Chapter 7 - Light In The Dark Places
Jack walked up to Jedediah. The older man was preparing his horse for the day's work.
"Morning, Jack," he said with a bright smile. "I was thinking we'd try and cross into Kansas today."
"Good plan," Jack said in a soft voice.
Jedediah turned with a frown on his face. "You alright?"
Jack took a deep breath and handed the older man a large envelope. "Jed, I want you to have this, in case I don't come back."
"Come back? From where?"
"I need to ride after Hank and Mei-Wan."
"What is this?" he asked as he opened the item.
"It's my last will and testament, my bank book, and the deed to the ranch." Jack watched the old eyes fill with worry.
"You are coming back, aren't you?"
"After everything that's been going on, I don't want to leave you and the men in a bad place."
Jedediah looked over the documents. "You got Bill Peterson to draw these up before we left. You've been planning this, haven't you?"
"I went to see him after that business with the bank robbery. I figured the Prange's might try to do away with me." Jack put his hand on the shoulder of the man he had grown so very close to for almost five years. "I don't want some no account to get the ranch, Jedediah. I know I can trust you to do right by the men and by me."
The range boss nodded. "I'll do whatever you ask, you know that. But I don't want your ranch or your money."
"You don't have a choice." Jack smiled. "In case things go wrong, I want to be able to have some peace in my dying moments. Is that too much to ask?"
"It'll be waiting for you when you get back."
"Good. You and the men get the herd to Wichita. Hopefully, I'll meet up with you there. If not, you manage things for me until I get back."
Jedediah watched his friend leave for what he was afraid was the last time.
***
"We're lost."
Hank Evans frowned. He pulled out a map as he tried to steady his horse. "It's not like we could tell where we were going for the first three hours of this trip. Someone insisted we leave before sunrise, remember?"
Mei-Wan took a drink from her canteen. "We can't afford to waste any time."
"We won't do anything but waste time if we don't know where we're going!"
Mei-Wan tried to get her bearings by looking for any kind of landmark.
"You do know that our guns aren't likely to have much effect on a G'voda."
Mei-Wan pulled the reins on her horse to maneuver back around to Hank. "I know that."
"Then do you have a plan once we find this ship?"
"I hope I will by then," she said.
Hank shook his head. "That's assuming we ever find our way to it."
"You certainly won't get there going this way," a familiar voice called out to them.
They turned as Jack's horse came around several nearby trees.
Mei-Wan smiled. "What are you doing here?"
"I figured you two'd just end up getting lost," he said with a grin. "I thought I'd at least help you find your way."
"We were doing just fine," Hank said.
Both Jack and Mei-Wan frowned at him.
"Okay," Hank corrected. "So we weren't."
***
"We can't stop now!"
Jack shook his head as he got the campfire going. "Those aren't fusion powered shuttle craft over there, Mei. They're horses. We push them much harder and they'll fall dead in their tracks."
"But we're less than five miles away!"
"All the more reason to stop for the night." The fire grew as he added more wood to it. "I'd like to be able to see what it is we're walking into before we get there."
"I do have a tricorder."
"Didn't you tell me it wasn't a good idea to use that or the communicators," Hank said as he opened his bedroll.
"I can adjust the tricorder for a short range scan."
"And give an enemy we can't see a target to lock his weapons onto," Jack said as he started a pot of coffee. "No, Mei."
Mei-Wan crossed her arms across her chest. "Excuse me, but who put you in charge... cowboy?"
"Last I checked, I was still your commanding officer... Lieutenant."
Mei-Wan rolled her eyes. "Aye, sir." She picked up her bag and walked away.
"Uh, exactly where do you think you're going?"
A wry grin came to her face. "With the captain's permission, I'd like to go behind a bush and relieve myself."
"Very funny," he said with a frown.
Hank watched her disappear into the darkness surrounding their small camp. "She's not in a good mood."
"She'll get over it." Jack opened a leather satchel and pulled out several items wrapped in thick brown paper. "Especially after she sees what I'm cooking us for supper." He opened the paper and showed it to Hank.
"Smoked beef tenderloin?" Hank asked with a smile.
"I am a cattle rancher after all."
Hank rested on his bedroll watching Jack prepare their meal.
"Now isn't this touching?" an electronic voice asked out of the darkness.
Hank and Jack spun around and saw two glowing red spots come out of the dark forest around them. Finally, as it neared their fire, a figure in the shape of a man stopped and stared at them, its metal skin reflecting the dancing flames of their campfire.
"I know that voice," Jack said, his gun aimed at the G'voda.
"Duncan Zachary at your service, Captain!" the figure said. "Put the weapon away, McCall." He pulled out one of his own. "Yours can't hope to harm me, but this will very easily kill you."
Jack dropped his gun as did Hank.
"And Evans is here as well. How nice. I suppose you two idiots were on Folam trying to stop us."
"Something like that," Jack replied, standing to his feet.
Zachary's glowing eyes looked Jack over. "Nice outfit, McCall. A bit out of style, but it fits you. I've always thought you were more barbarian than anything else."
"You're one to talk," Hank said. "How many people's deaths are you responsible for?"
He let out an electronic laugh. "You're going to lecture me on morality? How entertaining!" He stepped closer to them. "The G'voda have extensive files on you Evans. I know all about your activities in the Kel-j'na Region."
Jack tried to glance the direction Mei-Wan had gone without letting on to Zachary that she was there. Jack hoped she had enough sense to stay away.
"So are you just going to berate us or you plan on getting around to killing us?" Jack asked.
"First, some information," the machine said. "What planet is this?"
"You don't know?" Hank asked with a chuckle. "Your masters forget to pack you a map before they sent you out to play?"
"Most of the instrumentation on my ship was damaged when it crashed. My own internal sensors detected movement toward my position several hours ago. I thought I'd come and see who it was." He pointed his weapon at Hank. "Now, what planet is this?"
Hank sneered at him. "Go to hell."
Mei-Wan stood at the edge of the clearing listening to the conversation between Jack, Hank, and Zachary. She'd been fortunate so far he hadn't detected her, but she doubted that would last much longer. She had to think of some way to not only stop him from harming Jack and Hank, but to get to his ship before he did.
That's stupid, she told herself. He's a machine. I could never outrun him, even on horseback.
She felt helpless to do anything. To think they'd saved Jack only to find themselves at the end of a gun held by Duncan Zachary.
Her mind stopped.
She did have one thing she could use, but it would be risky. She couldn't be certain how the machine would react.
"So why not just take off in your little ship and find out, Zachary?" Jack asked, engaging him in a pointless argument to buy time. "You should be able to figure it out from orbit."
"I told you, my ship is damaged. I have to repair it before I can leave this place." Zachary turned to the sound of someone approaching. "No! It's not possible."
"Damn it," Jack said under his breath as Mei-Wan walked over to him.
"It is me, Duncan," she said.
"I saw your mind transferred into one of our bodies!" Zachary said. "You can't be back in your original body."
"The G'voda have a secret they've kept even from themselves, Duncan. They don't transfer minds; they only copy them. You aren't the original Duncan Zachary. He's dead."
"No," the machine said, arrogantly refusing to accept reality. "It's not possible. They would have known!"
"Perhaps they didn't want to know," Mei-Wan told him, pressing on.
"You're lying!"
"I'm here aren't I?"
He stood in silence, his electronic brain trying to avoid the truth his eyes presented.
"We're on Earth, Duncan. Earth of the year 1874."
"Mei!" Jack shouted.
"He deserves the truth, Jack. All of the truth." She took several steps toward the G'voda. "You must help us, Duncan."
"Help you?" he asked with far less emotion than he had wanted. His mind was too busy trying to work through the questions he had. "I'm here on a mission."
"To destroy the Earth?" she asked.
"No. I can't tell you what it is," he said, recovering some of his composure. "But it might be a good idea if I did destroy Earth."
"You won't do that."
"Why not?"
"You'll destroy Cindy."
"She's already dead!" Zachary shouted. His anger boiled at the mention of his daughter.
But Mei-Wan ignored the outburst, taking several more steps toward him. "I'm not lying to you, Duncan. Cindy is alive."
His glowing red eyes focused on her. "But…" He observed the smallest details of her body. Her respiration pattern, her skin tone, even her heart rate was available to him as watching a bird fly past would have been to a human.
"When Jack was sent back the timeline changed," Mei-Wan said. "Cindy was alive and you and I were friends."
"Cindy?"
"She's such a beautiful girl and so very curious," Mei-Wan told him with a bright smile. "You had me take her down to the world Dalvanax Two in the new timeline. She and I spent the day together." She looked directly into the glowing orbs he used for eyes. "And she loves her father so very much."
"You're telling the truth," Zachary said, his contemptuous attitude gone. "But if I'm just a copy of my real self…"
"You can help us stop the G'voda. If they attack the Federation, Cindy will eventually be at risk." Mei-Wan knew she had little chance to keep this machine from its programming, but she just needed some time to figure out another course of action. "Help us keep your daughter safe. Give her the chance at life that she never had in the timeline we come from."
Zachary turned away from her. "My little girl…"
"If you come back with us to the twenty-fourth century you can help us prevent the G'voda from killing so many." Mei-Wan was afraid she was losing him. "You can come and see your little girl again."
"But I'm just a copy. You said so yourself."
"I've got to believe there is some part of the real Duncan Zachary in that shell--- the man who loved his child, before he became twisted into something dark and horrible by that girl's death."
Zachary turned to face Mei-Wan. "What do you want me to do?"
Mei-Wan fought off the urge to feel a sense of relief. She knew they were far from out of danger. "Your ship, can it be made operational again?"
"Yes, but it requires a number of repairs."
"Okay, then we repair your ship and then we'll go to a planet where a time portal exists."
"Where is it?" the machine asked.
"I've given you a lot so far, Duncan, but I can't give you that until I know I can trust you."
He thought a moment. "I guess I've not given you a lot of reason to trust me in the past. But understand, I will do anything to insure that my Cindy remains safe."
Mei-Wan nodded. "Then let's go."
Zachary raised a hand. "Only you."
"Now just a damn minute," Jack started.
Zachary pointed his weapon at his former captain. "You two will remain here. Lieutenant McCall will assist me with repairs to my ship and then we will come and pick the two of you up."
"Why?" Hank asked. "Why can't we all go now?"
"I can't repair my ship and keep a constant eye on the three of you at the same time," Zachary said. "While I believe what Mei-Wan has told me, I still don't trust any of you. It's this or I kill you all where you stand."
Mei-Wan turned to Jack. "I'll be alright. I can't believe he'd do anything to put his daughter at risk."
Jack gave a reluctant nod. "You be careful, Mei."
Zachary looked at Jack. "We should be finished in sixteen hours. Stay here."
Jack looked at Hank. "I guess we have little choice."
***
The bright light of the morning sun made it difficult for Jack or Hank to look at anything without squinting.
"I thought he told us to stay put," Hank said as he tugged on the reins to his horse, enticing the animal up the side of the mountain.
"You think I'm going to trust that damn machine to not harm Mei?" Jack asked as he reined his horse to the left. "He's a G'voda machine. No matter what Duncan Zachary might want, that thing can't change its orders."
"I doubt he's been ordered to kill Mei. No one could have known she'd be here."
"If you want to stay behind, go ahead, but I'm heading up there."
Hank gave a grumpy sigh. "Between you and that wife of yours I'll never see retirement."
***
Mei-Wan touched the narrow probe in her hand to the panels of glowing fluid which acted as circuitry aboard the G'voda vessel. "This is organic?" she asked.
"Yes," Zachary said from his position at the pilot's station. "Something the G'voda came up with before our sun existed."
"Amazing," Mei-Wan whispered.
Zachary swiveled his chair about and watched her for nearly a minute. Something about her touched a memory. It was a memory he had hoped to lose when he'd become a machine, but because of the inherent nature of his form, that memory was unavoidable. It played through his mind at the speed of light.
He saw the weapon brought to his dear child's head. He heard her cries, "Help me daddy! Please!" He felt his heart race, and then worst of all, after the flash of light, the smell. The horrid smell of his daughter's charred flesh. That final abomination had nearly driven him insane.
And because of the speed and precision of his G'voda mind, he relived that experience millions of times each day. His life had become the very hell he'd hoped to escape.
Now, on the planet of his birth, it all seemed so foolish. He had lost her and now he had lost everything else, perhaps his very existence if the woman working with him could be believed.
He did believe her. They'd told him she'd been transferred just as he had, yet here she was.
Mei-Wan stopped working a moment and looked over at him. "I'd love to get a chance to find out how all this works," she said.
There was something in her eyes that haunted him. He'd seen it before. Now he knew why he'd always hated her. His mechanized brain searched through all the aspects of his personality. It made perfect sense.
"Tell me," he began. "What was Cindy like in this new timeline? What did she want to do with her life?"
Mei-Wan thought a moment and smiled. "I hope you don't think I'm making this up, but she wanted to be an archaeologist."
Zachary's red eyes brightened a moment. "Because of you?"
"She and I were very close."
"That makes sense," Zachary said, standing from his seat. "You remind me so much of her, especially your inquisitive nature." He walked past her and pulled at a panel. It wouldn't open, so he set down the weapon he carried to get a better grip on the reluctant piece of equipment. Finally it came loose and Zachary carried it with him back to his seat. "I think that's what I've always resented about you."
Mei-Wan gave him a curious look. "Because I was like Cindy?"
"Because you were alive and she was dead."
Mei-Wan returned to the circuitry she'd been working on. But after nearly a minute she froze. She turned her gaze toward the panel Zachary had removed.
It's still there, she thought. He left it!
Her gaze fell on his weapon. It was only three feet away.
Zachary turned in his seat to face forward as he worked on the unit he had removed.
She set the probe down without making a sound. She could feel her heart race inside her chest. His machine reflexes were so much fast than hers. It would take him only a fraction of a second to leap back and grab her. But this chance might never come again. She had no choice but to take the risk.
Mei-Wan moved as silently as she could over to the ledge where the weapon lay. She started to reach out her hand and saw it trembling. She couldn't fail!
Her hand wrapped around the grip of the weapon. Only a second more and it would be firmly in her hand.
"Pick it up, Mei-Wan."
Her heart skipped a beat. No, he'd seen her.
But her mind forced itself through the nervous fog. What did he say?
"Pick it up," he repeated.
She didn't hesitate this time. "You wanted me to find it?"
"As soon as the ship is repaired, I will be forced to follow my programming," he said, still working on the unit in front of him. "This is the only time I am free to make a choice. This is the only act I can imagine which will free you from the instructions I've been given and in turn, free me from them."
Mei-Wan pointed the weapon at the back of his metal skull. She took several deep breaths.
"Was she happy?"
A single tear fell from Mei-Wan's eye. "Yes, she was so very happy."
"I'm glad," he said, still working as if nothing out of the ordinary was about to happen. "Will she still be alive when you get back?"
"I… I honestly don't know."
"I can at least hope." He lifted his head and looked out the forward viewport. "Please, don't ever forget my Cindy. Promise me, Mei-Wan."
"I promise," Mei-Wan said through tears she didn't understand, but couldn't stop.
"Do this thing before my programming takes over." He lowered his head again. "And thank you for letting me see her again through your eyes."
"Forgive me," Mei-Wan whispered.
A tenth of a second before Mei-Wan's finger pulled the trigger of the weapon, the G'voda machine's glowing eyes changed from red to blue.
A fraction of a second later, an energy blast shattered the machine's head.
Mei-Wan raised her arms to shield herself from the flying bits of hot metal scattering through the ship's interior.
She tried to tell herself she'd done the right thing, tried to justify it, but all she could think of was Cindy Zachary's father and how devastated that wonderful girl would be to learn what her best friend, Mei-Wan had just done.
An alarm klaxon shattered her thoughts. She looked at the various displays inside the ship, but couldn't understand any of them. But one caught her attention. It showed a circle being erased in a very orderly pattern. A pattern that reminded Mei-Wan of a clock counting down.
"Oh, no."
***
Jack and Hank tied their horses to a couple of trees. They were near enough to see Zachary's ship, now only about one hundred yards away.
"Now what?" Hank asked.
"I'm thinking," Jack said. "If I only had a phaser."
A blast wave caught them both and threw them back more than thirty feet.
