Ben sighed and looked up at the break in the canopy over their heads. The eyebrow streak was moving away to the west now, and the rain had started to fall again. A wind was whipping up all around them. Time was running out, and they needed to be gone in a few hours.
“I disagree.” He looked back to Andy, and let his eyes flick to Drake. Ben had no doubt his friend knew exactly what was at stake. “But that all doesn’t matter anymore.” Ben shook his head slowly. “I came back here, left my wife and kid, dragged these poor souls with me, put these lives at risk, even damned lost lives, just to be here and bring you home.” His gaze was level. “Or to stop you.”
Shawna raised her gun. “Fuck him. Take him back or take him down.”
“Don’t you dare.” Helen looked about to run at her, but instead her eyes went wide.
“Shut up, Shawna.” Ben turned to her. “Let me deal… ”
“Huh?” Ben spun one way then the other, but she was gone. Her gun lay on the ground, but the female mercenary was nowhere to be seen.
“Fuck, no, no, no.” Drake pointed. “Did you see…?”
“Where’d she go?” Andy frowned.
Helen held her hands out to her brother. She still held her gun. “Please, please, Andy, do you see now? The changes are accelerating, and moving up the species to the more complex and sophisticated organisms. It’s reached us now — human beings. We’re disappearing, changing; we must hurry.”
Helen stepped toward him, but Andy just stepped back. “You know more than anyone else what happens when you weaken or remove the top animals in the species dynamic — something else rises to take its place.”
“Shawna doesn’t exist anymore, Andy,” Ben said evenly, as he gently drew his handgun. “Because in this new timeline, she never existed in the first place.”
“This is a trick.” Andy folded his arms. “And it won’t work.”
“Who’s Shawna?” Francis tilted his head. “What’s a trick?”
“Only we can see it; those who originally came back into the distortion zone. No one else.” Helen held her head. “It’s still happening; so we didn’t change anything.”
“Then stay here with me.” Andy took a few steps toward her. “Don’t go back. If the world is crap back there, then stay here with me in paradise.”
“Paradise? Are you insane?” Drake’s jaw jutted as he glared at the bedraggled young man. “We might all cease to exist; the entire human race. And you-fucking-too.”
“And that’s a bad thing?” Andy’s eyes narrowed. “Maybe not.”
“You idiot; that means Helen too. Eventually, it’ll get to all of us.” Drake glared.
Helen sighed and looked down at the ground. “You have to come. Have to.” She looked up. “We don’t have a choice; you don’t have a choice.”
“What?” Andy’s brows knitted together. “What does that mean?”
“It means we didn’t come all this way to take no for an answer,” Drake said flatly. “You’re coming with us, son. One way or the other, you’re not staying.”
“You can’t make me.” Andy began to back up.
Ben brought his gun around. “There’s too much at stake, Andy. I don’t want to kill you, but I’ll sure as hell cripple you if you try and run.”
Andy turned. “Helen?”
She remained stony-faced.
“Gluck, gluck, gluck.” The small pterosaur was becoming agitated on his shoulder.
Andy reached up to pat it. “It’s okay, they won’t hurt me.” He then grabbed it and it let him tuck it into his bag. He brought his hands together. “Please stay, Helen.” Andy was right in front of her now.
Ben and Drake closed in behind him, and Francis also edged in tighter.
Andy glanced over his shoulder at the three men, and then turned back to his sister. “Please, Helen; I have so much to show you. So much left to do and see — the birth of continents, inland seas populated by wondrous creatures, and valleys that sprout dinosaur necks rising three stories into the sky. You’ll love it here; it truly is a paradise.”
“No, it’s not, Andy,” she said softly. “And you having so much left to do is what we’re worried about.”
Andy shot out a hand and ripped the gun from her fingers.
“No.” Helen lunged at him, but he pushed her away. He turned and aimed at Ben’s chest.
“Please don’t make me do this, Ben.” He continued to back up.
Drake lifted his gun, but Ben waved it down. “I know, kid, everything seems mixed up. But we can make this right.” Ben held out his hand. “Come home. With your sister.”
Andy glanced up. Above them, the clouds swirled and began to boil. Wind whipped the branches all around them.
“I could make you all stay, you know. It’d be easy; just keep you from climbing down for another few hours.” He grinned, showing a few missing teeth.
The huge form of Francis loomed in from the side, and Ben continued to walk forward, hand out. “Won’t work; I know you won’t shoot anyone.”
Andy still had the gun up, and the barrel wobbled. He backed up another step. “Will if I have to. Just wound you.”
He took another step back, his heel jammed against a log, and Andy fell backward.
Ben and Drake lunged.
The gun discharged, and Francis dived.
The bullet took the big mercenary square in the chest, and when he hit the ground, he stayed down. Andy’s face was one of alarm and horror, and Helen screamed.
Ben rushed to the big mercenary and lifted his head. “Stay calm, I got you.” He looked down at the wound. It bubbled and popped — into the lungs, a sucking wound as they called it. Survivable, but not when you’re in the heart of the Amazon jungle, Ben thought depressingly.
“You’ll be fine,” Ben said.
Francis chuckled wetly. “You’re a good guy, Ben Cartwright. But a crap liar.” He grimaced and there was blood on his teeth. “I know a bad hit when I feel one.” He looked up. “And I’m a long way from home.”
Francis’ eyes became unfocused. “A long way from home… ”
As Ben held him, he became blurry and indistinct, like he was in an old photograph, and then he simply wasn’t there. Ben was left cradling thin air.
Ben looked to Drake, whose shoulders slumped. He slowly got to his feet and turned to Andy. The young man stared back, his mouth hanging open as he looked from Ben to Helen, and then to Drake.
“I didn’t do that.” He shook his head. “I didn’t do that.” He turned and began to run.
CHAPTER 48
Comet P/2018-YG874, designate name Primordia, was pulling away from the third planet to the sun to continue on its eternal elliptical voyage around our solar system.
The magnetic presence that had dragged at the planet’s surface, caused chaotic weather conditions, and created a distortion in time and space, was lessening in intensity by the seconds, and in just a few more hours would vanish completely.
The clock was ticking down, and soon there would be another 10 years of calm over the mountaintops of the Venezuelan Amazon jungle.
CHAPTER 49
“Predictive position plotting now gives us a 99.9999 % chance of collision.” Jim Henson stared into the viewing piece of the 12.5-inch Newtonian reflector. The massive steel tube was pitted with rust spots on the outside but inside the highly polished glass lenses and mirrors, plus large view aperture, still gave the man crisp images of the solar system, and the astral events as they were unfolding.