Aeon Legion: Labyrinth (8 page)

Alya
consulted her shieldwatch. “This is the Edge of Time, a place where
all time blends together. Follow. We have to find a
salient
.”

Terra walked closely behind
Alya, clinging to the woman's forearm at all times. “What's a
salient?”

Alya frowned. “Some piece of
singularity technology. Don't worry about it.”

Like last time, the wind
picked up when they moved. Terra struggled to stand, but Alya seemed
unaffected.

“So,” Terra said after
noticing the strange echo this place had, “How exactly does time
travel work?”

Alya shrugged. “I have no
idea. All I care is that it works.”

Terra
looked up to see the stars tinted blue. They lit up the sky,
unnumbered. Terra knew little about astronomy, but felt sure there
were not
that
many stars in the sky. However, when Terra turned to face Alya, she
saw a bright burning light that dwarfed every star in the heavens.

The bright blue light was
massive enough to make the sun look small. Circular tendrils swirled
from it, dancing like oil in water. A large tendril fed away from it,
like a flowing river branching at different points. Terra traced the
stream and discovered she stood upon one of its many branches. She
pointed to the bright blue light. “What's that?”

Alya sighed. “Haven't you
heard of the Big Bang? That's similar. It's the Beginning of Time.
Nothing special.”

Terra's
eyes were still wide as she wondered.
Nothing
special?
she thought. She only gazed upon the origin of all time itself and
Alya considered it nothing special?

Alya pointed the other
direction. “It lies opposite the End of Time.”

Terra turned, looking at the
large dark shape on the horizon behind her. The End of Time was as
colossal as the Beginning. It hung in the sky like a shadowy maw.
Unlike the Beginning with its chaotic tendrils, the End twirled in a
spiral. It was like a black hole surrounded by a blood red light in
contrast with the Beginning’s blue glow. Branches, like the one
Terra now stood on, all converged at the End and bled into the red
haze as though the End were devouring it. Looking at the looming,
dark shape made Terra feel uneasy as the wind and glowing haze around
her seemed to pull in that direction.

“Don't worry about that,”
Alya said, pointing to something in between the Beginning and End of
Time. “That's where we are going.”

In the distance, Terra saw a
pearl white object drifting in the star filled void.

“There it is,” Alya said,
gazing at the structure in the distance. “Saturn City.”

Terra saw a blue light burning
bright like a beacon in the distance. However, it was too far away
for Terra to see in any detail. Alya moved forward again and Terra
followed. She approached a ring shaped structure.

Around the structure's outer
wall stood twelve tall metal spires, all equally spaced. A small
diameter ring hovered above the structure. It had a low wall with a
ramp up the side. As Terra drew close, she saw it was constructed of
a pearl white metal that appeared similar to the material of Alya's
armor. The whole structure was the size of her quarry. Unlike the
misty, ethereal world around them, the solid structure stood out.

Alya walked to the center of
the metal structure, what Terra assumed was a salient, and touched
the glass face of her shieldwatch. A glowing ring of energy ran
around the inner edge of the salient and Terra watched the haze
around the shift as the ring passed. When Terra looked up, she saw
the ring structure had transported them nearer to the city.

Terra got a closer look at
Saturn City. The monolithic scale of a structure stretched hundreds
of miles in diameter. The outer ring edge of the structure shimmered
pearl white. A convex energy field formed a dome in the center,
covering both the top and bottom of the structure. Its outer design
reminded Terra of a pocket watch.

The blue grainy energy field
was transparent enough to see a city that sat upon a large disc made
of mountains, forests, plains, and lakes. Terra could barely see the
tall white buildings that stood clustered in certain areas on the
disc. She counted twelve sections, each occupying a slice of the
disc.

Terra
felt dizzy as she took in the sight of the pearl city floating in
time. After a moment, Alya touched the orb on her shieldwatch and the
salient transported
them again. This time, the haze and city faded to reveal a circular
room around them.

Another glowing ring formed
and passed around them in a clockwise direction. “Biological
hazards sweep clear,” came a female voice over the speakers in the
room.

Alya shook her hand, trying to
get a clinging, pale faced Terra to let go. After a moment, Alya took
her free hand and pried off Terra's iron like grip. “It's okay,
Terra. We're here.”

Terra swayed as she tried to
regain her footing. The world still seemed to spin and her stomach
churned from the strange experience.

Alya put her hands on her
hips, waiting for Terra to recover. “Don't worry. You get used to
it.”

Terra's vertigo passed after a
moment and her stomach settled as she heard noise from a nearby
crowd. She looked up, expecting to see the stars, but instead found
clear blue skies overhead with the beaming sun above her. Terra
wondered why the outside of the city looked like a night sky, while
the city's interior looked to be midday.

“Come on,” Alya said,
walking forward.

Terra shook her head, trying
to focus before following Alya. Her vertigo returned once she walked
out of the room, though not because of motion sickness.

It started when a man with
silver hair passed by, pushing a large metal disk. It hovered off the
ground surrounded by a glowing translucent field. Atop the disk, a
saber-toothed tiger paced the inside, looking as confused as Terra.
He pushed the hovering bubble as though it and the predator within
weighed nothing.

Alya turned to Terra and put
two small devices in Terra's ears. “For translations until you get
a shieldwatch,” Alya said.

The murmurs changed when the
devices in Terra's ears activated. She could now understand the hum
of conversation around her.

Alya looked both ways before
stepping out. “Let's try not to draw attention. I just want to get
through timeport processing without being noticed.”

Alya set out through the
timeport and Terra followed closely behind.

Terra glanced to another
entryway near them. A man with insect eyes and chitin shells on his
arms and legs stepped out.

“An alien?” Terra asked.

The
bug-man
whirled, searching with his insect eyes. “Where?”

Alya tugged at Terra. “Not
an alien. He is probably from Continuum Xi. They have a lot of
biomorphic technology.”

Terra wondered what biomorphic
technology was as she continued to gawk at the sizable crowd. They
made their way down an open area, moving towards a large pearl white
structure ahead. Others entered and exited chambers like to the one
Terra had arrived in. Many stood on the sidelines, either sitting on
benches or chatting with others.

“Stay close,” Alya said,
surveying the crowd with a wary gaze.

Terra followed while gawking
at the colorful mob. Those with silver hair wore similar dress to
Alya. They directed and assisted others. They all carried
shieldwatches even if they didn't always wear armor.

Those without silver hair or a
shieldwatch were more varied. One man in an American Civil War
Confederate uniform argued with a silver haired man. The Confederate
soldier held an automatic assault rifle in his hand.

“No. For the last time, you
can't take it back with you,” the silver haired man said as Terra
passed. It was the only part of the conversation she caught.

A few paces away, a silver
hair woman yelled at a man dressed in fine silk robes. He had an old
wooden cart full of strange caged animals. Terra saw a Dodo bird
along with many animals she didn't recognize.

The woman scowled as she
pointed at the animals. “Most of these animals are extinct or
haven't evolved yet in your time. These are temporal invasive
species! You can't take them back or they will devastate that time's
ecosystem.”

The man raised an eyebrow.
“What's an ecosystem?”

“This place is busy,”
Terra said as they passed by the argument.

“I hate the timeport during
busy hours,” Alya said as they passed what looked like a dockyard
to Terra. Several docked ships hovered in the air, looming over them
like metal titans. “Time travelers must check in here before
returning to their home time. We check them for cross-time diseases
or illegal items. Timeships dock here as well.”

Ahead, a metal building stood
blocked off by a series of gates, each engraved with a Roman numeral.
A long, slow line of people stretched from each gate. Alya grimaced
as her gaze searched the gates ahead while shying away from anyone
else with silver hair. She led Terra off to the side to get a better
look. They stopped at a small overlook. While Alya searched for a
gate with a short line, Terra looked up as a wide shadow passed
overhead.

A massive metal structure
passed overhead like a boot might pass over an ant. It was miles
long, stretching into the distance. When she looked out from the
balcony, she paused, taking in the sight.

A huge mechanical pillar stood
in the center of the city. In the middle of the pillar, a bright blue
orb of burning light hovered. Above the orb moved three huge hands
that Terra guessed were miles long by themselves. One thick hand
moved slowly while another shorter one held still. A third hand
projected a row of blue light beams that shot over the city. This one
moved the fastest and was the one that had just passed over them.

Around the pillar and between
the ring edges lay the buildings of the city itself. Terra had seen a
city before during school trips, though she had never seen a city
where buildings floated in the sky. Many buildings possessed a glass
orb embedded in sides that looked like the glass face of a
shieldwatch.

In another part of the city,
distant forested mountains stood. In the skies hovered saucer shaped
aircraft that flew at a steady pace. “That explains so much,”
Terra said as her eyes followed the strange aircraft.

Alya tugged at Terra and
pointed to a gate with a shorter line. Terra followed after stealing
another glance at the city glimmering in the light.

They waited at the back of a
lengthy line. Terra took her eyes off the flying saucer in the sky to
listen in on the conversation ahead. An old man stood at the gate.
His leather clothing was in tatters and his hair unkempt as he spoke
in a desperate tone to the gatekeeper.

The young gatekeeper had a
full head of sliver haired and a legion uniform like Alya's. He sat
at a desk in front of the gateway. The silver haired man at the gate
kept his eyes on a holographic disc projected above his shieldwatch
face. His bored expression remained constant while the old man
begged.

“Please,” the old man
said, his voice hoarse. “Give me citizenship. I'll be a good
citizen! I swear. I have never broken any laws in the Temporal
Accords! I need to become a citizen. I need immorality!”

“I am sorry, sir,” the
silver haired gatekeeper said in monotone. He did not look at the old
man while he spoke, keeping his attention on the hologram. “The
only way you can earn citizenship is if you join the Aeon Legion.”

“Please!” the old man
begged.

“I am sorry, sir,” the
gatekeeper replied, his tone still neutral. “You cannot enter the
city nor can you become a citizen.”

The old man looked down before
walking off, dejected.

The gatekeeper shook his head.
“Crashing dustrunners,” he said, under his breath.

The next man stepped up. He
wore a white button up shirt with a dark jacket and trousers. “Excuse
me, but I was told by the Aeon Legion that I am not allowed to visit
my continuum's future.”

The gatekeeper spoke in a
bored tone. “If you had read the Temporal Accords when you
registered your time travel device, you would have discovered that
acquiring knowledge of the future is not allowed. You may inquire at
the timeport office for permission.”

“I did,” the man said,
frowning. “They rejected my request. Instead, I want access to the
Archives at the Aveum Academy.”

“No,” the gatekeeper said
flatly. “You don't have permission to enter the city, much less
visit the Archives. If they won't let you time travel to your
continuum's future, then they are not going to let you into the
Archives.”

The man rubbed his chin before
he smiled. “I understand.” He turned to leave.

“And don't try to time
travel there yourself,” the gatekeeper added. “The Sybil will
precog your attempt and you will find yourself thrown into a dark
cell in Tartarus.”

The man frowned, but walked
off without protest.

Another man approached. This
one wore a strange bright yellow garb with edges of gold. He had
several others with him dressed in less impressive clothes. Each
carried an ornate box. Terra assumed these were servants.

One of the servants approached
“All hail Emperor Seres of the golden lands,” he said in a lofty
voice. “He has come to this pearl city to purchase a shieldwatch.”

The gatekeeper continued to
read without reaction, save for a yawn.

The servant frowned, but the
Emperor did not react to the slight.

“Where must we go to
purchase a shieldwatch?” the servant asked.

“We don't sell
shieldwatches,” the gatekeeper said.

The servant scowled and was
about to speak when the Emperor stepped forward. He had a servant
open one of the cases. Gold and jewels filled the box to the brim.
“Perhaps the guard needs a gift so we may pass?” Emperor Seres
said in a deep voice.