Time Salvager (Time Salvager #1)(128)

He nodded.

“Good. Hate wasting my time.” Grace pointed at the floating Elise. “Now put her down.”

When Levin still didn’t move or release Elise from his exo, she jabbed his chest with as much strength as a ninety-three-old woman had. She must have been quite strong, because he stumbled backward and fell onto his butt. “You can’t be here,” he mumbled, stunned. He shot James a furious scowl. “You sacrilegious shit. You brought back the Mother of Time.”

“Don’t talk about me when I’m in the room,” she snapped. “Listen, boy, we’ve been doing this all wrong. It’s time to make a change.”

“You can’t be here,” he mumbled. “The past is already…”

“Stop saying that.” Grace pointed at James. “That lug over there’s been trying to convince me of that for weeks.”

Levin looked confused. “I’ve spent my life following the Time Laws. The chronostream has been kept whole. The Time Laws forbid—”

Grace threw her hands in the air. “Those space-forsaken Time Laws. What a mistake it was for me to make that shit up. How was I supposed to know there’d be a goddamn religion built around me? Obviously, I’m a lot more brilliant than I give myself credit for,” she mused. She softened a bit and put a hand on his shoulder. “What’s your name?”

“Levin Javier-Oberon, Mother of Time.”

“Call me Grace. That title is so clunky. Tell me, Levin, do you know why I invented time traveling?”

“To save humanity.”

“Yes, but it’s not working, is it? Do you know why?”

Levin shook his head.

“I was shortsighted, using the Technology Isolationists’ situation as a template. My entire faction was always resource starved, so I created the agency to fill that need. I was wrong. That’s not what humanity really needs.”

“I don’t understand,” said Levin.

“We keep trying to stem the bleeding, plugging holes and patching the cracks. No matter what we’ve tried, things got worse. Every successive generation only looked at what was in front of their nose without seeing the big picture. The Technology Isolationists were guilty of this then, as is ChronoCom now. We’ve never examined the root of our problems. One day, and that day seems to be approaching, no amount of mending will work. Humanity will be beyond repair and our fire will burn out.”

Levin bowed his head. “All we can do is fight against the inevitable.”

“Perhaps, or perhaps it’s time we fix what’s broken.” Grace pulled him to his feet and led him by the hand toward Elise’s lab. “Come, I know just the place to start. Help me pick up these papers, dear. They’re quite important. Now, have you ever heard of this old Earth saying about teaching a man to fish?”





FORTY-EIGHT

AFTERMATH

James stood at the edge of the building overlooking the other six Farming Towers. He pointed down at the ground where the fighting had continued well into the night. “Stop the massacre.” He looked up at Levin. “Only you can do it.”

Levin closed his eyes and spoke in a clear voice. “This is High Auditor Levin Javier-Oberon, steward of Earth. All forces pull out immediately. Release all prisoners. We’re going home.”

The sound of fighting immediately ceased, and James could see groups of monitors stopping their advance and beginning to emerge from the towers and underground tunnels.

“Thank you, Levin. You’re doing the right thing,” James said.

“Being civil again? It suits you, James. You should try it more often.” Levin stepped off the building and floated in midair. He turned around to face James, Elise, and Grace. “Need a ride down?”

A few minutes later, the small group, now on the ground, watched as teams of monitors, many of them looking worse for the wear, most injured to one degree or another, stepped onto the waiting collies. Several of them had to be floated out on stretchers.

The so-called savages had bloodied ChronoCom’s nose and given as good as they got. James swelled with pride as he watched his former colleagues retreat. The overmatched Elfreth had accounted for themselves admirably against a vastly superior force.

Several of the monitors glared at him as they walked by. He heard mutterings of “traitor” and threats of retribution, but James didn’t care. These weren’t his people anymore. In truth, they never really were. Joining ChronoCom had always been a matter of survival, a way to escape Mnemosyne Station. Now, he was escaping ChronoCom by joining the Elfreth. He looked over at Elise. The difference this time around was that he wanted to be with the Elfreth and that there was something here he believed in. Maybe it was the same way with her.

“Quit looking at me like that,” she said, slipping a hand into his. “You’re making me nervous.”

The three of them watched until a lone collie hovered in the air, waiting for its last passenger. “There’s one more thing you should know,” Levin said. “Handler Smitt was discovered hacking into the chron database and stealing miasma pills. I assume they were for you?”

James nodded. “When will he go to trial? Is there anything you can do for him?”

Levin paused, regret hanging across his face. “The Valta operative Kuo got her hands on him. I failed him. I’m sorry. Smitt was mining information on your Nutris job. There was classified Valta Corp data on it. Look to Iapetus; Smitt died for that information. I pray what’s there is worth his sacrifice.”