(Disclaimers in the prologue)
The Transient Beings had four remaining associates now inhabiting, for convenience's sake, a former mental hospital. By the 1980s - the present - it had long since been abandoned to its rural corner of Cumbria. The Transients had the power to create for themselves any living environment, snatch a luxurious dwelling from anywhere, anytime, but 'incognito' was the mainstay of their current plan. Just as the hospital's patients had been tucked out of the way, removing their problems from plain sight, the Transients sequestered themselves behind the same cold, stone walls.
No undue attention would be drawn, so that their plan could avoid premature discovery. This was even more vital now, given the unforeseen element.
The man - their leader - had contained his fury when 'settling in' the two Operators to their distant new home. He couldn't afford to show anything except cool satisfaction, for fear that the agents would notice his disquiet and use it to their advantage. How he had exploded afterwards, though! Any discrepancy within the plan could mean failure, and recapture, and returning to the incarceration of the past. To be once again bound, restricted; suffocated.
His woman 'friend' - a wonderfully effective means of convincing if ever he had seen one - had applauded his cleverness in setting the snare. She had done well, given her slight daze at all that she had witnessed. She was still human, after all. No need to worry about drawing any attention there, though. He couldn't have kept her with them, even if there had been an ounce of desire to do so in his body. Another mystery from the past; the woman who had deserted her husband and young family in the 1940s to run off with her enigmatic employer, never to be seen again ... at least, not until the 1980s uncovered her remarkably well-preserved corpse at the bottom of Derwent Water.
That was why he was the leader. He was the cruellest. He had taken sheer pleasure in breaking her surprised and suddenly petrified face.
He didn't know where Silver had gone. It could have been a mistake, a 'glitch in time'. Such things happened regularly. Yet his well-cultivated suspicious nature, the paranoia that had kept him alive in the face of adversity before, screamed betrayal in his mind. He just knew that Silver had pulled off an escape planned well in advance. And that meant that they were on to him and his associates.
In the harsh light of an unshaded electric bulb, the man and his fellows perched on chairs, bedframes and tables. The man's fury at Silver's escape blossomed beyond containment and he wrapped his arms around his torso, almost parodying the strait-jacket, throwing his head back and letting loose a roar of anger; an inhuman, piercing, high-pitched shriek which disappeared over the edge of the human audible range. The three others ignored him. They were used to his volatile nature, and they were too tired, anyway. They had used much valuable energy, firstly in creating and maintaining the service station, and then the pocket in which their prisoners would even now be sleeping. Their recovery was imperative for the next stage of the plan.
Two casualties already.
But two who could be replaced.
~~~
"All these theories lead ... to the same ... conclusion," slurred Steel, so tired now that he could barely think. "We need to ... cling to the assumption ... that Silver is free and ... and he knows we are ... in trouble."
Sapphire tried to nod, but her head fell feebly against her chest.
"He'll be looking for us," Steel went on. "We need ... we need to help him ... pinpoint us."
"But we're nowhere," Sapphire mumbled.
Steel looked in the direction of the window, at the barely moving constellations outside. His brain strained to make a connection, then - with a monumental wrench - he finally grasped the point which had been just out of his reach.
"It's ... another ... block!" he slowly stated, as clarity washed over him. "We aren't nowhere, they just planted that in our heads." A deeply drawn breath settled him. "If we were 'nowhere', why are there stars? Space? Recognisable constellations?!" The fatigue lifted from him with a perceptible relief. "The service station was a pocket maintained by the Transients, but it was tethered to a physical location on Earth, beside the road. This is just the same!" He saw no flaw in his reasoning and grew in confidence. "Sapphire, we must be in real space. They've set us up in another pocket, in some deserted segment of the galaxy, safely out of the way. But we're still in the real universe, we're not out of reach!"
Steel squared his shoulders, having rekindled the glimmer of hope. All the despondency of the last hours dissipated. His companion had beaten the mind block regarding Silver, now he had beaten another one. He was certain that the Transients hadn't anticipated that they could do that. Steel paused to consider how he and Sapphire had been slipping further and further into a self-induced coma, as they tried to uncover the hidden memories, and he shuddered at how close they might have come to failure.
Sapphire hadn't responded to his revelation. Why hadn't she caught on? He turned to her, automatically reaching for her hand, but it was a leaden weight. Similarly, her head lolled, unconscious, on her breastbone and betrayed no sign of life.
The jubilation turned into desperation. Steel pulled Sapphire's sagging frame upwards, catching her head as it was flung back. Her eyes were half closed, with only white showing beneath the lids. He spent a fruitless few moments shaking her frantically by the shoulders. They were so close to the answer, and now he had this to deal with!
Steel turned the problem over rapidly in his mind. If a mind block had been planted to provoke a comatose state, perhaps it might continue to close down sections of the mind completely. It was imperative that he manage to wake his friend before further damage was wrought. Yet how was he to wake her? His mind drew a blank, he couldn't think straight and he finally gave in to the grief spreading its icy fingers over his heart. He gathered Sapphire to him and held on tightly, despairing that they would come out of this nightmare intact.
~~~
They had been inside the chamber for what seemed to Silver like hours, going over the details again and again. They needed some kind of a clue to give them a starting point for a search. They needed to pin down the section of haystack in which the needle might be buried.
It was only when Jet appeared that the breakthrough was made. Jet's intrinsic abilities were similar to those of Sapphire, being a genuine time sensitive and empath. The lithe, dark-skinned woman took Silver through the last moments of the recent confrontation until he stopped his account and exclaimed, "That's it!" He had paused at the moment when Sapphire had requested a peep into the box, into the future. "She saw space, just space. They're not on a planet, not in some dimensional gulf, they'll be somewhere in real space. We need the pattern of the constellation that she saw on the screen."
"You didn't see the screen," asserted the central figure. "Jet can't remember that for you."
"Sapphire has the most mesmerising eyes," replied Silver, dreamily.
"Silver, this is not the time to indulge these schoolboy fantasies - it is unbecoming to your age and your race!" The figures around the chamber bristled with frustration.
"You misunderstand," said Silver, mildly. "I can't help but look into her eyes whenever we're together. I'm drawn - just like a schoolboy, if you insist. So here we have the moment when the lovely Sapphire is gazing at her future, and I'm gazing at her deep, blue, reflective eyes."
He allowed his idea to sink in. Jet smiled her approval. She rested her fingertips against Silver's temples once more, ignoring his lascivious wink before he conjured up the memory to which she lent clarity. When complete, a larger image of the dark centre of Sapphire's eyes and the stars which indeed reflected within them was projected into the centre of the chamber. That image held steady, so Jet pulled away from Silver, and the inhabitants of the room gave the image their full attention.
~~~~
Steel shrugged off his feelings of grief after a few moments and tried to pull himself together. He was doing Sapphire no good sitting here, clutching her as a bereaved lover might. He let her go, quickly reclaiming his hold about her as she collapsed in a heap like an under-stuffed toy. Thinking he should make his friend comfortable, he stood awkwardly and gathered her up, manoeuvred out from behind the table and finally carried her to a more accessible bench. Here he laid her straight and drew a chair to sit beside her.
Only one thing might reach her now. She needed something familiar to grasp on to, to remind her she was alive and to provide the catalyst with which she could break this spell herself. So Steel began to speak to her, the intimate way, linking straight into her mind.
[Sapphire, you can hear me if you try. So try. Sapphire, you've slipped into a coma and I need you to wake up.]
No response from his first, tentative attempt.
[Come on, Sapphire, where's that strength, that stubbornness? If you're just going to lie there and give up then I don't know you half so well as I thought I did.] Feeling a little self-conscious, as though he were afraid of a hidden audience watching his uncharacteristic display of tenderness, he took one of her hands in his and spread his other hand gently over her forehead.
[We've been through so much, Sapphire. Won over when the odds were against us. There's no reason why we shouldn't do so again. Come on, Sapphire!] A more aggressive edge came into his tone, the product of frustration. [I can't do it without you and I won't do it without you. We are a team. So listen to me, Sapphire, you are going to pay attention to my voice and come back to me. Do it now!]
His eyes were closed in concentration, his right hand still at rest over Sapphire's brow. Nothing existed except his voice echoing in her desperately empty mind, calling down to her, begging her to wake.
[I need you, Sapphire. We're most effective together. It's like you always said, about the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. I know you're still there, I can even sense you, just barely. I'm waiting here for you, so keep trying.]
~~~
They had quickly mapped the main constellations apparent in the flimsy reflection and cut down the search zone to a manageable area. It would require some time to track across the dimensions in which the two agents could have been left, but Silver had suggested that Sapphire may be trying to help any search party by sending out a telepathic signal.
As these plans were put into action, the rest of the details were glossed over.
"We need to get to the two of them before the Transients return to check up, which is my only concern," said the central figure. "The enemy will be getting edgy, wondering where the third man went, and they'll want to finish their business with Sapphire and Steel as soon as they have recharged their reserves of energy. We have to assume we'll get there first, or we will lose our two." Silver was not the only individual in attendance who shuddered at this casual conviction.
"When we've located them, Silver will go through, inform them of the plan and then get out, leaving Sapphire and Steel the means to trap their captors as best they can."
"Why didn't they get in on the plot earlier than this?" asked Silver, worried about his colleagues being so uninformed in the face of danger.
"Transients read minds as easily as you replicate, Silver. We'd have lost any advantage right at the beginning if Sapphire and Steel had been fully briefed."
"They didn't read us while they had us at the garage, I'd have felt that kind of a violation," insisted Silver.
"Yes, you all would. They couldn't show their hand too soon. They'll have read Sapphire and Steel as soon as the standoff was over, though. Fortunately you were out of the way when they started fishing for intelligence." The authority figure took note of the disgust on Silver's face, and conceded, "It's unpleasant, I know, but this whole matter has unfortunately required a few sacrifices. We're playing for higher stakes than two of our agents."
Silver turned away from the central figure, too aware of all that his colleagues would have endured. "And the end justifies the means," he mused beneath his breath, with no little venom.
~~~
When Sapphire came to, she was falling. Dizziness and disorientation slapped her in the face, before she reassured herself that there was to be no sudden, pulverising halt as she hit the ground, and she turned her thoughts to assessing the situation.
Darkness was all around. Her rate of descent seemed to be slowing by the second and she acknowledged that this reality was not physical. Something had happened to her.
That wasn't all. There was a voice, a man calling her name. A faint voice, but full of familiarity and solidity and comfort. Sapphire wanted to respond. Forming a word in her mind, she flung it upwards, towards a minute shaft of light far above.
...
Seconds were passing like hours for Steel. The longer he failed in resurrecting Sapphire, the more hopeless it became. His flood of telepathic words had become repetitive. He could only send her name and his need, now.
[Steel?]
So immersed was he in the pattern of his thoughts, he barely noticed the response. It took long moments before he registered the sound, and he was suddenly galvanised into strength.
[I'm here, Sapphire. You're so faint, you must concentrate. Wake up, Sapphire!]
...
The fall stopped and she hovered, in limbo, until with excruciating slowness, she willed herself upwards. As soon as she tried, a stinging pain made her eyes water, but she held on to the harness of Steel's voice and climbed, obstinately ignoring everything else.
...
Steel could sense her rising out of the coma, and a fierce joy consumed him as he knew he had reached her. All was not lost! He imagined the telepathic link with his companion as a strong arm and reached within her mind, lending his own power to her recovery. And moments after the connection had been made, it all happened in a rush, Sapphire flying from the depths of unconsciousness to rejoin Steel.
...
Now the reality became physical, and Sapphire felt the bench against her back and Steel's gentle hand at her forehead. She was the first to open her eyes, squinting in the light, noting her companion's frown and concentration. As Steel's eyes fluttered open, she noted a shine within them which betrayed his relief, before he slowly lowered his head to rest it against her own.
~~~
Another hour and the Transients would be ready. No words passed between them; they knew what had to be done.
The trap was escape-proof, from the inside. They knew about all of the Operators' abilities and had constructed the prison with these in mind.
At the given time, the leader would return there, alone at first. He would allow the two agents to wake and he would make them aware of their helplessness. He would ask whether they welcomed the prospect of a lifetime in such a cage. A lifetime for them would be a long stretch indeed. Did they really want to stay there, with only each other and insanity for company?
Then he would make the offer. It wouldn't be the first time that the Transients had asked agents to join them; to inherit the powers and shelve the responsibilities. Two of their current number had been recruited in such a manner. Another recruit waited to join them on completion of the plan. Both Sapphire and Steel had refused previous approaches. He couldn't blame them for turning the invitation down before. What did his group have to offer? A life in the restrictions of the past? That was no carrot to dangle under an Operator's nose.
But all that was different now. They had a hold over the two agents, giving him something with which to bargain.
Freedom.
~~~
Hub-side, the search began.
Those with the gift of scrying stretched their senses. Diamond was the best at this, his sensitivity over distances better even than Sapphire's. He and his fellow empaths sat in the central chamber and simply reached with their thoughts for any presence of their colleagues.
Translating the results to a map, crossing off areas covered, noting anything untoward, the three figures of authority documented the search. The silence was palpable, the importance of the result onerous.
Silver, no longer useful for the time being, strutted about like an expectant father, out of the way so as to offer no distraction. He was a Technician, brilliant in some areas, redundant in others. But the redundancy tore him apart and he boiled inside, plagued by images of his unconscious colleagues suffering an obscene violation of their minds whilst he rushed to safety. Pangs of guilt consumed him.
They had to find Sapphire and Steel. Never mind the higher stakes, he couldn't let them die without showing his contrition at the way he had left them to this fate.
~~~
Sapphire recovered quickly, once the block within her mind had been countered. She swung her legs over the bench and sat straight, as Steel explained his revelation.
"Real space. Of course. We nearly didn't see it. They're better at mind control than we thought," she observed. "What's our next move?"
"Assuming that our friend Silver did get back to the Hub, they'll be scrying for us. Now the universe is a big place and to pin down our location is going to be damn near impossible, unless they've a clue we don't know about."
"Can't we do something about escaping ourselves? Are we dependent on a rescue?" mused Sapphire, reluctant to rely on the actions of others. She didn't give voice to the idea that their authority back at the Hub might not even bother with the effort of such a rescue.
Steel slumped down in his chair. "I don't know!" he spat, clearly frustrated. "I can't see any way of moving from this spatial location to somewhere safe. I can't access the usual travelling dimensions, and I assume you can't either."
"They've cut us off completely," agreed Sapphire.
"And I'm increasingly convinced that the Transients will be back for us, that they're just regrouping at the moment," Steel added. "The only proactive thing I can think of, is that we try to help any rescue that our side are attempting. We can put out a signal that they would recognise. Give them something to home in on."
"Good idea", said Sapphire. "I can transmit, but the signal would soon be lost in the expanse of space around us. I need an amplifier."
"I can do that," returned Steel. He leaned forward to meet Sapphire's outstretched hands and closed his eyes as she connected with certain pressure points at his temple.
Sapphire smiled as Steel's familiar strength flowed through the link. Her eyes grew ice blue and she began to transmit, pushing to one side the insistent qualm that her strongest signal could go unheard for thousands of years in the infinite reaches of space.
Their very best could so easily be not enough.
~~~~~~~
Continued in Chapter 3
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