2199 Extinction

I take off in the direction of Malum and my mother, weaving in and out of the crowd. By the time I get to where they were, they are gone, swallowed up by the crowd. I whip my head side to side, trying to catch sight of them again, but no luck.

“Aaaaaahhhhhh!” I shout in frustration. Those closest to me, turn and look, before hurrying away.

“What’s the matter, Astra?” Amlican asks, coming up behind me.

“I just missed them. Malum and my mother. They were just here. I have got to find a way to get him away from her, and I’ve got to do it fast! I’m running out of time.” What to do? Where can they possibly have gone?

“What do you mean, you are running out of time? You can get rid of him at any point, can’t you?” Amancia asks, from beside Amlican.

“No, I can’t! It must be before they reach Talfar! Once there, the Royal Guard will protect him, and I’ll never be able to take care of business!” I snap, continuing to search the crowd for any signs of them.

“They haven’t left the station, yet. So, calm down.” Amancia says.

“I’m sorry. It’s just I’ve tried twice, already, to stop him, and both times were utter failures.” I say, turning to face both of them.

“What do you mean, you’ve tried twice? We never time traveled other than to get here.” Amlican says, drawing a few stares from nearby people.

“Let’s move the party, this way,” Amancia says, heading for a nearby restaurant.

I don’t answer him, I just follow behind Amancia. I’ve already let too much slip. If I answer his questions, he’ll want to know how I failed. And I never intended on him knowing. I’m too ashamed that I failed twice to keep the man I love, alive. Of course, he already wants to know how I failed. Amancia slides into a booth, and I slide in, across from her, Amlican sits down, next to me. I continue to be silent and Amlican continues to stare.

“Astra?” Amlican asks reaching out and gently taking hold of my chin. He turns my head towards him. “What do you mean you’ve tried twice and failed? What happened? Why didn’t you take me with you?”

“Because I failed not only to stop Malum, but I failed to keep you alive. You got killed both times. That’s why I had to go back and try again. I mean, technically, the first time wasn’t even to get rid of Malum. It was my stupid curiosity.” I confess, barely above a whisper.

Amlican presses his lips to mine and kisses me deeply. When he pulls away, he looks me in the eyes and says, “Don’t worry about me, if I get killed again, just keep going. As long as you stop Malum, that’s all that matters to me.”

“I care about you. I can’t just let you die!” I say, tears forming in my eyes. “I love you.” My head starts to feel funny, and nausea suddenly hits me like I was punched in the stomach. I take a couple of deep breaths, to calm myself down.

“I love you, too,” he says, kissing me again. He pulls away and asks, “But don’t you remember what Vos said?”

“About what?” I ask, wiping the tears from my eyes with the back of my hand.

“Who is Vos?” Amancia interrupts.

“An older Copaie female, we met before we got here. She’s the one who gave us the time travel jacket.” I explain, never taking my eyes off Amlican’s face. “She’s the one who told us to come back to this point to stop Malum.”

“Sounds like I owe her a debt of gratitude,” Amancia says. “She’s the reason I got to see how my daughter turned out.”

Amlican ignores her and continues, “Don’t you remember what she said? She said that time travel will cost you something, very important. If my life is the price you pay for the chance to change history, then I gladly give it.”

“No!” I shout, drawing a few stares from nearby tables. My stomach starts to churn, again, and I have to excuse myself. I make a beeline for the bathroom, in the back. I lock myself in a stall and throw up several times. The automatic toilet flushes after each time. My emotions are running so high, I’ve made myself sick. After I’m sure my stomach is settled enough, I unlock the door and walk to the sink.

I wash my hands, splash water onto my face, form a cup with my hands, and then gargle, spitting the water into the sink. I reach for a nearby paper towel and dab my face dry. I look into the mirror, over the sink, and notice that my yellow skin is paler than usual. Maybe if I eat something, I’ll feel better. I make my way back to the table and wait for Amlican to get up so I can sit down.

“Are you, okay?” Amlican asks, a worried look in his eyes.

“I’m just hungry,” I say, picking up a menu that was delivered while I was in the bathroom. Three glasses of orange liquid, like the stuff we had our first day here, sit on the table. I eye it suspiciously, remembering the blackout that followed. It might have been six weeks ago, but I’m not sure I want to drink it, ever again.

“I thought you liked those. But don’t worry, I didn’t put anything in it, this time. I promise.” Amancia says.

I look up at her and see her holding her hands up in the air. She puts them back down and I eyeball the drink, again. “Are they fermented?” I ask.

“No,” Amancia answers.

“Good. I don’t ever want to lose control of myself, again.” My thirst wins out and I pick up the drink and gulp it down. Once the cup is empty, I put it back down and flip through the menu. What do I want to eat? I end up deciding on some sort of roasted bird with vegetables on the side. When the waitress arrives, we place our orders and wait.

“So, what’s our plan of attack? I’m sure Malum is here, somewhere. He just got here; I doubt he left that quickly. Besides, he mentioned to daddy that he wanted to take care of the thug, Mangone. As far as I know, that hasn’t happened, yet. Maybe we should revisit the idea of talking to Mangone. Just because the clothing shop was closed, doesn’t mean we can’t talk to him, as we are.” Amancia says, not even giving us a chance to answer, before moving on.

“Definitely might be worth it. If we can manipulate him into killing Malum, then our problems are solved.” Amlican adds.

A shudder of fear and disgust runs through me at the idea of talking to him, again. “No. No way. Not happening, again.” I quickly explain what happened in the last timeline, leaving nothing out.

“Oh. Never mind, then.” Amancia says. “We will have to figure something else, out.”

The waitress arrives with our food, and we eat in silence. The food is good, not as good as some of the other restaurants, here, but good enough. Once gone, we just sit a while staring at each other. Each of us is lost in our thoughts. Amlican turns to look at me.

“Do you feel better now that you’ve eaten?” I open my mouth to answer, just as a couple of Salmazin pass by our table, excitedly chatting. I close my mouth. Saved by the Salmazin. Because the truth is, No. I don’t feel better. My stomach still feels as if it’s a boat tossed around on rough waters. I can catch a few bits of the Salmazins’ conversation.

“Did you hear about Mangone?” one asks.

“No, what about him?” the other asks.

“He’s dead. They found him not too long ago, a large Raptor plunged deep into his stomach.” the first says.

“Well, I’m not surprised. He’s made all sorts of enemies. Like....”

That’s all that I hear before they get out of earshot. “Move,” I say scooting towards Amlican and pushing him. He slides out of the booth and stands up, offering me a hand. I accept his offer of help and stand to my feet. For a moment, I’m sure I’m going to be sick, again, but I take a few deep breaths and my stomach calms back down.

“Mangone is dead. That means we don’t have much time, left. We need to hurry.”

“That voice we heard, earlier. The one that was drawing the crowd, was daddy. He’s looking for the princess as well. Maybe if he finds her, first, we will be able to buy enough time to take care of Malum.” Amancia says, getting up and walking away.

“Good idea, where is your dad? The General?” I ask, getting up and walking beside her. Amlican walks on the other side of me.

“Well, let’s see. If he’s looking for the Talfarian princess, then he’s going to do a floor-by-floor search. Once the floor has been searched, a Copaie guard will be placed to guard every elevator, just in case, she tries to escape.

So, all we should have to do is stop on every floor and look for the guards. Once we find a floor without a guard, we will find my father. He isn’t going to stand by and let something this important happen, without participating.” Amancia explains.

We make it to the elevators and see a single Copaie guarding the doors. “The elevators are off-limits. No entrance until our search is completed.” He says, folding his arms across his chest. He’s standing directly in front of the doors, so there’s no hope of going around him.

“We want to join the search,” I say. I notice the guard is missing half of his nose. He was one of the guys playing cards with Mangone! The one that wanted to buy me for himself, in the other timeline. I could just punch him in his disgusting face!

“No! We don’t need help. Especially not from a couple of females and a Talfarian.” the guard says, shaking his head.

“I’ll make sure to let daddy know that you turned down help. I’m sure he will reward you for that.” Amancia says, placing her hands on her hips.

Recognition fills his eyes as he mumbles, “Amancia? Fine. What do I care? Help yourself. But not him.” He holds out his hand, stopping Amlican.

“Why not?” she asks.

“Because we don’t need no help from no stinking Talfarian.”

“He’s with me. If you don’t like it, take it up with daddy.” Amancia says, pushing his hand out of the way. She mashes the elevator call button.

We quickly climb aboard the awaiting elevator and hit the button for the fifth floor. The doors close behind us and I swear I hear him say something about, Females, as the doors slide shut.

We ride in silence. The elevator dings and the doors slide open to a residential section, with a Copaie guard facing away from us. The guard turns around as Amancia pushes the hold button.

“What do you want?” he asks, in a deep voice. Amancia cuts straight to the chase. “I’m looking for my father. Is he on this floor?”

“The General? No. He’s somewhere way above us.” the guard answers.

“Back to work, then,” Amancia says in her best authoritative voice.

“Hmph.” the guard grunts before turning back around.

The doors slide shut, and we try again. Every five floors we stop but we receive the same answer. Until we reach floor forty. The guard on that floor tells us to check the floor above us. Amancia punches the button for floor forty-three and the doors slide shut.

“Let’s check forty-three. If she’s there, maybe we can stop her before Malum sneaks her out.” Amancia says.

“Ugh!” I growl in frustration. “I hope she is there. I’m tired of this stupid elevator.”

Amancia gives me a funny look and starts to say something but is interrupted by the ding of the elevator. The doors slide open to reveal another shopping area, identical to the one on the first floor. There is no one guarding the elevator, here. Everything seems normal, business as usual. We pass a few shops and quickly look around, but we don’t see anything.

“Let’s split up,” I suggest. “We stand a better chance of finding them if we do. Amlican, you check the restaurants, because I honestly can’t handle all the different food smells right now. Amancia, you check the bars, because if you get into trouble, you can always pull rank.

The daddy card seems to work nicely. And I’ll check the clothing stores. Just remember, don’t directly engage Malum. He’s dangerous and can talk himself out of anything. And when talking doesn’t work, he will turn violent.”

“Here, use these if you find something,” Amancia says, pulling a plastic bag out of her pocket. She opens the bag, dumps three tiny round dots into one hand, and with the other hand, she presses all three at one time. There is a faint beeping sound, and a light blue glow comes from all three of them, at the same time.

“What are these?” I ask, examining the small dot in the palm of my hand.

“Copaie Communication Devices, or CCD for short. Just place it, behind your ear, and press down for five seconds. You will hear a low beep and then we will be connected.” Amancia explains. “Don’t the Talfarians have something similar?”

“No. No, we don’t.” I say. Amancia laughs and then says, “I thought the Talfarians were supposed to be the smart ones.”

“How do we talk to each other?” Amlican asks, pressing his behind his ear. “Just like you are, now. The CCD will pick up your voice and transmit it to our CCD,” she says, pressing her own, behind her ear.

“Won’t the other Copaie be using these as well? Won’t they hear our conversation?” I ask, examining the tiny dot.

“No,” she says. “I paired them together. You have to have them all touching and press them at the same time to pair them.”

“Oh,” I say, pressing my own behind my ear. I hear a quiet beeping sound. “Alright, let’s go.”

“Hey! Not so loud!” Amlican says, his voice echoing in my ear after a three-second delay.

“They work best if we aren’t so close together,” Amancia says. Her voice echoes in my ear as well.

We go our separate ways, the hunt for mother and Malum is on. Where could they be? Hiding in a clothing shop? Buying new clothes? I need to get to them before they leave the city. I can’t just let Malum take her away. I won’t let him win!