be out, only stirring to find Taty’s warmth when she got cold.

This night though Zelda woke up when it was still dark, the sun not making its quick march back to the sky. She could hear Taty saying something but couldn’t focus on it, her stirring causing Taty to stop saying what she had been. Once she was awake to understand what was being said all that she heard was. “Hush, you need your rest, go back to sleep.” She was tired and couldn’t deny it, so she followed the gentle charm that Taty’s words placed on her.