Beyond Armageddon: Book 03 - Parallels (56 page)

            His stare drew her attention. She flinched as if dodging a fit of his rage, then walked along the road with her head slung low like a guilty, beaten dog.

            Trevor remembered how in the early days of Armageddon, after Nina had come to the estate, he had watched her walk with a shyness in her step that hid the fierce warrior beneath. She had carried herself as if she were a woman looking to pass unnoticed; hoping to slip quietly by in a world where no one understood her.

            It occurred to Trevor that this Nina feared him. Not only because of his anger over her deception, but before that. Since the moment he had gained control over Thebes, she feared his temper. At some point their relationship had shifted from her trying to convince him—in all manner of ways—to stay and fight, to him dominating her.

           
When she finally reached that part of the other Trevor that lived in you.

After the failure at Erie Coast, he had nearly hit her when he deflected responsibility for the defeat on to her. He screamed. He bullied. Foul.
Abusive.

           
The Trevor Stone she knew.

Nina of this world—and the one he knew back home—certainly had the physical ability to defend herself from any bully, including Trevor Stone. So why would she allow such domination? Trevor suspected that any man who raised a hand to the Nina of his Earth would find himself in the hospital rather fast. Why did this Nina tolerate such abuse?

He hurried to catch up to her. The two walked side by side along an embankment. The eyes of Chaktaw faces carved in the enormous pillars watched from across the valley.

            "Nina."

            She turned her head fast as if a sharp sound grabbed her attention, and then averted her eyes, unwilling to look directly into his.

            "I want to talk to you."

            Trevor spoke slowly so as to keep his voice calm. He sensed her fear and he did not want to spook her. Certainly anger remained, but he wanted information and could not allow his emotion to overcome his sense, he had done that far too often in recent weeks.

            The two continued their walk along the road as it wove through the gorge and exited to the north. A few song birds chirped and small animals occasionally scurried across their path, but otherwise it felt as if they had the valley to themselves.

"I need to understand some things, Nina. I need those answers you promised."

            She nodded without taking her eyes from her boots.

            "Okay then. You brought me here. How’d you choose me? You said you saw eight parallel universes. Each with an Earth?"

            The Major licked her lips and tried to answer. Her voice shook, seemingly worried that the wrong word could lead to an explosion.

            "We…I didn’t have a chance to go sight seeing. We were given directions on how to get to your universe. I didn’t find you by accident. I mean, we picked
you
on purpose."

            "And the reasons you picked me?"
            A strange bird flew over head. It was about the size and shape of an Eagle but its scalp sported a plate of armor like a helmet.

"I told you the truth. Our Trevor was dead. Our world—" she stopped herself, huffed, and re-worded, "Our invasion had been stopped and turned back. We were down to just Thebes. I mean all of our outposts and resource stations and even the satellite colonies were wiped out. Mainly by the Chaktaw, but by other things, too."

            "And how did you think I could help?"

            "Believe it or not, I told you the truth on that already, you know? Our Trevor held things together. He was a great leader. You—I mean he—knew how to speak to people, to get their spirits up. We knew that you were a great leader, too. I—we—figured you could help us turn it around again."

            He shook his head but he did not get angry. He refused to get angry. He was a human being capable of controlling his emotions.

            "That’s not all. There’s more. Your Committee didn’t want me back."

            "The Committee were politicians. They knew about the plan but never actually approved it. I sort of jumped the gun with Snowe's permission."

            Trevor said, "Snowe knew sooner or later I'd confront The Committee. He probably figured I’d eventually get sick of their shit."

            Nina allowed herself a sardonic chuckle. "Yeah. They were half-assed politicians. No matter what universe you were from, we knew you were a man of action, not words."

            "Of course," he nodded fast as he realized one more key component. "I’m the guy from the Earth where humanity is under siege and I’ve been kicking ass. You figured I could think like the Chaktaw here. They're the ones causing you the most grief because they are the home team, huh? One thing I don’t get, though," Trevor adjusted the zipper on the leather pilot’s jacket he wore over his battle suit. "Why didn’t Snowe just take out The Committee himself?"

            The Major shook her head but the whole time kept her eyes pointed down.

            "The problems we had after our Emperor died got a little better thanks to The Committee. They showed the most pull with the people back home sending supplies. Things weren't going as planned. We were supposed to be living off the land over here for the most part by now. Home world didn't want much to do with us."

            "What? They sent an army over here and abandoned you?"

            "Not exactly. If you haven't noticed by now, we're not really a well-groomed fighting machine. Yeah, sure, there are professional soldiers in the ranks, mainly leftovers from the civil wars back home. A lot of the people who came over were mercenaries or criminals given a chance at a new life, people Trevor convinced to gamble on some new world paradise."

            Trevor let that sink in. Mercenaries. Criminals. Very few professional soldiers. If that held true for the other invaders, it would explain why they often fought two-dimensionally. His ruse of the arrogant Red Coats at Wilkes-Barre, the wholesale slaughter of Red Hands during Five Armies, or the rout of the Chaktaw with a surprise charge during the last days of that battle. At one time, he wondered if man might be the best warriors in the universe. Perhaps a lack of quality among the invading armies gave his people an advantage.

            She said, "If Jakob had taken The Committee out on his own, we might not see another supply shipment, and the gateways are one-way, Trevor. There's no going home and even if we did, half of the people in Thebes would be going home to jails or emptiness. At least here they have a chance to build a life."

            "They don't belong here," he showed not one ounce of sympathy. "I don't care who they were, they don't belong and if they don't go back willingly, then they deserve to be slaughtered."

            She ignored his words and said, "With you back and you killing The Committee, Snowe can step up and be the hero who salvages everything."

A whole slew of questions avalanched into Trevor’s mind. He tried his best to slow his thought processes and deal with them in some kind of order.

            "Wait, now, you had your gateway. It’s one way? But you can—"

            "Yes. One way. To Earth. Once you come over, there’s no going back. But we can communicate with home through the gate; tell them what supplies we need, when we need reinforcements if they can convince anyone to come, that is. That type of thing, you know?"

            "But you weren’t convincing anyone to come, were you?"

            "A few criminals here and there, no one we really wanted, not after Trevor's death. He was the glue holding it together. He could convince ordinary people to take up arms and follow him on this grand adventure, you know?"

            He remembered his speech before the final showdown at Five Armies, how he had reached into the hearts of ordinary people—yesterday's accountants and shop clerks—and infected them with a blood lust, turned them into killers.

           
Imagine what I could do with a whole world listening. My gift to humanity, turning people into warriors.

The clouds that had rolled in earlier completed their job in blocking the sun from the afternoon sky. The temperature dropped and the wind carried hints of cold rain.

"So you figure, bring this successful Trevor Stone over and maybe he can energize things, huh? Maybe you can still win this."

"Survive this, you mean."

He nodded, "Yeah, I suppose so. Survive."

"But this was personal for you, wasn’t it?"

            She did not answer for a long while. He decided not to push…not yet. They walked together in silence for a minute while their boots crunched in the surface of the soft road top and as drizzle turned to an honest rain.

"So you bring me over, hope I can turn the military tide of things, and have enough people in on it so you can hide the truth for a while. All the time the best you’re hoping for is, what, I off the Committee and take over. At that point you had to figure I’d find out that this wasn’t your planet; that you are the bad guys here."

Trevor felt a tremble in his arms, his hands flexed, and an angry shout grew in his throat…then faded as he calmed himself with a deep breath.

When he felt he could control his voice, he said, "So you’ve been playing mind games with me all the time. Using…playing games to distract me. To—what?—get me hooked on you? Get me hooked on all the crazy things you and the old Trevor used to do."

            She jumped in, maybe to try and head off nastier words.

            "Yes, that’s right. If my Trevor…if he wanted those things then I figured you would, too. And you know what? You did. No one forced you. I just gave you want you wanted. All the fantasies. Everything he craved, everything he made me do."

            Her tone was not confrontational. No, it sounded more dejected.

            He stopped walking. She sensed it and stopped, too. He stared at her through the curtain of cold rain and saw fear in her eyes. Her posture slumped, as if ready to cower on command.

His head tilted and he stared off toward the leafless trees surrounding the road.

            "You're right. That’s scary, you know. It’s scary that it almost worked."

            Trevor saw himself slamming a junior officer against a wall and shooting Chaktaw prisoners and leading a bloody coup d'état. He recalled the feeling of invincibility that had come with the daring-if-foolish victory over the Geryon Reich. He remembered the sex with the Major, especially the first time. Angry. Mean. Love had been a world away.

            Almost worked. Oh no, Trevor. It worked. It was all on display right there for everyone to see. No where to hide, Trev. You did the killing and you enjoyed it.

            "And was that what your Trevor was like? Quick to kill? No mercy. Vicious?"

"Trevor and I…we…I loved him. After he was gone, maybe I wanted to have him back. Maybe I did this, you know, for personal reasons, too."

            Nina avoided looking at his eyes and instead gazed at the road ahead.

"One more thing. You said you had help in getting me. Who?"

She fidgeted and her lips pressed tight together like a bank vault shutting. He saw her cheeks blush. At first he thought she might be getting sick, but then he realized that the girl was terrified of answering his question.

"Tell me, Nina. You didn't find and know how to use The Nyx's nest on your own."

            After taking a deep breath, she turned, looked at him, and answered, "I told you that Trevor knew stuff. He knew about what was going on, a lot more than he ever told me. Snowe knew some things too, partly from people back home, partly from things Trevor filled him in on over here. Going to get you wasn't an idea original to Snowe or me."

"Go on."

            A chilly wind whipped the rain along the road.

            "When you first got here, you told me that there was, like, one big bad guy on your world that you thought was behind—"

            He grabbed her shoulders. She cringed and her voice morphed into a frightened cry, "Something called Voggoth!"

            "Voggoth? Of course.  I should have guessed! I should have guessed!"

            "But Trevor, listen," she confessed. "It wasn't just getting you here. Jakob cut a deal. As long as you were over here helping us, well…"

            "Tell me!" He nearly spat in her face.

            "As long as you were here they'd help us with the Chaktaw. Remember their outpost? Voggoth hit them first, knocked them down so our attack was easy."

            "But not the Duass? He wouldn't help us against the Duass! That's why Snowe wanted me to leave them alone. Voggoth doesn't want you fighting each other, only the Chaktaw!"

He released her and stepped away. His head cocked to one side and a big, sardonic smile that did not have an ounce of good feelings in it grew from ear to ear.

            "Oh, sure, kill two worlds with one Stone."

            "What? Trevor, I don’t understand."