Time Salvager (Time Salvager #1)(35)

“Not in your time.”

It took a few seconds for those words to sink in. “That’s not…”

James shook his head. “Assume for a second, as we’re floating on a hunk of metal in the middle of a radiated ocean, that I’m not a liar. Because we’re still alive, and unless it’s some kind of voodoo magic I’m summoning from the depths of the abyss, it’s obviously possible.”

“Touchy,” she said, a hint of the Elise from last night returning. “So if your glitter bubble is protecting us from the radiation, what about all those people out there?” She motioned at the dozens of people close by, shouting for help. By now, many of them were probably already succumbing to radiation sickness.

James shook his head. “I can’t do anything for them.”

“Those are people out there!” she said, horrified.

“I can’t help everyone, Elise.”

“They’ll die, Salman! We can’t just sit around and do nothing.”

“My name’s not Salman. It’s James.”

“James,” she said flatly. “James the time-traveling jerk who leaves people to die.”

“That about sums it up. Now, stop squirming. We’re not out of trouble yet.”

“What happened to you not being a liar?”

“I lied.”

He pushed her down to a sitting position and took a seat next to her. He checked his levels: 22 percent. It was dropping too fast. At this rate, the shields would fail before he cleared the tear. He could release the netherstore containment; that would reduce the power usage enough to wait the situation out. But then, he would lose the entire salvage and any hope of leaving ChronoCom.

“How is it looking, Smitt?”

“The tear has almost passed but is still close enough to keep you from jumping. I don’t think it’ll be that much longer. Hang in there.”

James looked out at the sea of destruction. He watched as a young woman pulled herself onto an overturned platform—a piece of a roof, it seemed—and looked over at him. They stared at each other for a few seconds, ten meters of ocean separating them, and then she spasmed, spewed blood, and fell to her knees. James’s stomach churned as she wasted away before his eyes.

“I can’t stand to watch,” Elise moaned, burying her head in his shoulder. “What are we doing here? We have to do something!”

“We are,” said James. “We’re waiting.”

“For them to die?”

James’s eyes wandered from the woman, who had now collapsed, to the group of six wailing people hanging on to a beam in the water, to a man who swam into the burning fire to end the pain. Death was putting on a fine show today and James had a front row seat. He had seen thousands of deaths in his lifetime, but these were by far the worst. He looked at Elise. His most egregious sins were yet to come. When he jumped, her lingering death would start as well.

He should be merciful and kill her right now. It wouldn’t take much. A quick squeeze of his exo-powered arm would crush the life out of her in seconds. It would be more humane than exposing her to this radiation. If he cared for her at all, he would kill her right now.

The young Nazi soldier appeared, standing on a piece of burning wreckage off to the side. The boy waved. James tore his gaze away and looked again at Elise. His stomach twisted into knots.

Elise looked at him, alarmed. “Are you all right? I thought you said your shield would protect us.” She gently cupped his cheeks with her hands and studied his face. “Okay, I need to know. Are you responsible for all this? Did you cause this explosion?”

He shook his head. “I had nothing to do with this. I swear.”

She studied him for a few seconds and then finally nodded. “I’m not sure I believe you, James the time-traveling liar, but you saved my life. I owe you one. If we get out of this alive, I’ll show you around 2097.”

That forced a grin out of him. “I would like that.”

She still didn’t believe who he was, but, except for Grace Priestly, no one ever did. In nine months, World War III would consume the planet, marking the end of the Final Golden Age and killing a quarter of the world’s population. Following the war, a worldwide famine would ravage civilization for another thirty years. Then the outbreak of the AI Wars in 2170 would kill another quarter of the population. No, death now would be a blessing. At least, he kept telling himself that.

The Nazi soldier, suddenly standing next to him, murmured in his ear, “You only think that.”

James checked his power: 15 percent. Maybe he was losing that option after all, but he wasn’t returning to the present without the damn salvage. Might as well just die here. He knew in his heart he couldn’t survive another five years. He’d rather fly into Jupiter than endure any more of this. So either he came home with the goods or he died here with Elise. He could think of hundreds of worse ways to leave this life.

“What’s the future like?” she asked, leaning against him.

“Are you making fun of me or do you actually believe me?” he asked.

“Little of both,” she said. “Anything to keep my mind off what’s happening to all the poor people out there. What year are you from, James the time-traveling liar?”

“Twenty-five eleven.”