(Disclaimers in the prologue)
Silver's pacing eventually took him further away from the central chambers and into the ghost city of the outskirts. The suburbs were never exactly bustling, but it was eerie to see them so utterly deserted. All agents not on active assignment were assisting with the search. Even the empathic trainees had been called upon.
He needed some time to finally indulge the morbid thoughts playing around his conscience. As he walked, his mind dwelt on the plan. It had all been necessary; the deceit, the way his friends had been used, his own swift exit when the going got too tough. But the necessity didn't make it any easier to deal with. He and Sapphire had been close, when attending the academy. They were on the verge of something quite special, when Sapphire had been yanked out of the learning environment and into active duty with Steel.
Silver stopped and stared up at the white light of the Hub's domain, smiling wistfully. He and Sapphire had always enjoyed a connection, an understanding, call it what you like.
And he had simply abandoned her.
His smile faded. He should be with her, right now, he thought. Steel's company could hardly be supportive; that man was nothing more than a block of ice. How Sapphire continued to put up with her partner's surliness was beyond him. She even seemed to be content in their pairing, but she had such a sweet nature that she could make the best of any situation.
Silver sighed, conjuring an image of Sapphire's shining golden hair and sparkling eyes.
"Day-dreaming again, Silver?"
His head snapped round as he was addressed. Mercury had approached silently behind him. That agent tended to travel through folded dimensions, slipping easily from one location to another. It was his speciality.
"Oh! Oh, it's you," Silver greeted his fellow agent. He was less than enthusiastic at Mercury's company. The pale-skinned, diminutive agent was on a probationary period following a mistake which had cost the life of another of their kind, and he still had a long way to go, to restore the authority's faith. There were those on the Hub who were currently refusing to even speak with Mercury. "I'm sorry, I was ... quite lost in thought. Umm - how are they getting on?"
"Slow progress. It's frustrating to find yourself redundant during the most important operation you've ever encountered."
"Yes, yes, I know." Silver heaved a sigh. "My usefulness has departed, for now."
"But they're still missing. Our two colleagues, our two friends. Listen, I've been thinking, too."
"Oh yes?" Silver glanced at Mercury and raised an eyebrow.
"I've been thinking about how the Transients might have escaped from their prison, in the past."
"Yes, that bothers me too," agreed Silver. "We've all spent the last hours dealing with their appearance and formulating plans to confine them again, but nobody seems to have asked that particular question. How did they escape?"
"Well, it's a teaser," the disgraced agent decided. "If they had the means to break free, why wait until now to use it? They were locked away centuries ago."
"Something has changed, then. Some new power has come to them."
"How? The past contains no such power."
"Then," Silver frowned, making the next logical step. "Then they must have received some external help. That's ... that's how they came by the device. The one I duplicated."
"Right." Mercury held up a finger and emphasised each word. "Someone or something was contacted by them, or sought them out, and made a deal."
"Do you know, I think you must be right!" Silver grasped his colleague by the shoulder anxiously. "You must have realised the potential jeopardy that leaves us in! Not only are we fighting the Transients, but also some other ... force? Thing? Something in league with them!"
"Yes, I've realised that."
"We have to report this. Come on!" Silver turned, attempting to drag his companion back toward the central chamber. When his efforts were resisted, he rounded on the agent. "Don't you see, the authorities may have been too busy to grasp this danger! And the presence of the scryers could tip off our enemies before we have had time to brief Sapphire!"
"And Steel."
"Yes, and Steel. So let's go!"
A sly smile grazed the smooth, child-like face of the agent. "It's all right."
"It is not all right!"
"Shhhh. It's all right, there's no problem."
Silver finally became aware that the behaviour of his companion was strange. He stopped tugging them away and stared into his colleague's eyes.
"You see," came the soothing explanation, "I already know who the accomplice is."
"You do?" asked Silver, already reaching out for a spare dimension to provide an escape back to the central chamber. His attempt was blocked immediately, and he noticed a taint around the powers being evoked as his body was frozen. A calculating nod answered his query, and Silver's expression radiated defeat. "Yes, you do," he acknowledged. It made a terrible kind of sense. Mercury could have combined his technical skills with his knowledge of manipulating the dimensions and given the Transients the device which had freed them from the past and trapped Sapphire and Steel.
He was helpless as Mercury retrieved a small cube from about his person and lifted it to Silver's temple. Before the probe compromised the shell of protection around his mind, Silver's final conscious thought was how he had once again failed the beautiful Sapphire with the shining golden hair and sparkling eyes.
~~~
Sapphire had lost herself to the telepathic transmission she sent. The signal consisted of nothing more than her identifier: a means of telling her colleagues, 'I am here!'
Steel was in a virtual trance. His mental skills were excellent, given that he wasn't empathic, but Sapphire sensed peripherally that she was draining him. She broke off the transmission, concerned that Steel might push himself too far during this first try and be unable to offer further assistance.
Her eyes lost their supernatural glow and she focused on her friend. Gently, she swept her fingers away from his temple and over his forehead, tucking back loose locks of hair. Steel's eyes blinked open, and she watched him remember where they were and what they attempted. He caught her hand before she could reclaim it, brushing his lips over the inside of her wrist. She knew he was offering the only fleeting distraction from their fate that he could, but this small gesture kept despair at bay for a few moments more.
"Anything?" Steel asked.
"No. I couldn't sense anything, though that might not mean nobody heard us."
"I don't understand."
"If they are scrying for our location, they'll be listening for signals but not necessarily sending signals themselves."
"I see. Shall we try again?"
"In a few minutes. Rest for a while."
"But -"
"You're no good to me exhausted!" Sapphire interrupted sharply. Steel's impatience was predictable, but she could not risk draining him so much. "Please," she continued, more calmly. "Just a few minutes. I need to rest, too."
Steel nodded and sank back into the chair. He squirmed uncomfortably in its hard, wooden confines for a moment, before standing, pushing the chair to one side and sitting down on the floor beside Sapphire's bench.
She watched him stretch his legs and drop his head forward. These quiet moments were the worst, she decided. When they had nothing else to occupy their thoughts, it was all too easy to envisage being trapped in this cage for the rest of their lives.
They needed another distraction, while they both recuperated. Sapphire stretched an arm and began to idly massage the bared nape of Steel's neck, rewarded for the caress immediately by his low murmur of pleasure and a casual shuffling which inched him closer to her.
She smiled. For a man of steel, her partner could be very tactile on occasion.
But it wasn't enough. Reminders of their predicament were non-stop.
She had borrowed from the power which drifted on the winds of time, as she had flung their cry for help across space. The connection had been made and she cursed her sensitivity, because this connection was a two-way affair. As she had transmitted, she had also sensed the horror of all that was still to come. There was no hope. Fighting fate was simply a lesson in futility.
Chaos laughed menacingly within her mind. Sapphire suddenly knew, beyond doubt, that she and Steel would die in this room and the Transients would go free; the future would know nothing except corruption and infection.
There was nothing she could do to stop it.
Sapphire was helpless as tears began to trickle down her cheeks. She sensed the future's outraged cries and experienced its agony. The pain was all-consuming.
Her hand slowed on Steel's neck and he glanced round. Sapphire stared at her partner through wide, glistening eyes, and a sob shook her shoulders.
[What is it?] he asked, straight into her mind.
Unable to compose her thoughts, she channelled her precognition through their link, just for a moment. That glimpse of pain was enough for Steel. He immediately shifted his position on the floor to kneel before Sapphire. Grateful for his understanding, she dropped her head to his shoulder and took what comfort she could in his embrace.
~~~
"Sapphire."
The word was spoken without purpose, like an inconsequential nocturnal mutter, but it brought the busy central chamber to a standstill.
It was Diamond who had spoken. He was suddenly the subject of everybody's attention. He sat motionless, cross legged upon the floor beside the projected image of the search area, but his glacial eyes remained intently focused on a location which was no part of the room.
Just when the silence became oppressive, Diamond repeated Sapphire's name, then yanked his head back and gasped.
"Report!" came the curt order from the central alcove.
"I've found her," Diamond acknowledged, returning to his body. "Oh, she is hurting ..." He ran a hand over his shaven head in a gesture of distress and stood, peering more closely at the map and tentatively reaching with his mind again. When he returned to the room this time, he was more confident. "Here!" he snapped, and pointed to the precise location on the image. It was immediately marked.
"Can you arrange a safe port?" asked the leader.
"With some help," he agreed. Jet moved directly to her fellow empath's side.
"Do it!" came the order. As the two agents linked and began their task, the command went out for Silver's immediate attendance.
~~~
The Transients were ready for the next stage. Energy levels were recovered, although the prison still demanded some effort to maintain. But they were dangerous again.
The man prepared to go through alone. He would be in no danger. For a start, the two captives would be comatose until he woke them, and in any case, why would they attack him when he might be offering their only means of escape? Even do-gooders like Sapphire and Steel would not risk losing their only glimpse of freedom!
He ordered his colleagues to prepare the way. The waiting would soon be over and the real fun could begin.
~~~
"Oh, really, must you?"
The sound of any voice but their own within the confines of their prison was startling in the extreme. Sapphire, more composed now, jerked her head up from Steel's shoulder and looked over it towards the doorway. Steel spun around at the same time.
"Silver!" Sapphire gasped. She stood, as though about to greet him, but something held her back. Steel obviously had the same misgivings and remained by her side after clambering to his feet.
"The very same," the dapper agent threw back. He strode towards them, fishing in his pocket. "Now I haven't got much time. They could be back here at any second."
"Well, let's go, then!" Steel demanded.
A cloud of genuine remorse passed over Silver's face. "I can't. You've been used. I've been used. But it's for the best. We have to get the Transient Beings back where they belong, or there will be hell to pay."
"I know," Sapphire stated. "What must we do?"
"Take this," Silver said, handing a small device to Sapphire. It looked like a ball bearing. "I had one, before. It got me home. It'll get you home."
"Both of us?"
"Yes, yes, so long as you're in physical contact. But don't use it too soon! Now I have to update you on the plan but I don't know how long -"
"Come here," Sapphire said, gesturing with her arms. "We'll do it the easy way."
"No!" Silver stepped back. He fumbled for words for a moment, before continuing. "There are some things that I know that you mustn't. You're aware that the Transients will read your minds?"
"Well, they've already done rather more than that!" Steel asserted.
"I'm sorry. But understand, if they find some things out before the right time, then -"
"Sapphire can shield parts of her mind," Steel suggested. "You don't need to tell me."
"I can't!" Silver insisted. "Anything that Sapphire knows becomes intrinsically known to you as well. You're too close. This is wasting time!"
"Then tell us," Sapphire said. "Tell us what we need to know and get back to the Hub."
~~~
The route was almost ready. Within the confines of the past, the Transient Beings could access and use the corridor of time as though born to it, but spatial teleportation had always been more difficult. Mercury's help had allowed them to overcome this weakness, but Mercury wasn't available and the remaining Transients constructed a dimensional path with the slow deliberation of students still learning their craft.
The man strutted impatiently to and fro, examining the work.
Soon.
~~~
"And do we know how the Transients obtained the device?" asked Steel.
Silver looked away, perhaps in frustration at his ignorance. "No. Not yet. But remember that they still have it. If they corner you and doubt your allegiance, then they will not hesitate in using the device as a weapon to destroy you."
"Well, that's simple, then," Steel said with a false bravado. "Join the Transients, convince them that we owe no further allegiance to the authority which we have risked our lives for two centuries to uphold, withstand any mind probes which attempt to prove that we're lying and lull them into a false sense of security so we can retrieve the device, send them back to the past and get back home in time for tea and biscuits."
Silver barked a short, humourless laugh. "Stroll in the park, for you two," he suggested lightly, his expression failing to match his tone. He turned to Sapphire. "There's nothing more I can give you. I have to go." He reached to cup her cheek.
"Then go. We'll see you soon." Sapphire removed Silver's hand gently and watched as he palmed his own ball bearing and activated it.
There was a blurring and an ultrasonic buzz, and then they were alone in the café once again.
~~~
"Now!"
The man stepped forward to the place where dimensions had been folded and twisted. He took one last look at his three associates, who sat calmly to one side, already waiting for his return. As he watched them, they began to fade from his view, until he could no longer discern their shape. The cold, grey walls of the institution faded, too, to be replaced by a colourful poster advertising the healthy advantages of drinking natural milk.
This was a nice touch. He had materialised in the hallway, outside the café; a part of the pocket which would have been denied to the two captives. It gave him the opportunity to check on them before he entered. He stepped up to the door and prepared to open it by just a crack.
~~~
They had returned to the bench. Steel spent a few moments examining the device which Silver had given them.
"Sapphire."
"Yes?"
"There's something I must say."
"I'm listening."
Steel indicated the metal ball. "I'll keep this in my inside pocket. Don't forget where it is. If it looks as though we're to be separated, you must take it."
"Steel -"
"No! I mean it, Sapphire. Don't hesitate to use this thing without me, if circumstances demand it. Remember, if you're free, you stand a much better chance of locating and rescuing me than the other way around. Promise me."
Sapphire lowered her head. "I promise," she whispered.
As Steel dropped the device into his jacket, he saw Sapphire's head spin quickly towards the door. He followed her gaze and a hollow terror gripped him as he realised that they had no more time to prepare. The door shook slightly in its frame. Somebody behind it had pushed it open by a crack. He got to his feet, wanting to face this latest peril upright, and was joined by his partner.
A last minute thought occurred to him and he stepped away from Sapphire, moving to the opposite corner of the café. If Silver was wrong about what the Transients wanted - if they had returned to simply destroy Sapphire and himself - then he did not want to present an easy target. He sensed his partner's momentary loss as he left her side, but shared his reasoning with her silently, and she understood. Planting his feet firmly, he watched the door and waited.
~~~
The man needed to take a few moments to calm his fury, when he saw that the two agents were not only wide awake, but were standing ready for him. How had they avoided triggering the coma?
The only possible explanation was that they had not attempted to access any of the forbidden memories. He nodded to himself. That would be it. They had not questioned their location and had not tried to fill in the gaps of the recent events at the service station. The two agents had simply been waiting.
Well, nothing had changed, then. The plan would proceed as intended.
Composed once again, the Transient pushed open the café door and stepped inside.
~~~~~~~
Continued in Chapter 4
Back to Transients, by Zircon
Back to EvA's Fanfic Page