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| Generated by Canva text-to-image AI software |
Of all the least stable regions in the world, one particular small so-called
nation located in Central Africa may be the worst. On the borders of Niger,
Nigeria, Cameroon, and Chad lies a terrorist-controlled area that was once
split between those four original nations. The historical events that led to
this secession are too complicated to spell out in a few paragraphs, but the
bottom line is that the terrorists operating there were building out their
offensive strategies, and worsening a war that they would ultimately lose,
but not before thousands—if not millions—died in the ensuing conflict. The
only way the four countries saw to end the bloodshed was to simply let them
take formal control over the land and lakes. Their only significant
condition was that the terrorists allow anyone living within the new borders
to migrate out if they wished.
People fled in all directions, and were accepted as refugees or preexisting
citizens in the four countries. They were also accepted in a few farther
countries, like Libya, and even Egypt. Hostilities from Fadi have not ceased
since the borders were redrawn, but the violence has subsided, and fewer
civilians are caught in the crossfire than before. One issue is that only
these four countries acknowledge Fadi as an independent state, stifling its
voice and influence on the international stage. They also experience extreme
sanctions, which limits the resources that they can import. For this reason,
they will take payment from anyone for literally any reason. As long as the
price is right, they’re willing to agree to any deal. They’ll commit acts of
violence against their own people if the result is the persistence of the
state as a whole. One resource they have to export are fossil fuels, which
some aircraft can use to fly. They don’t require filing flight plans, so
many criminals use it as a layover. Fadi will usually ask them to transport
goods back and forth for them as part of the deal.
It was hard for SD6 to find the plane that left Dublin Island after it made
a stop in the completely inaccessible Fadi, but they think they’ve done it.
A plane matching its characteristics was tracked leaving the area, and
landing in North Sudan, right on the border with Egypt. Once there, Kivi
began to feel a draw even farther northward, suggesting that they are
finally on a hot trail to Leona. They still don’t know who took her, why, or
what condition she’s in, but she has to be alive, or Kivi wouldn’t be
feeling anything. As they drew nearer to Cairo, Kivi realized where they
must be headed, and it makes a lot of sense. She and the team were in Egypt
once after the whole Birket issue, but were unable to stay and investigate
one of the most important locations in the world when it comes to temporal
anomalies. From what she recalls, they were going to go back at some point
to check out the pyramid, but there were political issues with that, so they
placed it on the backburner. Then when they became teleportation-capable,
they had sort of forgotten about it. There were other things to worry about
by that point.
“There’s someone here,” she says, holding up the portable temporal error
detector.”
“Here where?” Alserda asks. She looks around at the crowd enjoying their
tours.
“Inside,” Kivi says, nodding towards the pyramid.
“You can’t go inside,” their tactician, Hartwin points out.
“No,” Kivi says. “You’re not allowed to go inside. That doesn’t mean you
can’t. Team Matic doesn’t do well with rules.”
“Can you...” They’re in mixed company, so he just mouths the word teleport.
“No.”
“Then when we use the word you, we’re not just talking in generalizations,
are we? SD6 has no official jurisdiction on these lands.”
“Perhaps I can help?” Most tack teams have seven members, but this one often
travels with a rotating list of eight member consultants. Their guide while
in country is a man by the name of Nakia Mounir.
“Do you have that kind of pull?” Alserda asks him.
“Unofficially, no,” Nakia begins, “but my sister’s husband’s brother runs a
tourism company for the Nile. I’m sure he has ties to the Great Pyramid.”
“That’s a lot of degrees of separation,” Alserda says.
“Let me try. It can’t hurt to make some calls. Worst that happens, they say
no.”
“Go ahead and make your calls.” Alserda turns to admire the craftsmanship.
“I’ve always wanted to see inside anyway,” she says, mostly to herself, but
loud enough for others to hear.
A few hours later, they have permission to enter the pyramid, but not the
entire group. Only two people will be allowed in, and one of them has to be
of Egyptian citizenship, so obviously that’s Nakia. “Can you do this?”
Alserda asks.
“Me?” Kivi questions. “You or Klein should go in. I don’t have any
diplomatic training. Besides, you said you wanted to.”
“You know her best,” the leader reasons. “She needs to see a face that she
trusts, not just one she recognizes.”
Kivi holds up the error detector. “Alserda, this thing detects...” She
trails off, looking over at Nakia, who has not been read into everything.
“Ugh. Time travelers. That’s all it can see. It doesn’t show me how many
other people are in there. It doesn’t even tell me that it’s Leona. It could
be anybody.”
“They’re only letting in one of us,” Alserda states the obvious. “You’ve had
enough training. Stay on radio, and if it goes bad, we’ll breach. I would
rather deal with the socio-political fallout of an unsanctioned tactical
action than go in there without you. It’s your job to be the Spotter, so
enter the pyramid and spot.”
Kivi sighs. “Well, if it’s an order...”
“It definitely is. This is not a voluntary mission.”
Kivi and Nakia make their preparations, then step through the entrance a
half hour later. The guard lets them in without seeing any credentials,
confident that no one who hasn’t been authorized would so much as attempt
it. They’re not wearing full tactical gear, but they’re not dressed in their
civies anymore either.
“I wanted to ask you a question,” Nakia whispers as they’re walking through
the darkened maze.
“What I said about time travelers?”
“Are we hunting them?”
“No, this is a rescue mission. We didn’t lie about that, we just didn’t tell
you everything.”
“Good.”
“Why is that good? You don’t even know who we’re here for.”
“I would always rather be on a rescue mission than a hunt,” Nakia explains.
“Fair enough.” Kivi checks her detector again. They can’t just go straight
for the ping. They have to find their way there, and the corridors will
probably lead them in the wrong direction many times. They were not provided
with the floor plans.
“Please tell me that time travel does not explain how the pyramids were
built.”
She waits a beat to answer. “The way I understand it, time travel doesn’t
explain how they were built, but it does have something to do with why. It’s
a special place, which helps facilitate space travel. I don’t know; they
didn’t tell me that much about it.”
“How did you meet them?”
Kivi decides to answer honestly. “I’m one of them. Technically, I’ve never
actually done any traveling personally, but my alternates have.”
“So you’re a traveler in other timelines.”
“Other realities, but that’s not why I have alternates. I just do. It’s
called spontaneous reemergence. Different versions of me have been, and will
be, born in different moments in time. We have different origins and
different lives.”
“How did that happen to you?”
She chuckles a little. “That’s how this works. Things just happen. There’s
not always a reason to it. Why were you born with dark hair?”
“Genetics.”
“That’s the cause, not the reason.”
“I understand,” he says in a way that suggests he doesn’t. But that’s really
what it’s all about, isn’t it? No one truly understands it. It just is.
That’s her whole point.
“We’re closer,” she says. “I think she’s right on the other side of this
wall. If we just go that way, I’m sure we’ll find a way in.”
“That won’t be necessary.”
Kivi turns around to find Ramses having appeared out of nowhere wearing
shorts and a t-shirt. “We’ve been trying to call you.”
“I didn’t wanna be called,” Ramses replies.
“That’s not really your right to decide that.”
“It is.”
“Leona is missing.”
“What?”
“She was taken. We don’t know by who, but she was brought here.”
“I’m the only one here,” Ramses insists.
Kivi isn’t sure that she believes him. She looks down at her detector. The
dot that was once on the other side of the wall is now on the other side of
them. “Oh my God. We’re been on your trail?”
“I guess. I’m sorry. I thought I successfully shielded myself, but I guess
it was only good enough for satellite distances. The portable detector is
able to get through.”
“That’s not how I found where you were. It’s just how I pinpointed your
exact location. We used detective work to track you from Ireland to Fadi to
here, and then my psychic ability to find you in the Cairo area.”
“Uhh...I was never in Ireland, nor Fadi. I teleported straight here after
Mateo died. I’ve been here the whole time.”
“So it was Leona,” Kivi figures, “but then our intel went bad, and we
followed the wrong third flight.”
“I apologize for pulling you off mission for nothing, but now you know I’m
here. I’m never leaving, so if your ability ever takes you this direction
again, you’ll know that it’s wrong, so just ignore it, and try again.”
“You’re living...in here?” Nakia asks.
“There’s a modern apartment hidden in here. It took me some time to find the
secret entrance, but it’s just as Leona described how it looked in the main
sequence.”
Kivi shakes her head. “No, you’re still a part of this. I don’t care if
you’re having a midlife crisis, or whatever. I need you to teleport to Leona
using your superempathy.”
“I don’t have either of those things,” Ramses counters. “I ran out of
juice.”
“Then I’ll get you some more temporal energy,” she argues. “Let’s go!”
“I really want to keep myself out of it now. I’ll just make things worse.”
“I don’t care what you—oh, hold on.” She answers her phone. “Hello?”
“I have Leona on the line for you,” Winona says.
“What? You found her?”
“Kivi?” Leona asks. “Stand down, I’m fine.”
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