From Time to Time
Book 1 of 'The Course of Time' saga

Marius A. Smith


Copyright 2012 Marius A. Smith

Published by Marius A. Smith at Smashwords.
All historical individuals or places mentioned or referred to in this book are portrayed in a purely fictitious sense.  All other characters are purely fictitious, and no resemblance to individuals living or dead is intended.


Chapter 1:  Exile

Everything shuddered and lurched violently as the small ship penetrated the Earth's atmosphere at high speed.  Completely out of control, it went into a spin as it plummeted towards the planet.  Its spatial stabiliser wasn't functioning, neither was the life support system.  The air in the vessel was now almost completely devoid of oxygen, and the solitary occupant in the cockpit fought desperately for each moment of consciousness while being tossed about the room.  He considered slapping himself in the face a couple of times as though the fading of his clarity of thought was due to fatigue alone, but reconsidered, since that would just be wasting what little energy he had left, and several precious seconds.  Instead he tried, and to his own surprise succeeded, in pulling himself up onto his knees before the helm controls, hanging on to the main chair for support.  A violent thud threw him across the short distance to the back of the cockpit and against the side of the open doorway.  The ship had crashed backwards and skidded across the ground to a halt.  The asphyxiating vampire knew amidst his clouded thoughts, which were hurtling towards delirium with each passing moment, that he had to find the strength to move before oblivion triumphed.  His whole body felt like it was going numb, aside from his aching lungs that were starving for oxygen.  Every inch a cherished achievement, he pulled himself out of the cockpit on his elbows to the exit hatch in the side wall of the room behind it.  He'd lost pretty much everything except his life, and that only by good graces alone, yet something spurred him on.  It was something more than just survival instinct or the agony in his bursting lungs that'd become so intense he could've sworn they were on fire.  It wasn't in him to give up, especially when he needed answers.  With a final thrust of energy he threw his hand up towards the release control next to the hatch, and after a moment's fumbling he managed to find the right button before collapsing against the hatch.  There was a slight hiss as the hatch slid aside and the air pressure equalised.  Warm fresh air spilled into the room.  In that same moment, with the hatch no longer holding him up, he fell through the opening and onto hot sand, gasping for breath so quickly that the sudden rush of oxygen made him light-headed and completely disoriented.  Almost immediately, when his skin had regained some sensation, the pain from his aching chest gave way to a scalding pain as his vampire skin started to smoulder in the harsh afternoon sunlight.  Gradually the pain subsided and he started to wonder if he was dead, which would've been a relief in light of his recent fall from grace if he wasn't so determined to resolve the situation, or at the very least find out why.  Having one's adventurous life and successful career torn away so abruptly might've made another man give up hope and plummet into the depths of despair, but not him.  He'd hunted criminals through time and space, across every conceivable terrain, and his perseverance had always been the key factor in his victories.  He defiantly refused to be beaten by this situation.
His mind started to clear and his heart rate began to slow towards its normal pace.  He felt the hot sand beneath him, and moved his hand slowly and felt the grains slipping between his fingers.  Wearily he opened his eyes and looked up at the sky, a clear blue sky he'd never expected to see again, such was the price of being a vampire.  A quarter moon was visible, but he already knew this was Earth.  Being unaccustomed to seeing it for a few years now, the sun was too blindingly bright for him to even look in its general direction.  Raising his head to look at his surroundings he realised he'd come down in a desert, with a single oasis on the horizon.
His skin was a little singed, but not badly, so it wouldn't take long to heal.  He'd caught his breath and his heart rate had returned to normal, so he rested his head back on the sand and his thoughts fell into oblivion as the exhaustion from his recent ordeals caught up with him, coupled with the lingering effects of a sedative he'd been given prior to his exile.

*  *  *

Thousands of years away, and three thousand kilometres above Earth, the vampire's arrival in the distant past was confirmed.
"The guidance beacon reports that the time shuttle has arrived at the exile location, sir," a mildly podgy young ensign named Colin Finch informed his superior.  "But…" he added, "he's arrived during the day.  The beacon must've malfunctioned."
Admiral Bruce Rivette looked over the ensign's shoulder to double check the telemetry they were receiving with an expression of composed concern.  "Run a bio-scan through the beacon, make sure he survived," he ordered.
Ensign Finch promptly made the scan through time.  "He's alive sir," he said with relief a few moments later, looking up at the admiral.
"Run final scans of his and the shuttle's status, then shut down the beacon so that he won't pick up its power signature on his sensors.  Send your report to me when you're done," the admiral said as he turned and started walking away at a relaxed pace.
All around the huge scanning room, Temporal Security personnel were performing their duties, which mainly consisted of running scans of different parts of the world in different time zones for anything out of the ordinary.  They were seated at the consoles lining the walls and grouped in the centre of the room, and all wore similar uniforms; black buttonless long-sleeved shirts, formal-style black pants, and black boots.  The only real difference was the colour of their suede jackets, resembling formal dinner jackets tailored in a modern cut.  The colour signified rank.  Colin Finch, being an ensign, wore a dark green jacket over his black uniform.  The admiral stood out with the silver jacket of his office.  There were a few crewmen without rank, who wore light grey jackets.
The admiral pulled back his left sleeve to reveal a device similar to a wristwatch, although this device was significantly more advanced.  It was a multiple function communication device, commonly abbreviated as a multi-com device.  It had a short extension on the side opposite his hand, with numerous touch controls.  Admiral Rivette tapped the small, circular screen where a watch face would've been and said, "Larissa."  A moment later the face of a young and beautiful Asian woman appeared on the screen, her long raven-black hair neatly tied back.
"Bruce, how did it go?" Larissa asked with a hint of anxiety.
"He made it safely, no need for concern," the admiral reassured her calmly.
Larissa's face visibly relaxed.  "That's good.  Needless to say I was a bit worried.  I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him."  As she spoke the tips of her elongated vampire teeth became visible.
"Yes, I know," the admiral replied in his deep but gentle voice.  "I've done all I can for him.  I'm afraid he's on his own now.  I've got quite a lot to take care of tonight, so I probably won't be home until after 2100, but we can talk more then if you like."  He touched the screen again and his vampire wife's face vanished.  After thinking for a moment he reactivated the device and said, "Luke Hawking".
A voice behind him said, "Right here, sir."
The admiral turned to see the familiar face looking at him with anticipation so he cancelled the call.  Luke had blue eyes and wore the light red jacket of a lieutenant commander.  His blonde hair was short and spiked, its colour similar to that of the sands of a Hawaiian beach.  His finely trimmed goatee was perfectly maintained, and the sides of his face were clean-shaven.  Briefly the admiral wished that his 79 year old face topped with greying hair still looked as young as the 25 year old face in front of him.  Even if he was that young, his wife would still outlive him by centuries since he was an ordinary human, just like the man in front of him.  With the average human life span being over 120 years, the admiral was only late middle-aged, but that was definitely old enough to be envious of Luke's vibrant youth.  Luke was quite young to have the rank he did, but his vampire friend now in exile, who was also 25, had achieved the rank of commander before his fall in status, and was the youngest person to have advanced so quickly.
The admiral put a hand on Luke's shoulder and said with an almost fatherly smile, "He made it, Luke.  He's alive."
Luke was obviously relieved at this news, but not entirely content.  
"That's great, but with your permission I'd like to continue the investigation.  I'm still certain he's innocent, sir."
"I understand how you feel, we all feel the same," the admiral said kindly.  "By all means, keep the investigation going.  I'll inform Fleet Admiral Morgan and endorse your efforts.  Report to me immediately if you turn up anything new, and we'll act on it accordingly."
"Thank you sir!" Luke said with genuine appreciation.
"Carry on, Lieutenant Commander," Admiral Rivette dismissed him.
After a courteous nod, since saluting wasn't done in Temporal Security outside of official ceremonies, Luke made his way across the room to the lift at the end of a short passage and began his descent from the temporal scanning room, deck 10, to deck 38, which was almost entirely devoted to restaurants and cafes.  This time station is just too big, he thought to himself.  It was one of two massive time stations in orbit above Earth.  Epoch and its sister station Jidai were identical 90 deck stations.  Each was constantly surrounded by a massive temporal field that separated it from normal space-time, which enabled them to monitor changes in the timeline while remaining protected from their effects.  Such changes would only occur if someone made an unauthorised time trip and altered history for personal gain, political power, revenge, or for some other reason.  If the time stations were exposed to Earth's causality they too would be affected by the change and remain unaware of any difference, which was why it was essential that they remain constantly isolated from the rest of time by the field.  Jidai had been constructed several years earlier than Epoch.  Following several occasions when Jidai's temporal field and sensors had failed for a short time due to unexplained malfunctions it had been deemed necessary to have a second station, as a safeguard against any such incident in the future, so that if a change in the timeline did occur during a malfunction the other station would remain unaffected and be able to carry out any necessary action.  Should a breach in established history be detected at any point, they would promptly dispatch a squad to correct it.  Rectification was by no means the sole purpose for the stations.  A lot of historical research through time using the temporal scanners happened here and sometimes expeditions were launched and closely monitored for the purpose of gathering more detailed information from within history itself.  Even after all the research that'd been done, the historical database was still largely incomplete.  And all too often, the actual events observed were different to what was portrayed in the old history books, since they'd often been written with political bias.
The lift doors opened and Luke stepped out.  There were restaurants of all descriptions as far as he could see.  There were as many alien cafes as there were of human cultures.  Generally this was a place where everyone was happy, regardless of how things were going at work on the other decks.  This deck had a relaxed atmosphere that was refreshing, which Luke was always drawn into as soon as he stepped out of the lift.  The scents of different foods sparked his appetite.  He strolled towards a place called Green Tim's, politely dodging his way through the crowd of people who were making their way at a leisurely pace to or from the restaurants.  The name Green Tim's was derived from the fact that the man who ran the establishment was half human and half Resurian, a reptilian species who possessed amazing regenerative capabilities but also green skin.  Luke had been more than a little surprised to learn that the two species were compatible at all in a genetic sense.  Green Tim had originally worked as a chef on the Jidai time station, but had transferred to Epoch when the opportunity to run his own establishment had arisen, for which Luke and the crew of Epoch were always grateful.  However, interspecies relationships and career histories were presently the least of Luke's concerns.  He had to tell Tim and everyone else there the good news that William Herschel had made it to Earth alive.

*  *  *

The vampire, William Herschel, awoke several hours later.  He was a man of medium but strong build, and his dark brown hair was usually relatively neatly styled, but at the moment it bore no resemblance to any kind of hairstyle whatsoever.  His clean-shaven face had been described by some as rather handsome, always a welcome compliment for a single guy.
He took a long deep breath of the fresh air.  Looking around at the slowly darkening landscape he could tell that the sun had set only minutes ago.  It was usually about this time that vampires awoke, at least those who lived on Earth.  He'd lived on Epoch for a while now, and hadn't very often gone back to Earth except into the past on missions.  He was well overdue for a holiday, but this exile wasn't quite what he had in mind.
As his thoughts led him back to his present situation, his mind dwelt over the events that had led to his exile.
*

Two days earlier, William had been walking casually along one of the more secluded titanium-grey passages on deck 86, his routine end-of-the-day inspections of the deck nearly completed.  He turned a corner and spotted a shadowy figure dart across the passage into an adjacent one.  The figure was wearing a loose, dark brown hooded robe, like a monk's habit.  With the large hood covering its head, William had been unable to discern any of the being's features.  He couldn't even guess its species, other than the fact that it was humanoid.  Despite the strangeness of such an outfit in the early twenty sixth century it did serve as an impenetrable disguise, and blended into the shadows of a dark room very well as William soon discovered.
He ran in pursuit and turned down the same corridor that the suspicious figure had, and found himself before the open double doors of the temporal transference chamber.  The lights weren't on inside, which was unusual since it was his responsibility to deactivate the equipment and ensure that the room was secure during his rounds, and he hadn't yet been through this section.  At this time of day, at the end of the main shift, no one else was supposed to be on this level.  "Epoch, identify all beings in this section of this level," he called out to the station's computer.
"Commander William Herschel," the computer's impassive feminine voice replied.
"No one else?" William asked.
"No other beings detected," the computer confirmed.
William approached the open doors cautiously, noticing that the security panel to the side of the door was in pieces.  Taking each step slowly and on guard he entered the dark chamber.  He tried the lighting controls on the wall just around the doorway but there was no response.  Listening carefully for any reaction or movement he said calmly, "It's Commander Herschel… come out where we can discuss this.  You'll only cause trouble for yourself by hiding…" He moved deeper into the spacious room.  "I used to play jokes like this too, so I know how much of a laugh it can be.  I also know firsthand how much trouble you'll be in if the admiral finds out.  Trust me, it's better if we just keep this between us.  Come out and I'll take you for a drink at Green Tim's," he tried in what he thought was a tempting voice.  On the dimly illuminated transference platform in the centre of the room he noticed a transparent cylinder containing about one litre of translucent blue fluid.
There was a brief flash of light from behind him accompanied by a sharp yet quiet electric sizzle and he slumped to the floor unconscious.
A few hours later William woke up in a confinement cell, much to his surprise.  The cell contained only the hard mattress he was lying on, a folded grey blanket near his feet, and a food dispenser built into the wall, which was only activated three times a day.  There was a basic latrine facility in the corner to one side of the shimmering force field that covered the doorway.  Looking down the corridor beyond the force field was like looking at a reflection on the surface of a lake while the wind blew ripples across its surface.  The whole corridor seemed to ripple and distort.  He sat up and noticed that he was no longer wearing his crimson jacket, however he was still wearing the black remainder of the uniform.  His multi-com device had been removed from his wrist so that he couldn't use one of its functions to override the force field controls or call for assistance.  He already knew that he wouldn't be able to get any answers from the station's computer, as it didn't respond to prisoners.
He heard footsteps, and looked up to see Admiral Rivette walk along the corridor and stop at the force field with a grave look on his face.
"I cannot express my disappointment at this," the admiral said solemnly, his whole face seeming to frown.  "After the trust I put in you.  You had a good career with a flawless record of achievements… so I can only ask… why?"
"What's happening?" William replied, "Why am I in here?"
"You were found attempting to transport a narcotic substance through time!"
"I was attempting no such thing!" William retorted, realising that the cylinder of blue fluid he'd come across must be the narcotic in question.
"You were apprehended by Commander Tylvius a couple of hours ago in the temporal transference chamber, in possession of one litre of necrozine.  Tell me where you were going to send it!" The admiral's tone was becoming heated.
"I wasn't in possession of it, I just found it there when I was following an intruder."
"I've already checked the internal sensor log and you were the only one detected in there, aside from Tylvius, when he found you.  You're fortunate that it's standard procedure for weapons to be set for stun while carried on the station.  I assure you, I had to view and review all of the relevant evidence before I could accept that you would do something like this.  It's much worse than any of the mischief you and Luke used to get up to.  This level of temporal felony holds serious consequences, as well you know.  Your trial will be tomorrow."
William didn't know what to say.  After a moment of silence the admiral turned and left.
William had always considered Admiral Rivette to be a friend as well as a respected leader.  It seemed that the circumstantial evidence against him had seemed irrefutable enough to convince the admiral that he was indeed attempting to transport narcotics through time.  Someone had to have evaded Epoch's internal sensors by masking their life signs.  But without evidence, such a possibility would only be considered desperate speculation at the trial.  There was another possibility; that he'd stumbled upon Tylvius attempting to send it.  However, the nature of the evidence would more than likely be an alibi to the security chief, and William had to admit that Tylvius could've stepped out of a lift just after he'd asked the computer about life signs on that level, which would explain why he hadn't been detected there then.  Whether or not it was true, it would probably be the story that Tylvius would use.
William couldn't sleep that night.  His mind raced, trying to think of some way to prove his innocence.  He asked to speak with his friend Luke but was denied any visitors.
The next day he was escorted to the trial chamber by four armed guards.  Maybe that was a little excessive, but even young vampires were noticeably stronger than humans.  The guards on the station wore a different type of uniform since they weren't Temporal Security personnel.  Their uniforms were two tones of grey, and the additional armour padding was sculpted in a way that mimicked well-toned muscles.  The guards were provided by a military organisation called Terran Guardians and took most of their orders and assignments directly from Earth High Command, which was the centre of the global government system based in Switzerland.
William was permitted to have Luke Hawking as his defence council, giving him an opportunity to speak with his friend.  If there was one man who would be absolutely certain of his innocence it was him.  They'd been best friends for about a decade and a half now.
The oval-shaped trial chamber was dominated by a wide raised platform at the head end of the room, upon which there were three ornate chairs where the members of the judging council sat.  In the centre chair, set a little higher than the other two, sat Fleet Admiral Ronald Morgan.  He had nearly white hair with very few flecks of grey remaining and stood out in his gold jacket embroidered with black patterning.  He was getting a little podgy around the waistline, but was otherwise in good physical shape.  The other members of the judging council were Admiral Bruce Rivette and Admiral Amanda Campbell, who was the youngest member of the council, by five years, who still had most of her natural chestnut hair colour.  High on the wall behind them was a sizeable hologram of Temporal Security's emblem.  It was an old style clock face with a distinctive fracture through it, with the hands turning anticlockwise rapidly.  On either side of the council the three-levelled seating ran the length of the curved walls all the way to the large doors at the other end of the room.  Most of the seats were occupied and the room was filled with the murmurs of many hushed conversations.  In the area in front of the seats on the left side of the room a news crew put on their individual camera headsets and decided on where the best vantage points around the chamber would be.  A couple of them gathered directly before the podium in the centre of the room ready to capture the defendant's every word and expression when the trial began.  William was known to the general public for his many successful missions through time, and had appeared on the news shows on several occasions to represent Temporal Security, and so his trial had attracted the attention of the media.
The escorting guards led William to the podium, where Luke stood waiting for him.  There was just enough room for the two of them to stand together.  The guards returned to the door to await the end of the proceedings.
The lighting dimmed except for the area immediately around the judging council and also around William and Luke.  Fleet Admiral Morgan called for silence and the murmur of conversations around the room ceased immediately.  "I now open the trial of Commander William Herschel, accused of violation of the principle law of time, specifically the misuse of temporal technology for the purpose of narcotic smuggling."
For the next quarter of an hour William rehearsed to the council the events concerning his discovery and capture in as much detail as he could.
Fleet Admiral Morgan waited for a few moments after William had finished talking.  "Do you have any evidence or witnesses to present to this council?"
"I would like to question Commander John Tylvius as a suspect before the council," Luke announced.
"And your reasoning for considering him suspect?" Morgan asked.
"The only two people known to have been in the temporal transference chamber during those events are William Herschel and John Tylvius.  If Herschel is indeed innocent, as I firmly believe him to be, then the security chief is the only other possible suspect, based on our current information."
"Very well, you may question Commander Tylvius," Morgan permitted with a hint of reluctance, having hoped to be done with the proceedings quickly.
As Tylvius strode towards the front of the room to stand before the council, wearing an identical uniform to the guards, William leaned towards Luke and whispered, "Why are you calling him in as a suspect?  He might not be the one who was wearing the hooded robe.  If he's innocent you might be bringing him before the council for no reason."
"Yeah, I know.  That's probably the case.  I just don't like him," Luke whispered back with a faint smile.
"Me either," William agreed.  "He shot me."
Once Tylvius was standing before the council he took a brief moment to turn and cast a reciprocal look of intense dislike at William and Luke.
Luke cleared his throat before speaking for dramatic effect, mindful of the media team recording the proceedings from as many angles as they could.  "Commander Tylvius, would you please relate to the council your version of events?"
"Due to shift rotation this is my week to patrol that section on decks 85 to 87.  I don't believe in having the men under me do all the work.  As the security log will confirm, at the time that the temporal transference chamber was opened I was nearby on the deck below, but had not yet reached the temporal transference chamber."  Tylvius paused for a moment while Admiral Campbell confirmed the information in the log using a small console beside her chair.  She nodded to the other members of the council and Tylvius continued.  "A couple of minutes later I was on deck 86 patrolling that corridor and noticed that the door was open.  I checked on my multi-com and found that no one was scheduled to be using the facility at that time.  I saw a silhouette move in the dark room and noticed the smashed security panel, so I took the initiative to capture the likely intruder.  After all, that's my job.  I saw no one wearing the brown hooded robe that Commander Herschel described, or anyone whose attire was even remotely similar or in any way suspicious.  In fact, other than Commander Herschel there was no one else present in that vicinity at all.  To dismantle the security panel would've taken some time, so anyone as conspicuous as the person Commander Herschel claims to have seen would've been reported to security by the first person to walk past.  But no one would give a second thought to seeing the commander there, so he could set the stage for a break in without arousing suspicion.  Additionally, our analysis of the security panel's circuitry shows no microscopic evidence of hot-wiring, indicating that whoever was in there had security clearance, and had then erased the chamber's entry log and dismantled the panel to give the appearance of forced entry."
Luke was certain that Tylvius was hiding something, if only because of the way his recounting of the story seemed so well rehearsed.  With a glance at William he could see that his vampire friend didn't believe the man had given an honest account either.  Luke addressed the council.  "If the log entries can be erased they can also be altered.  If Commander Herschel was using the room, for whatever purpose, he could have done so with the light on, and no one would have questioned what he was doing there, as Tylvius said.  Incidentally, almost no one passes that area at that time, so someone wearing a monk-style robe could very well go unnoticed.  It was purely coincidental that Commander Herschel was passing a little earlier than usual that day.  But the fact that the person in question still thought it necessary to disguise himself says something, especially as questions would be raised if a random passer by saw Tylvius in there without being in the company of Temporal Security personnel.  In any situation other than walking past the room his presence would certainly have attracted attention."
"There's no evidence to suggest that any such person as this mysterious monk was ever present," Tylvius objected, "and nothing at all in fact that corroborates Herschel's story.  I have offered logs and a forensic analysis of the security panel as evidence."
"Those logs will have been fabricated," Luke protested angrily, his temper momentarily getting the better of him.
"Have you any evidence of such?" Tylvius asked with smug confidence.
"No," Luke was forced to concede, looking down.
Starting at the council, and slowly turning to address rest of the people present, Tylvius said, "I would like to pose a final thought for consideration.  Given that the substance in question, necrozine, hasn't been produced for decades, is it likely that I was able to obtain such a substance and get it aboard the station undetected?  Or is it more likely that Commander Herschel, who travels through time on a regular basis, was able to procure it from a time period that it was used in?"
"That's sheer speculation and you know it!" William snapped at him.
Tylvius turned and faced him but said nothing.
"There will be a brief recess, during which this council will consider all testimonies and evidence given and consider its verdict," Morgan announced, following which the members of the judging council arose and left the room through a private door behind their seats.
For William the ten minutes that they were gone seemed like an hour.  He didn't have a good feeling about the situation.  Both he and Luke were silent during the wait.  Eventually the judging council returned to their seats.  When the room was again settled Fleet Admiral Morgan stood to deliver their judgement, the very tone of his voice condemning.
"Under the authority of Earth High Command, this council has determined, based on all available evidence, that Commander William Herschel is guilty as charged.  The sentence for even attempting to break the principal law of time is death by temporal execution.  However, in light of Commander Herschel's services to Temporal Security, and by the special request of Admiral Bruce Rivette, the sentence has been reduced to exile."  The fleet admiral glared at William with disdain, but with a hint of satisfaction as if he was disposing of something best cast away and forgotten.  "Your exile will take place in 5000 BC.  If you even attempt to interfere with history in any way you will be removed from time and executed.  The sentence of exile will be carried out tomorrow, the 26th of March 2509.  This trial is now concluded."
Just like that it was all over, so unfavourably that all hope had been drained from the unfortunate vampire.  He looked up at Admiral Rivette, who was looking straight back at him.  William gave him a nod of gratitude for having had his life spared.  Execution would certainly have been worse than exile, no matter where he was sent.  The admiral gave a subtle smile of acknowledgment.  The guards came to escort William back to his cell.
The next day Luke waited in the cell with William for the time that the sentence would be carried out.  Both sat on the mattress with their backs against the wall and their sleeves rolled up.  Luke's light red jacket was folded beside him.
"It's possible that someone altered the sensor log," William speculated.  "Maybe it was Tylvius, he'd have clearance for special access to it."
"I've checked that out already.  The only time the log was accessed was when it was reviewed by the members of the judging council before the trial.  I doubt Tylvius would know how to conceal another access from the computer, unless he got his mate Captain Wallace to help him.  Those two are pretty tight, and just as nasty as each other," Luke said.
"Surely whoever put the necrozine there must've left a fingerprint or a DNA trace.  Maybe even particles of moisture from their breath.  Anything to at least identify their species with."
"I scanned the necrozine container three times myself just to be sure.  There were no such giveaways, not even an indication that such identification markers had been cleaned off of it.  Whoever did it was careful not to leave any traces in the first place."
"Well, perhaps the time scan could be used to look back on the event.  You could try asking the admiral."
"I've already looked into that possibility.  Laurence in the tech division said that directing the scanner backwards into the station would be like looking at the event through the wrong end of a telescope.  Not to mention the risk to the crew of focussing the energy of such an intense scanner beam into the station."  With barely tempered frustration in his voice at being so powerless to help his friend, Luke added, "Why don't they just send someone back in person to have a look at what happened?"
"You know how it is with things like this.  They never send anyone back to a point within their own timeline.  It's too easy for complications to arise.  Besides, whoever was sent back might not be impartial and might tamper with the evidence.  Not that it would make things worse than they are."  William hated to admit it, but he couldn't see any way out of this.
"All this time travel equipment isn't doing us much good then, is it?" Luke said resignedly.
"You're starting to sound more upset about all this than I am," William remarked.
Luke nodded and took a deep breath.  Getting worked up about it wasn't going to help anyone.  He had to keep a clear head if he was to think his way through it.  After a few moments of silence a faint smile crept over his face.  "Remember when we stopped off for a fishing trip on the shore of Loch Ness in the sixth century on the way back from that mission to collect egg samples from the Cretaceous age, and you accidentally left your sample bag of plesiosaur eggs on the shore?  Or when we went back a couple of millennia and created a face shape on the surface of Mars using the ship's weapons to win that other bet against Colin.  We had people wondering about that for centuries!" he said, attempting to cheer his friend up.  "And there were people who actually believed that aliens would've gone to the trouble of doing it."
William's mood lightened a little at the reminiscence.  "Could you imagine the Messarans getting up to mischief like that?  Still, we're lucky we didn't end up picking strawberries in a penal colony for the rest of our lives for it."  They were fortunate that their mischief hadn't been considered serious enough to warrant formal punishment, though they did receive a severe informal warning from Admiral Rivette when these events were brought to light, along with several others from the various minor missions they'd been paired up on.  William's mood fell as it sunk in that they wouldn't have times like that any more.
Luke could tell what his friend was thinking and said, "At least you're alive."  He leaned towards him.  "And I promise you, I'll never give up on searching for some way to prove you're not guilty, even if I have to do it without the admiral's consent."
"Thank you, my friend," William said with the utmost sincerity.
"You're more like a brother," Luke said looking up and holding William's gaze.  They clasped hands for a moment.  He tried to further reassure his friend by saying, "I don't imagine it's going to be easy, but if anyone can get through it and still come out on top it's you."
"It's just inconvenient," William said with a slight smile, "I was planning to go see that demonstration of artistic holography on deck 50 tomorrow.  Not to mention I was thinking of asking Angelica Thompson out on a date."
"Bit late, she's already started seeing someone, otherwise you could've taken her to the demonstration.  I've noticed that Patricia Malawi's got her eye on you though."
"Who's Angelica seeing?" William demanded, having been under the impression that she wasn't in a relationship.
After a momentary pause Luke replied, "Brian Flemming."
"Oh not Flemming!" William exclaimed, appalled at the thought.  "How did she ever say yes to him?  I'm guessing she hasn't seen the way he eats then.  A herd of pigs would dine with more grace."
"They've gone out a few times now.  Their next date is to the holography demonstration on deck 50 tomorrow night."
William studied the straight look on his friend's face, a look that was forced, and betrayed the slightest twitch of a smile.  "You're winding me up, aren't you?"
Luke's straight face vanished into laughter as William gave him a friendly jab in the ribs.
An armed guard interrupted them.  Addressing Luke he said, "Excuse me, sir.  It's time to prepare."
Luke stood up and put his jacket on.  As he stepped towards the cell entrance the guard deactivated the force field, quickly reactivating it the instant Luke was clear.
William's apprehension started to build as he saw his friend walk away with the guard.  Suddenly he felt more alone than he ever had before.  But a matter of seconds later, a distraction from his sinking mood arrived wearing a dark green jacket and a short haircut.  It was Ensign Colin Finch, with a furtive look on his slightly chubby face.
"Hey, Commander Herschel," Colin said in a soft voice.
"Hi.  And by the way, it's just mister now, or William."  He indicated the cell.
Colin looked around the cell through the force field.  "Oh, right.  I know you're not supposed to have visitors, but I snuck in anyway.  I just wanted to let you know that I believe you didn't do it, and well…" Colin seemed a little embarrassed and looked at the floor, "well, you're actually a bit of a role model to me.  Someone I've always looked up to.  I just wanted you to know that."
William was surprised to hear this and wasn't sure how to react.  He'd carried out a lot of successful missions in his career but it'd never occurred to him that anyone would see him in such a light.  True, he'd appeared on a number of news shows after some of his most significant missions, and he knew his name had even become known offworld, particularly among the criminal sects, but he'd never considered himself to be a celebrity in any measure.  "Thanks, Colin," he said appreciatively, though he had hoped in the back of his mind that Colin had come to bust him out.
"Is there anything I can do for you, any messages to pass on?" Colin asked eagerly.
"No, but thanks for the offer.  And if you want a bit of career advice, stop beating your superiors all the time on poker night or you'll never get promoted.  For what it's worth, you've got the best poker face I've seen.  You should consider a position in diplomatic relations.  You could probably even make a career as a lawyer or a politician in the twenty first century."
"Thanks, and I'll keep that in mind," Colin said thoughtfully.
Their hushed conversation was cut short when Tylvius walked around a corner and saw them.
Colin put on his most official sounding voice and said, "So I'm afraid that's the fleet admiral's final word on the matter."  He turned and started walking briskly away, and looked up at Tylvius as though he'd only just that moment noticed him.  He gave the security chief a brief nod and continued past him.
When Colin was out of sight Tylvius turned and glared at William, who glared defiantly back in a silent challenge until Tylvius looked away and left.
*

As Luke went into the armoury he was pulled aside by Larissa Rivette, the last person he'd imagine bumping into in such a place.  "Larissa, what are you doing here?" he asked.
"Someone's planning to stop William reaching Earth alive," she said in a lowered voice.  She handed him a cardiovascular injector.  It was a device that quickly shot out and withdrew twenty ultra-thin needles, which protruded to different lengths so that whatever medication it contained would get into the blood stream quickly for rapid effect, and was virtually painless.  "Get him to struggle and then use this injector on him, otherwise he won't survive.  Tell no one I gave this to you."  Despite the tone of conspiratorial urgency in her voice, her face was a mask that portrayed very little emotion.  She turned and left, her silvery grey frock gently swaying in the breeze of her quick pace.
Why does she always seems so serious and keep to herself most of the time, Luke wondered, noticing that her hair was neatly held up in place on the back of her head, the same as almost every other time he'd seen her.  Occasionally she'd wear it in a ponytail that hung close to waist length, which was generally when she was in a happier mood, but he'd never seen her with her hair down loose.  Still, at least someone else cared about William's well being besides him, though her manner was certainly curious.  He knew that Larissa and William had grown close since the day he'd saved her, and Luke was aware of William's unrequited interest in her.  He did sometimes wonder if she'd married the admiral to put herself in a position of power through her relationship with him.  She often used the time scan for her own archaeological research and no one questioned her about it, though some people had a hidden resentment of her unchecked freedom.  Luke had walked past her once while she was going through some time scan results, but all she had on her screens were details about an ancient Egyptian woman who'd become a pharaoh, Queen Hatshepsut.  Her research had seemed harmless enough, and it'd put to rest any doubt that may have ever arisen in his mind concerning her activities.
Luke typed his security code into a locker and opened it to reveal half a dozen phased positron pistols, which fired positron bursts that were partially phased for deeper penetration on the kill setting, and a strong electrical discharge along an ionised beam to stun.  He removed his jacket and strapped on a shoulder holster and inserted one of the slender dull grey weapons into it.  He was troubled about how Larissa could possibly know of a threat to William's life that no one else did.  How could such information have reached her on the station without anyone else knowing?  After replacing his jacket he went to meet the other prisoner escorts.
Luke had requested permission to lead the escort party, reasoning that as William's friend the prisoner was less likely to attempt a violent escape.  His request had been granted for that reason alone.  When he joined the other guards they took William from the cell and led him to the shuttle bay.  They were escorting him to one of the older and nearly obsolete time shuttles, which had been prepared especially for him the previous night.  It was similar in shape to Earth's early space shuttles, though smaller and more streamlined, and with proportionally smaller wings.  The entry hatch was on the starboard side behind the cockpit.
Near the shuttle stood a group of people who'd come to witness the prisoner's launch.  Some were friends who wanted to offer William whatever support and encouragement they could by being there, others were just there to watch.  A news team was spread across the area, recording and transmitting the exile event, all the while doing their best to keep out of everyone's way.
William and Luke both noticed that Captain Wallace was in the group.  They knew that he wouldn't have missed it for anything, since they and he had been at odds for several years now.  Wallace had curly ginger hair and wore a royal blue jacket, and stood with a look of satisfaction on his usually expressionless face at the sight of William being herded along.  Unsurprisingly, Tylvius was standing next to him.
As William and the escort party drew nearer to the crowd, Admiral Rivette stepped out and said, "William, the shuttle's going to take you to a preset location where you'll begin your exile.  Its energy cells have been drained to only have enough power for this journey.  You will have use of it as a shelter for a period of three days to give you time to find or construct some form of shelter of your own.  After that time an armed squad will go to retrieve it.  There are some caves to the north of your destination.  I advise you to use those for shelter during the day.  You will still have use of the shuttle's sensors to enable you to find food and water."  In a more compassionate tone, he added, "Good luck."  He stepped back and rejoined the crowd, and the escort party continued to lead William towards the shuttle.
William gave the admiral a respectful nod as he passed, and also made eye contact with Larissa for a few moments.  Her eyes were moist, but she kept her composure well.
Remembering what Larissa said to him in the armoury, and believing that she could be trusted, Luke removed the injector from his sleeve as subtly as he could.  He waited until they were out of earshot of Admiral Rivette before saying to William softly but in a casual way, "I expected you to put up more of a fight."  He had to be discreet with his words because the other escorting guards would be able to overhear anything that was said.
William caught his implication, so a few steps later he lunged towards one of the guards, knocking him over.  In that same second Luke dove onto William, bringing him to the ground.  He quickly touched the injector to William's back, since it didn't matter on what part of the body it was used.  Within a couple of seconds William collapsed unconscious.
"I didn't mean I wanted you to put up a fight," Luke said as he looked down at William, purely for the benefit of the other guards so it didn't seem suspicious.  He signalled the others to help him pick up the prisoner and place him just inside the shuttle's open hatch.
The admiral followed them inside and went to the cockpit where he locked in the course with a security code.  A beacon had already been placed at the destination point by a Temporal Security team for the shuttle to lock on to when it was in proximity to that time.  The journey to the point in space where the Solar system was in its galactic orbit 7,509 years ago would take less than one day, and that time would be reduced significantly because the station would give the shuttle an accelerated push off to hasten it on its way with greater than usual speed to ensure that the power didn't fail before it arrived.  The flight through time would be complete before it reached its spatial destination.  Hopefully he'll remain sedated until then, the admiral thought.  He set a timer on the force field controls and left the cockpit.  Twenty seconds later a force field activated across the cockpit's doorway, so that the prisoner wouldn't be able to access any of the ship's primary controls to even attempt to change his course or deactivate the engines or time drive.  The admiral and the escorts exited, leaving the prisoner helpless on the floor.  With a final regretful glance at William the admiral closed the hatch.  About a minute later the shuttle's engines powered up.  The autopilot guided the streamlined craft safely out of the shuttle bay.


Chapter 2:  The Dream

Now, in 5000 BC, William walked back into the small ship, presuming that the still open hatch had allowed fresh air to blow into the craft while he slept.  One of the maintenance panels was still on the floor from when he'd short-circuited the cockpit's force field, along with a tube of micro-fracture sealant he'd used to patch several tiny holes that had been made right through the hull.  To find such a thing had seemed surprisingly providential, otherwise the air would've seeped out of the ship long before he landed.
He went into the cockpit and examined the display screens on the touch responsive consoles that reached around the front of the confined room.  The temporal indicator read exactly minus 5,000, and the date was the 1st of January.  He figured that to reach a destination that far back on autopilot with such accuracy, even after the power fluctuations he'd caused in an attempt to disrupt the time drive to not go back so far, there had to be a guidance beacon that'd been placed prior to his arrival.
A quick check of the stabiliser controls revealed that the system had been deactivated intentionally.  The damage report display also showed that the navigation system had been damaged in the crash, but was still partially operational.  It also indicated a life support system failure, which explained his suffocation before he'd made it out through the hatch, even after having sealed over the tiny hull breaches.  He opened an access panel below the rim of the main console and found that a circuit vital to that system had been ripped out.  Loose severed and frayed wires that were all pointing away from the main circuitry attested to that.  In addition to all of the other problems the emergency oxygen cylinders were empty.  Reviewing the navigation log he found that the ship had hit the ground backwards when it spun out of control through the atmosphere, though he was grateful it'd landed the right way up.  The autopilot had been programmed to shut down all stabilisers on final approach to the planet.  Someone had blatantly done everything they could to kill him, short of using a gun, which would've been too conspicuous and traceable in the event of an investigation.
A symbol was flashing on the communications console, which meant that there was a stored message.  The computer log showed that it was received a matter of minutes after his launch, before the time drive had activated.  He touched the 'play message' icon on the screen and Luke's face appeared on it.  It was comforting to see the face he would regret not seeing again the most.
"Will, I certainly hope you made it in one piece! I'd better make this quick.  Larissa gave me an injector to use on you.  I asked her about it right after your launch and she told me it contained the blood of the Sirius rockworm with a light sedative mixed in for authenticity.  You might want to look it up.  Somehow she knew you'd be arriving during daylight, though she won't say how.  Maybe she's involved in all this, but then why would she be helping?  She knew that the rockworm blood would protect you, since she'd already experimented with it herself.  She also told me that there's a guidance beacon near your landing location that was reset for a daylight landing, though officially it was meant to be set for midnight to guide you down well away from the daylight hours.  You'll be interested to know that Tylvius was on the beacon placing assignment.  If I can find a way to prove that he tampered with the beacon we might be able to exonerate you and bring you back.  I stashed a few things under the beds in the starboard side quarters for you when the shuttle was being prepared.  And on Larissa's advice I also included a tube of micro-fracture sealant.  I nicked all the gear from the ship Wallace used on his last assignment, so if anything's noticed to be missing they'll question him about it.  I couldn't mention it in the cell in case it was bugged.  You're going to be fine, so don't let yourself start believing otherwise.  Hang in there Will!"  Luke's message ended, and immediately self-deleted so that it wouldn't be found by the retrieval squad in three days.
William found that he couldn't send Luke a reply because the temporal transmitter in the communication system was also damaged.  But he was now convinced that Tylvius was indeed the perpetrator.  Unfortunately he wasn't in a position to prove it.  He began a sensor sweep of the nearby area for the energy signature of the beacon but the scans showed negative.  It must've been deactivated.  He had another idea.  He did another sweep, this time for any titanium-based alloys, which were used in most casings, as well as the outer layer of ships' hulls.  This time the scan yielded a positive result, about two hundred metres northeast of the ship.
Before setting out to find it, he quickly looked up the Sirius rockworm in the ship's database to satisfy his curiosity.  It showed that the metre-long rockworm was indigenous to a dwarf planet in the Sirius system, but he'd guessed that much himself.  That system was a binary system 8.8 light years away, and the planet orbited the larger star, which emitted over thirty times more electromagnetic radiation than Sol.  The small planet was essentially a bleak ball of rock, gravel and sand with temperatures reaching an average 175 degrees Celsius during the day, therefore the rockworm needed to be able to withstand harsh conditions of that nature.  The summary also mentioned a noticeable amount of seismic activity caused by the conflicting gravitational pulls of the two stars.  Due to these unrelenting conditions the rockworm had a thick tough skin to protect its internal organs its blood produced a chemical that was resistant to electromagnetic radiation, particularly in the wavelengths from ultraviolet to x-rays.
So that explained his new-found resistance to sunlight.  His blood had assimilated the chemical-producing properties, probably in the same sort of way that the vampire blood had integrated itself into his physiology when he was changed.  He hoped it'd be a permanent attribute.  Considering the composition of the very thin atmosphere on the rockworms' planet, which was mostly nitrogen with some methane and hydrogen, the creatures evidently didn't need oxygen to survive.  Unfortunately that trait wasn't passed on through their blood as well.
These thoughts were interrupted when he noticed that the shuttle was running on its emergency power cell, and that the power level was currently at 4 percent.  He attempted to initialise the main power system but there was no response.  He hurried to the back of the ship, through the room behind the cockpit where the hatch in the side of the ship was, down the narrow central passage that took him past the two small sleeping quarters and the tiny bathroom, to the cramped engine room housing the flight engines, the time drive, and the two power systems.  The main power was derived from the quasium reactor.  It was clearly visible through the viewing port that the quasium chamber was empty.  Quasium was an atomically heavy synthetic element that'd been created on Earth by the Messaran scientist Professor Quasius shortly after World War Four.  Its density was dozens of times greater than uranium.  Within the reaction chamber the quasium was electrostatically ionised in plasma, resulting in a massive energy release.  A 35 millimetre wide sphere of the stable allotrope could power a small time ship for about eight years.  But this ship no longer had any of the vital element.  The emergency power cell was usually kept charged by the main reactor so that if the power did fail the emergency cell would keep systems running without interruption.  William couldn't make it even close to his own time with only 4 percent of the power remaining.  He'd be lucky to even get the ship off the ground.  The admiral had been right; it'd been drained to the point of only being able to make the trip here.  It occurred to William to just wait for the squad that would come in three days and try to ambush them for the power cell they'd have with them to take the ship back to Epoch, but chances were that they'd have orders to use lethal force if they encountered opposition from him.
Despondently he wandered out of the room.  Just as he passed the sleeping quarters there was a crunch underfoot.  He bent down to see what he'd trodden on and was surprised to find an electronic component.  There was another just in front of the door to one of the quarters.  A quick touch on a door control and the door slid open with a faint hiss.  A few more tiny components were scattered across the floor, and just under the lower of the two bunks he could see the missing life support circuit.  He picked it up and quickly examined it.  It looked repairable, but it'd take a while.  Whoever had done the sabotage had no need to fear it being discovered later by the retrieval squad, as it'd be dismissed as an attempt on William's part to create corroborating evidence of being framed.
He left the damaged circuit on the bed and returned to the cockpit where he turned off all of the systems to conserve what little power remained.  He took a handheld omniscanner from an equipment locker in the room behind the cockpit and exited the time shuttle to find the beacon.

*  *  *

Deep in the heart of the time station Epoch, a surreptitious figure was making his way swiftly through the dark and currently empty maintenance passages near the station's massive quasium reactor.  He knew these passages well, as he'd been to this rendezvous several times before.  The hood of the loose dark brown robe he wore shadowed his entire face.
The being was joined by a second person wearing a similar hooded robe, only his was black.  The second man stood more erect and was more domineering when he spoke, even though they both spoke in a conspiratorial whisper in case any maintenance personnel came into the passages, which they frequently did in their routine duties.
"Report," the one in black ordered.
"The council sent Herschel to 5000 BC as you predicted, but he survives in exile," the brown-robed servant said a little fearfully, knowing that it wasn't the answer his master wanted.  "He should be dead.  I carried out your instructions precisely."
"I'm aware of that," the master said patiently.
"You're not angry?"
"No.  I know you did your best.  If you continue to do so events will yet unfold in our favour."
"Hawking is still pursuing the investigation.  He could be a problem for us," the servant said with concern, though he was both surprised and relieved that his master had accepted the failure so well.
"I'm prepared for that situation.  Go now, and keep me informed of any new developments."
"As you instruct."  The brown-robed figure gave a slight bow, then turned and hurried away, though still moving about furtively.  A moment after he was out of sight, the other dematerialised as tentacles of green light played around his form.

*  *  *

William placed the stubby cylinder on the shuttle's floor in the main room behind the cockpit and released the top panel.  The beacon hadn't been difficult to find, with the assistance of his omniscanner.  It'd been buried under a metre of sand, but with his determined efforts it hadn't taken too long to dig out.  It wasn't operating, but William figured that he might be able to use its power cell, which was still well charged.  Such a device needed to have a strong power cell to transmit signals and telemetry across time.  It still wouldn't be enough to get him to any civilised age though.
Then it came to him: the ship had two phased positron cannons built into the front of it, each of them having four firing capacitors which retained a constant charge so that they could still fire a few shots at an instant when in danger, even with the power fluctuating or offline.  Whoever had drained the power before his departure might not have thought of that!  Almost tripping over the beacon in haste, he dashed from the ship and went to the nose end, where he unclipped a plate of the hull just behind one of the protruding weapons.  His vampire eyes had little difficulty seeing in the gathering darkness.  To his luck there were the four large capacitors in place around the emission tube, and they each had a glowing red warning light indicating 'charged'.  He removed all four, careful not to touch the connection ports, and carried them into the ship, and then did the same to the other cannon.  He placed them all together in the equipment room inside the hatch.  In one of the storage lockers he found several lengths of thick electrical cable, which he used to connect them to the ship's emergency power circuitry, along with the beacon's power cell.  He checked the power reading in the cockpit.  It now read 17 percent.  His glimmer of hope grew in strength.  It still wouldn't get him as far as the twenty sixth century, but it was a start.
There was still the problem of the inoperable life support system.  Even vampires needed oxygen.  Without it they would become comatose for as long as it took for their bodies to completely wither from consuming themselves and die, which for all he knew would take years of suffering in a state of living death.
He had a couple of ideas for producing oxygen in the ship, but wasn't sure that either would produce enough for him to survive.  That being the case he decided to use both, and if his air did start to run out he could always land the ship early.  He knew that the oasis near the horizon must have water since there was a substantial amount of vegetation there, and also because his omniscanner confirmed it, and water had an abundance of oxygen in its molecules.  All he needed to do was extract it.  He knew that in the mid twenty-first century hydrogen was extracted from water and used as a fuel source, and that it had been extracted using electrolysis.  But as he recalled it wasn't a matter of simply running direct current through the water, as that didn't produce a substantial enough amount for his needs.  He needed an electrolytic compound like sulphuric acid or sodium hydroxide to add to it to facilitate the process, but neither was kept in this kind of shuttle.  Even if it had been, it would've been removed before he was sent into exile.  He went back into the engine room and removed a cylindrical equipment housing from part of the engine assembly, which he estimated could hold seven or eight litres of water.  He closed the main hatch on his way to the cockpit, where he powered up the ship and did a quick system check.  The ship had sustained only minimal damage during its violent landing, as the sand had cushioned the impact considerably as it skidded to a halt.  There was some buckling of the hull's outer layer on the ship's underside, but the inner pressure wall and thermal insulation layers were still intact, so the ship could still fly in space.  He had to be careful about the speed of re-entry through the atmosphere, even with only minor damage to the outer plating, as the severe air friction and heat could still potentially tear the ship apart.
Built into each of the ship's two slightly protruding wings at the rear was a circular spatial engine, each comprised of four engine cells.  The ship rose slowly into the air as the anti-gravity landing thrusters engaged, and as William powered up the engines the cells glowed blue and the shuttle moved smoothly forward.
William piloted it to the oasis, where he landed again, powered down the ship and reopened the hatch.  He took the equipment housing to the nearest pool of water and filled it to about three quarters.  Leaving the makeshift container outside the ship he went inside and returned moments later carrying a large packet of salt from the food supply, a plastic rod that was half a metre in length, and two electric cables, the other ends of which were connected to the ship's power.  After pouring all of the salt into the water he stirred it with the rod.  When it was mixed in he put the bared ends of the cables in the water, positioning them so that they didn't touch.  He went back into the ship and set the power for direct current before activating it.  From the hatch he could see streams of bubbles coming from the submerged wires.  He grabbed his omniscanner and set it to sound an alarm when the emissions of chlorine gas had mostly subsided, that being the reason he was doing it outside of the ship, so that he'd know that the resultant sodium hydroxide was almost ready.
While he was waiting for that to happen he took as many equipment housings and containers from the ship as he could find and carried them to the oasis.  He uprooted several large plants and proceeded to replant them in the containers, being sure to water them all.  He put the plants in the equipment room and set up three ultraviolet lamps near them to continue the plants' photosynthesis.
The omniscanner started beeping.  He fetched an empty bottle and filled it with more water from the oasis and mixed it in with the sodium hydroxide, adding more water until the container was again three quarters full.  Being extremely careful not to spill the corrosive solution, he brought it into the shuttle and placed it on the ground.  He used the adhesive micro-fracture sealant to stick the container to the floor so it wouldn't slide around or tip over while the ship was in flight.  In the engine room he found a long piece of 80 millimetre wide plastic tubing among the spare parts.  With his omniscanner ready, he put the two wires in his sodium hydroxide solution on opposite sides and scanned for which of the streams of bubbles was oxygen.  He positioned the tube over the hydrogen side to catch most of those bubbles, and used the sealant again to hold it and the wires in place.  He placed the other end of the tube as deep into one of the sleeping quarters as he could, grabbed a blanket, then left the room and closed the door as far as it would go without squashing the tube.  Once he'd locked the door in place so that it wouldn't slide open, he jammed the blanket into the gap to better contain the hydrogen within that room.  It would've been safe enough for him to breathe the hydrogen without any ill effects; containing it was mainly to avoid the risk of an explosion if there was an electrical spark.  He left the emission of oxygen bubbles open to the air, and hoped that this, combined with the plants, would be enough to sustain a breathable atmosphere for a while.  He set the omniscanner to alert him if the ship's oxygen level fell below twelve percent.
William closed the hatch, powered up and the ship, and engaged the engines.
The engine cells flared bright blue and the ship rose steadily, gaining speed as it headed out of the atmosphere.
A trip back to his own time would take nearly one day, or at least it would if the power level had been high enough to complete the journey.  It would also take about one day to reach the coordinate in space where the solar system would be at that point in time using this kind of ship, which could travel up to 2,400 times the speed of light.  As well as providing the raw thrust, the engines enveloped the ship in a rift that gave it a slight displacement from space-time, nullifying the temporal dilation effect of extreme velocity, while also effectively cancelling the vessel's mass in relation to normal space to enable it to accelerate so far beyond the speed of light.  The rift tapered to a point well ahead of the ship to cut its way through interstellar particles, including small rocks and debris.  Objects of any significant size, such as comets or planetary bodies, would be detected by their gravity waves, which were still detectable to the sensors even at such speeds.  The navigation computer would automatically guide the ship around them.
The time travel part of the journey would be finished in less time than the space travel.  The time drive was a separate system to the spatial engines, although they could be operated simultaneously and synchronised so that both journeys ended together, but it would require a lot more power to maintain the movement through time.  It was possible to set up a kind of temporal drift while the ship rested on the planet's surface, which would cause time inside the ship to move incredibly slower than outside.  What was years on the planet would be hours within the ship.  It was a very slow method but used less energy since it didn't have to displace the ship's mass.  Even so, the journey would still be far too long for the distance through time that William needed to travel.  Temporal drift wasn't a feasible option.  He set the temporal movement to progress parallel with the space flight so that when the power did drop out he'd still be near Earth's location in space in whatever era the time drive could get him to.
Minutes after the ship left Earth's atmosphere it neared the moon in preparation to tightly slingshot around it and use its gravity to gain extra speed in order to preserve power.  William took a moment to look out the cockpit window at the dusty and rocky cratered landscape below.  He was always fascinated to see the Moon so close, even though at the speed he was currently travelling its terrain was little more than a grey blur.  He'd once walked on the Sea of Tranquillity, one of his favourite experiences.
After performing the slingshot manoeuvre he engaged the time drive.  Green light rippled around the entire ship and a moment later it vanished through time.
Now that he was under way, it was finally time to satisfy the pangs of hunger that he'd refused to acknowledge while making his preparations.  He went into the starboard quarters, as the port quarters' floor was littered with bits of broken circuitry, and by now was probably full of hydrogen.  There was a food dispenser sticking out of the back wall above a supply cupboard.  It could dispense a limited number of foods and drinks within seconds, provided the storage tanks behind the wall were in supply.  An inventory monitor on the dispenser showed that there was a reasonable supply of food in storage, and also a supply of the synthetic blood that vampires in his era used in place of human blood to maintain their heightened abilities.  William decided to save that for such time as he might have real need of it.  With a groan of disappointment he noticed that the inventory didn't include chocolate pudding, and there was nothing remotely like it in the other supply cupboards either.  For now he simply ordered a basic chicken stir-fry.  About ten seconds after he typed in his order a plate of food emerged from the machine into the collection bay beneath with a pair of chopsticks and a fork.  For his drink he decided on mixed juices, so while holding a glass from the cupboard under a nozzle on the side, he typed in what he wanted and the glass was filled.
The food was a bit too hot, so he took a moment to check under the bed for whatever Luke had left for him.  To his amazement he pulled out an extra two sets of black uniform shirts and pants, a phased positron pistol and a more powerful pulse rifle, as well a pair of anti-gravity wristbands, in appearance quite similar to the bracers worn on the lower forearms of ancient Roman soldiers.  The two metallic bracers were each connected by thin wires to a small metal box designed to clip onto a utility belt.  The box housed the power supply and a few basic controls.  They were usually used to facilitate lifting heavy objects and weren't powerful enough to raise a person into the air, although it could lighten them enough to give a low gravity effect.
He picked up his plate of food and sat on the lower bunk to eat.  There was a computer screen attached to the foot end.  With so many things on his mind because of recent events he wasn't in the mood to watch a movie as he normally would while he ate, though he thought it would be nice to have something to take his mind off things.  The ship did have a considerable database, so he knew he'd be able to find something of interest.
He spent the next couple of hours lying back on the bed, eating and reviewing certain parts of history that he'd enjoyed studying at the academy.  His interest in history was what had led him to take a position in Temporal Security.  By the late twenty fifth century the world education system had become more condensed and greatly accelerated using a combination of the most advanced teaching methods and various learning devices that matched the waveform of the human brain, with individual adaptation, to download knowledge through a synaptic interface implant.  But like anything, the implanted knowledge had to be refreshed occasionally to become more deeply rooted in a person's memory.  Thanks to these methods, as well as extra study they'd undertaken, William and Luke were fully qualified for employment in Temporal Security by their late teens.
World Wars Three and Four, and particularly the events following them, were among the most pivotal times in human history, and the most tragic for loss of human lives.  They were also a couple of William's favourites as they ultimately led to the golden age of humanity that William was from, so he started skimming through their summaries to keep himself occupied while he picked at his food.
World War Three went from 2089 to 2097, initiated by old disputes between the American Empire, including its vassal nations, and the Middle Eastern Coalition, but soon drawing the rest of the world in, until the conflict essentially became Western civilisation against Eastern and Middle Eastern.  Eventually a number of smaller countries united as a third bloc and gave an ultimatum to the two war forces: that the rest of the world's efforts would be focussed against each of them equally if the war did not cease.  Because of the projected number of additional casualties that both of the main factions would suffer, the ultimatum was successful and the war was ended, but it had already reduced the world population from 12.3 billion to 7.8 billion people.
War was again declared in 2113, beginning World War Four.  All nations' arsenals had been vastly upgraded, both biologically and technologically.  Nations' entire economies were devoted to the war effort.  By the end of 2116 the human race was reduced to 2.7 billion people.  A small internationally organised group called the New Order infiltrated all major governments and overthrew them simultaneously.  They ended the war, abolished money, and distributed the world's remaining resources fairly between all nations, according to their needs.  They ultimately succeeded in their aim of uniting humanity and establishing a worldwide society of equality, and were the foundation of what would become the Earth High Command of William's time.
With the world largely decimated and the population drastically reduced, a race of alien warriors called Gultorians saw the opportunity to invade.  A force of one million Gultorians arrived and swarmed across the Earth less than a year after world peace had been established.  With most trained armies gone and civilian efforts being swept aside, the human race was losing, until another alien race arrived, called Messarans, who drove the Gultorians away using their higher technology.  The event became known in history as the Messaran Intervention.  When their star had gone supernova many centuries earlier, the Messarans' level of technology had enabled them to shift their whole planet, which was twice the mass of Earth, forward through time to a point after the shockwave had passed and the system was once again safe.  They were able to set it into a new, precisely calculated orbit around what had become a white dwarf in the centre of a beautiful nebula.  The Gultorians had known that against such power their forces would be obliterated, and they hadn't returned since, with the exception of a few daring marauders who'd tried over the years to target insufficiently armed merchant and exploration vessels.  Despite their higher technological abilities, the Messarans willingly helped humanity rebuild and advance at its own pace, asking for nothing in return but friendship between the two worlds.  Many of the smaller communities across the globe in particular were grateful, having been forced to revert to an almost medieval lifestyle because of the wars until technology and resources became readily available again.
When William had finished eating and reviewing history he got up and went to the cockpit.  He was pleased to recall that the alliance with the Messarans was still in place in his time, still unwavering.  As for the global situation on Earth, countries were simply names of particular land areas, no longer divisions of people.  
There was a green shimmer around the edge of the main window.  That was normal while in temporal transit.  He could clearly see Earth in front of him, seemingly not moving at all, as he chased it forward on its path through space and time.  His course and speed were synchronised with Earth's and correlated with the temporal variance of his accelerated temporal movement.  The power was now at 13.2 percent.  He'd be lucky if he reached any reasonably civilised period.  After a quick status review of the ship's systems he returned to his bunk and went to sleep, to kill off time now rather than from fatigue, as well as wanting to be in top form when he landed, not knowing when in history that would be, or what to expect when he got there.
In his mind William could see with extraordinary clarity a young boy that somehow he knew was nine years old.  The boy was homeless, wandering aimlessly along the streets of Dartford, relatively near London, on a quiet night in the early twenty first century, specifically the 31st of October, 2013.  The boy's name was Arnold.  He'd stopped for a moment in front of a shop window, but wasn't looking at what was on display inside.  He was looking at his own reflection and attempting to tidy his scruffy hair in an effort to regain some dignity despite his circumstances.  As William watched what the boy was doing he became aware that he could actually feel the cold of the night.  He also knew Arnold's thoughts, and that was how he knew the date of where the boy was.  He realised that he was seeing through Arnold's eyes, as if he was a guest in his mind.  However, the boy was unaware of William's presence inside his head, though William was aware of everything about him now.  He knew that Arnold wore a watch even though it was broken, hoping in vain that he wouldn't look and therefore feel so completely poverty stricken.  He loved reading books and tried to learn all he could from them, and especially enjoyed the science fiction ones.  He felt like he could relate to them, that they had a certain familiarity, though he couldn't figure out why.  He also enjoyed music whenever he had the opportunity to hear it.  Once he'd managed to sneak into the Queen Elizabeth Hall to see the London Philharmonic Orchestra.  It was one of the best nights of his life.
Over the course of the last two days, Arnold had walked to Dartford from the Brompton Cemetery on the other side of London and across the Thames.  He'd slept inside the extensive cemetery every night for the last fortnight by hiding in the grounds in the late afternoon until the gates were locked.  Then he had the place all to himself, with just squirrels and pigeons for company.  Besides it being a beautiful and peaceful place, and the fact that he felt more comfortable among the dead than the living, it was the place where his parents had been murdered by a woman four years ago, seemingly for no reason at all.  He couldn't recall the woman's face, probably because for so long now he'd tried not to think about that time too often as it gave him nightmares and made him feel the loneliness more deeply than he already did.  Instead he just tried to remember his parents during happier times, and could vaguely remember their faces.  That was why he spent so long at the cemetery, to try to remember them better, and where they might have come from before arriving in London on that fateful day.  Throughout his wanderings he'd never come across another place that he felt had any connection to them.
William couldn't be sure if this was just an unusually vivid dream or a real telepathic connection with the boy.  In either case he wanted to know how and why.
He knew that Arnold was still angry and resentful about what had happened to him earlier that night.  He'd been searching for some scraps to eat in a bin behind a restaurant, and had just spotted what to him was a stockpile of discarded food spilling out of a split in a garbage bag, when a waiter from the restaurant came out with an extra bag to throw in.  The waiter had furiously chased Arnold away, even though it was evident that he was starving.  He couldn't understand why the waiter was so protective of leftovers that'd been thrown out, despite the attempt he had made to pay for it with the fifty pence that a kind old lady had given him that afternoon.  It just didn't make sense.  It wasn't like he wanted the man to serve it up on a plate for him.  All the same, he refused to accept that this was how his life would always be.  If he defied it enough it would have to change.  He had his dreams of what he wanted to do, and hung on to them with firm hope.  He wanted to be a scientist, an author, a musician, an astronaut, or even an officer in the military.  Something that had a purpose.
He went his way along a side street lined with terrace houses, having chosen one at random with no real destination in mind.  Only a few of the streetlights were working, and one of them flickered occasionally.  At a point further along where two side streets branched off, one either side but not quite in line with each other, he saw a white haired old man emerge from the one on the right.  After a brief glance at Arnold, the man walked diagonally across to the street that branched away on the other side and disappeared along it.  Arnold wouldn't have given the ordinary looking gentleman a second thought if it wasn't for the conspicuous small metal case he was carrying that had rounded edges and looked like it might be made of pure titanium.
Arnold noticed that his shoelace had come undone, so he knelt to tie it up.  It wasn't easy, considering that what was left of his broken laces were now only a few inches long and frayed.  He finally managed it and continued on his way at a slow stroll.  He'd only been walking another thirty seconds when a middle-aged businesswoman in a sharp burgundy suit came around a corner from the street beyond where the old man had crossed, and after looking around she started walking in Arnold's direction.  The boy was concerned for her; it wasn't safe for a woman to be walking alone at this time of night in the dark backstreets.  She looked straight at him for a moment and then turned down the same street that the old man had.  Arnold was still some distance away, but when he reached that street he cast a glance along the way that the two people had gone.  For a moment he felt a little dizzy, which he guessed was because he hadn't had enough to eat lately, but then he was alright.  There was only one streetlight working a short way along the street that the old man and the businesswoman had gone down, where it curved away to the right, but he could see a group of nine people standing in the middle of the road, all watching him silently.  They were silhouetted by the single working streetlight further behind them, but by the moonlight that was filtering through the clouds he could vaguely see their faces.  It was a mixed group of men and women of different ethnicities.  The old man was among them, and so was the woman in the burgundy suit.  One of the men in particular stood out.  He was very muscular, and his head was shaved bald.  He was holding the business woman by the arm.  Some of the group seemed vaguely familiar.  Perhaps he'd passed them on the street at some point.  There was something strange about the way they were all looking at him without even speaking amongst themselves.  Getting a little worried, Arnold continued on his way.  There were often strange groups of people on the streets, and he'd learned that it was always best to avoid them whenever possible.
When Arnold reached a main road a couple of minutes later he saw something that was frightening yet fascinating, even more so than the group he'd just seen.  There were six men running in his direction, all armed and wearing business suits, and they were being pursued by and started shooting back at a group of four black-clad people.  Normally Arnold would've run away down a side street as a pair of pedestrians did further down the road the moment the shooting started, but his attention was held by the chase.  His curiosity was greater than his fear, because while most of the businessmen were firing semiautomatic weapons their leader was firing some kind of energy weapon.  The four people chasing them also returned fire with energy weapons, their bright blue flashes tearing along the street and leaving a fist-sized hole in anything they hit.  As the chase drew closer to him, Arnold could see that the black-clad figures were also wearing black masks and gloves.  His impression was that they were technologically advanced ninjas, but the way they moved from cover to cover while shooting pulses of energy was more like a strike team of specially trained soldiers.  The battle was still getting steadily nearer, so Arnold took cover between a pair of parked cars to continue watching through the windows.  The businessmen ran past his hiding place and he heard their leader end a phone call demanding backup.  They took up positions further along the street, each of them hiding behind a different car.  The black clad soldiers reached the place where Arnold was and were forced to take cover behind the same two cars that he was between, except for one who took a position behind the corner of the building that the cars were parked in front of.
The ninja-like soldiers saw Arnold but ignored him.  He quickly ducked around behind the rear car to ensure that he was out of everyone's line of fire, and found himself crouched beside one of the soldiers, who fired several shots around the side of the car ducked back again.  A car came along the road, but at the sight of the shootout it veered quickly down the first side street it came to.
Arnold overheard one of the other soldiers say something to his comrades about a localised communication blackout being put into effect to prevent the local authorities from being called, if they hadn't been already.  A volley of shots from the businessmen hit the car Arnold was hiding behind, leaving the scent of seared metal in the air as well as punching bullet holes along its side.  The boy's body was pumping with adrenaline, which fed his fear but also his excitement.
A police car came tearing along the street with its lights flashing and it screeched to a halt when the leader of the businessmen fired a few shots into the front end of it.  The single officer inside clambered out and took cover behind his vehicle, drawing his weapon as he did so.  He tried using his radio to call for assistance, but it was unresponsive.  The soldiers around Arnold shifted their places of cover in an attempt to be out of the line of fire from the officer as well as those they were pursuing.  A well-aimed shot from the businessman's energy weapon tore through the car's windows and hit the officer below the left shoulder.
Arnold could see the policeman lying motionless behind his car, and couldn't tell if the man was dead or just badly injured.  The soldiers returned to their original positions behind the cars.  The next time the soldier beside Arnold fired around the car he was hit in the chest by two rapid energy pulses.  The soldiers' outfits were armoured, so the shots only wounded the man, who now lay on the ground beside the car moaning and holding the wounds.  With an effort to ignore his fear, Arnold dashed over to the soldier and tried to pull him back behind the car.  Another shot struck the road near the man's head, blasting fragments of the road about that made tiny clunks as they hit the car.  Arnold put one hand up to shield his face from them, and kept trying to pull the injured man back behind the car.  It wasn't until the soldier let go of his wounds and tried to move as well that the effort succeeded.  Another soldier saw this and hurried over, taking a device from his belt.  When he activated it, the device shone a softly glowing beam on the wound the soldier was examining.
Alerted by the sound of a car approaching from beyond the businessmen's position, Arnold snuck a peek and saw a carload of more suited men arrive from the other end of the street to assist their fellows.  The strike team was now badly outnumbered, and Arnold was starting to get very worried.  He saw one of the other soldiers talking into a high-tech wristwatch device he was wearing.  Obviously their own signals were unaffected by the communication blackout.
"Get a message to Epoch, we need backup, two teams.  One in the alley across from us and one behind the enemy.  Have them sent to this moment."
Immediately two teams of four soldiers materialised in green rippling hazes at the specified locations and joined the battle.  After a brief but heavy volley of energy flashes the battle was over.
The soldier who'd made the call was now examining his wristwatch.  "They're all dead, including Sanders."  He stood up and walked over to where the other members of his team were standing and removed his mask, clearly relieved to have it off.  Due to the position of the street light behind him, Arnold couldn't make out much more than his silhouette.  The man started issuing orders.  "Have the shuttle make a silent landing on the roof of that building over there.  Collect Sanders' body and everything else that doesn't belong in this time and bring it with us.  Use a high strength memory suppression field on all the areas we've come through."
"Yes sir," another replied and went immediately to carry out the orders.
"I'm afraid the shuttle will be rather cramped with twelve of us for the return trip," the unmasked man said to a soldier standing next to him.
The other soldier indicated Arnold, who was standing near the car and watching quietly.  "What about him?  He was of assistance, but he's seen too much up close for the memory suppression to be effective on him."
"I've been given explicit special orders for such a situation as this, so I have no other choice," the unmasked soldier said as he unclipped a futuristic pistol from his belt.  "But by the look of him I'll be doing him a favour."
Arnold watched frozen with horror as the man aimed the pistol at him and fired.
William jolted awake.  The dream, or whatever it was, had felt so intense that he found himself checking his own chest for a wound, which he was relieved not to find.  He'd been sleeping for several hours, and the dream was certainly the strangest one he'd ever had.  He wondered if it was because of the war history he'd read, or the fact that he was in temporal transit.  Or both.  He realised that he didn't have time to reminisce when he noticed an urgent, continuous beeping alarm coming from the cockpit.
He rushed in and sat at the helm.  A cursory glance at the time drive monitor showed him that the ship's time field was destabilising.  The power level was down to 4.2 percent, which was no longer enough to maintain both space and time travel.  There was a brief shudder as the shuttle fell back into normal space.  The green halo around the window vanished.  The temporal coordinate read minus 14380815-1345.  This indicated that he'd arrived in the year 1438 BC, on the 15th of August, and it was quarter to two in the afternoon, by Earth Standard Time.  In his century the whole globe ran on the same time.  So at 1345 hours on one side of the world it was after lunch, while on the other side of the world it was the middle of the night, but still 1345 hours at that same moment on everyone's clocks right across the globe.  Below the temporal coordinate readout there was a blank space for local time, which would only become active as he was landing somewhere.
His immediate concern was to find a place where he could set the ship down inconspicuously and work on finding another way to re-power it.  There were a number of ancient sites of interest in this time period, particularly in the Mediterranean area.  William's curiosity about Egyptology led him to choose the ancient city of Memphis.  He knew it'd be best to wait until night fell and then land in the desert, away from populated areas, and preferably someplace where he could conceal the ship, like inside a ring of sand dunes.

*  *  *

On the time station Epoch, after having received confirmation that William's shuttle had left his exile location and was moving forward through time, Luke was pacing in his quarters waiting.  It was ten minutes since he'd called Larissa and asked her to join him for a chat.  She knew more than she let on and Luke needed more of her information to have a better chance of clearing up William's predicament.  He speculated that although his friend's situation was bad it could've been worse.  They could have sent him to exile using the platform in the temporal transference chamber, which would've sent him to 5000 BC with only the shirt on his back without a single utility and no supplies.  But that probably would've been seen as inhumane by most people, so they'd sent him in an old shuttle that would serve as a temporary abode to give William time to set himself up to live in that era, with only enough power to operate sensors and perhaps fly a short distance to a more suitable area to live.  Hence everyone's surprise when he'd been detected making a time jump within the first day of exile.  The population on Earth had got excited when this fact was broadcast on the news shows, and people were looking through history books and databases to see if they could find any mention of William in them.  The same thing was happening on the time stations too.  It was as though there was a prize for the first one to find a reference.  The assignment to retrieve the shuttle had been temporarily suspended.  The admiral had told Luke off-the-record that being a unique situation, Earth High Command had decided to study what William did, though they'd still intervene if he made an impact on history.
Luke wondered momentarily if it might've been better if he'd gone into exile with William.  Thanks to the Sirius rockworm blood his friend had no need of a human to watch over him during the daylight hours, but together they made an excellent team and could face anything, and aside from that it'd no doubt be adventurous.  Although, being on the station he had a better chance of bringing his friend home.  All he needed was some sort of evidence to vindicate him.  Even if he only found enough to cast doubt of the council's ruling they'd be forced to bring William back to resume the hearing and perhaps amend the sentence to something less grim.
There was an electronic buzz from his doorbell.  Luke hurried over and touched the illuminated 'open' control.  The door slid open with a faint hiss to reveal Larissa, whom he quickly welcomed inside.  The door slid closed behind her once she'd moved beyond its sensor's proximity range.  
"I can't stay long, my absence could appear suspicious," Larissa said hurriedly, though her composure betrayed no anxiety.
"Does somebody know you've been helping me?" Luke asked with genuine concern for her safety.  With a gesture he offered her a seat on the lounge.
"I don't think so, but I don't want to attract attention," she answered as she accepted.  Rather than get comfortable she sat with a straight posture on the edge of the lounge, hands clasped in front of her.
Luke considered it strange that he and Larissa, two friends of William's, still generally interacted in a semi-formal way, rather than being relaxed and comfortable with each other as he'd have preferred.  "Understood.  I'll get straight to the point.  How did you know he'd arrive during daylight?" Before she could answer he continued, "I've already figured out that you must be from the future, and that your amnesia was just a pretence."
"You're Will's friend, and also the best chance he's got of making it back, so I'll trust in your discretion.  Please understand I can't tell you too much, I'm already breaking the principal law of time by talking to you about this at all.  If I say too much things may start to happen differently to how I remember them, and then the foreknowledge I was given wouldn't be of any use whatsoever."
Luke gave a nod of acknowledgment.  "I appreciate any help or advice you can offer, and you have my absolute confidence."
Relaxing a little, but only slightly, Larissa went on.  "I came to this time to ensure that Will wasn't killed by the conspiracy he came across when he found the necrozine.  Please don't ask me who the conspirators are or what's going on, I can't tell you at this time, and I only know some of the details myself.  Suffice to say that they'll try to kill him again since it's known that he's still alive.  While he lives there's a chance the truth will be revealed that it wasn't him transporting narcotics and investigations will continue.  You've got to be careful too.  If they see you as a threat you'll be in danger as well."
"What exactly is necrozine?" Luke interrupted.
"Originally it was a medical drug used to treat cancer patients until genetic manipulation was perfected, after which it was reclassified as a narcotic.  It was only ever administered in extremely small quantities, and could be ingested or injected.  It causes a gradual genetic breakdown of the cancerous cells allowing the body to combat them with its own defences.  It has the same degrading effect on the healthy cells but they're able to recover, whereas the damage to the cancerous cells is permanent.  Its use was discontinued as soon as genetic treatments were developed because its narcotic effects are terribly addictive, such as a sense of elation designed to ease the suffering of the patient.  Over a century ago, the majority of the youths living in the human colony on Taros started using larger quantities of the substance as a recreational drug.  No one knows why they even started experimenting with it.  Through frequent use their genetic structure degraded irreparably, and these defects were passed on to their children and their children's children.  Now their skin has a distinct blue tinge, and their organs begin rotting soon after maturity, even now without this generation ever having taken the drug.  Eventually the entire colony became dependent on cybernetic implants to survive, but even then half of them don't even live to be forty.  In their desperation they've also been known to steal organs from healthy humans or compatible aliens whenever they get the chance.  Earth High Command officially reclassified necrozine as a narcotic and rejected the Tarosian colony as outcasts, hence their nickname the 'Pariah Colony'.  I believe the conspiracy is about supplying that colony with the drug in the past, leading to some future design, and William walked in on it.  They had no choice but to pin it on him."
Luke was silent for a few moments.  "I'll try to find out if our friend Tylvius has sent anything or travelled through time during the last year.  Thanks for telling me this.  You'd better go now.  I'll let you know if I find out anything."  As Larissa turned to leave he added, "By the way, I've checked the security logs and Tylvius has only patrolled that deck three times before, and I've found that on each of the same dates an entry was deleted from the temporal transference log.  It's not enough to exonerate Will, but it's a start."
"Don't make your findings known to anyone," Larissa warned him.  "They have the means to access your personal logs, or even the reports you send to my husband.  Any discussion we have about this should be done face to face, not over the communication system."  She started walking towards the door, then paused and turned back to Luke.  "Thank you for your help also."  She turned and left.
Luke watched the door slide closed before removing his red jacket and tossing it onto a couch.  He rolled up his sleeves and sat on the adjacent lounge, his elbows resting on his knees as he leaned forward, deep in thought.
*

In the dark maintenance passages of Epoch the two shadowy figures were again conferring, shrouded in their hooded robes.
"I've just detected a temporal signature at coordinate minus 14380815… it's Herschel's shuttle!" the one in the brown robe reported regretfully.
"How did he reach that time?" the master demanded.  "His shuttle should only have had enough power to reach the exile location."
"I detected the guidance beacon aboard his ship.  He may have utilised its energy in conjunction with the shuttle's remaining power."
"It's also possible he's receiving help.  Stay alert!"
"How should I proceed?" the subservient one enquired.
"Take no action at present," the one in the black robe answered, "I'll handle this matter myself!"
*

A quarter of an hour later in the temporal scanning room, Luke monitored William's arrival in the past with exuberance.  He touched a control at the wall station he was using and glanced behind him at the holographic timeline display above the ring of consoles grouped in the centre of the room.  The image filled the whole three metre area between them and the high ceiling.  It showed one thick blue horizontal line representing the current timeline, with numerous other lines branching away from it at different points.  Some didn't branch far, and ran almost parallel to the main line, indicating subtle changes that Temporal Security was tracking, or potential changes that they were projecting.  Other lines veered sharply away, indicating a historical change of a much greater severity.  Most of the changes being displayed had already been rectified, but were still being studied thoroughly.  On the main line there was a flashing amber star, indicating William's current location in time.  There were no lines branching from it, so thus far William hadn't caused any interference with established events.  As long as things stayed that way William would be fine.  Luke touched a control and the amber star vanished.  "Maintain a constant sensor lock on the shuttle," he ordered Colin Finch as the ensign took his station.
"Yes sir," Colin replied cheerfully, knowing immediately which shuttle Luke was referring to.
As Luke began walking towards another scanning station to check someone else's analytical progress Colin called him back.
"Lieutenant Commander," the ensign called to him respectfully.  "The energy reading from the shuttle's dangerously low.  He may not have the power to make a safe landing."
Luke studied Colin's screen with concern.  "Come on, Will, get that shuttle on the ground," he encouraged almost inaudibly.

*  *  *

In the equipment room amongst the plants, and unnoticed by William, the wires connecting the beacon's power cell to the ship's power grid had started to come loose at the power cell's end.  The vampire was calculating a stable orbit around the Earth when systems and displays around him began flickering and shutting down.  The ship was experiencing a malfunction in the power grid.  He felt a falling sensation as the ship began to drop towards the planet, having not yet achieved orbit.  There was a spark from beneath the console to his right, caused by an overload in one of the circuits as sub-systems started to fail.  He could see Earth looming closer as the nose of the ship tilted towards it.  It was like his initial crash landing into exile all over again.  His descent vector was too steep and too fast, and if he didn't rectify it soon the ship would either burn up in the atmosphere or be torn apart because of the buckled hull plating on the underside and then burn up in pieces.  He swiftly tried to reset the power grid, but in vain.  The ship began to vibrate.  This meant that the engines were destabilising, and if he didn't restore power within seconds he wouldn't be able to avoid crashing into the surface of the world he was plummeting towards.


Chapter 3:  Memphis

The vampire grabbed the cockpit doorway and pulled himself into the equipment room, all the while fighting Earth's gravity, which was pulling him towards the front of the ship, as well as the numerous plants he'd brought on board for oxygen.  The ship's internal gravity was still holding him to the floor at the same time, and was still the stronger of the two influences because of his distance from the planet's surface.  He moved quickly aside as some liquid spilled from the container of sodium hydroxide solution.  Mist arose where it splashed on the floor as the alkali began to dissolve the thin carpet.  The wires that had come away from the beacon were freely flailing around the room, sparks shooting from the touching ends as they continually shorted out the power grid to which they were still connected.
Dodging the potentially life-threatening ends of the wires, he grabbed them at the other ends and tore them from the array of exposed circuits in the wall.  Whatever hydrogen may have leaked from the portside quarters hadn't accumulated into a high enough concentration in the rest of the ship to ignite, for which William was grateful.  Lights stopped flickering, but the ship was still vibrating.  William climbed back down into the cockpit and attempted to reinitialise the engines.  There was no response.  The power level had fallen to 1.4 percent due to the short-circuiting wire.
He managed to activate the manoeuvring thrusters and guided the ship roughly in the direction of Egypt as he'd originally intended.  Manipulating the controls with extreme precision, he stabilised his descent by holding his open hand just above the console with his fingers apart and tilting his hand slightly to one side.  The console's motion sensors adjusted the ship's tilt to match the plane of his hand until it was no longer angled to the side, and the stabilisers switched back to automatic once they were realigned with the ship's vector of descent.  At the manoeuvring thrusters controls he slid his finger along the console away from himself as far as the thruster power balance control went, directing all of the available power to the front thrusters to slow his descent as much as possible.  There wasn't enough power to regain the necessary altitude to establish an orbit and still be able to land the ship later, so he had no choice now but to land and hope not to attract too much attention.  The helm's manual directional control was essentially a metal guidance ball, roughly the size of a baseball, which had only its top third protruding above the console.  William had the palm of his hand on it, and could roll it smoothly in any direction to adjust his pitch or veer to the sides.  He rolled it back gently to pull the ship's nose up as far as his speed would allow with relative safety.
Egypt was getting close enough to make out distinct landscape formations.  A few seconds later he could discern the great pyramid and realised that he was coming down too close to Saqqara to make an inconspicuous desert landing.
As this thought ran through his mind the ship began to plummet again.  The manoeuvring thrusters had gone offline.  There wasn't enough power to sustain them any longer.  He felt the ship start to spin out of control and activated the anti-gravity landing thruster, although it wouldn't be effective until he was closer to the surface.  He tried to roll the guidance ball to the left to direct his course that way, but it wasn't responding.  All he could do was brace himself for impact.  From his descent vector he estimated that he'd come down right inside the city of Memphis.
The impact was softer than William had expected, thanks to the anti-gravity thruster, though there was still a jolt.  He went into the equipment room behind the cockpit and opened the outer hatch.  The air was hot and dry against his face and hands.  The rest of his body still felt reasonably cool, as his clothing was made from a thermally adaptive material.  Its fibres contracted in hot weather, creating tiny gaps between them to expel excess body heat and allow air flow, and when the weather was cold the fibres expanded to fill the gaps and make it a thicker material to retain body heat.
The ship was resting on a flat stone surface.  It took William only a second to realise that it was the roof of a tall building.  There was a faint but constant murmur coming from the ground below.  Cautiously he left the ship and walked over to the edge of the high roof to peer over the side.  There's no escaping this situation, he thought as he saw dozens of people in front of the building on their hands and knees in worship, reciting some ritual chant.  He could tell by their upward glances that they'd witnessed his arrival and seen it as a sign from the gods.  Dozens more people were hurrying along the streets towards the building, many of them coming through the magnificent wealthier precincts on their way from the smaller tightly-packed dwellings of the poorer area beyond.  Well, he thought in consideration, this unexpected situation could work out to be an advantage.  He was most likely to be stuck in this time for quite a while, and his stay would certainly be more comfortable if he held some status.  In ancient Egypt religious figureheads held the highest status after the pharaoh, who was himself considered a divine being.  William didn't plan to do anything drastic like create religious reforms, after all, Akhenaten would do that a century from this time, but with his knowledge of science he could appear to possess the wisdom of the gods.
He had an implant in his head called a neural interpreter, which was linked to the hearing and speech centres of his brain, enabling him to hear what was being said in English, and make his mouth voice his responses in the listener's own language.  The language selection would automatically activate as soon as someone spoke to him.  However, hearing the words in English while they were actually being spoken in ancient Egyptian meant that the speaker's lips would appear to be out of sync with the words.  It would be a little distracting but he'd get used to it.  As for the written word, an implant had yet to be developed for visual translation through the eyes.  However, part of Temporal Security's training involved learning the basics of several of the major languages' ancient written forms, such as Greek, Latin and some runic forms, some of which had evolved considerably by the twenty sixth century.
William had already thought of a way to recharge the emergency power cell over a period of time.  He went back into the ship and into the engine room where he removed one of the panels from inside the quasium reaction chamber.  The panel was designed to absorb the energy released by ionised quasium.  It stood to reason that it could recharge the power cell from the sun's rays over an extended period of time by using it as a solar panel.
Not wanting to keep the people waiting, he put on the anti-gravity bracers, making sure the technology was concealed under his sleeves with its control box clipped out of sight on the waistline of his pants, and removed the cumbersome emergency power cell from its housing in the engine room.  He wired the energy absorption panel to the top of the power cell, and then using the bracers he picked up the heavy apparatus and carried it outside the ship with relative ease.  There was a part of the roof that was raised higher than the part he'd landed on, a little over his head height, so he put it up there and climbed up himself to put it as far back as he could to keep it out of sight, just in case anyone ever made it up to the roof to see his flying chariot or metal temple, whatever the locals would decide to call it.
He felt extraordinarily light with the bracers on.  He bounced on his toes to feel the difference and rose surprisingly high, landing gently back on the roof as if he was on a low gravity planet.
He went back down to the ship, tucked his omniscanner into his pocket, and had a quick glass of the blood supplement from the food dispenser.  Immediately he felt its invigorating effects throughout his body and his pupils dilated so that he appeared to have almost no iris, adding to the supernatural effect he hoped to create.  He felt his body strengthen, and he wanted to be at his physical peak in case he was expected to display some kind of superhuman strength or ability.  It was unethical for a time traveller to take advantage of a primitive culture's awe of technology, but his landing had already given him a preternatural image in the eyes of these people.  It certainly wasn't the first time he'd bent or broken rules, and besides, he found the anticipation exhilarating.
He left the ship, closing the hatch behind him by touching a control under a hidden panel that blended seamlessly with the hull, and went back to the edge of the roof.  Trying his best to appear calm and composed he reactivated the anti-gravity bracers and extended his arms horizontally either side of his body.  With a gentle kick off the edge he dropped slowly towards the anticipating crowd below, his weight partially suspended by the bracers, slowing his descent.
He landed gracefully in the midst of the crowd and lowered his arms.  The entire crowd, a distinct mixture of commoners and nobles, was now in a ring around him, all bowing.  One of them rose and walked towards William, keeping his shaved head respectfully low.  His face, arms, legs and chest were also shaved, and he wore a knee-length pure white pleated kilt hemmed with a fine gold thread.  A full leopard skin was draped diagonally across his chest from his left shoulder to his right hip with its tail hanging down the outside of his leg.  Around his neck he wore three small symbolic medallions that hung on thin gold chains, and on his wrists he wore ornate gold bracers.  He knelt before William and bowed his head, spreading his arms out wide with his palms upward.
"Ramenhoses is my name," he said, in a deep mellow voice.  "I am the high priest of the Temple of Ptah, upon which thou hast descended.  My priests and I are thy humble servants, Messenger of Ra."  He reached his right hand out behind him, indicating half a dozen priests who were dressed similarly, though without the jewellery or leopard skin.
"Thy dedication pleases me," William said, going along out of necessity, although he was enjoying the experience.  He made sure he didn't let it show, as a break in composure could quickly undermine his standing as a being of seemingly divine origin.  "Guide me through the Temple of Ptah, High Priest Ramenhoses."
"At thy command," Ramenhoses rose to his feet and led the way.
William followed him towards the building, subtly deactivating the bracers.  The half dozen priests followed behind him.  A feeling of compassion swept over him as he looked back at his still bowing audience.  Many of them, while sharing everyone else's excitement and fascination about him, didn't have a share in the wealth, clothes, or even the quality of food many others had.  Some were obviously undernourished while others who had greater wealth were overfed.  He knew that historically the common class was not permitted to enter the temple.  He truly felt a long way from his own time.  Silently he followed Ramenhoses along the temple's pillared avenue to the entrance pylon, which he observed was not yet adorned with the larger-than-life statues of Rameses the Second that would flank it in a couple of centuries' time.  The entrance was a tall trapezoidal but almost rectangular shape, being slightly narrower towards the top, and was twice the height of a man.
Inside the temple it was considerably cooler than outside, which William was grateful for since his forehead was beginning to moisten from the unaccustomed heat.  Sweating would be a sign of mortality, and therefore weakness, something he wanted to avoid in front of the Egyptians for as long as he could.
The stone blocks that made up the temple walls were perfectly aligned, and the walls and ceiling had vividly painted pictures and carved hieroglyphs covering most of their surfaces.  It fascinated the time traveller to see the ancient architecture in such immaculate condition.  Thanks to his written language training, he was able to read some of the inscribed passages well enough to tell that they were verses of praise to Ptah, Osiris and Isis, as well as a few of the local gods whose names he didn't recognise.
Ramenhoses led the way to an open cloistered courtyard, his mood at once becoming extremely reverential.  As soon as he entered he stepped aside to allow William to pass him, his hands pressed together in front of him and his head bowed respectfully.
William looked around the courtyard.  There were carvings on the walls and columns, much like those everywhere else in the temple, but the main feature was the ten foot tall polished black diorite statue in the courtyard's centre.  It was of a male figure seated on a throne holding a slender staff before him.  He had a long straight beard much like the traditional images of pharaohs, though William knew enough about Egyptian history to recognise that this statue depicted Ptah, the creator god to whom the temple was dedicated.  Out of the corner of his eye William could see Ramenhoses waiting expectantly.  William realised that as the messenger from the gods he was supposed to lead the approach to the statue to pay homage.  Slowly he walked forwards, Ramenhoses to the side and a few steps behind, and the priests in a line a little further behind their leader.
William was unsure what the correct ritual bowing entailed, so he hoped that as long as he did something that looked good it would be sufficient.  When he was directly in front of the statue he knelt on one knee, bowed his head forward, and then raised his head and arms together until his arms were pointing straight up above his head.  Palms towards the statue, he bowed again, this time lowering his whole body forward until his arms pointed directly towards the statue.  He glanced under his arm and saw that Ramenhoses and the priests were mimicking his homage exactly.  After holding the pose for several more seconds, William stood up and backed away from the statue, head still bowed until he was near the entrance of the courtyard.  The look on Ramenhoses' face showed that he was pleased by the strange ritual.  William gestured for him to once again lead the way.
After a brief tour of the temple, including a brief stop at the Shrine of Nefertem and a square low-walled pond called the sacred lake, the high priest led him to another building near the temple of almost matching grandeur, which was used for temple related public ceremonies.  It included a forecourt with several shrines where the lower classes of citizens were permitted to worship and make their offerings and pleas to the gods.  Beyond that were the areas where the officials and nobility could visit in more elegant and even lavish surroundings.  The priests' quarters were in an extension at the back of the building.
When the tour of the building was complete, Ramenhoses informed William that they would hold a ceremonial feast in his honour.  William was shown into a long audience chamber with a high ceiling.  At the opposite end of the room was a stepped platform with an ornate chair on it, plated with shining gold and decorated all over with hieroglyphs and motifs of Egyptian culture.  The seat part was concave and had a low backrest.  The armrests were spaced well apart.
William was escorted to this seat, and was amazed to have a dozen beautiful women clad in fine attire and jewels present him with a selection of clothes and fabrics.  When he'd chosen the materials he liked they gently removed his black uniform and adorned him with his choices of medium to dark blue.  He removed the anti-gravity bracers himself with no unusual reactions from anyone around him and placed them in a silver chest to the left of his chair where his uniform had been placed with the omniscanner still in one of the pockets.  The Egyptians probably presumed that the bracers, with their wires and control box, were some elaborate form of jewellery.  He was also given a few exquisite rings and necklaces.
When he was dressed and sitting comfortably, about one hundred servants, both men and women, each entered the chamber with a cushion tucked under one arm while they used both hands to carry an ornately crafted wooden chair with the legs carved to mimic the legs of a lion, complete with clawed paws at the ends.  The legs and frames were painted with bands of decorative patterns, and the seat part was made of finely woven fibres.  The servants positioned the chairs along the sides of the long chamber and placed the cushions on them, and then went back out to retrieve a fan consisting of a wide plume of ostrich feathers at the end of a long wooden handle, and stood behind the chairs to wait for their respective masters.
Moments later, a procession of the city's nobles entered the room.  After pausing to bow to William on their way in, they went to the seat that their servant had prepared for them and sat down.  Immediately their servant held the fan over their head and slowly waved it up and down to create a gentle breeze.  All of the nobles had painted eyes of either deep blue or malachite green lined with black, and wore apparel of the finest linen.  Their outfits were either completely white or decoratively blended from beige to white.  The men wore either robes or a kilt and tunic with a coloured sash around the waist.  The women wore long pleated gowns, some with a coloured diaphanous shawl over it.  They had an assortment of fine jewellery, like bracelets made of faience beads, or gold bracelets encrusted with precious stones, as well as golden rings and large earrings.  The men were mostly lacking in jewellery aside from the odd ring, though both the men and women wore wide collars that hung over their shoulders and across their upper chests and backs.  The collars were made up of tiny gems arranged in rows according to their colour.  The women had their black hair done in dozens of braids that fell below shoulder length with golden threads woven into them.  William wondered if it was the women's real hair or a wig that they only wore when going out in public on account of the hot climate.  The combination of the nobles' various scented ointments and perfumes produced a unique aroma throughout the chamber.
One by one in procession, bald priests wearing white robes offered first William and then the nobles many well-laden trays of fish, circular loaves of bread the size of his hand with dipping sauces, a selection of cheeses, various fruits, and even a few whole cooked gazelles.  A couple of servants distributed golden drinking bowls to the guests, following which a few priests carried golden pitchers of palm wine from person to person.  As the selections were brought around, the servants leaned their fans against the walls behind them to attend to their nobles by dishing out the desired foods and requesting refills of wine as needed, after which they resumed fanning until given further orders.
Musicians came and played softly in the background, and within an hour the gathering had become a full feast with entertainment.  While he ate, William saw a number of wrestling matches, with each wrestler doing his best to win the favour of the messenger of the gods.  Following them were performances by dancing girls, whom the men in the crowd were particularly pleased to see.  A group of outstanding acrobats had the room gasping with awe and amazement at their daring and agility.  Throughout all of these acts, as well as those of the magicians and storytellers that followed, and several other talented performances, William couldn't help feeling like a king.  Perhaps exile in the past wasn't such a bad thing after all.
Several hours later the festivities drew to a close.  William was draining the last of his wine from a gilded drinking bowl when Ramenhoses approached and knelt on one knee.  He bowed his head worshipfully, and then looked up.  He spoke to William hesitantly, almost fearfully, "O Messenger of Ra, forgive my boldness, but I have enquiries."
"Ramenhoses, dedicated servant of the temple, what are thine enquiries?" William replied with equal cultivation, in keeping with the manner of speaking the Egyptian high priest was using.
"Humbly, I desire to know the reason for thy visit."
"The time is not yet at hand for me to disclose the reason," William said with serenity.  "What else dost thou desire to know?"
"O Messenger of Ra, by what name shall we address thee?"
"My name is William."  Having said this he felt a lump in his throat and wondered if he was altering history by giving his name.  He hadn't heard of anyone in ancient Egypt going by that name, but surely someone would record his name in hieroglyphics on an obelisk or temple wall, at the very least a piece of papyrus.  Should he expect an assassination squad from Temporal Security to come for him in the middle of the night?  He pushed the thought from his mind, though it wouldn't hurt to leave his omniscanner on overnight to alert him to any new temporal readings such as an arrival from the future.
His attention was brought back to the present as a priest approached and handed an object to Ramenhoses, who in turn held it out to William.  It was a lapis lazuli stone amulet, carved into the likeness of an Apis bull, and hung on a long gold chain.
"May I offer thee the stone of healing and spirituality, Noble One?" Ramenhoses asked.  At a sanctioning nod from William he hung it carefully and reverentially over the vampire's neck.  William noticed that many of the other people present also wore some sort of amulet or ring bearing a blue lapis lazuli stone.
Another hour later, when the guests had all made their farewells and departed, Ramenhoses guided William through the magnificent precincts where the more privileged class of citizens lived and eventually back to the temple of Ptah.  It was late evening by that time, and there was a soft cool breeze, which was more than welcome after the heat of the day.  William considered himself privileged to have seen the ancient city in such perfection and grandeur, in a way that archaeologists could have only imagined during the centuries that preceded the invention of time travel in 2447.
Inside the temple Ramenhoses opened a hidden door and they went downstairs, through to the underground treasury.  Four priests were already there waiting for them, who'd gone on ahead to light the braziers in preparation for a visit by the messenger of the gods.  William recalled having caught a glimpse of a treasury upstairs in the temple when he was first given the tour.  Compared to the one he was in now the other had been meagre.  It must've been a decoy treasury.  This huge underground room was an expanse of gold and silver and all kinds of jewels, as well as chests and vases from other Mediterranean countries.  Golden statues lined the walls.  There were also stocks of grain, wine, tools and weapons from around the known world.
A thought came to William, though he tried not to be too ambitious about it or he might create doubt and lose favour with the Egyptian high priest.  Mindful of the poorer class of citizens he'd seen upon his arrival, he decided that he should do some good while he was in Egypt.
"O High Priest Ramenhoses, it is my desire that thou take this gold," William said, indicating a pile of gold pieces in the corner that was relatively small in consideration of the mass of wealth around him, "and distribute it among the poor of this great city."
This took Ramenhoses by surprise.  "But, with the utmost respect William, the gold before thee is the gold of the temple.  Art thou not pleased by the wealth we have devoted to the gods?"
William felt like saying something along the lines of 'you disgust me', or 'it's not like it's going to leave you short, you avarice driven primitive', but he managed to restrain such an outburst.  Instead his retort was one of forced calmness with a different angle.  "Is thy pride so great that thou wouldst not show this small mercy to thy less fortunate Egyptian brothers?  When thy heart is weighed by Anubis and Thoth at the end of thy life, will it be outweighed by gold?"  He tried to constrain the anger he felt at such greed that could let others go hungry.  He was from a much more enlightened time when none starved and all had the opportunity to fulfill their potential.  Everyone had what they needed, although those in higher positions or ranks were entitled to additional privileges, such as larger houses and extra luxuries according to their achievements.  But each person had the opportunity to aspire to such positions if they desired to.  Education was available to everyone equally too.  Most of the general educational knowledge was implanted directly into the mind over a period of two to three years, depending on the absorption rate of the individual.  Some of the more advanced deeper learning was still done by studying, assisted by additional knowledge downloads.  But such a way of life of global equality had only come about after humanity had come close to destroying itself completely in World War Four, before it learned to unite under the guidance of the New Order.
Ramenhoses obviously feared angering a messenger from his gods.  "If that is thy decree it will be my action."  He clapped his hands loudly.  A dozen priests hurried down into the room.  He relayed William's orders to them and they rushed to find chests and sacks with which to carry the gold through the city.  He eagerly led William away from the treasury and back to the other building where the priests lived.  William suspected that Ramenhoses was so keen to move on because he didn't want any more of his temple's wealth dispersed.
The high priest led William to a spacious and elegantly decorated bedchamber.  It was well lit by engraved golden lanterns and was decorated by finely woven tapestries.  An adjoining alcove could be seen through a set of diaphanous curtains.  Inside the alcove there was a group of five women with long hair in thick braids with beads strung through them.  Their long white finely-woven dresses hung a little on the ground, and enhanced their slender figures.  One was strumming a harp with skilful gentleness while another accompanied her intricate and soothing melody on a lyre.  The other three were softly humming and singing a harmonious chorus that had an ethereal and almost hypnotic quality to it.  Their song was so perfectly beautiful that William could listen endlessly without tiring of it.
On pedestals against the walls there were half a dozen intricately painted vases.  William wasn't sure if there was anything inside them or whether they were purely decorative.  There was another pair of vases on stands, one either side of the doorway, with long stemmed blue lotuses that gently perfumed the air with their fragrance.  There was an assortment of clothing draped over the outstretched arms of marble statues, and also two open jewellery chests on a table containing large masculine rings and neckwear.  Beside the chests was a hand mirror, a highly polished silver disc with a decorated wooden handle.  William guessed that this was a suite usually reserved for visiting dignitaries.
There were eight people waiting silently, four males and four females.  Their heads were shaved, even the women.  All had dark skin, and their faces bore a look of hidden sadness that was very subtly finding expression, mainly in their eyes.  Each held bowls of gourmet delights, small alabaster jars of scented ointments and massage oils, or more gifts of clothing and jewellery for William.
"Slaves from Nubia, at thy disposal.  Now I beg to be excused so that I may attend to my temple duties."  Ramenhoses bowed and backed away before turning at the doorway and leaving.
William thought he'd seen a hint of resentment in Ramenhoses' departing glance.  He doubted the high priest would get over the sharing of the gold anytime soon.  He turned his attention to the slaves, who promptly knelt before him.
"Stand up, all of you," he commanded.  He had no intention of abusing their services the way the Egyptians did.
Uncertainly the Nubians did as they were told, rising slowly, discreetly exchanging glances with one another.
William addressed the most muscular of the men.  "What is thy name?" he asked the man.
"My name is Nemali," he answered with a deep but surprisingly gentle voice.
"When didst thou come into Egypt, Nemali?"
"I was taken from Nubia at the age of twenty two, four years ago.  We are all of the same village."
During the next few hours William talked with them, inviting them to sit on cushions with him and tell him of their homeland while they listened to the musicians sing and play their beautiful melodies.  He felt he'd come to know the Nubians quite well by the end of the night, once they relaxed into the unaccustomed conversation.  They even expressed to him their sadness at not seeing their friends or families, and at having no real hope of doing so in the near future.  When they reached the age where their youthful good looks faded they expected to work the remainder of their lives in a quarry, and die forgotten, as was the fate of so many slaves.
When William was ready to turn in for the night, the Nubians excused themselves and returned to their own group quarters, having agreed to return the next morning so that they could continue their conversation.  Once they'd left, William went over to his bed.  It was as wide as it was long, had a wooden frame, and under a thick blanket that covered it for padding its surface was made up of tightly woven dried plant fibres.  He was glad to see that there were pillows on it, as opposed to the uncomfortable-looking wooden headrests he'd read about in Egyptian history that were common among the general populace.  He lay back on the bed, which turned out to be more comfortable than it looked.  It certainly felt strange that he, being a vampire, was going to bed at night and would wake up in the morning like an ordinary human.
As he tried to get to sleep, he thought about how he'd only become a vampire by necessity.  His back had been broken during a mission into the past three years ago, and until his arrival in exile it'd been the last time he'd experienced the warmth of sunlight.  He'd been hunting an illegal time traveller in 2054, about four and a half centuries before his own time.  There was a struggle on a bridge during which his adversary had pushed him over the side and into an oncoming train.  Fortunately William's colleagues were able to get him back to his own time before the criminal could finish the job of killing him.  The damage to his vertebrae and spinal cord had been so severe that the physician insisted that the only possible treatment was vampirism.  Even then it was no more than a slim chance that he'd ever walk again.  Naturally, William had agreed to attempt it.  Anything was worth trying.  Long before his time it'd been scientifically proven that vampires weren't possessed by demons or cursed by dark magic.  That belief had come about because throughout history many vampires had misused their enhanced abilities.  So William had no reason not to become one on supernatural grounds.  He was aware that such a change would have benefits like increased muscular density, giving him extra strength and speed that would continue to increase over time, and enhanced synaptic efficiency giving him accelerated mental functions and greater clarity of thought, assuming the procedure healed him successfully.  Some of the much older vampires had even developed a basic level of psychokinesis, as well as infrared vision to a degree among the very oldest.  The greatest risk was the procedure failing to repair his injuries, which would leave him crippled for the life span of a vampire.  Even in the case that it was an absolute success there was still a down side.  Vampires didn't procreate like humans, so he could never father a child, not even with the aid of the most advanced medical techniques.  The very nature of vampire DNA simply didn't allow for it.  And although that hadn't been an immediate concern of his at the time, it was something to bear in mind for the future.  Also, he knew he'd have to avoid sunlight from that time forward, since ultraviolet radiation caused an exothermic reaction in vampire blood.  If his skin was exposed, the blood beneath would start to boil in seconds and ignite in under a minute.  Other than the Sirius rockworm blood that William had been injected with as he was being sent into exile, he hadn't heard of a successful cure for the sunlight weakness ever being produced despite the amount of research that'd gone into it.
The experience of transformation itself had been entirely unique, one of the most memorable times of his life, and certainly the most life-changing.  The physician had drained a substantial amount of blood from William, leaving him feeling enervated.  It was so that his body wouldn't be strong enough to repel the vampiric genetic sequence before it integrated itself into his sub-cellular physiology.  He'd then been given an infusion of vampire blood intravenously.  Immediately he'd begun to feel rejuvenated and actually felt the new blood coursing through his body.  The sensation had been similar to pain, yet was not unpleasant.  His vision and hearing had sharpened dramatically.  His sense of touch also became more intense.  It was an awakening of the senses.  The pain of his back injury had faded steadily, and sensation returned to his lower body as he felt the muscles shifting the bones back into their natural positions.  The physician's explanation was that the vampire blood was adding a new genetic sequence to his human DNA, which would replicate rapidly throughout the chromosomes of his whole body.  The transformation would be complete and permanent in less than a day.  The bio-scanners indicated that all was proceeding well, and that his back would be healed by the time the process was complete.  Such rapid regeneration wouldn't always occur, though it would always be faster than natural human healing.  His back was only being repaired so fast this time because of the reconfiguration his body was going through.  His physiology would also change to include a blood chamber above the stomach, which would quickly absorb any blood he would drink and allow normal foods and liquids to pass through to the stomach.  In modern times, scientific advancements had produced a synthetic blood-like substance called synthblood to replace the need for killing or feeding from living beings to obtain the benefits of drinking blood.  Contrary to common belief in the past, vampires could survive by eating normal food at the cost of diminishing their heightened abilities to a degree, though they'd always remain above the abilities of the average human.
The morning after the procedure he awoke to find that his canine teeth had extended over half a centimetre and his upper lateral incisors had also grown a few millimetres, as did his lower canines.  The physician informed him that they would extend a little further during feeding if he ever had the need to, which was highly unlikely.  He could even make it happen at will if he concentrated, as the extension occurred when new muscles in his gums pushed the tooth a little further out in order to facilitate feeding.  William had been concerned at hearing this, wondering if his teeth would be loose or pop out, but the physician assured him that the roots were much longer now too, and that the teeth were supported by vampire muscle.
He'd only once passed on the gift of vampirism, about a year before his recent sentence to exile.  He and Admiral Rivette had been on a small cargo shuttle together leaving Earth on course for the time station Epoch, when they'd detected a damaged escape pod falling through time.  There had been an injured woman inside.  The only way to save her life had been to inject her with some of William's blood.  Unfortunately, when she'd regained consciousness she had total amnesia.  They'd ascertained only her first name from the pod's damaged computer, so they'd never discovered her origins.  William recalled that since then Larissa's memories prior to that day had never returned.  About six months later she'd accepted a marriage proposal from Admiral Rivette, to William's disappointment.  William had developed a strong attraction to her before long, more than just aesthetic, and which he'd never managed to bring to fruition with her.  She'd always seemed to be holding back, though he had no idea why.  But the admiral had always been warm to him, so despite the disappointment he couldn't feel bitter towards either of them.
*

The next morning, shortly after sunrise, Ramenhoses returned to William's room and was surprised to find the slaves dining with him like equals.  He was speechless at the sight of them dressed in the fine clothing that had been set out for the honoured guest.  They were sitting on cushions in a circle on the floor with William as they'd done while conversing the night before.  The high priest knelt and bowed before the vampire, carefully ensuring that his gesture was not in any way in the direction of a slave as well.
"Khepri smiles upon us, William."
William could see that the man was struggling to maintain a respectful tone, and it wasn't difficult for him to guess why.  He stood up and replied, "Indeed.  Arise, Ramenhoses."
"I have come to inform thee that Pharaoh will arrive tomorrow.  He is journeying from Thebes even now."
This caught William off guard.  "The pharaoh's coming here?" he asked without thinking.  That situation would surely require some sort of preternatural demonstration to assert his identity as Messenger of Ra.  He was in too deep to turn back now, and there was no chance that the power cell on the temple's roof would've accumulated enough charge for him to launch from this time or place anytime soon.
"Yes, the third pharaoh to bear the name of Tuthmosis will arrive in his greatness during the hours of Ra," Ramenhoses confirmed.  "Unfortunately his vizier Rekhmira will not be accompanying him."
From what William understood of ancient Egyptian culture, Khepri was the god of the rising sun, Ra was the god of the afternoon sun, and Atum was the god of the setting sun.  This meant he had until around midday tomorrow to prepare for the pharaoh's arrival.  Changing the subject he said, "These slaves have pleased me, it is my desire that they have their freedom."
After everything else, Ramenhoses couldn't conceal his incredulity at what William had just said.  "But the slaves were carefully chosen for the purpose of serving the Messenger of Ra!"
"It is because of their great service to the Messenger of Ra that I deem them worthy of their freedom," William responded adamantly.
The high priest could see it was pointless to argue.  "Then it shall be done, according to the desire and wisdom of the Messenger of Ra."
"Give them clothes, food, weapons and gold, and safe escort to the southern wall of the city," William commanded.
Ramenhoses bowed in acknowledgment and left to make preparations, albeit extremely unwillingly.
Once he was gone William went to the corner of the room where the priests had put the silver chest containing his belongings the night before.  He removed the anti-gravity bracers and the omniscanner and handed them to Nemali who, like the others, was ecstatic about the prospect of freedom.
"Do with these as I instructed you last night," William said.  "Maintain discretion, and proceed quickly to Nubia.  If things don't go as planned you could all be in danger."  He could sense that he was pushing his influence to the limit by giving away the temple's gold and freeing its slaves.  He was already considering that he might have to find another place to spend his time in Egypt, but his white vampire skin would make him conspicuously recognisable wherever he went.  It might become necessary to leave the country.  If it did come to that he had no idea how he'd take his shuttle with him.  It wasn't likely to even have the power to make it out of Memphis before the pharaoh's arrival.  He wondered if the shuttle retrieval team from Temporal Security would still be coming to collect it.  The jump to this time wouldn't be enough to evade Epoch and Jidai's temporal sensors.
Minutes later a procession of seven priests entered with the clothes, gold and provisions for the Nubians.  They then left the former slaves to prepare themselves.
William was about to leave the room when Nemali stopped him.  "I thank thee for what thou hast done.  We have no way to repay thy kindness, but there will always be a place of honour for thee in our village."
William put his hand on Nemali's shoulder.  "All I want is for you all to live well, and cherish your new freedom."  After a final glance at each of the Africans he exited.
*

Later that day Ramenhoses strode back to his own spacious quarters.  It was a couple of hours since he'd seen the Nubians on their way and he was still more than a little disgruntled.  Just after he walked through the doorway a dark shape on the opposite side of the room caught his attention.  His heart skipped a beat when he saw a tall figure completely enshrouded in a loose black robe standing completely motionless.  Neither the face nor hands of the figure could be seen beneath the hood and sleeves.
Utterly terrified, but also enraged at the intrusion, Ramenhoses reached for a golden ornamental sword that hung on the wall behind him and began to advance on the mysterious figure.
The dark being raised his right arm to reveal a black-gloved hand, and in that instant the sword was ripped from Ramenhoses' grip by an unseen power, and flew across the room towards the figure, who caught it at the hilt with no apparent effort and then tossed it aside.
For a second Ramenhoses just stared at his empty hand, astounded and wondering what had just happened.  Now, his rage swelling further at feeling so vulnerable and powerless, but not wanting to get close to his adversary, he pulled a small silver dagger from where it was tucked into the front of his kilt behind the leopard skin that was draped across his chest.  Without delay, he swung his arm back in preparation to throw.
The dark visitor raised his left arm this time, and a powerful force hit the high priest's body with such impact that it threw him backwards against the wall.  Throughout the encounter Ramenhoses hadn't even made it anywhere near the intruder.  He was now slumped on the floor, winded and gasping.  Before he could recover at all the robed being raised both hands, palms outwards, in Ramenhoses' direction.  The high priest felt his body lift into the air in the grip of the being's invisible power.  Suspended in the air, he was slowly being drawn towards the outstretched arms of the dark figure.  When he was halfway across the room his adversary lowered his arms and the helpless Egyptian was released and fell to the ground in pain.  Looking up, Ramenhoses saw his attacker move towards him, seeming to glide across the floor.  The sinister figure addressed him by name.
"Ramenhoses."  Although he spoke in a low voice the sound was a deep tone that seemed thunderous as it echoed around the room.
"What do you want from me?" Ramenhoses stammered as he backed away on the cold stone floor, sweat beading on his bald head.
The being continued to advance on him.  "The one among you with seemingly great powers…"
"William?"
"Yes."  The dark figure paused in his advance.  "He is a threat to your pharaoh."
"But he is a messenger, sent from Ra.  We saw him descend from the sky…"
"It was an illusion, mere trickery.  Your god of the sun did not send him.  He is a deceptive tool for the powers of darkness, and used enchanted devices to appear powerful.  Your pharaoh is in danger… unless you help me rid him of this evil."
Ramenhoses considered that although the figure in the black hooded robe appeared more evil than anyone he'd ever seen, he couldn't deny that the stranger, William, had coincidentally arrived two days before the pharaoh's visit, and had presumed to distribute the temple's gold and free the Nubian slaves.  But how could he trust a powerful being who was dressed as though he'd just escaped from the Underworld?
As if sensing the high priest's doubts the figure spoke again.  "Do you not desire power?  If you help me to save the pharaoh I will tell you how to take William's power from him.  As a reward you shall be bestowed with his power.  You shall have the strength of many men.  And immortality in this world.  You could become a wealthy ruler of many men."
Ramenhoses' fear was subsiding, pushed aside by the appeal to his lust for riches and dominion.  After a few moments he replied, "What must be done?"
*

William had recently returned to his bedchamber to find that the chest of his belongings was empty.  His uniform was gone.  It was very strange.  He wouldn't have expected anyone from the temple to be a common thief, especially considering the amassed wealth in the treasury.  Even stranger was that none of the golden artefacts had been removed from the room.  It seemed suspicious that the only thing missing was the one thing that related specifically to him.  Perhaps it was a warning.  But if a squad from Temporal Security was here to extract him from history they'd have taken him before removing anything foreign to this time.  If they were here to collect the shuttle they'd have simply taken it, and not worried about his clothes.  If it wasn't them, then it was just as well he'd gotten Nemali to take the omniscanner and bracers.  If future technology fell into the wrong hands it would devastate the timeline, and Temporal Security would trace it back to him, and then he would have a squad on his heels.
He left the room and was walking down one of the decorated stone passages when Ramenhoses, who seemed happier than usual to see him, begged a little of his time.
"William, if I may impose upon thee, I was wondering if thou wouldst do me the honour of joining me for a quiet game of senet, and perhaps some food and wine?"
William wasn't sure how to play senet.  However, he accepted, curious to see where this was leading.  "Very well.  I have the time to spare."  He remained cautious though.
"Please, the senet table is this way."  Ramenhoses directed him down one of the side passages.
They wound their way through several highly decorated stone corridors and proceeded down a short flight of stairs with an open doorway at the bottom.  As they approached the doorway Ramenhoses stepped to the side and gestured for William to go before him.  William noticed that Ramenhoses was tensing, though he was hiding it extremely well.  When he drew level with the high priest he heard a soft shuffling sound, just for a second.  He paused momentarily.  With his vampire hearing he could faintly detect the sound of breathing in the silence, from sources other than himself and Ramenhoses.  With a sudden realisation he turned back to Ramenhoses and grabbed his arm.  With all his strength he pulled the high priest off balance and sent him tumbling through the doorway and into the room below.  Instantly, a dozen temple guards wielding spears and swords swarmed up the stairs, urged on by frustrated shouts and curses from Ramenhoses.  William barely evaded their attempts to grab him and leaped up the stairs, five at a time.  He managed to get to the top and run away before the guards caught up to him.  Although it was about twenty four hours since he'd taken the synthetic blood nutrient he could still easily outrun the pursuing guards.  He decided to get out of the building; his time in this city had reached an abrupt conclusion.  He'd have to come back for the shuttle at some other time.  He darted out through the entrance hall and into the hot sunlight, which he was glad to find he'd remained impervious to.  He kept running, pushing through the crowds of people that were making their way towards the temple, probably hoping to see him.  The daylight still weakened him slightly, but its effect seemed to lessen each day as the immunity grew stronger.  He continued swerving between buildings, still hearing the shouts of the unrelenting guards in pursuit.
Soon he arrived at the part of the city that was made up of the much smaller dwellings of the poor and common people.  Their houses were tightly packed together along the narrow streets.  Most of the streets were lined with small market stands set up by the locals to sell goods, most often a simple canopy propped up with wooden poles, just large enough to shelter the one person and a few hefty sacks of grain or fruit that they were selling measures of their goods from.  There were several women who were strolling along the streets, selling their wares from baskets that they balanced on their heads with one hand while trading with the other.
Getting a little weary from the arduous chase, William stopped for a moment to rest in the shade against the plaster-layered wall of a residence and wipe the sweat from his face.  He noticed that the house he was leaning against, as well as most of the others, had a flat roof that people who lived there could use to relax above in the cool breeze during the evening after a hot day.  The stairs to access it were on the inside of the house, so he jumped up, grabbed the edge of the balcony, and pulled himself up onto the roof to see how far away his pursuers were.  They were spreading out and all moving in his general direction.
He grabbed the edge of the balcony, ready to jump back down, just as a guard he hadn't seen came around the corner.  They spotted each other simultaneously.  Before the guard could call for assistance William leaped from the balcony onto him, bringing him to the ground.  The guard sprang back up from the ground and charged into William, slamming him against the wall.  The man recoiled as William swung a heavy punch at his face.  Due to the guard's muscular build it didn't have the effect William had hoped for.  The guard was also surprisingly fast for his build and was throwing punch after punch despite William's blocks and retaliations.  Fortunately the guard didn't have the opportunity to draw his sheathed sword.  Even when William counter-punched him in the solar plexus the guard only stopped for a moment.  The guard was occasionally getting some lucky hits in and was surprised that a man of William's build kept taking the sharp blows and remained standing.  In another dive-tackle William managed to rip off the guard's belt that held the sword and then shove him away hard.  The guard immediately charged towards him again.  Thinking quickly, and not wanting to kill the man, William held the bottom of the sheath with both hands.  He held it over his head and swung it forward at the oncoming guard while retaining his grip on it so that the sword was flung from the sheath towards his opponent, the hilt striking the guard in the forehead.  The dazed man staggered back a few paces, both hands to his head, then fell forwards onto the ground unconscious.
William's face hurt where he'd been hit, but he didn't expect to retain any bruises for more than a matter of minutes, an hour at most.  He was startled by a whispered hiss from behind him.  A bearded middle-aged man wearing a basic knee-length tunic was poking his head out of the doorway of the house William had been climbing on earlier.  The man beckoned him to come inside.  William picked up the sword, sheathed it, and followed the man in.  The small dwelling was sparsely decorated with crude wooden and ceramic objects.  The plaster covering the walls was old and cracked with fading motifs, and had come away in some places revealing the mud bricks beneath.  A young girl was sitting on a basic wooden stool staring at William with shy interest.  She'd probably never seen a man with such white skin before.  Her hair was very short except for a lock of braided hair that hung from the side of her head that was longer than shoulder length.
"Wait here and be silent," the man warned as he went back outside.
William heard him call to the guards nearby saying, "Over here.  He's attacked this temple guard and taken his sword."
William braced himself for a fight with more guards and thought, you just can't trust anyone these days.  Then he heard a deeper voice say, "Where did he go?"
The voice of the man replied, "He ran that way, behind those buildings and to the right."
"This way," he heard the guard call to his colleagues.  Footsteps pounded away into the distance, and William let out a sigh of relief.
The door opened and the man entered.  "Thou canst relax now, they are gone.  If I had not directed them away from here they would have begun to search the houses," he said.  "It is an honour of which we are unworthy to have thee in our home, Messenger of Ra.  I am Khembeset, and this is my daughter, Ankhnefer.  We caught some fish earlier today.  Allow us to prepare thee a meal."
"That's very kind.  And I appreciate thy discretion also," William responded.
"It is the least we can do, to thank thee for thy kindness to those of us who are less fortunate," Khembeset said with appreciation, confirming that the gold had been distributed according to William's command.
William however felt a twinge of regret at not having had the courage to demand that a larger portion of gold be imparted to those who needed it more than the already wealthy temple.  "When I saw how undernourished many of the people looked, and how much wealth the temple has stashed away, I figured they had the means to help people, so I tried to give an example of the good that could be accomplished.  I fear that example was in vain."
"I am a poor man.  It is my lot in life, and I have accepted it.  It is the way of the gods," the Egyptian man said humbly.
Sure it's not the way of the priests and scribes so that they can live off of the offerings and taxes of your work, William thought, though he kept it to himself.  "May I ask, how do you make your living to support your daughter?"
"Sometimes as hired labour in the farming season, other times as part of the construction force for the building of the pharaoh's tomb and other monuments that he decrees to be built.  I also have a small garden on the roof, though its yield is quite meagre, but it does provide us with a little extra food, and gives me something to barter with for other necessities.  Wouldst thou like to see it?" Khembeset asked with evident pride in what he'd done.
"Sure," William said, and followed him to a cramped square kitchen yard that was open to the sky, and up a narrow flight of stairs along its side wall.  When he'd jumped up onto the roof earlier he didn't have time to appreciate the garden.  Half of the roof's surface had been made into a vegetable patch, with a two foot wall to contain the soil.  It was divided into three sections, each with the cramped bunches of plants overflowing beyond the garden wall.  The plants all looked green and healthy.  Khembeset had clearly put a lot of care into it.
"Here I grow garlic, radishes and cucumbers," Khembeset explained.  "Had I the land to do it, I would have planted fig trees as well."
"Impressive work," William said.  He'd be surprised if, in such a poor area, people in the nearby houses didn't step across from their roofs and help themselves to this man's produce in the middle of the night, or even day.
"Why wast thou running like a fugitive from captors?" Khembeset enquired as they went back down to the house's main room.
"Ramenhoses, the high priest of the temple, set a trap for me.  I don't know why," William replied honestly, still trying to figure it out himself.  He was sure there had to be more to it than just the matter of the slaves or the gold.  Then again, maybe not.
"Perhaps it was because thou didst presume to use the temple's resources in a manner contrary to the priests' lofty pride.  Those who love gold often love little else," Khembeset said with disdain and sadness.  Changing the subject he continued, "Out of admiration for thee and thine evident goodness, Ankhnefer wants to name her first son William, when she comes of age to marry, in the hope that he too will grow to be charitably hearted."
William turned to the young girl.  "I would be honoured for thee to use my name," he said with a courteous bow.  The girl continued to remain silent, however she now had smile of delight on her face and was casually playing with a small wooden pendant that hung around her neck on a thin string of leather.  It was carved in the shape of a fish and had an inscription that William was unable to read.
Returning his attention to Khembeset he said, "I must leave at nightfall.  I can't afford to remain in the city another day."
Khembeset nodded in understanding.
The next few hours were spent talking over a basic but fulfilling meal of fish, dates and broth, with round loaves of bread to break for dipping.  All the while William avoided getting close to the tiny windows, which were merely square holes in the wall with scraps of cloth as curtains that were insufficient to completely cover them.  Among other things Khembeset related the tragic tale of how his wife had died from a serious wound inflicted by a crocodile that had later become infected.  It had happened three years after Ankhnefer was born.  He begged William to speak favourably of him to the gods, that they might not take him from the world before his daughter was old enough to marry.
"I have taught Ankhnefer about music and beer making so that she may have opportunities for a good profession when she has grown," Khembeset said, as he rose from his stool and went out to the kitchen.  He returned a moment later with a stopped ceramic pitcher and an earthenware cup.  He poured a cupful of the liquid inside and offered it to William.  "Here is a sample of the beer that we made together."
William accepted the cup, and before taking a drink he braced himself to be diplomatic if it didn't turn out to be any good.  It was nicer than he was expecting, though quite strong.  It was bitter, and certainly not the smoothest William had ever tried, but it was still surprisingly pleasant.  "That's rather good.  Her future shows promise."
Khembeset smiled appreciatively.  The comment had renewed his hope for his daughter's future.  The evening darkness was gathering, so he lit a couple of open earthenware lamps with a wick sticking out of the top.  "Thou canst not walk the city in those clothes, even after dark.  Thou wouldst be easily recognised by description as I recognised thee," he said as he went to a wooden cupboard in the corner and retrieved some folded clothing of a faded white colour.  It was made from a rough type of linen like the type Khembeset was wearing.  He handed it to William.  It would make a good disguise, so William changed into it and tied a cloth belt around his waist.  It was an ankle-length version of what Khembeset wore, more suitable for the cooler nights.  Khembeset also gave him a beige robe to wear over the top that was like a long jacket, and a small dark brown sheet of cloth to tie over his head, completing the disguise.  After tucking the sword out of sight under the robe, William passed his finely woven garments, leather sandals and jewellery to Khembeset and said, "Take these.  Thou canst sell them to feed thy daughter."
"I shall use it all for her benefit, and I thank thee.  May thy journey be free from peril."  Khembeset held his gaze for a moment.  Tears welled in his eyes with sincere gratitude for the unaccustomed kindness he'd been shown.  William had given him his fine things without a second thought, but to the man struggling to feed his daughter it meant the world.
William gave him a parting nod and left.




Chapter 4:  The Mortuary Complex

It was now dark outside.  The sky was perfectly clear, and was adorned with countless stars and the brilliantly shining moon.  William started along the street with a final wave to Ankhnefer, who waved back happily from the doorway.
Once outside he made his way in the direction of the southernmost part of the city, always ducking from cover to cover, staying out of the moonlight by keeping to the shadows of buildings as much as possible, which was difficult with the full moon almost directly overhead.  He was travelling barefoot to move soundlessly on the simple clay pavers that made up some of the slightly less narrow streets as he snuck through the city.
Approximately quarter of an hour later he reached his destination at the southernmost gate in the high white limestone wall that surrounded the city.  He made a quick job of knocking out the two guards on duty, who'd been too busy chatting as they gazed out across the landscape to notice his approach.  As a precaution he dragged them behind the wall outside of the city so they wouldn't be spotted by anyone, since their unconscious forms would be much more conspicuous than their absence.  Then he went over to where two isolated palms stood near each other some distance away, just as Nemali had described.  He knelt exactly between them and started digging in the sand with his hands.  About thirty centimetres below the surface he uncovered a wooden box.  He opened it to reveal the anti-gravity bracers, the omniscanner, and a small pouch containing a few gold coins.
"Good work Nemali," he said under his breath.  He removed the length of cloth that he was using as a belt and threaded it through the bracers, and then tied the belt back around his waist tightly.  This way when they were activated they'd support some of his weight from the waist when he made the climb up one of the temple's pillars to get to his shuttle, rather than just lifting his hands, which would make the climb more difficult.  After tucking the pouch of gold away under his robe he switched on the omniscanner.  He touched a button on the screen, setting it to scan for life signs.  It was picking up life signs within most of the nearby residences, and very few people out in the streets.
Keeping a close eye on the scanner readings, he went back into the city and proceeded in the direction of the Temple of Ptah, ducking back into the shadows whenever he detected someone approaching.  Even if it wasn't a guard, their excitement at seeing him might alert one.  When he got closer to the temple the scanner surprisingly detected no life signs at all within the temple or the immediate area, not even in the building where the priests resided.  It was too suspicious for William's liking.  The way Ramenhoses valued his gold, it was out of character to leave the buildings empty without so much as a guard at the entrance.  He took up a position behind a tall obelisk that had a view of the temple, and there was no one in sight.  It could well be a trap, he thought to himself.  He picked a stone off the ground and tossed it at the temple.  It struck the wall with a clack that was easily audible in the quiet evening.  Listening carefully he could hear no sounds of reactions to it in the vicinity.
Looking up he could see a glint of moonlight reflecting from the hull of his ship, still in place on the temple roof.  He decided to go for it, moving silently and stealthily across the open area in front of the temple, all the while being ready to make a run for it out of the city.  When he reached the pillars at the temple's entrance he crouched and surveyed the surrounding area.  Taking out his scanner he performed a final sweep, which still showed negative for life signs.  He stood at the base of one of the thick pillars and felt for the bracers' controls through his clothes.  Instantly he felt lighter as they activated and took some of his weight.  Just as he was about to start climbing he spotted a small chest at the base of the pillar next to the one he was about to ascend.  It was odd for the priests of the temple to leave something like that just lying around outside, especially with so many poor and hungry people living beyond the larger villa-style houses who might steal such a thing on account of their circumstances.  Dismissing it he began his ascent up the pillar, using the hieroglyphic carvings as fingerholds where possible.  Unfortunately for him the temple columns weren't fluted and the hieroglyphs weren't cut deep enough to get a good grip on, so his progress was gradual as he reached around the pillar with his arms and legs as best he could.
When William was a third of the way up he was startled by shouts from all around him below.  He looked down to see temple guards gathering around the base of the pillar he was climbing.  Some of them started picking up stones and throwing them, and some hit him.  He hastened his climb, muttering curses at his assailants as he went.  The ascent was becoming more difficult.  The bracers were losing power rapidly.  A stone hit his left hand.  Instinctively he pulled it back and nearly fell.  As he tried to regain a firm grip he was jerked back from the pillar by a rope that was thrown over his head, pulling him away by the neck.  Still reaching out in vain for a handhold, he braced himself for impact.  His back hit the ground first, immediately followed by his head.  Though he couldn't see his attackers clearly through the stars floating in front of his eyes he started kicking into the smothering crowd.  As his vision started to clear, William struggled to his feet.  There were too many guards for him to make a run for it.  With all his strength he picked up the nearest guard and threw him into his fellows, knocking a few of them over, but the others prevented his escape.  In a final attempt to intimidate them he bared and extended his vampire fangs, which he'd been mindful not to expose until now.  This he did with a guttural hiss that made even the bravest of them jump back, but their fury was then unleashed upon him with clubs and the hilts of their swords, knocking him back to the ground before he could get his own sword out.
"That's enough!" a familiar voice said.  As the guards grabbed hold of him William looked up to see Ramenhoses.  It didn't make him feel any safer, but at least the guards had stopped hitting him.  Now they were just focussed on holding him still, which despite them all being muscular men, wasn't easy against William's vampirically enhanced strength.  Ramenhoses addressed one of the guards.  "Take him to the dungeon.  We shall bring him before pharaoh on the morrow for judgement.  And remove those strange things he has on his belt and the talisman he'll be carrying."
"At thy command, High Priest," the guard replied, signalling for his fellows to do so without delay.
"What in the name of Ptah do you think you're doing?" William shouted at Ramenhoses, already trying to think of a way to escape their custody as they took the anti-gravity bracers and omniscanner and pushed him along roughly while still holding him firmly.  Right now any attempt seemed futile.  He put up enough of a struggle to face back towards Ramenhoses and was about to shout further protests when, with a feeling of cold dread, he briefly saw a dark figure in a black hooded robe duck behind the pillar that had the chest at its base.  The realisation of what was really happening hit him harder than any of the guards' punches had.  He forgot any protest he was about to make and was led away by the guards with an unshakeable sense of foreboding, now knowing that things were much worse than he'd thought.  His adversary from the future had followed him here, although before it had been wearing a brown robe, which was intriguing.  Why would it change its disguise, but only slightly, William wondered as he was taken into a building that he hadn't been in before.  He was led down stairs and passages that were well lit with burning torches in sconces.  His mind was racing, considering that it was possible that there was more than one adversary from the future, and the difference in robe colour could denote rank, similar to the jackets in Temporal Security.  Either that or the brown robe's in the wash, William thought.  There must've been some kind of scanner jamming device in the chest by the pillar.  That would explain the absence of life signs and technology readings.  It was probably designed to drain the bracers' power too.
He was led down two levels to a cell and thrown inside.  The heavy door was slammed shut behind him and there was a loud clunk when the bolt was slid across on the other side.  It was a thick wooden door reinforced with iron, too sturdy for even him to kick down.  The cell was cold and had a damp and torn straw mattress for a bed.  To the left of the door there was a stale crust of bread that rats had evidently nibbled at, and beside it was a rusty iron cup of water that William was certain had mosquito larvae twitching about inside.  Looking through a rectangular viewing hole in the door he could see two guards who'd remained to keep an eye on him overnight, foiling any escape plan he might've come up with.  He'd have a better chance of escape while he was being taken from the cell to see the pharaoh, so he resignedly lay back on the uncomfortable mattress.
He decided to get a little rest before morning, though he found it difficult as his thoughts started dwelling over the life that he'd lost.  Admiral Rivette's disappointment was what hurt the most.  He'd miss his good friends Luke and Larissa, but at least they were sure of his innocence, which was some comfort to him.  He dearly hoped to see each of them again, although it didn't seem like a realistic possibility at present.  In his mind he began to recall the better times he'd shared with the admiral, like when they were on that cargo shuttle the time they'd rescued Larissa.  It was a shame he'd lost face before the admiral, especially since he'd always enjoyed the warmer side of the man whenever they'd got the chance to enjoy each other's company alone.  On the cargo shuttle, when the admiral had hitched a ride back to Epoch with William, their conversation was almost as if they were old mates from the academy with little sense of their difference in rank.
"A few more missions and you'll be due for promotion to captain!" the admiral said.  Seeing that William was delighted at the prospect he continued.  "Back when I became a captain I took the liberty of stopping off at the year 2164, after my first mission for Admiral Peterson.  I went to the Quantum Inversion concert in Rome!" He watched for a reaction from William.
William was visibly surprised, and a little envious.  "I've heard quite a bit of music from that era, and I've got to say that Quantum Inversion was easily the best band of the time.  They won 'ethereal hard rock band of the year' four years straight.  I especially liked their version of Sonata Mondschein.  But I never would've guessed you to be a fan!"
The admiral leaned forward.  "Believe it or not, I was young once!"
"I didn't mean to imply that…"
"It's quite alright, Will!" the admiral interrupted the apology.  "My point is, there are unwritten privileges to rank that aren't generally discussed, within sensible parameters of course.  But I have no doubt that you'll be wise enough to recognise the limits of that freedom, just as I'm sure you're not far from attaining the blue jacket of leadership you've looked forward to for so long.  But always be mindful.  Being a leader in a time travel organisation is a position of great power and responsibility.  Just make sure it doesn't go to your head and turn you into something you don't really want to become.  I've seen good people become arrogant, obsessive, and outright nasty when they're given enough power."
"So how do you do it?  Admiral's a pretty high rank, and you've been one for years.  If you were going to become power hungry it would've happened a long time ago.  How did you keep it together well enough to get through such a dangerous sounding phase without changing?" William asked sincerely.
"My secret is that I simply bear in mind that everyone under me is no less important than I am.  We're all human, or vampire in your case, but all part of the same family.  I'm an admiral, someday soon you'll be a captain.  We're basically the same, the only difference is what colour jacket we wear."  After a moment of consideration the admiral continued.  "Your father was a stellar researcher, so why did you start a career in Temporal Security?"
"I choose my own path in life," William answered without hesitation.
"See, each life is different and unique, despite at the same time having many similarities.  Your identity isn't who your parents were, but who you are.  Each person of a lower rank than you has the potential to go as far as you, and they too will choose their own path.  Remember that and you won't get big-headed.  Anyway, I expect you'll have the blue jacket within the next year or so."
William smiled as he set a minor course correction.  "Believe me, I'm looking forward to it.  To command a time ship…" he broke off at the sound of a proximity sensor beeping.  "I'm picking up a temporal signature almost directly in our flight path!"
Through the cockpit window they could see a shimmer of green light in space from which a small object emerged.  A moment later the shimmer faded, leaving the cylindrical object adrift.
"What is it?" the admiral asked as he looked over William's shoulder at the sensor readout.
"It's an escape pod."  The commander performed a more detailed scan.  "It's a Mark V time pod, one occupant, human.  The life sign's faint.  Their communication system's down and their spatial engine's completely burnt out.  There are scorch marks on one side.  It looks like they were fired on."
"When we're close enough turn the ship 180 degrees and reverse towards it slowly.  I'll open the cargo hold doors ready to catch it.  When the pod's aboard, grab the medi-kit and join me in the cargo hold," Admiral Rivette ordered and left the cockpit before William had time to voice an acknowledgment.
Less than a minute later he'd completed the manoeuvre and was in the repressurised cargo bay helping the admiral pry open the front of the pod.  It was a long slender cylinder just large enough to contain one person, as well as the controls and compact circuitry.  Inside they found a very attractive young woman with light brown skin and long black hair that framed her Asian features.  She was unconscious and had a small gash on her forehead.  The clothing around the front part of the left side of her waist was soaked with blood.  William took an oval-shaped bio-scanner from the medi-kit and began scanning the woman's injuries.  It was obvious from an accumulating puddle inside the pod that she'd lost a lot of blood.
"She has several minor fractures on her ribs and arms, severe blood loss from the abdominal wound, and haemorrhaging near her parietal lobe.  The pressure's building around her brain, I've got no choice but to operate."  It's a good thing that the Temporal Security Academy includes a substantial amount of medical training, William thought.  He took a laser scalpel from the medi-kit and, after pushing some of her black hair out of the way, made a tiny incision to the side of her head, using a cotton pad to catch the spray of blood and slow its release with his other hand.
Admiral Rivette put his hand on William's arm to get his attention.  "Will, I don't think we'll make it to the medical unit on the station in time to save her life.  Like you said, she's lost a lot of blood.  That haematonic in the medi-kit's not going to save her.  You might want to consider an alternative."
William immediately knew what he had in mind.  "Vampirism?"
The admiral nodded.  "It's your call, but I believe this woman's life depends on it."
William had to concur that they lacked another option.  He took a cardiovascular injector from the medi-kit and set it to extract.  He pressed it to his own wrist and felt only a slight sting.  "I'd say she's already lost enough blood for this to work."
The admiral watched on as William took the now full injector and reset it to inject, before pressing it to the unconscious woman's neck over the jugular.  After repeating this procedure twice more he again activated the bio-scanner to monitor the progress.
"It's working!" William exclaimed with relief.
"See if you can find out anything about her origins from the pod."
William reset the bio-scanner to do a basic normal scan.  "There doesn't appear to be anything to indicate what ship this came from, but one of the engine cells is missing.  The residual particle traces from these weapons-fire marks on it don't match anything in the scanner's database."
"Rather than answering questions we've just raised more," the admiral said with a sigh.
Half an hour later they were with the woman in the medical unit on Epoch.
"She's regaining consciousness."  The balding physician said with little emotion.
The two officers rushed to either side of her.
"How do you feel?" the admiral asked her.
The woman was having trouble focussing on the two figures by her bed.  "A little groggy," she replied with a soft voice.  With a sudden surge of anxiety she sat up.  "Where am I?  Who are you?"  A look of confusion crossed her face.  "Who am I?"  She tried to struggle off the bed and past the men to get out of the medical unit in a sudden panic.  Her rescuers tried to calm her and eventually had her sitting on the side of the bed breathing deeply to relax.
William tried to explain.  "We found you adrift in a damaged time pod.  From the pod's log entry we've determined that your name's Larissa.  I'm afraid the computer was too badly damaged to retrieve any more information than that.  We're not certain where or when you're from."  He paused for a moment and looked up at the admiral, then back at Larissa.  "I've injected you with vampire blood.  Please understand it was the only way to save your life."
Larissa's panic was fading and she was now much calmer.  "I understand," she said, to William's relief.  "I do appreciate your efforts, I'm just a little confused right now."
The physician returned to the bedside and spoke to the patient.  "You need to get some rest.  Your body needs time to heal and adjust to the vampirism.  The transformation isn't fully complete yet."
Larissa nodded in reluctant submission and lay back on the bed.
"We're doing everything we can to find out more about what happened to you," the admiral said soothingly in an attempt to comfort her.  He and William followed the physician into a nearby office.
"You did a pretty good job with the operation, no damage to the surrounding brain tissue whatsoever," the physician complimented William.  "Most people lack such precision using a laser scalpel in the field, and cause at least some damage to the outer cells."
"Thanks," William replied.  "Got any clues about her?"
"Not much," the physician admitted.  "I've concluded from her DNA that she's half Japanese and half Malaysian, about 21 years old, but right now I can't tell you any more than that.  I'm afraid I'm not even able to determine if she's from the future or the past.  With no obvious indications either way it's probably somewhere close to this time, give or take a decade or so, given that the minerals in her bloodstream and the residual food in her digestive tract match those of most people living in the present day on just about any world."
"Keep at it," the admiral said.  "How about this amnesia?"
"It could be from the haemorrhage in her brain, or it may have happened before you found her.  It could also have been caused by the transformation.  I've heard of anomalous side effects caused by vampirism under traumatic circumstances."  The physician noticed a hint of remorse on William's face.  "Hey, you did the best you could under the circumstances.  It would definitely have been a lot worse otherwise."
The admiral put his hand on William's shoulder and smiled.  "You did very well, I'm proud of you."
*

William was suddenly awoken by half a dozen guards, led by Ramenhoses, who'd come to fetch him.  It didn't feel as though a whole night had passed.  He hadn't even noticed himself drifting off.  All of the guards had their swords drawn at the ready.
"The bread and water here's terrible.  I'll bet most of your prisoners try to escape just to go find themselves a decent meal," William said, blatantly refusing to be intimidated by them.
"Chain him," Ramenhoses ordered, ignoring William's comment.
One of the guards came forward with heavy manacles and clamped a pair to William's wrists and another to his ankles.  The chains were too short to take big steps, and the manacles were so heavy that each step caused them to dig into his bare feet.  He wondered how an ordinary man would be able to walk in them at all if it was this difficult for a vampire.
He was taken up the stairs and outside, where the air seemed extra dry after a night without access to any water that was worth drinking.  He'd slept longer than he'd realised, because the sun was almost directly overhead.  He was led away from the temple, across the hot paved ground, to an impressive structure that he'd only glimpsed behind the other buildings earlier.  The front was colonnaded, and above the entrance there was a huge carved and painted relief of the goddess Maat.  She knelt on one knee, and the long wings that were part of her arms were outstretched on either side.  An ostrich feather was sticking up from a band around her head.  A hieroglyphic inscription below her image read 'Superior Court'.  The guards continued to shove William as he went through the entrance and along a passage within.
When they reached an antechamber that led to the main courtroom, the chief guard hung the chain on William's wrists over a hook in the wall above his head, and then stood at the ready a couple of metres away facing him.
"You will wait here until Pharaoh summons you," Ramenhoses said to the prisoner, dispensing with the courtesies of thee and thou.  As he was about to enter the audience chamber with the other guards he added dryly, "Do not wander away."
William watched his departure with a look of bitter contempt.  That's why you're a priest, he thought.  With lines as lame as that you'd never make it as a comedian.  If only I had a rotten tomato on hand… When the curtains covering the wide archway to the courtroom closed behind Ramenhoses he looked up at the hook that was holding his wrist chain.  It was too strong to break, but it didn't point up very steeply.  It was more like an upward curving spike sticking out of the wall at a relatively gentle angle.  William guessed that its purpose was usually to hang a tapestry on, or a schedule of the day's hearings.  Seizing the opportunity he turned his head sharply back the way they'd come as if he'd heard something.  Instinctively the chief guard turned his head to see what had caught his prisoner's attention.  At that moment William flicked the chain up and forward.  He successfully flung it off the hook and brought it down on the chief guard's head.  The man fell to one knee dazed.  William snatched his sword and held the point to the man's throat.  "Undo these chains!" he demanded in a low voice.  Fearing for his life the chief guard ignored his pounding headache and did as he was told.  The vampire swiftly landed a heavy punch on his jaw and left him lying on the floor unconscious.
Now that he was no longer bound, William started to run back down the passage that he'd been led along, keeping a tight grip on the sword.  He stopped at the sound of heavy footsteps further ahead.  More were coming from behind.  He was surrounded, but he wasn't prepared to go down without a fight.  Four guards advanced upon him, two coming from either side.  One had a spear, and therefore the greatest reach with his weapon, so William lunged towards him.  The guard thrust the spear forward.  William dropped his sword and in that split second grabbed the spear with both hands and pulled it from the guard's grasp.  He jabbed it back at the guard, striking him in the abdomen with the butt end.  Swiftly he swung it up into the side of the next guard's face and then turned his attention to the guards approaching from the other side.  Not wanting to kill them, he flipped the spear over and in the same movement brought it down on one guard's shoulder, cracking his clavicle.  He swung the pole into the side of the final guard's head.  The escape plan was ended at that moment when the guard who'd originally carried the spear brought his meaty fists down on the back of William's neck.  William hadn't expected him to recover so quickly.  Within a few seconds the four guards united to beat William into submission, and again dragged him towards the courtroom.  When they got there the curtains were held open by a couple of priests.
The chamber was large and spacious with a high ceiling, well lit by a combination of torches held in sconces and the sunlight that shone through the small square windows just below the ceiling.  Two rows of guards standing to attention lined a sunken path leading all the way to the throne at the head of the chamber.  They were different to the guards William had encountered so far.  They were the pharaoh's personal guards.  Each held a bronze khepesh sword vertically before them.  A third of the way up the length of the swords, the blade curved out and then back in the style of a sickle, and the hilts were gold plated.  Their garments were of a finer material than those of the regular guards, and these ones wore an elaborate helmet and a silver medallion studded with lapis lazuli that denoted their office.
The pharaoh himself was attired even more exquisitely.  His robe was a magnificently pure white, embroidered along the hems with blue, red and gold.  A gold rimmed blue sash hung down the front of his robe from the waist where it was neatly tied.  A long narrow beard jutted from his chin, but the rest of his face was clean shaven.  He wore several rings and the nemes head cloth, which reached back from his forehead and was folded behind his ears, framing his face, with the sides draped over the front of his shoulders.  There was a golden head of a vulture and a cobra on the band across the forehead.  The broad golden collar that hung over his shoulders and across his chest was of a far more extravagant design than the ones the nobles at the feast had worn.  The armrests of the pharaoh's throne were spaced well apart like the chair William had sat in when he arrived, which gave the pharaoh a more domineering pose.  His expression of serene confidence gave him a formidable look.  Around the room dignitaries sat on cushioned chairs against the walls wearing exquisite clothing of fine material, and were all a respectful distance from the pharaoh.
Taking up most of the wall behind the pharaoh was a depiction of Maat on either side of a sun disc, the goddess on one side being an identical mirror image of the other.  Again in kneeling poses, they had their wings stretched out diagonally towards the sun disc, one raised and the other lowered.
Ramenhoses knelt before the pharaoh and bowed with his arms across his chest.  "O mighty Pharaoh, we bring before thee the man who claimed to be the Messenger of Ra."
The Pharaoh Tuthmosis replied to him, "Arise, Ramenhoses.  Present the case against him."
"It has been revealed to me that he is in truth the Messenger of Seth.  It was also revealed to me that his objective was to assassinate thee, great Pharaoh, just as Seth slew Osiris by trickery as he ruled from the throne of Egypt."
"That's not true!" William interjected.  There was a gasp from the crowd that the prisoner had the audacity to speak without permission.  Even the pharaoh was visibly surprised by it.
Now ignoring William, Tuthmosis again addressed Ramenhoses.  "Tell me by what means this revelation was made known."
"By a priest sent to me from Amun-Ra.  I declare that the prisoner has no real divine power, only that of objects enchanted by dark magic, which have now been taken from him.  By trickery, he caused that gold in the temple treasury be used for his own purposes.  To verify that what I say is true I now demand that the prisoner display his divine powers, if he really has any."
All attention was now on William, who was in yet another dire situation.
"Display your powers, if you have them!" Tuthmosis demanded impatiently.
After a short silence William confessed, "I possess no magic, but neither have I caused any harm while I've been here.  Has this high priest any power?  Has anyone seen this spokesman of the gods he claims to have seen?"
"Mighty Pharaoh, I have indeed seen the true messenger, who also instructed me as to what punishment should be carried out," Ramenhoses said with false humility.  "Evil like this cannot be simply killed; it must be buried where no man can find it.  The instruction from Amun-Ra is that the false messenger William is to be entombed in a mastaba, without so much as a cartouche, so that he will be forgotten to this world and the next throughout all eternity."
After a moment's consideration Tuthmosis said, "I trust the judgement of the high priest, and I would not dispute the mighty gods of Egypt.  Punishment is to be carried out in accordance with the instructions of Amun-Ra!"
William was about to try to run but immediately the pharaoh's guards encircled him, their swords all pointing at him.  He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.  Better to live and find another opportunity to escape than to die now, he thought, though he wasn't too keen on the entombing part, especially since he wouldn't even get his name in a cartouche.  Aside from his indignation at missing out, it also meant that archaeologists would never identify him, and so no one from his time would know where to come back to look for him even if somehow he was eventually exonerated in Temporal Security's sight.
At a signal from Tuthmosis he was led outside to a waiting horse-drawn cart with a cage on it, the sort that was probably used to transport captured wild animals for the royal menagerie.  It certainly smelt like that was the case, by the scent of dried blood and manure.  Obviously his guilt and sentencing had been predetermined.  He was roughly shoved inside.
He was alerted by a grinding sound coming from close by and looked across to see several temple guards directing forty slaves on the roof of the Temple of Ptah.  They'd managed to lever the time shuttle onto wooden rollers while guards on the ground supervised more slaves, who pulled at ropes that were tied to it.  Bit by bit the ship was being moved closer to the edge of the roof.  When nearly half of it was hanging over the edge, the crowd down below moved well away while the slaves on the roof gave a final heave.  The ship slowly tipped forward and fell from the roof, bringing down several rollers with it.  However it didn't crash to the ground.  About half way down the anti-gravity landing thruster automatically activated and caught the ship, allowing it to make a smooth and levelled descent.  William let out a sigh of relief.  Luckily he'd left the firing capacitors connected to the power grid.  It didn't appear as though the Egyptians had discovered the emergency power unit that was charging higher on the roof, for which William was grateful.  At least that's how it seemed, since no one was holding it or even attempting to get to the higher roof level.  Assuming it was still in place, it was out of sight from the ground.
Ramenhoses and several of his temple guards mounted their horses and chariots and led the expedition out of Memphis and into the desert.  William took one last look at the ship, the sun reflecting brightly off its shiny hull.
They were heading westward at a high gallop.  The prisoner was getting a very bumpy ride all the way.  He could make out the pyramids of Sekhemkhet, Unas, Djoser and Teti on the horizon, not yet weathered by time.  The sun was setting behind the step pyramid of Djoser as they reached Saqqara, and had it been under different circumstances, William would've appreciated the beauty of it a lot more.  He started to get worried when they came to a stop near the pyramid complex of Djoser.
Ramenhoses had the guards release their prisoner from the cage and then tied his hands with a leather strap before guiding him towards the entrance.  A white limestone wall surrounded the entire complex of ceremonial buildings, dominated by the step pyramid that was clad in white limestone and still nearly as immaculate as when it was constructed eight centuries earlier.  The columns lining the passage they entered by were gently fluted and carved in a way that gave the appearance of giant bundles of reeds.  The passage led into a relatively small hypostyle hall, and beyond was the courtyard.  William remembered seeing this same place in pictures and holograms when he was training at the academy, before he began working for Temporal Security.  Now he was able to see the structures for real, relatively untouched by time, though he wasn't as excited about it as he'd always imagined he would be.
"Impressive, is it not?" Ramenhoses commented casually as they crossed the courtyard.  He spoke as though they were there on a tourist trip.  "This complex was built by Imhotep, Vizier of Djoser.  Truly a great architect."
"I'd be more interested to meet the person you referred to as the priest of Amun-Ra than have a history lesson," William replied, although he had a pretty good idea that it was his time-travelling adversary.  Either that or Ramenhoses had made the whole thing up, but that wouldn't account for the black-robed being William had spotted.
"That won't be possible," Ramenhoses said definitively.
"So what happens now?" William asked, all the while being mindful of the guards who were watching him like a hawk with their weapons at the ready.
"We're taking you to the mortuary chamber."

*  *  *

Admiral Rivette approached Luke in the temporal scanning room where the lieutenant commander was bent over a console's display, occasionally glancing up at the main timeline hologram that dominated the room.  "What's the latest on Will?" he asked.
"Nothing new yet, sir," Luke replied, "I haven't detected any more energy signatures for nearly a day now."
"Scan further ahead until you find another energy emission that could indicate a time jump within his life span.  Report to me when you've finished.  I'll be at Green Tim's."
"Of course," Luke said, although he didn't really want to discuss such matters in a public place.  Right now he couldn't be sure who might overhear their conversation.  Still, it would be safer than a written report, which might be accessed without the admiral even being aware of it.  He proceeded to initiate a scan.  Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Larissa studying something at one of the unattended consoles in the centre of the room.  Although she wasn't a member of Temporal Security, no one dared to question her presence there, being the wife of the admiral.  She glanced up at Luke briefly, then continued working for a couple of minutes before leaving the room.
A short time later, having completed his scans, Luke entered Green Tim's and looked around the extensive room for Admiral Rivette.  He was sitting with Larissa by a window overlooking Earth.  The restaurant's lighting was relatively dim, making the view more prominent, and also giving the place a different atmosphere to the rest of the station.
Luke bumped into Colin halfway across the room, and after a quick exchange of greetings he excused himself.  He hoped that his face didn't show any of the concern and near anxiety he felt at what his scans had revealed, as he didn't want difficult questions to be raised about William, especially when he didn't have the answers.  He proceeded through the crowd of off-duty officers and crewmen until he reached the admiral's table.  Leaning in close he said quietly, "I've finished my time scan, sir."
"Thank you," the admiral replied.  Turning to his wife he said, "Could you give us a few moments alone, my dear?"
"Of course."  Larissa left the table promptly, both men standing aside to let her pass.
Admiral Rivette gestured for Luke to sit with him.  "Was there another jump?" he asked as they got comfortable.
Luke hesitated and glanced around before replying, still keeping his voice low.  "There was another jump from that ship, but I can't ascertain whether or not it was William at the helm, and if not it means that he will never leave the time he's in now!"
"What does that mean?" the admiral replied, bewildered by the cryptic answer.
"The jump will take the ship to 73 BC, and very few vampires have the drive to live for nearly 1400 years, with the exception of Talaman, the oldest living vampire at about 2,000 years old.  But Will's ship doesn't leave Egypt for another twenty eight years!"
Both men stared at each other for several seconds as the implication sunk in, then Luke continued.
"I've also detected a foreign influence affecting the ship's destination, like some kind of remote signal that can override the navigation system, though no actual signal was detectable.  Looks like his ship will get forced down into that time.  It may be that someone in 73 BC managed to remotely steal the shuttle from 1438 BC."
"What manner of influence could do such a thing in that era?" the admiral asked, his curiosity sparked as well as his concern.
"I have no idea.  Perhaps someone's using a form of technology that's undetectable.  But in light of this new information I think it's more imperative than ever that we bring William back to our time.  I'd like your permission to visit Fleet Admiral Morgan to plead Will's case," Luke said with all of the conviction and determination he could express in words.
"Not many people are fortunate enough to have such dedicated friends as you.  By confronting Morgan about the decision to sentence Will, which he did with leniency, you could endanger your standing and maybe even your career.  Are you certain it's what you want to do?" Admiral Rivette asked.  He couldn't help but admire Luke's courage and loyalty to his friend.
"I'm absolutely certain," Luke answered without pause.
"The fleet admiral's presently on Earth."
"Then I'll take a short leave of absence, only for as long as is necessary to speak with him."
"Consider your leave granted.  I'll inform Morgan of your visit, and see if I can persuade him to at least hear you out," the admiral said.
"Thank you sir," Luke said with a sigh of relief and gratitude.
They were interrupted by a crewman.  "Excuse me, Admiral.  There's a call coming in for you from Earth High Command.  It's the president."
"Thank you.  Luke, we'll talk again later I'm sure, perhaps when you get back.  Excuse me."
"Of course, sir."  Luke remained sitting alone after the admiral left, pondering what his friend's situation might be.

*  *  *

Within the pyramid complex William was led into what could only be described as an embalming necropolis.  There were several altars with carefully bandaged corpses on them surrounded by Canopic jars, the small urns containing the organs that were removed during the mummification process.  Presumably the bodies being treated in a king's mortuary complex belonged to nobles or high officials.  Either that or the facility was being used unofficially.  Beside each mummy there were also miniature statuettes called shabtis that represented servants to serve the deceased in the afterlife.  The chamber was adorned with various cutting tools and chemicals used to embalm the corpse, and several empty sarcophagi lined the walls, as did several statues of funereal deities.  The odour of incense hung heavily in the air, competing with the smell of the dead.
William was forced against a pillar by the guards and bound to it tightly.  Hope was fading from his mind rapidly to be replaced by a swelling lump in his throat as his sense of foreboding deepened.  The ropes were too strong to break, and held him so tightly that he couldn't move and hadn't the slightest chance of escape.
A couple of minutes later, two guards led by Ramenhoses brought in a stretcher bearing a mummy and set it down before William.  The rancid stench of death became intense as they approached.
"Oh for Anubis' sake, what do you expect to accomplish by bringing that here?" William demanded.
"This is going to be your companion for eternity," Ramenhoses said to the vampire with a smile of pernicious enjoyment.
"You are a twisted, depraved apology for a man with less soul than that mummy!" William shouted at the high priest, his voice echoing around the spacious room.
Ramenhoses grinned as if it was a compliment and continued, "His name was Tuthmaren.  He was one of my priests, but he didn't share our views on some issues…"
"I don't share your views on some issues!" William interjected.
Ramenhoses paused for a moment before continuing.  "He hasn't been mummified.  He was still alive when we wrapped him three weeks ago."
"So I'm going to have a dead guy for company.  At least he won't snore," William said flippantly in an attempt to break the horror of what was happening.
Two of the guards held the side of the vampire's head hard against the pillar so that he was facing to his right, and unable to see Ramenhoses.  The high priest pressed a dagger into the side of William's neck deep enough to make him gasp in pain.  Blood began to flow freely in pulses.  Ramenhoses took an empty goblet that was large enough to contain a full pint and held it to William's neck just below the wound to catch the blood.  When the goblet was filled to the brim he brought over a small gourd and held it under the wound until it too was filled.  Following this curious behaviour William's head was released and he saw Ramenhoses hold his arms out before him with his palms upward.  Carefully a guard made a deep incision along each of his wrists.  The high priest tensed but didn't flinch, and once the gashes in his arms were made he went across the room and held his hands over a small metal cauldron, allowing his blood to drip away into it.  After a few minutes he was very weak from bleeding out so much, and stumbled back over to where his prisoner was tied.  The enervated high priest then raised the goblet containing the vampire's blood, spilling some over the side in his weakened state, and proceeded to drink it.  He obviously found it distasteful but proceeded determinedly nonetheless.  Within a matter of seconds he fell to the ground coughing and gagging.  The nearly empty goblet fell from his grasp and rolled across the stone floor, the remainder of its contents spilling a crimson trail in its wake.  The watching guards had a mixed look of curiosity and disgust on their faces at this unnatural ritual.
Ramenhoses twitched on the ground in seemingly painful spasms, until finally he lay perfectly still face down.  Everyone watched on in suspense, guards and prisoner alike.  The guards were unsure whether or not to try to assist their master, or for that matter whether or not their master was still alive.  They received an answer to their unspoken question when Ramenhoses started to move his arms.  As the terrified guards watched he got to his feet and stood for a short time looking at his hands with an expression of wonder.  The dread William was trying to hold back was manifested in the evidence that the high priest was now a vampire, looking with his enhanced sight at his hands as though he'd never seen them before.  Ramenhoses staggered to the cauldron he'd bled into, held back for a few seconds uncertainly, and then began to drink from it with a newfound thirst, no longer showing any sign of aversion to such a practice.  When he was satisfied he returned his attention to William with new vigour, holding his fists up triumphantly.
"Now I have your dark powers!  We will now put you where no one else will ever be able to take them from you, and I alone shall possess them.  Take him!"
The guards did as they were told without hesitation or question.  They untied William from the pillar and held him firmly as they took him to a low table nearby, which he quickly realised was a stone bier.  It took all of the guards to hold the wildly struggling prisoner down.  Ramenhoses watched as the guards proceeded to wrap his prisoner in bandages over the top of his clothes, each limb separately before binding the limbs together and to his body by a further layer until William was completely enshrouded and unable to move.
Although William was struggling during all of this he kept his muscles flexed and held as much air in his lungs as he could, breathing only a little, to keep his chest expanded.  The aim was to have the bandages a little looser when he relaxed later in the hope of making it easier to escape, which proved more difficult than he'd thought.  He tried to break free but was still bound too tightly.  It was difficult to breathe through the bandages, but he was still getting a little air through a minuscule gap under his nose.  Even though he could no longer see what was happening with his eyes covered he still heard Ramenhoses tell the guards to fetch a sarcophagus.  Now thrashing with greater panic he felt himself being lifted and then roughly placed in a confined space.  There was a thud from above him and all sound was muffled to a dull murmur of Ramenhoses giving orders.  He felt the sarcophagus lurch as it was raised by the guards, followed by constant rocking as it was carried out of the necropolis.  William tried to swing his weight back and forth in an attempt to throw the heavy coffin off balance, although he had no idea what he could possibly do after that, but the guards held it steady.  He tried kicking his bound legs upwards to knock the lid off the sarcophagus, but it was being held down firmly by the guards.  Even if he did manage to at least buy some time by slowing them down, there was no one coming to rescue him.  Not that a rescuer would have any way of finding him.  He exhaled completely, making the bandages that bound his limbs a little bit looser.  It wasn't quite loose enough for him to pull his arms free.  For what seemed like an eternity he was jolted about in constant motion until finally the sarcophagus was dropped onto a solid surface.
Ramenhoses handed his burning torch to the nearest guard and glanced around the undecorated tomb.  Two trailing guards brought the stiff body of Tuthmaren down into the burial chamber and propped it up into a roughly standing position against a stone wall.  Ramenhoses took out his dagger and severed the bandages of the deceased victim that bound its limbs to its body, but left the body itself wrapped.  He made a cut in the bandage over the slightly open mouth from which a terrible stench emerged.  His heightened sense of smell amplified the foul odour, making him grimace.  He opened the gourd of William's blood and poured it into the mouth of the decaying corpse.  He and his guards stood back and watched with anticipation.  After about one minute, when the vampire blood had permeated the decaying flesh and soaked through to the heart, the body began to writhe with reanimation.
Ramenhoses leaned over the sarcophagus and knocked on the ornate lid.  "I now leave thee to the cruelty of eternity, Messenger of Ra!" he said with malicious delight.  He and his guards hurried out of the tomb and slid a thick stone slab over the entrance.  After sealing it with plaster from a pot that one of the guards held, they climbed up the flight of stairs to the desert above and shovelled sand into the stairwell until they had concealed all evidence of the underground burial place.
Within the sarcophagus William could hear only the shriek of the cadaver as it blindly and mindlessly stumbled around the tomb bumping into walls and falling over his coffin.  William knew that if the creature was able to open the lid, or inadvertently bumped it off, he was completely defenceless.  He struggled pointlessly to break the bandages open.  Not having any luck he tried pulling just his right arm out.  He reassured himself that he just needed to stay calm and do it carefully.  After a bit of careful manipulation of the bandage's folds he succeeded in freeing one arm, making it easier to loosen the other binding wraps.  After a moment he'd removed the wrapping from around his head and could breathe more freely.  With a bit of struggling in the cramped space he managed to get the bandages off of his hands and free his legs.  He decided to leave the wrappings on his body, even though he was still clothed beneath them, with the idea that it might offer a little protection against the abhorrence waiting for him outside of his confinement.  When he could move freely he put his hands to the lid above him and carefully pushed it upwards.  It made only a slight grinding sound, but it was enough to alert the reanimated corpse, which instantly stopped its screeching and listened.  William could hear stumbling footsteps approaching.  The creature seemed to know that it was not alone, and William could sense that it couldn't be reasoned with.  It was simply a corpse that would be animate for as long as the vampire blood could sustain it.  He just had to make sure it didn't get any more, assuming it had attained the vampire instinct.  He was trying to keep his thoughts rational, and not give in to fear, but thoughts alone weren't going to save him.  The creature started to move towards him at a faster pace, once again making the inhuman shrieking sound that bore into William's mind like a drill.  Franticly he pushed the lid off towards the oncoming creature and leaped out of the sarcophagus.  In his haste he caught his foot on the edge of the coffin and fell to the stone floor with a painful thud.  He was up on his feet in a flash and stood motionless, listening, hoping to judge where in the darkness the mad thing was without giving away his position.  Ramenhoses had left no torches burning.  He was in pitch-blackness with a nightmare.


Chapter 5:  The Plan

The mindless creature shuffled closer to where William was standing, then paused, grunting, as if trying to locate him with the echo.  Suddenly the creature leaped towards him and William felt powerful fingers grabbing at his wrappings.  The thing shoved him up against a cold stone wall and its fingers found their way to his throat and squeezed, despite his desperate attempts to break its iron grip.  As he felt himself choking he used one leg to push off against the wall and knock both him and his assailant off balance.  The mummy fell backwards, pulling its prey down with it, but William was able to use the momentum to roll out of its grip.  Immediately it was on its feet again and continued its relentless pursuit.
William backed away blindly, feeling his way along the wall.  All the while he could hear the dead thing bumping into the wall in its unseeing, unthinking chase.  Stumbling along, he tripped over the sarcophagus' lid and fell over it.  He scrambled back to his feet, picked up the lid, and froze.  The creature also froze to get its bearings on him.  The silence was only momentary before the abomination took a small step forward, trying to provoke a reaction that would give the vampire's position away.  The sound of the step was all William needed.  He began to charge at the creature, holding the lid like a battering ram, until he felt it impact into something that was distinctly softer than stone.  He kept charging until he felt a second impact against the wall and heard a crunch as several of the creature's ribs snapped and its rotting organs were squashed.  Its flailing became less powerful, but as he pulled back for a second charge it seemed to find its strength again and pushed against the lid.  William staggered backwards, then awkwardly swung the heavy lid to strike, as if he was holding an enormous baseball bat.  Again he hit the thing and there was another snap, but it sounded different.  The creature screeched, but William couldn't be certain whether it was from pain or just frustration.  Again each of them stopped to get a fix on where the other was.  William listened carefully and heard a faint trickle of liquid hitting the stone floor.  He suspected with a glimmer of hope that he'd seriously injured it this time, as it sounded like it was bleeding!  He dropped the lid onto the floor.  If he could give it the run around for a short while its strength should ebb away as it lost blood, until the unnaturally animated cadaver eventually rested in peace.
After dodging back and forth, avoiding it for a few more minutes, he lured it towards the sarcophagus.  He jumped over it to the other side where the lid was and the creature attempted to follow, but it failed to find its way over and its abated strength left it slumped over the side.  William cautiously approached the mummy that was now moving only slightly.  Hurriedly he grabbed it and pulled it the rest of the way into the sarcophagus and groped around for the lid.  He could hear that it couldn't climb out and its feeble flailing was almost inaudible once he got the lid into place.
He slumped down against the side of the coffin to rest for a moment.  His throat still ached from when the mummy was strangling him.  After thirty seconds he started feeling his way to the tomb entrance, and when he got there he realised that even his greatest effort wasn't going to budge the sealed stone door.  The sand that filled the stairwell on the other side made sure of that, and Ramenhoses had left no tools for him to even attempt to lever it inwards with.  Had he been able to do that he could've then dug his way out through the sand.  For some time he examined the chamber by touch.  His fruitless search revealed no other exits, even from the few narrow adjoining chambers.  There wasn't so much as a ventilation port to climb through.  With a dejected feeling his fate dawned upon him, and his denial was crushed.  There was no way out.  Already the air was beginning to become unbreatheable and his chest felt tight.  He was buried alive in a dark room that archaeologists probably wouldn't discover for more than 3,000 years, if at all, and by then he'd be long dead.  As a vampire he'd survive in a deathly comatose state for quite some time, perhaps even a decade or two, but not nearly long enough to be found alive.  He began to feel light-headed.  He slumped to the ground and his thoughts slowly became strange and morbid.  They drifted to how his body would slowly feed on itself in the vain hope of staying alive while his mind would dissipate into the realm of crazed oblivion.  He was almost not breathing now.  His body had slowed to a near halt.  His final conscious thoughts were about the only three people that really mattered to him: Luke, Larissa, and Bruce Rivette.  Then the nothingness took him.

*  *  *

Luke hadn't bothered to pack anything for his trip to Earth.  He wasn't planning to be there long.  His multi-com was all he'd need for directions to Morgan's office within the Earth High Command complex.  Really he didn't even need that since an escort had been arranged for the visit.  He'd finished his shift and was now walking purposefully towards the launch deck where a prepared shuttle was waiting for him.
"Lieutenant Commander," a familiar voice called out from behind him.
Luke knew it was Colin Finch, the one person who was sure to turn up absolutely anywhere at all.  It was occasionally annoying, especially when one was in a hurry.  Forcing a mood of patience, he turned and asked politely, "Yes, Colin?"
"I was going to hand in my final report for the day, and when I couldn't find you I asked the admiral, and he said you were going to Earth to speak to Fleet Admiral Morgan," Colin said.
"That's right.  I'm going to see if I can arrange to have Commander Herschel brought back to this time," Luke responded.  "You can give the admiral your reports until I get back."
"I will.  And I just wanted to wish you good luck on Earth.  I hope it goes well."
"Thanks, Colin.  But I'm going to need more than luck."
"Is there anything I can do for you here while you're gone?"
"Just keep track of Commander Herschel as best you can and save any new information for me," Luke answered.  "I have to get going, my shuttle's ready."
"I'll talk to you when you get back," Colin said, and then turned and walked away.
I'm sure you will, Luke thought to himself as he continued towards the shuttle bay.  He turned a corner and entered a wide and particularly long passage that led to the launch bay where his shuttle was waiting.  Other passages branched off at different angles leading to several docking ports around the station where larger ships were berthed.
Part way along, a short distance before the door to the launch bay, Wallace and Tylvius were leaning against the passage wall and chatting.  They stopped talking when they noticed Luke, despite the fact that he was still out of earshot, and stared at him malevolently.  Had he the time, Luke would've out-stared them no matter how long it took.  As it was, he had to settle for giving them a contemptuous look as he passed them and entered the launch bay, hoping he gave the impression that they weren't worth wasting time on.  Just having seen them momentarily had been enough to sour his mood.
After a flight of less than quarter of an hour, Luke descended towards the triple skyscraper that made up the main part of the Earth High Command complex in Geneva, Switzerland.  He landed the shuttle in the parking area by the base of one of the buildings.  The three cylindrical skyscrapers that made up the main building were identical, each with 200 floors at a towering height of 820 metres, positioned in a triangular shape.  There was a flourishing garden in the space between their foundations.  The buildings each tapered up to the top on their outer face, with the innermost face being perfectly vertical, and they were joined to each other every ten floors by transparent aerial walkway tubes that extended from each building and met in the middle.  There were a few dozen hover cars that mainly circled the buildings' upper floors, transporting people between the different levels and different buildings since the lifts took a while to go between ground level and the upper floors.  Lush parklands extended two kilometres around the complex in every direction, with perfectly kept grass and trees and flower beds that were spaced far enough apart to prevent it from looking too crowded.  Lake Geneva was visible in the distance.  Luke spent only a couple of seconds taking it all in.  His mind was too preoccupied with William's situation to appreciate the majestic beauty of the place.
As he crossed the parking area, walking amidst cars and shuttles, he looked around for the man who was supposed to meet him upon arrival.  He could see no one.  The buildings' sensors would've detected his approach, so it was known that he'd arrived.  With a sigh of frustration he activated his multi-com's sensor to determine if anyone was on their way down.  It showed that a lift was descending to the ground floor inside the nearest tower.  He left the parking area and approached the building, and was about to deactivate the sensor when its alarm beeped.  In the split second that he saw a message warning him that an energy weapon had been detected firing he instinctively dropped to the ground.  A blue burst of energy flashed over his head and hit the wall of the building, leaving a scorch mark.  In an instant Luke was on his feet and running to the building, swerving as he went.  Another two shots missed him by inches before he made it safely inside the building.  He was going to activate a security alert, but the building's sensors had automatically done that when they detected a weapon firing.
Luke hurried over to a window and looked out at the parkland in the direction the shot had come from.  There was nothing but squads of security personnel running out across the grass with a swarm of fighters in the air overhead.
"Lieutenant Commander Hawking, are you alright?" a man asked urgently as he scurried over to Luke.
"Fine.  Whoever it was missed me, just," Luke answered, still looking out of the window.  "Just wait 'til I get hold of them!"  He turned away from the window and was surprised to recognise the man wearing the two-tone grey uniform of the Terran Guardians.  "Ralph Smithers?"
"Oh, it's you," Ralph replied unenthusiastically.  "I'd thought I was meeting someone else called Hawking.  Didn't realise you'd made it to lieutenant commander yet.  I'm still waiting for my promotion to senior special agent."
"Best of luck with that," Luke said apathetically and without any sincerity whatsoever.
"I'm afraid I've been assigned as your escort throughout the complex," Ralph said, certain that his disappointment outweighed Luke's.
"If that's how it has to be.  Shall we get on with it so I can leave you to your other errands?" Luke suggested condescendingly.
"Follow me."  Ralph said simply, refusing to rise to him.  He led the way to a door that opened onto a sheltered outside platform.  There were already five other people waiting on the platform.  "Fleet Admiral Morgan's in the second tower on floor 187, so we'll need to take an air car."
"Fine," Luke said curtly, preferring not to talk to him at all if it could be avoided.  They would've both been quite happy to openly argue about their issues of the past, trivial as they might be, but instead retained a certain level of decorum out of respect for their mutual friend William, he being the reason for the visit, as well as the expectation of professional behaviour in the world government capital, at least as far as appearances went.
Knowing that it would bug him, Ralph kept talking to Luke while they waited for an air car to arrive.  "I understand William's having a bit of trouble in Egypt in 1438 BC?"
"That's why I've come to see the fleet admiral," Luke said distractedly as he watched the air car descend to their platform, wishing it would hurry up.  It was irritating how Ralph always seemed to know more than he should.
As they boarded, Ralph entered their destination into the automated air car's system through his multi-com.  Even though the car had twenty seats, he sat in the seat next to Luke, just to try his patience.  "By the time you've finished with the fleet admiral, the security captain should have the results of their search ready for you."
When everyone was aboard and seated, the air car began its smooth ascent towards a platform higher up the side of the building.  From so high up the other buildings that made up the Geneva complex were visible dotted about the area.  Most had only their upper few levels above ground, with at least a dozen more below.
The air car stopped at two other platforms before it reached Luke and Ralph's destination.  They stepped out onto the platform at floor 190 and went inside to take the lift down to floor 187.  Ralph showed Luke to the door of Fleet Admiral Morgan's office and waited outside when Luke was invited in.  They were finally separated from each other's company when the office door closed behind Luke.
"Lieutenant Commander Hawking, please have a seat," Morgan offered genially.
"Thank you for taking the time to see me, Fleet Admiral," Luke said as he accepted the armchair in front of Morgan's metallic desk.  He took a quick glance around the room.  It was sparsely decorated and very functional.  There were no photographs of family or friends, and no paintings or holograms other than the Temporal Security emblem on the wall behind him.  There was only a tall metal shelf half filled with old books, a table with electronic equipment that Luke didn't recognise, and a locked security cabinet in the corner.  Morgan sat in a comfortable-looking leather armchair that seemed out of place.
"It's very difficult to turn down a request from Admiral Rivette," Morgan said with a very slight smile.  "He told me very briefly what the purpose of your visit was, but felt it best to leave the full explanation to you."
Luke explained everything he knew about William's situation, and also the results of his time scans.  When he'd finished, Morgan sat silently in thought for several seconds before responding.
"In all honesty I do think it very noble and commendable that you've come to see me about this, but you must understand that exile means a complete dissociation with us.  He has to look after himself out there now, otherwise it wouldn't be exile.  We've left him with sufficient means to survive; a shuttle equipped with sensors to find a suitable living area, which he can also use as a temporary shelter.  It's well stocked with food supplies and synthblood to get him started.  I feel we've been very generous with the sentence.  If indeed someone has stolen his craft as you suspect may be possible, I assure you we will apprehend them and retrieve the vessel, and undo any damage they may do with it.  But I'm afraid I cannot warrant any interference with the sentence.  Consider yourself under orders not to contact Herschel, visit the same era as him, or send any technological equipment to him.  Doing so would be in contempt of the judging council's ruling.  You may freely continue your investigations in this time, and any evidence you produce will be acted upon appropriately, but for anything less than proof of Herschel's innocence the exile must and will remain enforced," Morgan said firmly.  "All of the evidence was against him."
"But why would an officer of such good standing compromise his career and risk his life like that?  And to what end?  The motive was never established."
"That's because the intended destination was never ascertained, other than the transference system being set to transmit backwards in time, clearly in violation of the first principle.  If we had a definite destination we could've speculated about the motive.  I had to deal with the facts we had."
"A true fact is something that irrefutably is, but if it proves false then it was never really a fact."
"Then you'll have to prove our facts false, but until then I can do nothing."
"But sir, after all the times William has saved history… doesn't that mean anything?" Luke protested, his temper rising.
"It means that he's alive in exile, as opposed to dead in an execution cell," Morgan said, losing patience with what was becoming a heated debate.
"So I've wasted my time in coming here," Luke stated bitterly.
"Yes you have.  Be grateful that I've authorised Admiral Rivette to continue the investigation for as long as he sees fit.  It's only for his insistence that I agreed to speak to you at all."
Luke stood up.  "How very generous of you sir," he hissed, bristling with anger.
Morgan also rose to his feet.  With fists on the desk he leaned forwards and said in an irate but controlled voice, "You'd better get back to Epoch, Lieutenant Commander, before you find yourself with the rank of mister."
Luke tried to force down his anger and indignation with a deep breath, and walked over to the office door.  Turning back to face Morgan he said, "I hope you're prepared to swallow your pride and admit that I was right all along, because I swear I will not stop until I've found the evidence I need."  Without waiting for Morgan's response he left the office.
"I take it things didn't go as planned?" Ralph asked when Morgan's door had closed.
"He's an obstinate old git!" Luke spat as they walked back towards the lift.  His anger fuelled his pace, and Ralph almost had to jog to keep up with him.
"The security captain's waiting to speak to you on the ground level before you go," Ralph said, deciding not to make any smart remarks while Luke was in such a furious mood.  He remained quiet as they went to the air car platform, and when they reached the ground floor he was grateful to see that Luke had calmed down somewhat.
The security captain approached them.  "Lieutenant Commander, I'm afraid we were unable to trace whoever fired at you, but we've confirmed that they used a phased positron weapon of an Earth design.  Judging by the positron density of the shots and the residual traces of gamma radiation, I believe they used a standard pistol on its highest setting."
"The most common energy weapon on Earth, so that doesn't really narrow it down.  But how can there be no trace of the person who fired it?  They can't have made it far before you guys got out there," Luke asked, unable to accept that his assailant had been able to evade the security force of the Earth High Command complex.
"Sensors detected a momentary spatial distortion nearly a kilometre and a half from the building, but I doubt it was where the attacker was standing when they fired.  No one could fire a pistol at that range with such accuracy as to nearly hit you on the first shot," the security captain said.
"If you say so," Luke said disbelievingly.  "They would've hit me if I hadn't ducked when I did.  And all you detected was a spatial distortion.  No life signs?"
"None, other than yourself.  They must've shielded themselves somehow."
"Well, thanks for the report," Luke said and left the building.
He returned to his shuttle, keeping a close eye on the surrounding parkland, just in case.  When he was inside he set his course for Epoch and launched at high speed on a course that was almost vertical.  His visit to Geneva hadn't gone at all as planned, and his exiled friend wasn't any better off than he was before.  Even if it was William who was to launch the shuttle again from Egypt, Luke couldn't help but wonder what William would be doing for the three decades before he left.

*  *  *

Inside his dark tomb, William lay like a withered corpse, though he wasn't quite dead.  But even in his body's inert comatose state, he wasn't far from it.  A decade and a half had passed since he'd been entombed.  The faintest glimmer of consciousness stirred in his dormant brain.  The faint particle of reasoning that it permitted him told him that in order for any consciousness to have stirred, oxygen had to be present.  His chest had almost no movement, but he was managing to draw in air very gradually.  There was a gentle constant hiss nearby.  He felt the familiar cold stone floor beneath him and knew that he was still inside the tomb.  There was a brief moment of pain as something pricked his arm, but he was unable to move it, even by reflex.  It took a few minutes, but he managed to open his eyelids a fraction, though everything was blurry.  He saw an old man with white hair and a younger black-haired woman bathed in a soft blue light that emanated from something the woman held.  They were both crouched in front of him.  The woman was wearing a long beige gown, and the old man wore a dark suit.  While the light wasn't bright enough to illuminate the tomb, in its glow William could make out the shape of the sarcophagus in the darkness behind them.  In a brief moment of relative mental clarity, William wondered if the people were his deceased parents come to take him to the other side.  Although he couldn't see them well, he found their presence comforting.  But then they picked some things up off the ground and the hissing sound stopped.  They each touched his hand before stepping away from him, and the only response he could make was to twitch his fingers feebly.  He was surprised to find that he could move even that much.  A moment later the two people faded from his sight along with the blue glow of the object the woman held, leaving the tomb once again dark and silent.  How he yearned for them to return, even if they were nothing more than a dream, but they did not.  In despair, William rolled over to face the wall as the nothingness clouded his mind once again.

*  *  *

It was a couple of hours after midnight, and a strange procession was approaching an oasis in the Egyptian desert.  There were eight of them, all wearing black or dark coloured clothing.  Two of them were carrying a pole between them with a young boy tied and hanging from it by his wrists and ankles.  Awaiting them at the oasis was a camp of men talking and drinking by a campfire, wearing dirty tunics, and who were obviously tired from labouring hard.  Even so, their spirits were high because they were about to get paid well for their work.  The leader of the camp arose to greet the procession when he spotted them.  He halted in his approach when he noticed the captive boy, who appeared to be unconscious.  "What is happening?" he asked fearfully.
"Just a little religious ceremony, do not let it concern you," replied one of the men carrying the boy.
Now all in the camp were standing.  The man leading the procession walked up to the camp's leader and asked, "Have you finished?"
"Yes, this way," the leader said.  He took a thin log from the fire that was burning at one end to use as a torch, and walked out a little way into the desert, up a slight incline in the landscape.  Three of the mysterious visitors followed him with a handful of tools.  He led them to a large hole that had been dug in the sand recently.  A narrow flight of stone steps had been uncovered, at the bottom of which a sealed stone doorway could be seen in the flickering firelight of his torch.  Satisfied, one of the three handed a weighty leather pouch to the man, who opened it to reveal a substantial number of gold pieces.  He was curious why the strangers hadn't asked his team to remove the heavy sealed door, especially when they paid so well.  In fact, their orders had been explicit that they'd do that part themselves.  They probably thought he and his men might steal some of the tomb's treasure for themselves, and they would've been right.  He left the burning log with the strangers and returned to his fellow campers, silently beckoning them to leave with him.  They all did so eagerly, being intimidated by the group, whom they guessed to be some sort of dark cult.
The three men went down the steps.  One of them wrapped a length of cloth around the burning end of the log to keep it alight better.  After an examination of the seal around the stone door to make sure it hadn't been tampered with, they wasted no time in chiselling it away.  With their combined efforts they managed to lever it slowly out of position with their tools.  Their leader came and joined them, and together they entered the dark room beyond, though they did so cautiously.  The air inside had a strong musty smell that they forced themselves to ignore.  The torchlight revealed a simple square chamber with a sarcophagus in the centre and a doorway leading to the tomb's adjoining chambers.  In one corner of the room they saw a mummy with its head unwrapped lying on its side with its face to the wall.  Two of the men went over to the sarcophagus and opened it.  Inside was another mummy with its mouth open in the appearance of a perpetual scream.  Some of the bandages were stained with blood on the chest and mouth, and even more on the left arm.  These Egyptians knew that a mummy should not bleed, and they also knew that these were not ordinary mummies.
"Look," one of the men said, having noticed footprints on the ground leading up to the mummy on the floor.  "Those prints in the dust are much more recent than those made by the mummies when they were buried."
"I was certain that the seal had not been broken since the time of burial," one of the others asserted.
"It was the original seal," the leader said.  "It still bore a tiny mark I made on it when we sealed it.  Someone else has been here.  Look at the footprints.  They lead from an empty space in the room, over to the mummy of William, and back to the empty space again."
"What does that mean?" the man who'd pointed out the footsteps asked.
"It means that William was visited by beings from the Afterlife, beings who did not have need to enter by the door, and who vanished again at this place where the footsteps end," the leader explained.  "The smaller of the two beings was barefoot, and by the size of the footprints it may have been a woman or an adolescent.  The other wore a strange kind of sandal large enough to fit on a man's foot.  They are no concern of ours now.  Come, we have much to do."
The four of them went over to the mummy in the corner and turned the stiff body over to see the face.  What they saw startled them all.  The face was withered and the eyes and cheeks were sunken.  The eyelids were very slightly open and the grey skin was dry and tight over the face.  The long, tangled hair was also grey.  The most unsettling thing was the partly open mouth exposing unusually long teeth.
"This is the one," the leader indicated.  Together the other three picked up the body, which was surprisingly light, but quite rigid.  They carried it with respectful care.
As they brought him outside into the fresh air William's consciousness flickered faintly back into existence.  Over a decade more had passed since the visit from the two mysterious people.  He couldn't move, his body was so near to death.  His blood had thickened and was barely moving through his body to the point where even a bio-scanner might not have detected his life signs.  He was vaguely aware that some men were carrying him towards a fire light.
The other cultists were waiting by a basic altar they'd constructed by tying straight logs of wood together.  The boy was conscious now, and was no longer tied to the pole, though his hands and feet were still tied.  He sat silent and terrified, without hope of escape or rescue.  The condition of his clothes testified that he was from a poor Egyptian family.
The cultists laid the mummy on the altar and went over to the boy.  Their leader said, "Prepare him, and bring the goat's blood.  It's time to begin!"  One of the others brought over several large gourds while two of them picked up the young boy and held him firmly.  Another approached with a small dish of smouldering incense.  He waved the dish under the struggling boy's face so that the smoke drifted up to him.  The boy tried not to breathe it in but finally his lungs were bursting and he started to gasp, at once coughing as the incense burned his throat and lungs.  He began to feel nauseous and faint headed, and soon he was too drowsy to hold his head up at all.  When he was almost unconscious they brought him near the altar.  Their leader opened one of the gourds and solemnly poured the goats blood into the slightly open mouth of the mummy.  Another of them stood ready with a dagger.
William's blurry mind started to clear a little as his body ingested what it was receiving.  The mumbles he heard around him began to form into words and he was gaining some self-awareness.  He still couldn't seem to move but he felt his body begin to enliven.  He heard someone say, "Will this really work?  He was in there for nearly thirty years!"  Another voice answered, "I heard Ramenhoses say this man's immortal!"  Yet another voice, that of their leader, said, "It will work as long as we fill the body enough to draw blood.  I saw with my own eyes how Ramenhoses did it."  That put an end to the speculation and the whole group began a soft ritualistic chanting.  Soon they began feeding William from a second gourd.  This time he could feel his inert body regenerating.  He felt his bony face begin to fill out again as flesh began to restore itself.  His shrivelled eyes started to swell and reform.  Then a third gourd was fed to him.  He was taking in the situation, although his memory was still quite hazy.  Then there was silence.  The warm breath on his skin in the cool night air manifested the proximity of the cultists as they all gazed in awe as his face rejuvenated with returning life.  "Bring the human sacrifice!" the leader ordered.  "When we have become like him we will sacrifice this life to wake him from his long sleep, then he will teach us, and lead the Brotherhood of Seth to glory and immortality!"
A cultist came forward with a golden goblet and held it beneath the mummy's left wrist, which was hanging upturned over the side of the altar.  In his other hand he held a silver dagger and pressed it into the mummy's wrist.
In that instant of sharp pain William came to life and leaped from the altar, knocking over the man with the dagger and causing him to drop it.  He barely noticed the blood trickling down his hand.  His sight sharpened from a blur to complete clarity over a few seconds.  Raged and unthinking, he snatched up the dagger and attacked the man, plunging it into his chest, and then quickly moved onto the next man, and the next.  None of them were fast enough to escape, and within seconds they all lay dead, their blood soaking into the dry sand.  In his frenzy William instinctively swung around to the boy, knife ready, but in the second he saw the helpless child he stopped.  Realising what he'd done he dropped the dagger, and noticing his loss of blood he ripped off his bandages.  He was still wearing his clothes from Khembeset beneath them.  They were stained with blood around the neck area from when Ramenhoses had taken his blood.  He took a length of bandage and wrapped his bleeding wrist.  Looking at his still bony arm he could tell that he was not fully regenerated, and apart from his initial outburst of energy he felt extremely weak.  His thoughts were still somewhat vague and confused.  He didn't know who he was or why he was here.  Looking at the boy his body desired to feed, the vampiric hunger raging in his mind, but something in his heart wouldn't allow it.  He knew somehow that it'd be wrong, though he couldn't think why.  He firmly decided that even if it meant he was to die of starvation, he refused to take the innocent boy's life.  That thought was more deeply rooted than the instinct for survival.
Something caught his eye.  Around the boy's neck was a small wooden pendant carved in the shape of a fish with some Egyptian writing carved into it.  It was familiar, even to William's clouded mind, and made him feel like he knew who the boy was, despite having never set eyes on him before.  By some instinct he felt strongly inclined to take the boy east.  That was where a city was that he needed to get to, though he couldn't recall the city's name.  It was where the boy was from and it was also where he could find a friend, if the man was still alive.  He needed to get there.  This thought overrode every other in his reasoning that was still semi-crazed, that no matter what, the most important thing was to get the boy to the city that lay eastward.  He picked up the dagger again and cut the ropes that bound the child.  Weakly, he picked the boy up and carried him over his shoulder, allowing the dagger to slip out of his hand again.  The sky was very slightly lighter and gradually brightening in one direction.  That had to be east.  He began his journey that way, stumbling as fast as his wrecked body could move.
A couple of hours later the sky ahead was significantly brighter.  Every instinct in William's body told him to get away from the light.  Fighting against the urge with every step, he forced his long-starved body to continue forward.  It was where the boy needed to go, and the only place he would find any help.
The moment the sun broke over the horizon William's skin felt as if it was smouldering.  Looking at his hands he was sure he could see a fine mist of steam or smoke rising from them, getting thicker with each passing second.  His mouth was completely dry.  His head was spinning and he collapsed onto the sand with the child.  The boy let out a moan, but wasn't yet regaining full consciousness.  Resolutely William picked him up again, shook his head in an attempt to clear it, and was now unable to see smoke coming from his skin.  It still felt like it was burning due to the unaccustomed sunlight, but what he saw before was what he'd expected to see, no more than an instinctive illusionary thought, as though his brain was trying to warn his conscious mind of expected danger that had proved not to be real.  He took a slow deep breath, and took a moment to look around at the desert.  He was starting to become confused.  It looked the same in every direction.  The rising sun was ahead of him, but was that the direction he was supposed to be heading towards or away from?  In the distance he saw a woman, partially obscured by the glare of the sun directly behind her.  As the sun rose a little higher above her William was able to see her more clearly.  She seemed familiar with her beige gown and black hair.  In one hand she held a large stone that was as blue as the deep ocean.  With her other hand she beckoned for William to come to her.  He closed his eyes and drew another deep breath.  When he opened his eyes again she was nowhere in sight.  He concluded that she must've been another trick of his mind, as though his subconscious was showing him the way to go.  Eastward to the city.
He pressed forward through the torturing desert until he saw the city he was looking for clearly enough to know that it was real, and not another illusion.  It still seemed far away at his feeble pace, but he kept going towards it as the woman had beckoned for him to.  He was so certain that she'd been a product of his imagination that he was surprised to pass a lone pair of footprints in the sand where the woman had been standing.  The curious thing was that there was no trail leading to or from them, just the imprints of her two feet where she'd stood.  The boy moaned again, reminding him of his task.  He kept stumbling on.
It was late afternoon before he actually reached the city.  When he staggered into the streets people screamed and ran at the sight of him but he hardly noticed.  Somehow he knew which of the narrow streets to go down, following his instincts, until he saw a basic dwelling that was familiar, despite all of the houses looking almost identical.  He banged on the door, and when it was unbolted from the inside he literally fell through the doorway into unconsciousness.
In his mind he could see a young boy.  It was a dream that he'd seen before.  It was a homeless boy named Arnold, who didn't seem to be particularly significant to anyone he met, but who witnessed what William recognised as a squad from Temporal Security completing a mission.  One member of the squad removed his mask but William found it difficult to focus on the face, as if the dream was being elusive about this particular man.  And then Arnold was terrified.  William felt like he was watching it all happen through Arnold's eyes, feeling what the boy felt.  Something bad was about to happen.
William awoke to find that he was lying on a straw mattress bed with a woman leaning over him, washing his face with refreshingly cool water.  He tried to speak but couldn't utter a word.
"Relax," the woman said.  "It is a wonder that thou art still alive, and I thank thee for bringing home my son."
As William focussed on her face and swollen eyes it was evident that she'd been up the previous night and most of the day crying, but now her tears were those of joy.
As his mind cleared he started to remember what had happened to him, one piece at a time.  He remembered being out among the stars, then being praised like a god, then a lot of fighting and the darkness of a living nightmare.  He also recalled making it through the desert carrying a child.  He thought it was kind of this woman to care for him, especially as he imagined that his appearance was probably quite frightening with his straggly hair and gaunt features.  The boy was sleeping peacefully on another straw mattress on the other side of the room.
The door opened and a bearded old man entered, who had a bruise on the side of his face.  "William!" he exclaimed as he rushed to the bedside.
The vampire recognised Khembeset, who'd aged considerably yet was still very vibrant.  It was a wonder that Khembeset could discern who William was through the tangled mess of long grey hair.  The woman was now scrutinising her patient closely, trying to recognise him.
"The boy…" William croaked, struggling to speak.
"My grandson is going to be well soon," Khembeset reassured him.  "His name is also William!"  He put his hands on the woman's shoulders tenderly.  "This is my daughter, Ankhnefer!  Hasn't she become a fine woman?"
Ankhnefer smiled shyly, a little embarrassed at the attention.
Khembeset's tone became solemn.  "Yesterday some evil men took my grandson from our home.  I had not the strength to stop them, though I did try.  I know not how, but they had learned of my helping thee all those years ago, and so they took young William for a sacrifice of evil.  But thou didst rescue him.  My gratitude to thee is eternal."
William could only manage a nod of acknowledgement.
A few hours later William was recovering well.  He'd been served the best meal Khembeset could provide while being brought up-to-date on what had happened during his absence.  Twenty-eight years had passed since he'd disappeared into the desert in the custody of Ramenhoses.  The pharaoh Tuthmosis had died about a decade after the vampire's burial and had been succeeded by the second pharaoh to go by the name Amenhotep.  Regardless, William planned to avoid another confrontation with royalty at all costs.  He figured that the year must be about 1410 BC.  The story was that Ramenhoses had left in the middle of the night shortly after William had been taken away, and that he'd left Egypt with a substantial amount of the temple's gold and followed the coast east, circumnavigating the Great Sea.  By word of mouth it was known that he stopped for a time at Kadesh, then moved on through the Hittite Empire past Mersin and Beycesultan, then in the direction of the Black Sea.  Since then there were rumours about a blood drinking demon off the west coast of the Black Sea, and few people dared to travel there.  Unfortunately, before Ramenhoses began that journey, he'd given orders for a stone warehouse structure to be built around the time ship near the temple so that no one could get to it, and it was watched over by the temple guards.  Even after this long the entrance to the warehouse was always guarded day and night.
William spent the next few days recovering back to full health.  His hair had been cut back to its normal length and was returning to its original colour, the grey almost completely gone.  Khembeset had provided him with fresh clothes.  He'd become acquainted with Ankhnefer's husband, Horotep, who expressed such gratitude for the safe return of his son that he was willing to help the vampire get into the warehouse in whatever way he could, even at risk to himself.
"We're going to need a very long ladder," William said, "and a third person to help us.  Your father-in-law is a little too old for this job."
Horotep understood.  "My brother is strong, he will help us."
William smiled with genuine appreciation.  "Go, bring him here."
Horotep nodded and left the house.
A few seconds later Khembeset entered.  "Horotep's brother's family, Ankhnefer, young William and myself will meet with thee outside the city at midnight as you instructed.  We have prepared food and water for our journey."
"Tell them that no matter what they see they should not be afraid."  As an afterthought, William wondered aloud, "I'm surprised you still live here.  With the gold from the temple and the rings I gave you I'd have thought you'd be able to get some nicer lodgings."
"I spent no part of that wealth on myself, but rather concealed it well until the day my daughter married Horotep, and gave it to them so that they might have a nicer home and a more comfortable lifestyle," Khembeset explained.
William put a hand on the old man's shoulder.  "You're a good man, Khembeset."
Horotep returned with another muscular man whom he introduced as his brother, Panut.
William got straight to the point.  "Last night I scouted the area around the temple and the warehouse.  The entrance to the warehouse is facing the same direction as the temple entrance, but the warehouse was built further forward than the temple.  There are two guards at the warehouse door and six guarding the temple entrance.  The two at the warehouse are out of sight of the temple guards because of the building's positioning, but will be easily heard if they call out for assistance, so we must be careful.  The best way to overpower them is to place yourself behind them and get your arm around their neck with your elbow positioned under their chin.  Take care not to put pressure on the front of their throat, but rather have your forearm and bicep on either side of their neck with that hand grabbing your other elbow, using your other hand behind their head to reinforce the pressure."  He gently demonstrated the correct technique, but without applying pressure, on Khembeset, who trustingly allowed himself to be used for the example.  "This will reduce the blood flow to their brain, making them pass out.  The moment they start to lose consciousness release them or you may permanently injure or kill them.  If you do it correctly they shouldn't be able to raise the alarm.  I'll tell you the rest of the plan while we build the ladder."  William handed Horotep the small pouch of gold that Nemali had originally left for him twenty eight years ago, which had still been tucked away inside his clothes the whole time he was entombed.  "This will pay for the wood and extra help we'll need to finish it on time.  Let's get started!"
Two hours before midnight William, Khembeset, Horotep and his brother Panut had just finished eating a light meal of bread and soup with a few small fruits.
"Do you have the wine?" William asked Khembeset.
"Yes, the finest date wine I could acquire," the old man replied, going to a shelf and taking down two full leather wineskins with carry straps.  He handed them to Panut, who slung one over each shoulder.
"Thank you.  We'll meet with you at about midnight," the vampire reassured him.
Khembeset left the house and took a side road to join Panut's family while Panut went outside to stand in front of the house.  William and Horotep went up the stairs in the kitchen yard to the roof where the lengthy ladder awaited them.  It was so long that it lay across the roofs of several of the narrow homes, and due to Khembeset's influence and good reputation, the neighbours had permitted them to do so without any fuss.  To avoid attracting attention to it they'd hung wet clothes from it during the day in the gaps that served as alleys between some of the houses, as if it was nothing more than a communal laundry line.  Carefully, and making as little noise as possible, William and Horotep each took an end.  Horotep lowered his end down to Panut in the street first, and when Panut had placed it on the ground William lowered his end down.  William and Horotep climbed down to the street over the front of the houses, and between the three of them they carried the ladder in the direction of the temple.  They travelled in a preplanned route around the temple, all the while remaining a good distance away to avoid being seen by the guards.  When they made it to the back of the temple they leaned the ladder tentatively up against the wall.  Fortunately they'd overestimated the height of the temple roof, and the height of the ladder was sufficient, with over a metre to spare.  They'd designed it to be a little wider at the base for greater sturdiness so that while William climbed up to the roof Horotep and his brother could begin their part.
Cautiously, the brothers made their way further around behind the buildings near the temple so that they could approach the warehouse from the opposite side and remain unseen by the guards at the temple entrance.  Panut unstopped the wineskins and passed one to Horotep.  The two of them began walking in the open towards the warehouse, making casual conversation in normal voices.  Deliberately stumbling and laughing a little, they approached the two guards who paid them little attention.  Not speaking too loudly, and in a confidential tone, Horotep addressed the nearest guard.  "Dost thou thirst?  We have much to share."
"We're on duty.  Move along!" came the abrupt reply.
Horotep shrugged, "Thy misfortune.  Never before have I had such fine date wine!"
The two guards exchanged a glance, and in unison beckoned for the two men to quietly share their wine.  "Tell not a soul," one of them commanded.
"We give thee our promise," Panut replied in a confidential tone, and both of them offered their wineskins simultaneously.  Both guards began to drink at the same time, and as the wineskins were raised the two brothers ducked around behind them and held the unsuspecting guards in the sleeper hold that William had shown them.  Both of the wineskins fell to the ground with a noticeable sound, and seconds later the guards were unconscious.  Hurriedly Horotep took a large key from one of them and opened the warehouse door.  They quickly dragged the guards into the antechamber and disrobed both themselves and their victims.  As rapidly as they could, they donned the guards' clothes and stepped outside, promptly tossing the wineskins inside and then pulling the door closed behind them.  Hearing footsteps approaching, they kicked some dirt over the puddles of spilt wine and stood to attention, trying not to panic as a guard rounded the corner.  The guard looked at them for a moment, nodded in apparent satisfaction, then walked back towards the temple.  Horotep and Panut breathed a sigh of relief.
*

Meanwhile, William was making his way across the temple roof to the place where he'd left the power cell charging twenty eight years earlier.  To him the twenty eight years felt like he'd overslept, as far as his perception of the time went.  He began to speculate as to how difficult it might be to carry the power cell down the ladder when he reached the raised part of the roof.  He jumped up and grabbed the edge, and pulled himself up to that level.  A lump formed in his throat as he beheld the empty roof before him.  The power cell wasn't there.  It seemed that again all hope was withering before him.  He felt like he was the prime victim of Murphy's Law.  The plan had gone terribly wrong.  He went back to the ladder and began his cheerless descent.  He didn't even have his omniscanner any more or he could've scanned for it.  While trying to come up with a plan to get inside the temple to search for it, he quickly but dejectedly made his way to the warehouse, following the same route the brothers had.  When he arrived they were obviously glad to see him safe.
"Didst thou find what thou sought?" Panut asked him.
"It wasn't there," was William's disheartened reply.  He observed that they were wearing the outfits of the guards they'd overpowered.  "They actually fell for it?" he commented with mild surprise.
"Quiet!" Horotep whispered urgently, but it was too late.  The guard who'd checked on them before again rounded the corner.  The moment he saw the three of them he called out for backup and immediately the sound of running footsteps could be heard approaching from the temple.  William rushed at the guard and after a brief struggle subdued him using the same hold he'd taught the other two.  There were another two guards running towards them from the other direction too, who'd been alerted by the guard's call for help while patrolling a nearby street.  The trio piled into the warehouse's antechamber and slammed the door behind them.
Inside the small room there was a second door leading to the main area of the warehouse, but it was locked.  The key that Horotep had didn't fit the lock.  William had anticipated this possibility and took some rudimentary lock picks from inside his tunic and got to work.  The antechamber was unlit, so he had to do it by feel.  Horotep used the guard's key to lock the main door again.
William's training enabled him to get the inner door open in a very short time despite the darkness, and the three of them entered the main chamber.  It was completely dark without so much as a single window to even let the moonlight in.  They hadn't been able to bring torches with them inconspicuously.  "Wait here and hold the door shut!" William ordered.  His voice echoed around the room.  Groping around in the darkness he found his way to the time ship and managed to locate the side hatch by feeling his way along the hull.  Fumbling around he found the release control under its hidden panel and pressed it.  There was a hydraulic hiss that was made louder by the chamber's acoustics, startling his two Egyptian friends, who immediately suspected the presence of spirits and demons.  He climbed inside and dried plant leaves crunched underfoot.  Probing around in an equipment locker by touch he found a portable electric lamp and activated it.  Its harsh white light was blinding now that his eyes were getting accustomed to the darkness.  He exited the ship and rejoined his helpers, who stared at the lamp with unhidden curiosity that it lacked a flame.  To William's great joy he spotted the emergency power cell against the wall, still with the panel from the reaction chamber attached to it.  The anti-gravity bracers and the omniscanner had been left on top of the panel.  He tried to activate them but their energy cells were depleted.  Presumably Ramenhoses had used them, or at least tried to, until their 'magic' no longer worked, otherwise they'd have some charge left even after this long.  His old uniform that had gone missing was now in a dusty bundle beside the power cell.
They were interrupted by the sound of the guards outside finally getting into the antechamber and pushing against the inner door.  Horotep and Panut were having difficulty keeping them out.  The door was being inched open.  William gathered up his belongings and the emergency power cell and ran into the ship, leaving the lamp just inside the hatch to keep the warehouse illuminated.  "Come on!" he called out to the other two.  The brothers released the door and sprinted towards the light, the pursuing guards close on their heels.  They leaped into the ship, and once they were through the doorway William fired a couple of shots at the guards with his still partly charged pulse rifle, set to stun.  The two nearest guards dropped to the ground unconscious as soon as the beams hit them.  More guards could be heard entering the building.  William closed the hatch and looked at Horotep and Panut, who were visibly startled by the weapon.  "It's okay, it's not magic," he reassured them unsuccessfully, and deactivated the gun to conserve what energy remained.
The frightened guards carried their two unconscious fellows away but more guards congregated outside the ship and started to slam their various weapons against the hull and hatch window.  The window remained unscathed, being made from two-inch thick intensified diamond, and the hull was undamaged.
William took the power cell into the cramped engine room and reconnected it by the light of his lamp, and also returned the energy panel to the quasium chamber.  Horotep and Panut watched from the engine room doorway, since it was the only area illuminated by the lamplight.  They didn't fancy being in the dark near the hatch where the guards relentlessly continued banging against the ship.  When William went into the cockpit his two associates followed.  They were beginning to get used to the strange devices the vampire had and were not so alarmed when he reactivated the power and lights came on throughout the ship, though their curiosity was peaked.  The main display showed that the power level was only at 24 percent, which William attributed to the Egyptians finding the cell much sooner than he'd anticipated.  But it was easily enough to get going.
Outside, the guards stopped banging on the hull when the power came on.  As the anti-gravity thrusters and main engines fired up and the ship lifted off the ground they retreated in a disorderly panic and fled the building.
Carefully, William raised the ship until it touched the ceiling.  Horotep and Panut were clutching each other in astonishment.  The vampire increased the power until the stone roof split open and the ruined chunks fell into the warehouse, each piece hitting the ground with a thud that was easily audible even inside the ship.  Then he set a course for their rendezvous with Khembeset.  He considered it a shame to destroy an ancient building, but he figured now that it had no use they'd probably just pull it down and build something else in its place.
Khembeset was waiting with Ankhnefer, her son William, and Panut's wife and five children beyond the city's borders, and they were all surprised when the time ship came to rest on the sand near them.  The hatch opened and William, along with his two companions, helped the cautious group inside.
Because the navigation system was still largely inoperative, William needed to take the ship up several kilometres to properly get his bearings by the shape of the Nile as it snaked its way along the moonlit landscape.  He could still remember what the landmarks were that he needed to follow from what he'd been told.  His guests were overawed as they watched the rapidly moving terrain beneath them through the cockpit window.  They were all pressed up against it trying to get a good view.  He'd never be able to talk his way out of it if Temporal Security ever found out what he was doing!  Just as long as he didn't have an impact on history for them to trace back to him they'd probably never know.  He was surprised that his shuttle was still there after three decades, when it was originally meant to be collected by Temporal Security after three days.  With Epoch and Jidai's advanced temporal sensors there was no way he could've given them the slip just by moving through time.  They'd have started tracking him the moment he left his exile location.  He decided just to be grateful to still have the shuttle and leave it at that for the time being.
Within a few minutes they'd travelled a considerable distance and he landed the ship among some trees near a lagoon that was enclosed on the northeastern side by a crescent of hills.  When everyone emerged from the shuttle they were promptly surrounded by scores of African warriors who seemed curious but not afraid of them.  William placed himself at the front of the group and gestured for the others to remain calm and still.  Their audience parted to make way for a muscular man whose very short hair was starting to grey, who was obviously the chief of the local tribe judging by the number of bone and ivory ornaments he wore and the way his people made way for him.
Khembeset leaned closer to William and whispered, "Where are we?"
"Nubia," William whispered back to the old man's wide-eyed surprise.
The chief stopped before the vampire and, surprisingly to all, knelt before him with his head low.  "Master," he said submissively.
William reached down and took his hand, raising him back to a standing position.  "Haven't I told you before, no one is your master, Nemali."
The two men embraced and a smile broke across both of their faces.
"I had always hoped to see thee again!" Nemali said with continuing gratitude.  He'd never forgotten that he owed his freedom to William.  "I have cherished each day since we last met, and as I rose each morning I did think of thee with joy and hope in my heart."
"Well, I'd always hoped to see you a leader, like I always knew you could be."
"Are these thy friends?" Nemali asked, indicating the Egyptians huddled together, still not sure what to make of the situation.
"Yes," William answered.  "They helped me to regain my freedom from Ramenhoses.  But because they helped me it's no longer safe for them or their families to remain in Egypt.  I trust that you'll welcome them into your tribe?"
"Thy friends shall be our honoured guests, and their children shall be the honoured guests of our children.  We shall begin a feast immediately!" the Nubian chief said with excitement and little regard for it being the middle of the night.  He gave instructions for preparations to be made.
At first the Egyptians were wary of the Africans but soon felt at ease as the tribe served them food, provided entertainment by the light of a huge blazing fire, and gave them huts to live in.  The Nubians promised to provide for their every need and desire as far as was in their power.  Before joining the festivities, the vampire, along with a few of Nemali's tribe, carried a fresh load of uprooted plants into the ship and watered them.  When he was satisfied that there were enough plants to generate sufficient oxygen, at least for a short while, William joined the feast, and even allowed himself to be caught up in the atmosphere of dancing to the drum beats and singing.  He was also greeted and thanked in turn by each of the other people he'd freed with Nemali twenty eight years earlier.
Hours later as dawn broke William made his farewells and prepared for his departure.
"I hope that we shall meet again.  I again thank thee for what thou didst for me," Nemali said.
"These Egyptians are good people.  Care for them well, that's all I ask," William requested.
"For thee I shall," the chief vowed.
As the time traveller turned to leave, the boy called William threw his arms around the vampire in a farewell embrace.  He looked up at his rescuer and said, "Thanks be to thee, William!"
The vampire knelt to match his eye level and put his hands on the boy's shoulders.  "It was my honour and pleasure to help such a wonderful young man," he said.
The whole tribe, plus its new members, all gathered around the time ship as William entered and closed the hatch behind him with a final wave.  Most of them backed off a little as the ship rose into the air and disappeared into the sky from which the stars were fading in the breaking dawn.
Once in space, he activated the ultraviolet lamps for the plants, re-established a geosynchronous temporal orbit and activated the autopilot.  The ship's computer would be able to guide him in making repairs to the navigation system, but first he wanted to get a couple of hours' sleep.  As he got up to exit the cockpit he noticed that the power indication had declined to 22.9 percent just from the brief flight to the Nubian village and the launch into space.  He hurried into the engine room and examined the dusty power cell.  There was a minute puncture in the side that he hadn't noticed in his haste before.  A small stream of vapour flowed gently from it.  "What in the name of Rameses the Second's cat have those Egyptians done to it?" William muttered to himself.  Upon consideration he concluded that they must have discovered it recently and put it in the warehouse, otherwise the power cell would've been completely dead when he found it.  Once again he wasn't going to make it home.  Given how quickly the power was dissipating, he estimated that he wouldn't even make it too far beyond the birth of Christ.  At least he wouldn't have to worry about monitoring his air supply for very long, despite not having made some more sodium hydroxide solution to produce oxygen from.  Since he would again be arriving in ancient times he decided not to change back into a uniform but remained in the fresh set of clothes that Khembeset had given him.  Even though it would still be way off, it'd be a closer style of attire to whatever period he landed in than a Temporal Security uniform.
He decided to forego getting some sleep since the journey would be much shorter than he'd expected.  For the next few hours he fixed the navigation system as well as he could, and started making repairs to the life support circuitry while his omniscanner recharged.  He heard an alarm from the cockpit but it was different to the one that indicated the power level dropping too low.  That one wasn't expected to sound for a couple of hours still, so he hoped.
The ship lurched slightly as though breaking orbit and preparing to land on the surface.  Hurrying into the cockpit William saw that the power level was still at 8.2 percent, high enough to maintain space and time flight for a while longer.  A system analysis indicated that an outside influence had taken control of the navigation system.  The green haze around the window dissipated as the time drive shut down, and the ship entered the atmosphere with a jolt.  William attempted to regain control of the ship, though his efforts proved futile.  None of the systems were responding to manual control.  He could rule out malfunction, since the descent vector was already calculated and a landing site chosen.  He simply couldn't change them.  Even trying to adjust his course manually with the helm's guidance ball proved ineffective, despite the fact that it was supposed to override any autopilot settings.  He couldn't even determine where the controlling influence was coming from, or more accurately who it was coming from, since such precision was no accident.  He was powerless to do anything except watch what came up on the displays and look through the window to see where he was heading.  The temporal readout indicated that he was landing in November in the year 73 BC.  Central America now filled the view through the window.


Chapter 6:  Altehuanala

He was heading towards the region of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.  There was no reason that he could think of to explain why anyone would force him down in this time and place.  The locals certainly didn't have the means to do it.
Three kilometres from the ground the ship's descent slowed.  The navigation system located a clearing in a dense grove, landed the ship, and powered down the engines.  He'd landed in the south-eastern end of what would one day be Mexico, not far from Guatemala and near the Grijalva River, about halfway downstream.  William tried to reinitialise the engines but he was still locked out of the piloting controls.  He wasted no more time and set out to explore, since that was all he could do.  Outside the sun was beginning to set over the treetops.  He thought it best to do a little reconnaissance of the area before removing any vital technology from the ship to make another attempt at recharging the power cell.  Although he was getting quite hungry he didn't stop to eat before going to look for some answers.  Closing the hatch behind him, he set out away from the setting sun, as it would be easier to see without the glare, and later he could follow the direction of the lighter part of the sky to get back.  The sooner he found out why he was here the sooner he could get back to his plan of returning to his own time.  Assuming he'd eventually make it there, he planned to set up a jamming signal to avoid being detected by the station.  He'd set the temporal coordinates for before the transference chamber incident so that he could be there when it happened in order to find out the truth and gather the evidence he needed.  It was little consolation at the moment, but he was over halfway there from his original exile location now.
It still bothered him that Temporal Security hadn't yet attempted to take his shuttle.  They'd find him with a determined enough effort no matter where he went, so there had to be a reason for them leaving the ship with him.  Perhaps they weren't that concerned about getting their shuttle back, since it was a model that was about to be decommissioned anyway, and it must be obvious to them by now that he wasn't trying to interfere with history.  Perhaps they'd realised that there was such a person as the robed being, and were using William to flush him out, since the being had evidently been able to track William to Egypt.  Then again, it could've been his mysterious adversary who'd forced him down here.  Only time would tell.
After ten minutes of walking, the sounds of shouting attracted his attention.  He followed the sound and made his way behind the cover of the trees and bushes to where a group of four men and a distinctly darker-skinned woman were arguing fiercely in an expansive clearing on a gently sloping hillside.  The woman was terrified to tears and the men seemed to be united against her; not one of them attempted to intervene or offer assistance.  Strangely all of the men had a much lighter skin colour than the people William had seen in most pictures of ancient Native Americans, though still not nearly as light as his own vampiric pallor.  The men all wore cloth kilts that were in many ways similar to the type that some of the Egyptians wore, except in darker shades with a diagonal or lateral pattern across them.  Their torsos were partly covered by a wide animal skin sash that was draped across their chests from their shoulders to their waists.  They all wore elaborate headdresses made from pieces of wood, cloth, ceramics, feathers and animal skins all shaped and carved with detailed designs.  The woman's outfit differed somewhat and had a closer resemblance to a basic blouse and skirt, though still adorned with unique designs.
The largest man grabbed the woman by her intricately patterned garment and pulled her closer to him.  "Did you demand five pieces of silver from this man," he roared viciously, indicating one of the other men, "when you did lie with his brother for only three?  And then you try to run away without giving what you owed?"
The woman tried to cover her face with her hands but the man held her arms down in front of her in a crushing grip.
"Your life is not worth even one piece of silver!" the man bellowed.  He raised his arm and backhanded her across the face so hard that she stumbled, but the man caught her.  In a rage the man hit her again, this time knocking her to the ground, while the men with him merely laughed in malicious delight.
William leaped from his hiding place with a football-sized rock in his hand and ran at the group as the man landed a kick into the woman's side, causing her to curl and writhe in pain.  In full fury the vampire threw the rock at the man furthest from the woman, accurately hitting him in the solar plexus and leaving him winded.  As the man nearest to William moved to attack him, the furious vampire kicked him hard in the chest and sent him reeling.  Together with his remaining fellow, the man who'd struck the woman confronted William.  Ducking a punch from the other man, the vampire punched the woman's attacker and swung back around with his elbow at the man's accomplice and struck him in the jaw.  A couple more rapid punches and a kick from the enraged vampire left only the woman's assailant standing without the support of his men.  The two grappled, frequently landing blows on each other.  The smell of wine was strong on the man's breath, but even so, his fighting coordination was exceptional.  Eventually their wrestling pulled them to the ground.  Despite William's great strength the other man was slowly getting the better of him, being of a very muscular build and evidently being proficient at violence.  William's strength was weakened by the fact that he hadn't drunk blood or even synthblood anytime recently, as well as the fact that he was still a very young vampire.  But William's vampire instinct and reflexes overwhelmed his thoughts as the struggle intensified and soon, in a combination of rage and hunger, he had the man flat on the ground and had latched onto his throat with his fangs and began feeding in the naturally vampiric way.  The taste of blood drew him deeper into the moment.  After several seconds he realised what he was doing, stopped drinking in disgust at his conduct and lack of self-control, and got up.  He backed slowly away from the man, horrified and ashamed at how easily he'd been seduced by the vampiric desire, which was uncommon for him.  His victim struggled to his feet, weak from the loss of blood and his exertions during the fight.
Meanwhile, one of the man's fellows snuck up on William unseen.  He was holding the rock he was struck with and brought it down on the back of the vampire's head.  Had William's mind not been so clouded by the euphoric intake of blood he would've heard the man approach.  Instead, he hit the ground, dazed.  Within seconds all four men surrounded him and together proceeded to beat him viciously.  Then, at a gesture from the man who'd assaulted the woman, two of them held the injured vampire up on his knees.  The woman was now watching the men with horror, and let out a soft whimper as her attacker pulled out an elaborate knife with a bone handle and advanced on her helpless rescuer.  William's head was slumped forward in a delirious state.
The enfeebled leader of the group knelt in front of his captive so that their heads were at the same height.  He pushed the vampire's head up and held the knife point against his throat.  Gasping for breath the abusive man said, "I… Jagartac… shall do… unto you… that… which you… do deserve."  With that he pressed the point into William's neck making him wail in pain.  Once the blood was flowing the man called Jagartac, mimicking in his revenge, began to drink from the vampire, unaware of the actual significance of what he was doing.
All four men got up and ran when a group of armed soldiers approached.  Within moments they were out of sight amidst the trees.  The soldiers wielded what William recognised as obsidian-edged swords, flat wooden clubs resembling cricket bats that had shards of obsidian lining both edges, and were known to be easily capable of decapitating a man.  They wore leather armour with shaped plates of metal set into them over the chest, abdomen and back, and also metal arm-shields and helmets that were in many ways similar to that of Roman legionaries', although the style and decorative carvings were significantly different.  They also carried metal rimmed circular wooden shields.  The soldiers helped William and the woman to their feet, both of whom had trouble standing or moving, being bruised and injured.  One of the soldiers had a plume of coloured feathers on his helmet distinguishing him as the ranking officer.  The helmet was modelled after a jaguar's head, its open mouth lined with long teeth, framing the soldier's face inside it.  He and his men were also relatively light-skinned.
"Thank you," William groaned simply.
"We'll take thee to the city, and treat thy wounds," the leader said not unkindly.  "Who were the men thou fought?"
"One of them was called Jagartac.  What city?"
The soldier addressed his men, "Spread out and search for them.  Try to take them alive, but I would sooner see them dead than escaped."  Returning his attention to William he said, "The city of Altehuanala.  Thou must be lost."
"Yes," the vampire admitted.  "My name's William."
"Mine is Nerahom.  I am a third commander in the Chiapanec army.  Thou art acquainted with this woman?" the soldier asked.
"Actually, I just came across her being assaulted by those guys.  We've never met."
"Now thou shalt.  I'm sure she would desire to make thine acquaintance after the service thou hast rendered her."  Nerahom said with eloquent politeness as he indicated for William to walk with him over to where the darker-skinned woman was standing.  A couple of soldiers who'd remained were checking her condition.
"I am called Nerahom.  And thy new friend is called William.  May I enquire as to thy name?" he asked her.
She was still wiping tears from her bloodshot eyes as she replied in a soft and gentle voice, "Ramiah."
A look of repugnance crept across Nerahom's face in recognition of her name.  He quickly concealed it as best he could out of politeness, but she saw it and began crying again.
The soldiers he sent out to search for Jagartac returned without success.
"Come, it is getting dark.  Jagartac's army will be close, he would not go far from them," Nerahom said and led the way.
As they journeyed William walked with Ramiah a few metres away from the rest of the group.  "Are you alright?" he asked.
She glanced at him with still teary eyes.  "Dost not my name repulse thee also?" she asked, expecting a condemning reply of criticism.
"I've never heard your name before today," he said honestly.
"I am sure thou wilt know the name of my sister, Anosil."  She looked at him expectantly.
"I'm afraid I don't."
"I am truly surprised if thou hast not heard the people say, 'Beware of Anosil, the Mayan harlot, and her sister Ramiah, who follows her likeness in appearance and deed, lest they fill thy heart with wickedness'.  I believed that all Chiapanecs speak of us as such."
"You're Mayan?" William confirmed.  He recalled reading about the Mayans but believed them to have inhabited a region much further south of here anciently, though no doubt their borders changed many times over the course of their history.
Ramiah stopped for a moment and looked at him in genuine surprise, then kept walking.  "They struck thy head hard," she commented.
"Yes they did!" he agreed.  His head was still throbbing, but his vampire body was already regenerating quickly.
"These are the Chiapanecs," she clarified, gesturing towards the soldiers.  "The ones whose skin is closer to thy likeness than mine.  My people, the Mayans of Guatemala, are dark-skinned people, although my mother was Peruvian.  I desire not to be among my people again."
William considered, "Jagartac and his friends looked like Chiapanecs."
"Jagartac became ruler of the land from Guatemala to Peru after he dissented from the Chiapanecs, along with a number of his followers," she informed him, "They were all once a part of the higher levels of Chiapanec society."
 "If I may ask, why did you become involved with such people as them?" William requested as politely as he could, though not using the same thee and thou language.  He figured now that if it was imperative his neural interpreter would convert his words automatically.  Either that or everyone assumed it was the manner of speech wherever he was from.  The ancient American civilisations had a vast variety of dialects.  No one had given any reaction to the way he spoke, so he supposed it was safe enough for him to continue speaking naturally.
"If thou dost believe that had I been more particular about my choice of clients my situation would be better, thou art right," Ramiah said regretfully.
"To be perfectly honest, I was thinking that if you were more particular about which occupation you pursued you wouldn't be in this situation," William said bluntly.  He thought it a shame that she'd waste herself in such a way.  In his time, an era without money, such an occupation simply didn't exist.
She accepted his point without argument.  The rest of the journey was travelled with little talking.  The time traveller estimated that they were travelling due east of the ship, so it shouldn't be difficult to find his way back later.
The group walked for close to an hour before they reached the city.  Altehuanala was an impressive place with several new buildings still under construction.  A high wall surrounded the entire city.  There were massive stone buildings and towers of all designs of ancient American architecture that William could conceive of, from tall stepped pyramids with wide stairways leading up their facades to palaces complete with highly decorative pillars and skilful stonework designs across the walls.  He'd been to archaeological sites of places like this in his own time but now he would be able to climb the partially complete pyramids and temples made from freshly cut stone.  The clusters of buildings were generally of a squared or step design.  Part of the city was on the slope of a hill that could almost be considered a mountain, so that area was multi-levelled, as were the farming terraces up the mountainside.  Some areas of the city had houses made of stone, others had thatch-roofed huts made of wood and reeds, probably due to class distinctions and availability of resources.
Many people in different coloured and various styled clothing walked the streets, and William found their clothing designs interesting.  Some men wore a type of animal skin or woven cape and wicker headdress that obviously had a lot of tailoring work put into it with various intricate cloth designs, and yet many of them wore only a basic loincloth underneath.  Others wore one-piece tunics or linen kilts and leather headbands to keep their long hair out of their faces while they went about their business.  The women for the most part didn't wear cloaks, but a type of basic yet well-decorated dress or gown, sometimes even a skirt and a simple shirt.  They had many intricate hairdos that would even boggle the hairstylists in William's time, although here they did lack the wide variety of hair colours.  William supposed that for everyone to have gone to such lengths there must've been some sort of public ceremony or festival earlier that day.  Much of the clothing was patterned with multiple designs, usually in diagonal lines across the material.  Some of the accessories worn by both men and women attracted his attention, like jadeite ear ornaments or large animal teeth that were fitted through holes in the earlobes that had been stretched wider over time.  Many of the women wore less cumbersome golden earrings and necklaces of coloured stones.  The vampire felt invigorated to be standing in history, although his lack of any such ornamentation certainly made him stand out.  He guessed that this was a Chiapanec city, judging by the comparative lightness of most people's skins, though there were also a few darker-skinned Mayans here as well.
Nerahom asked around the city and found a couple of households with whom he was acquainted that were willing to provide food and shelter for Ramiah and William for a time.  However, upon Nerahom's invitation they dined with him at his home that evening.  Ramiah had no real desire to spend time with a Chiapanec soldier and his wife, but William was the only person she felt comfortable with, so she went where he went.  The Chiapanec people were for the most part warm and friendly to her, despite her well known unsavoury past, but William was the one person in a long time who'd shown any real concern for her well being.  She was sure that if the incident with Jagartac had occurred in a busy Guatemalan street, not one person would've tried to help her.  But this lonely traveller had the courage to defend her despite being so outnumbered.
At Nerahom's home, one of the more lavish stone buildings due to his military position, they were served a meal of maize tortillas, meats and vegetables cooked with various herbs and sauces.
When they finished eating Ramiah sat and talked with Nerahom's wife Malitah, who was in the first trimester of pregnancy with their first child.  Ramiah found her easier to talk to than most Chiapanecs, probably because she didn't react to her with condemnation, and didn't even seem to be hiding such an attitude behind a facade of politeness.  The two men talked together by the warmth and light of the fireplace.
"So how did a Chiapanec dissenter become a king of the Mayans?" William asked out of curiosity as he stared into the flames.  There was a soft crack and tiny sparks erupted from one of the logs to be carried up the chimney with the smoke.
Nerahom accepted that it was possible that this unusual traveller hadn't heard the story, so he explained.  "Two years ago, in the eighteenth year of the reign of the council over this people, Chiapanec dissenters who completely rejected our ways and ideals left us to join the Guatemalans.  They actually managed to quickly climb to positions of authority and have on many occasions sought war with our people to take our lands and possessions and make us their slaves.  They do not believe in the God that we do, and they do not honour the principles by which our people live.  They would rather that there was no law and no punishment, but would rather be enslaved by their carnal desires and live in decadence and idleness."
"What's the reign of the council?" William asked.
"Our last king, in his final address before he died, instituted this new method of government for our society as a way to bring about greater fairness to our people.  It would be well to be ruled by just kings, but he foresaw that the time would come when the people would suffer under the reign of tyrannical kings.  He changed the political structure to avert it.  The members of the council are chosen by the voice of the people."
William couldn't recall hearing of a democratic style of society in ancient America, though consideration had to be made for the fact that written history was still not entirely complete, even by his time.  Even so, the constantly changing political landscape of ancient America wasn't something he'd covered in any great depth at the academy.  "What happened to those dissenters?"
"Their leader at that time was a man called Paltzanri, and he appointed the Chiapanec dissenters as the commanders in his army.  They came with an army of Mayan warriors into the land called Techan with the design to slay or enslave our people.  We only desired to preserve our lives and the lives of our wives and children, and our liberty in this land.
"Our chief commander, Macheyui, a just man of great wisdom, courage and morality, prepared our army to meet them for battle in the borders of the land of the Chontal.  The Mayan army was much greater than ours, more than twice our number, but they had not any kind of armour.  The Mayan warriors wore only a loincloth made from animal skins as a sign of bravery, and threw arrows, stones, and spears.  They also fought with maces and other weapons similar to our own.  Our army split and lay in wait for our enemies on the route that they would follow.  They fought us fiercely but we surrounded them.  Macheyui demanded that they surrender so that no more blood would be shed.  Paltzanri refused.  Many of his warriors agreed and surrendered their weapons but many continued to fight and were slain.  A regrettable loss of life, even though they were our enemies.
"In the last year Jagartac led many of our brethren away to join him."  After thinking for a moment Nerahom stood and led William outside.  He pointed out a large sheet of cloth that was hoisted up on a tall wooden pole nearby like a flag.  It had some ancient writing on it, which had some resemblance to the Egyptian hieratic style.
Fortunately for William there was no breeze to open it enough to read, saving him the embarrassment of not being able to, since it wasn't one of the scripts he'd studied at the academy.  "What does it say?" he asked his host.
As they went back inside and returned to their seats by the fire, Nerahom recited, "We fight for peace, the freedom of our wives and children, our lands and our religion."  He paused for a moment in contemplation and then continued.  "Macheyui wrote that as an inspiration and a reminder of what we are fighting to preserve.  He called it the Oath of Freedom.  He led our army to find Jagartac and the dissenters who had gone to join the Guatemalans, and when we found them an ultimatum was given that they should uphold the liberty of the land and cease their marauding or be put to death.  The greater number of them agreed to covenant to such, however Jagartac and several of his followers managed to escape.  Through deception and trickery he persuaded the Mayan king to make him a commander of his army.  A short time later he killed the king and incriminated the king's servants.  With pretence of anger and an attempt to slay the supposed assassins he won the hearts of the people.  He then took the Mayan queen as his wife and thus by his treachery became their king."
William pondered this for a few minutes.  Nerahom stood and poured water into a decorated ceramic goblet, which he passed to his guest, who gratefully accepted.  He poured another for himself and returned to his seat.
"Thou art a man of honour, William," Nerahom said unexpectedly.  "Thou didst rush to the woman's aid when thou wast clearly outnumbered.  Macheyui would respect thy gallantry and would, I am certain, welcome thee into our army, if thou art willing."
William instinctively wanted to decline.  It wasn't his intention to stay for long, or to go into battle.  He had his own situation to take care of.  "I wasn't even thinking when I intervened.  I just knew that what they were doing was wrong and cruel."
"In thy heart thou art a just man, and we are fighting for a just cause," Nerahom persisted.
"I'm flattered by your offer, truly, but I'm not a warrior.  I'm not trained to fight an army of thousands.  My training is in covert operations and of a much smaller magnitude, in that respect at least."
"Macheyui will arrive in Altehuanala the day after tomorrow.  Wilt thou consider until then?"
William agreed to at least consider.  "Very well.  But now it's getting late.  Thank you for your kind hospitality."
Nerahom rose to escort his guests to the houses they'd be staying at.  Ramiah also rose when she saw them preparing to depart.  Before they went over to her Nerahom put his hand on William's shoulder and said, "When thou dost walk through the streets on the morrow, take a moment to look at the people.  We are fighting for the lives and freedom of every one of them."
William held his gaze for a moment before they made their way to the door.  He knew it was a worthy cause but was reluctant to get involved, and wanted to continue his journey back to his own time as soon as he could escape the influence that was keeping him here.
It was a cool evening outside, with a full moon and a clear sky littered with stars.  William, Ramiah and Nerahom felt a gentle breeze as they walked unhurriedly through the wide streets in the moonlight.
Addressing Ramiah, William said, "Have you given any thought to where you want to go from here?"
"Yes.  I would like to join the Chontal in their land, if they will accept me among them.  I have decided to leave next week.  What dost thou intend to do?"
William was unsure if she'd overheard what Nerahom had requested of him.  "I'm not sure yet.  I'll probably stay in Altehuanala for a little while, then move on.  Who are the Chontal?"
"They are a peaceful Mayan people.  They separated themselves from the main body of Mayan culture, and refuse to take part in the wars and battles between Chiapanecs and some of the Mayan factions.  They have a good relationship with the Chiapanec people and have regular trading with them, but have entirely shunned the Mayan way of life."
"I assume that some of the other Mayans didn't take kindly to their change of heart.  I'd be surprised if at least some of the factions haven't taken the battle to them, from what I've heard," William commented.
Nerahom joined their conversation.  "Because they choose not to engage in war, our armies have offered to protect them in a military regard should occasion require.  In gratitude they offer provisions to assist the maintaining of our army.  They are good people, and we would not allow the Mayans to come upon them in war."
"Sounds like a fair understanding between your two peoples."  Changing the subject William asked, "Has there been anyone unusual in this area lately, or has anything happened that can't be explained?"  He had the thought in mind that whatever brought him here must be some kind of powerful electrical device, and such apparatus or anyone in possession of it would surely attract attention among these people.
"Not that I have been informed of," Nerahom replied.  The look on his face showed how bewildered he was by such a strange question.  Before he could ask why, William had another question.
"How many cities are there nearby?"
"The two nearest cities are Sacutzal and Palachimeru.  But stay away from Palachimeru for a while, they suffer from a plague.  We will receive word when it is again safe to travel there.  There are several smaller settlements within a days' journey, and beyond them are the lands of the Chontal."
"I thought it would be interesting to visit a few places locally, except of course Palachimeru.  I wouldn't want to bring a disease back with me."
"I can draw directions for thee tomorrow showing how to reach those places."
"I'd certainly appreciate that," William said.
Their walk took the trio near a pyramid temple that had a long and wide set of stairs that led all the way up its front face to the top.  Spaced down the length of the stairs and positioned in the centre were thirteen statues.  The foremost statue's head was that of a feathered serpent.  The heads of the dozen behind it forming a line up the stairs looked like human depictions.
"What does that mean?" William asked their Chiapanec escort.
"The image of a serpent with a feather represents our god, Ahdonheiy, the others represent his followers," Nerahom explained simply as they walked slowly past.
William was excited at the idea of learning about the ancient culture whilst standing in the midst of it.  If he was to be exiled in history he intended to make the most of the experience.
In the next few minutes they escorted Ramiah to the place she'd be residing at, and then Nerahom took William to a double storey limestone house where a family lived.  Nerahom explained that this family was leaving for the Chiapanec Capital City of Chitzapan the next day to be with their extended family, so William was permitted use of the house until such time as he would resume his travels.  The vampire graciously accepted and was shown to an upstairs bedroom with a balcony where he was provided with a fresh change of clothes and sandals.
That night he dreamed of the time when he was transformed into a vampire in great clarity.  He felt the awakening of the senses as though he was reliving that day again, as well as the increase in his muscular density and the rapid healing.  But then the dream changed to a kind of nowhere composed of sheer darkness, and in that darkness he heard exultant malevolent laughter, always behind him, no matter which way he turned.
He woke up with a start.  There was a lump of dread in his throat.  He forced himself to calm down with a few slow deep breaths.  The rest of the household seemed to be sleeping peacefully.  He had a suspicion of what the dream had meant.  The combined elements of vampire transformation and an evil being laughing triumphantly could be his subconscious warning him that Jagartac had become a vampire.  William hoped dearly that it was just a paranoid nightmare, since he'd been pretty sure that Jagartac hadn't lost enough blood or drunk enough of William's to make a successful transformation.  But if such an event had actually occurred, he'd know soon enough.

*  *  *

The people aboard the time station Epoch had reviewed what was three decades for William in a matter of days, and the word had spread that the well known vampire was now in ancient Mexico.  The station's crew was still completely unaware of the regular rendezvous of the two robed figures, deep in the maintenance passages.  The one in the brown hooded robe went to the meeting place, exercising great stealth all the way.  He arrived to find his master already waiting there as usual.
"Herschel has been forced down in Altehuanala in 73 BC.  There was nothing I could do to prevent it.  According to my information he will not make another major jump through time until 67 BC," he reported in a hushed voice.
The black-robed master replied, "We do not need to act yet.  But I have detected another temporal signature in 67 BC."
"The station's temporal scanner log shows no other occurrence near that time."
"Do not forget that my technology is superior.  I believe it was masked specifically to avoid your detection."
The brown-robed figure thought for a moment before enquiring, "Can you scan ahead to determine the ultimate outcome of events?"
"No," the master said.  "Like this station, I generally reside outside the normal realm of time to monitor changes and remain unaffected.  Changes can still be made in your time that will alter the course of events, so the end is by no means certain.  Hawking could still pose a threat.  Monitor his interactions with the admirals, captains and crew.  See to it that he makes no time jumps."
The other being bowed before his master in acknowledgment and left.  As before, the one in the black hooded robe vanished in a ripple of green light.

*  *  *

It was now two days since William had arrived in Altehuanala.  He was walking with Nerahom through the busy streets at noon to the place where Chief Commander Macheyui was addressing the people and the soldiers who were present.  A crowd of hundreds had gathered to hear what he had to say.  William was surprised to see that the revered leader looked like he wasn't even thirty years old, but then again, William was twenty five and he'd made it to commander in Temporal Security.  Macheyui was a well-built man of impressive stature, wearing Chiapanec battle armour and holding an obsidian-edged sword decorated with elegant carvings much like the ones that Nerahom and his men carried.  The plume of coloured feathers on his helmet was larger than Nerahom's, indicative of his higher rank.  He stood on a stone public address platform so that the people could all hear him.
"…I do not delight in bloodshed, and dearly wish that it was not necessary.  But we cannot suffer that our enemies should massacre our families.  Indeed, my soul is grieved that we must send so many of the Mayan people out of this world in untimely death.  Yet I rejoice in the liberty of our people in this land, and cherish it."  He paused for a moment, the full attention of the people on him.  "We have erected forts surrounded by walls of stone and earth.  In our places of weaker fortification I have assigned larger armies.  I call out to the men among you who are able to fight to do so for the freedom of our cities from the bondage and slavery that threatens us if we fail.  Raise your arms in defence of our lands where we prosper!"  As Macheyui said this he raised his sword high, and the majority of his audience raised their fists with a shout of accord.
William couldn't help but be impressed with the conviction of the people.  He could feel Nerahom watching him, trying to gauge his reaction to Macheyui's speech.  He felt sure that he'd be willing to fight with their army if he was planning to stay here for any great length of time, but he hoped to be just passing through.  He knew that he had to consider the possibility that he might be stuck in this time and place for a while.  Nerahom's words came to mind, about looking at the people, and seeing the importance of each life that they were fighting for.  William didn't want to, but couldn't help casting a quick glance about.  He saw a mother who was both proud of and concerned for her eldest son who'd decided to fight with Macheyui after hearing his speech.  There were two young girls who'd not yet reached adolescence carrying a basket of fruit between them.  An older man sat on the steps in front of his house carving something out of a piece of wood, though it was too early to tell what it was going to be.  Everywhere he looked, William saw people who deserved to live their lives.  It wasn't like him to ignore the plight of others, especially when he was asked for help.  But still he was torn between what Nerahom had asked of him and the events of his own life that he wanted to attend to.  He certainly didn't want his life to end here, which was a possibility for anyone in battle, vampire or human.  An unexpected sense of concern crept into his mind, he wasn't sure why.  Casting his eyes about, he asked, "Where's Ramiah?  I thought she'd be here."
"I know not," Nerahom said.  "I have not spoken with her today."
William began asking around the crowd if anyone had seen her.  He had an unexplainable feeling of urgency.  Eventually someone told him that she'd said she was going north to a nearby pond, but as he started in that direction an old woman he'd met briefly the previous evening pulled him aside and said that she'd seen his Mayan friend running and crying in the opposite direction towards a tall hill called Kushal.  William hurried towards the hill the old woman pointed to, following a parted trail in the grass once he was outside the city.  The hill in question rose quite high but wasn't too steep to jog up.  Trees and bushes covered the face he was climbing, and the ground was littered with old leaves and twigs, which crunched loudly underfoot.  He paused in his pursuit momentarily to listen for any sound that might betray the whereabouts of Ramiah but heard nothing.  His keen sense of smell could faintly detect the scent of blood.  Looking around cautiously he noticed a small trickle of blood on some leaves below a thorny bush.  A tiny fragment of dark green cloth, which he recognised as being from a new skirt that Ramiah had been given by Nerahom's wife, signified that she'd got caught in the bush in apparent haste.  There were a couple more drops on a protruding rock a bit further up the hill, so William resumed his search in that direction.  Close to the top of the hill he stopped abruptly.  A few metres ahead the ground dropped away in a sheer cliff face, and Ramiah was standing on the edge looking down.  Trying not to startle her, William gently called her name.  For a moment she didn't appear to react.
Slowly she turned her head and looked at him, although her body still faced the cliff.  Her long black hair blew gently in the afternoon breeze and tears were streaming down her face.  Unlike William, her bruises hadn't entirely healed yet, and she had a minor cut above her ankle from the bush she was passing on her way up the mountain.  Her voice trembled as she spoke.  "Please leave, I did not intend for thee to find me here."
William attempted to console her.  "Try to be calm.  Nothing is so bad that you can't find another way of escape or resolution."  He reached out his hand and slowly took a step towards her but stopped immediately when she stepped up to the very edge of the cliff apprehensively.
"There is no place for me in all the world!" she cried in despair.
"I thought you were going to live with the Chontal."
"I've seen the way the Chiapanecs look at me, like a creature of inexplicable sickness.  They mask it well but I see it!"
"Maybe you're seeing what you expect to see.  They've shown you great kindness, and they've cared for you while you were hurt," William said.
"Neither the Chiapanecs nor Mayans will miss a worthless harlot!"
"You can still find a greater purpose in life.  You can look for it with the Chontal."
"Thou art wrong!" she shouted, now facing him fully.  "They will hate me!  I will never be worthy to enter their land.  The Chontal and the Chiapanecs are equally righteous people with high values of morality.  What place is there for me with them?"  Her emotional anguish was overwhelming her.
William persisted.  "Then surely such good people will look beyond the things you want to leave behind you.  Nerahom told me all about them.  They used to be a wicked people until not so long ago, and they did things much worse than you have.  Now they've left those things behind and moved on, like I know you want to.  They're your own people, they're Mayan, and they'll understand you and welcome you, and accept you for who you are."
Ramiah's face was in her hands as she wept, so William took the opportunity to approach.  She looked up at the sound of his feet crunching on the leaves.  He'd made it within two metres of her, but when she saw his advance she instinctively moved back and inadvertently stepped over the cliff's edge.  As she began to fall William leaped towards her, and with quick reflexes caught her wrist, but in so doing went over the edge also.  As he began to fall he caught a protruding part of the rock face with his other hand and held them both suspended above the frightening fifty metre drop, his handhold nearly a metre below the top of the cliff.  He could feel his grip gradually slipping over the smooth surface of the weathered rock.  Ramiah was screaming in fear.  He speculated that even if she climbed over him she might not be able to reach the top.  Even though he was a vampire it wasn't likely he'd survive the impact on the rocks below.  Preparing for the worst, he decided that on the way down he'd pull himself under Ramiah to shove her upwards just before they hit the ground to give her some deceleration, so that she at least would have a chance of surviving, though still a very slim one.  Now it was only the tips of his fingers that held on to the rounded edge of the rocky outcrop.


Chapter 7:  The Plague

At the same moment as William's fingers lost their grip a hand grabbed his wrist.  He looked up to see Macheyui hanging forward over the cliff, supported by Nerahom and another soldier.  With their combined effort they pulled William and Ramiah back over the edge to safety.  Ramiah collapsed onto the ground, distraught and trembling.  William sat with her and held her comfortingly.
After waiting a few moments for her mood to settle, Macheyui knelt next to the woman of broken spirit and asked, "Is there anything we can do to help or cheer thee?"
Ramiah silently shook her head as she wiped away her tears, though more continued to flow.
Macheyui faced William.  The vampire could tell by his contemplative expression that Nerahom had recommended him to the warrior leader.  William considered that the main reason he was reluctant to go into battle was because he expected not to survive, which seemed like he'd be throwing his life away for someone else's battles when he might succeed in making a time jump sometime soon.  He adamantly refused to accept that he was trapped in this time.  Even a vampire would have only a slight chance in a battle against an army of thousands.  It wasn't merely because of the fear of unnecessary and untimely death in a fight that wasn't his.  Being in exile there was no backup to complete the mission if something happened to him, as there was in Temporal Security assignments.  His adversary in the hooded robe would escape and continue to exploit the timeline unless he could get back to solve the case.  He didn't want to leave it all up to Luke.  He also wanted to know what had happened for himself, and he wanted to stop it from continuing and get his life back.  He didn't want to let anything sway him from this objective.  But just now having faced what he'd believed to be certain death, risking his life for someone native to this time without hesitation, he came to realise that in his heart he truly considered the lives of these people to be just as important as his own.  Their lives were equally worth fighting for, despite them living a primitive lifestyle in an ancient part of history.  Even though the odds of survival weren't promising, his were better than most of the other men fighting, and his skills could help greatly on the battlefield.  In addition to that, the haunting concern from his dream was afflicting his thoughts in regard to Jagartac, which he couldn't push aside, and Jagartac was protected by his Mayan army.  If his concern was borne out he knew he needed to do something about it, because no one else here knew how.  They didn't understand the possible situation or its implications.  Jagartac could make an army of Mayan vampires, though it was more likely that he'd keep that newfound power for himself rather than create rivals in strength.  William looked at Nerahom and Macheyui, who were both wearing their full battle armour, and said, quelling his reluctance, "Chief Commander, I'll fight for your cause, until such time as my journey takes me away from this land."
Nerahom couldn't hide his grin of great appreciation.  Macheyui smiled and silently put a hand on William's shoulder.
Ramiah said to William, "Wouldst thou first accompany me to the Chontal?  Thou wouldst be back in Altehuanala within a couple of days."
"Of course!" he replied with great relief.  Returning his attention to Macheyui he said, "Upon my return I will join your men in training."
"Very well," Macheyui acknowledged.  "Nerahom will guide thee to the land of the Chontal and back.  Before thy departure my tailor and armourer will measure thy size.  There will be clothes of padding and armour ready for thee in thy house when thou dost return to Altehuanala."  As William stood Macheyui clasped his hand in both of his and said, "We welcome thee and are grateful for thine assistance!"
Later that day, after a couple of hours' preparation, Nerahom led William and the much calmer Ramiah out of the city and into the wilderness beyond.  William was now dressed in a white tunic with a leather belt and wore a robe over it that was vertically striped with different patterns in shades of black, brown and white.  In keeping with the Chiapanec style that he'd observed especially amongst the off-duty soldiers he also wore a leather headband.  Most of them did it to hold their long hair out of there faces, but William did it as a reminder of the importance of these people and their fight to remain a free people.  He knew that if the Mayans ever won the war, they'd destroy all trace of the Chiapanec civilisation, and he couldn't help wondering if that was why he wasn't familiar with their culture from history.  He hoped that it wasn't the case, and that he simply lacked sufficient knowledge of this era.
He'd been given a satchel of basic provisions for the journey by Nerahom's wife.  Nerahom and Ramiah each had one as well.  As they walked, Nerahom expressed his joy at William's change of heart several times.
Ramiah had no difficulty in maintaining a steady pace, so after camping the night in an alcove at the base of a low cliff they reached the lands of the Chontal early the next day.  The people were mostly Mayan, with several Chiapanecs amongst them, all living together peacefully.  If only all Mayan people were so peaceful, then no one would have to die in battle on either side, William thought.  The people used large areas of their land for farming and keeping flocks of fowl-like birds and goats.  Sometimes the Chontal and Chiapanecs were working in the same field together, which was wonderful to see.  It was unfortunate that their example remained unheeded by the warring factions in nearby lands.  The buildings were of almost the same design as in Altehuanala and the streets were equally busy, though the city wasn't as extensive.  Still, it was a large population that the Chiapanec army was offering to protect in this land.
The trio received no strange looks while walking through the city.  It was perfectly normal for both races to be seen together here.  The only thing that attracted attention was William's skin colour.  Even among the Chiapanecs William's white skin made him stand out.  If anyone asked he could always make up a reason, like he'd spent the last ten years living in a cave and hadn't seen the sun in all that time, or something along those lines.
A Mayan woman who was waving caught Nerahom's attention.  She was beautiful with long black hair and appeared to be in her early to mid thirties.  She was carrying a bolt of woven cloth under her arm.  Nerahom beckoned for Ramiah to follow him to her.  "Come, meet a friend."
Ramiah nodded and followed him.
William was about to go with them but he noticed an old man nearby drop his basket and his vegetables fell out onto the ground.  "Excuse me," he said, taking his leave of them as he ran over to help.
As they met the Mayan woman she welcomed Nerahom warmly with a hug.  Ramiah couldn't help noticing how bright her eyes were with life and energy.
After exchanging greetings, Nerahom returned his attention to Ramiah.  "This is Shushan, wife of my good friend Amahah."
"I am Ramiah.  I am honoured to meet thee."
"I thank thee.  For what purpose is it that thou dost come to be in the land of the Chontal?"
Ramiah's anxiety abated easily in response to the kindness in Shushan's voice and the apparent lack of recognition of her name.
Addressing Shushan, Nerahom interjected, "Knowest thou of a place in which Ramiah can reside for a time?"
"My sister, Leakah, is recently widowed and would rejoice in having company in her home."  After a brief pause Shushan continued, "She labours in tailoring for the Chiapanec army.  Dost thou have any skill in the working of cloth?"
"I have a little, and would be willing to improve upon it," Ramiah offered eagerly.
Shushan smiled happily.  "I shall send for my sister.  Thou must be tired and hungry from thy journey?  Come, refresh thyself and eat with my family."  She looked at Nerahom expectantly.
"Unfortunately we have other matters of a military nature to attend to," Nerahom declined politely.
"Then before thou dost depart I shall prepare provisions for thee and thy kind friend," Shushan said, indicating William who was engaged in conversation with the man he'd assisted.
"I thank thee for thy hospitality.  Please convey my regards to Amahah."
"I shall."  To Ramiah she said, "Come, I will show thee to my dwelling."  With a wave to Nerahom they departed.
Nerahom watched them leave hoping that the young woman could now find a different and happier role in life.  He rejoined William and together they walked to a nearby garden where soldiers were relaxing under the shade of the trees.  All had put their helmets and armour aside and were enjoying a basic meal of turkey meat and bread.
"I need to obtain a military report from their commander.  I shall not be long," Nerahom said and approached one of the men.
William took the opportunity to lie under a tree and close his eyes for a few moments.  He felt quite at peace.  Several birds were chirping softly.  He was beginning to doze off when Nerahom's voice startled him.
"William!  I regret that we do not have time to rest.  We must get this report to Macheyui at once!  Come."
William got up quickly and followed him towards the city entrance.  As they reached the gate Ramiah ran up to them with a leather satchel that she handed to Nerahom.
"Here are some extra supplies that Shushan prepared for thy journey back."
"Please convey our gratitude to her.  Regrettably we do not have time to thank her in person," Nerahom replied.
"Wouldst thou allow me to speak alone with William for a few moments?" Ramiah requested.
"Certainly."  Nerahom went just outside the gate to wait for him.
After a slightly awkward moment of silence Ramiah said, "I wanted to thank thee.  In the few minutes since we arrived I have already felt more peace with these people than I have in my whole life.  Leakah has agreed to let me reside with her and I have agreed to help her work cloth.  Both she and Shushan showed understanding about my situation when I explained it.  To be honest I think I was afraid of finding happiness here.  I thought I do not deserve it."
"It's unfortunate, but some people do unwittingly cherish their pain, sorrow and losses as though these aspects alone define them.  They want to be happy, yet fear it, as though without their pain they would no longer be themselves.  So instead they cling to their suffering.  I don't want you to deny yourself happiness because of fear, and especially not because of a fear of losing it."
"I truly thank thee," Ramiah said with great sincerity.
"I'm glad I could help," William said genuinely.  "Someone once told me, it's better to be alone than in bad company, but it's better to be in good company than alone."
"I shall remember those words."
After another awkward moment of silence, William asked, "Is there something else?"
"Actually… I saw thee attack Jagartac when thou didst rescue me.  I was sure I saw thee drink his blood."
"Perhaps you saw wrong," William tried.  "It must have been terrifying for you.  Sometimes in a situation like that you think you see things but are mistaken."
"My whole life since maturity has been around men like that.  The shock no longer overwhelms me in such a way as to cause confusion.  I know what I saw, but I also know that thou art not a wicked man.  I know not why thou wouldst do such a thing, but I will not speak of it to any other.  But do take care.  Jagartac will not forget the incident.  He has a strong sense of vengeance, as thou came to know when he in turn drank thy blood," Ramiah warned.
"I understand.  I should be going, I don't want to hold Nerahom up for too long.  Go and start a better life for yourself," William advised.
"I shall," Ramiah promised.  "And I hope that one day my sister Anosil will come to join me here."  She smiled at the hopeful thought, and began walking away, allowing the vampire to leave.
After a couple of paces he turned back to her and called, "Ramiah.  Never give up!"
She smiled as she gave a wave of acknowledgment and kept walking to her new life.
William caught up to Nerahom and they began their return journey.  When they camped that night, Nerahom still hadn't said a word to William about the matter that was so urgent, and was still awake and deep in thought long after the vampire had fallen asleep.  The next morning they arrived in Altehuanala and found Macheyui waiting to greet them at the city gate.
"Welcome again," the chief commander said.
Nerahom got to the point urgently.  "I have a report from the commander who is stationed with the Chontal.  It indicates that there will be an attack on Altehuanala within the next four months!"
"By what means did they come upon such information?" Macheyui asked.
"Recently more of the Mayan people have joined the Chontal.  One of them was in Jagartac's military, and spoke with the commander there about it shortly before William and I arrived there.  They are working and training for this battle with great vigour!"
While the chief commander considered this William wondered why Nerahom hadn't mentioned it during their journey.  It was probably a matter of rank, though they had no reservations about him overhearing the news now.
"Why Altehuanala?  Why not another city that would be an easier target?"  Macheyui wondered aloud.
"The Guatemalans may believe that this city will be the easiest prey because its morale is still weakened from the last battle that took place here a number of years ago, and we are still rebuilding.  It would also serve as a strategic location from which to launch invasions deeper into our lands," Nerahom theorised.
"Let not thy courage be lost, my friend.  They are not going to take this city.  All able men will concentrate their efforts on improving our fortification.  Outside of the main wall we shall hew a deep ditch and bank the excess earth on this side of it, creating a second wall of dirt around the city, except for the entrances.  It will be too steep and too high for them to climb.  Their only front of attack will be the main entrance, as it would be a tactical disadvantage for them to attempt to march around to the other, so we can focus our defence around the main gate.  Send orders to the city of Sacutzal instructing them to make the same preparations.  The Mayans will likely attack there also, supposing it to still be one of our weaker cities."
"Yes, Chief Commander!" Nerahom said.
Macheyui addressed William, "Return to thy house and fetch thine armour.  We will begin training thee in the use of the weapons of warfare at once."

*  *  *

On Epoch, Luke was examining some readings at a console in front of one of the giant quasium reactors at the heart of the station.  To his surprise he saw Tylvius emerge from a nearby maintenance passage.
"What business could a security chief have here?" Luke asked with cold suspicion, alert to Tylvius' every move as he approached.
"I understand you're still trying to create a case against me," Tylvius said.
"We both know that Commander Herschel's innocent," Luke retorted.
"You won't succeed in finding any evidence to incriminate me," Tylvius said, implying a warning in the tone of his voice.
Luke faced him fully.  Unafraid he said, "And why's that?"
"Because I have done nothing to find evidence of!"
"We'll see about that.  In the battle of vampire versus imbecile, who do you really expect will come out on top in the end?" Luke said in a way to be sure Tylvius couldn't miss the implication.  "My bet's on Will."
"You don't frighten me, Lieutenant Commander.  Your vampire buddy went up against me and he was taken out of the picture.  The battle's already over.  Just face it, Herschel was found guilty, and you can't change that."
Calmly, but quite sarcastically Luke said, "Then you'll have nothing to worry about."
Tylvius stood for a few seconds glaring at Luke before he walked away.
After waiting for his foe to be out of sight Luke cautiously made his way down the passage he saw the security chief come from.  He looked down all of the side passages as he went and eventually reached a dead end.  It was strange, because this area contained nothing remotely pertinent to the security division.  The passages were generally only used by maintenance personnel.  He pulled back his left sleeve a little and activated his multi-com device's sensor function.  As he scanned he turned slowly in a complete circle.  The small readout indicated a very slight radiation signature, but the scan was inconclusive as to whether or not it was a latent temporal signature or just residual buildup from the reactor being opened on occasion for maintenance.  Either way he was determined to find out, and to discover some form of evidence that he could use against Tylvius.  If he was lucky, it might even implicate Tylvius' good mate Malcolm Wallace as well.

*  *  *

Four months had passed for William in Altehuanala.  Whenever he'd been able to get a couple of days off from his military training and service, which paid for his living expenses for the time being, he'd made journeys to Sacutzal and most of the nearby settlements to look for anyone else who didn't belong to this time.  So far his search had yielded no results.  He'd even taken an omniscanner with him to use when no one was around.  There were still a few settlements he had yet to visit, and Palachimeru, which was still quarantined with a plague.  If, after checking out these last places, he still couldn't find who or what had brought him here, he'd have to extend the perimeter of his search.  He'd checked the ship several times but the controls were still jammed, and he could find no way of bypassing the interference.  Considering the possibility that he might have to make a quick escape when he finally did find what he was looking for, he hadn't left the emergency power cell out to charge.  When he had time, he'd take it out for a day and stay by the ship to look after it while giving it a small top up of power.  On other days when he only had a few hours spare, he spent time working with some of the farmers on their multi-levelled crops, which extended up the hills and mountains in the area nearby.  Not only could these people cultivate mountainsides but they'd developed a way to irrigate them too.  The rest of his time was dedicated to the ancient military training, which also involved the occasional contest.  His vampiric strength and agility helped greatly in winning most of these, though he allowed the odd Chiapanec victory, otherwise people might start to wonder about him.  He didn't want to come across as a being with supernatural abilities, after what'd happened in Egypt.  He noticed that over the last four months he'd become considerably fitter.  His well-developed mind and body allowed him to learn his new skills quickly.  He was now well trained in the use of arrows, which the Chiapanec men threw with a flexible throwing stick or spear thrower, as opposed to the typical bow and arrow that he might've expected.  The arrows themselves were over a metre long.  However, most of the training was hand-to-hand or with obsidian-edged swords, and indeed the pieces of volcanic glass lining their edges were as sharp as they looked.  William had suffered a number of cuts, mostly superficial, to discover this during his training after moving on from the wooden clubs used in basic training.  The technique for using these weapons was much the same as wielding a longsword.  He'd previously thought it was the Aztec Empire that had developed these weapons.  There were obviously greater historical ties between these ancient cultures than he realised.
Twilight was approaching.  William had spent the day practising his fighting techniques near the ship while the emergency power cell charged, but the daylight was almost at an end.  He returned to the ship and re-attached the emergency power cell to the power grid.  He noticed that the stream of vapour spilling from the cell's puncture was flowing a little more profusely than it did before.  The cell was losing its integrity, as though the wound was getting worse.  He went into the cockpit and activated the status display.  The power reading showed 8.7 percent.  As the leak worsened the recharge rate had obviously decreased dramatically.  He wasn't able to charge it often enough to prevent the power level from dropping further.  The date showed that it was now March 10th, 72 BC.
Dejected, he deactivated the display, went back outside and closed the hatch behind him.  By having the power cell damaged in such a way there would be a greater demand on the part of it that still worked properly to maintain a stable power level throughout the ship, since it wouldn't provide power as efficiently.  What power it could store would be used up at a much faster rate.  His only real possibility of moving forward through time now was to use the temporal drift method to cover a few years at a time and recharge the power after each occasion.  He forced the thoughts of disappointment out of his mind and went back to Altehuanala.  He needed to focus his energy on the upcoming battle.
In the city, when he was nearly at his doorstep, he crossed paths with Nerahom, who was returning from the market square carrying bundles of grain and vegetables.
"William, hast thou purchased food today?  Many merchants are here from Kehanton with an excellent selection of goods," Nerahom said, obviously very pleased about it.
"No, I've been busy with other things.  I don't suppose they have word from Palachimeru?  It's a place I've still not been able to visit because of their epidemic."
"It is interesting that thou shouldst mention it, because I asked one of the merchants about it today.  He said that the plague is still there, but that it is very unusual.  He said that people who go into the city get the plague after a short while, but no one who has come across one of its victims outside of the city has fallen ill with it, even though the victim displays definite symptoms of the disease.  And most unusual is that the victims in the city are still able to perform their daily chores.  They only become greatly feverish when they have been away from the city for a couple of days at least.  But then they go back to Palachimeru and within a short time their fever is gone, though the strange rash remains."
William found all this very peculiar indeed.  It sounded unlike any plague he'd heard of.  "So the plague is only contagious within the city?  Out of curiosity, what do they do with their dead?" He figured that if he could inconspicuously examine a body he might be able to understand the plague, and determine whether or not it would pose a threat to him as a vampire.
"To my understanding the plague has not claimed a single life, though some of the more afflicted victims have gone missing on occasion."
They heard the sound of a woman scream, followed shortly by several more women who were in the vicinity of the city gate.  They ran about frantically.  William and Nerahom tried to see past the women, who were now running in their direction.
Nerahom had a startled look on his face when he saw the cause of the panic.  "A plague victim from Palachimeru!"
William's feeling was one of cold dread, but not from fear of infection.  A Chiapanec man was stumbling along the main street, shaking and sweating.  His skin was distinctly tinged blue.  William understood now why the plague was not contagious, and he now knew that what he was looking for had been close by all along.  The man was a victim of necrozine poisoning.  William was familiar with such symptoms because it was what had happened to the Tarosian colony in his era.  They were once normal humans who'd established themselves on the planet Taros, but by his time their skin had a permanent blue tinge that had become hereditary over the hundred years since they'd started using necrozine as a recreational drug.  The Tarosians in William's time also had a degenerative genetic disorder caused by the prolonged use of the drug by the generations before them.  Ultimately they became dependant on cybernetics for their survival as their organs rotted and shut down.
Despite Nerahom's instinctive attempt to restrain him, William ran over to the man and helped him to sit up against the wall of the nearest building.  Nerahom followed, but kept some distance away.  The man was feverish and fidgeting.
"Try to relax.  Tell me, where did you get the substance that caused this?"
The man looked at William as though having difficulty focussing on him.  "I have not taken any strange substance, this is caused by plague.  Thou wouldst do wisely to distance thyselves from me.  I just need some water."  The man's voice was trembling, and he was having trouble forming the words.
"Don't worry about us, we won't get sick," William assured him.  He took Nerahom aside and spoke in a low voice so he wouldn't be overheard by the victim.  "I'm familiar with this man's affliction, and it's not a plague.  He could stay in this city for years without anyone else getting ill.  His affliction was caused by taking a certain drug for a prolonged period of time.  Obviously he's unaware that he's been taking it, so someone's been spiking something that he's been consuming."  He noticed a quizzical look on Nerahom's face.  "Someone's been putting it in his food or drink, and they've been doing the same to all of the other victims.  Right now he's suffering heavy withdrawal symptoms, and will do until he gets another fix of the drug."  William returned his attention to the victim.  "What do you take to make yourself feel better when you get this fever?"
His hands shaking, the man replied with great effort.  "Water from the river that runs by our city… I expect it must have healing properties.  I tried water from a lake during my journey here… it did not help.  Neither does water drawn from the wells within my city."
"That's it then!" William exclaimed.  "Someone's poisoning the water supply from the river with necrozine, probably a bit at a time so it wouldn't get noticed, though for what reason I can't imagine.  And why they'd bring me here is anyone's guess.  They're probably trying to pin it on me again.  But I'd have thought it'd get too diluted in a river to be effective."  William was so caught up with the necrozine discovery that he'd temporarily forgotten the victim sitting on the ground until he happened to glance in his direction again.  "Don't worry, I'll do what I can to help you.  You can stay with me for the time being."
William and Nerahom supported the weakened man between them and took him to William's residence.  Once they'd laid him on a bed they left the room so that he could rest.
"I need to get to Palachimeru quickly to do something about this plague," William said to Nerahom with an urgent tone.
"But William, dost thou forget the battle, which is by now imminent?  Surely the time is at hand that the army of Jagartac will march upon us.  Didst thou train with us for naught?"
William felt a little guilty.  He'd said that he'd train and fight with these people, and the battle would be very soon.  He'd completely forgotten about it now that he knew why his presence in this time and place was significant, although he still wasn't certain why an enemy from the future would bring him here when it would give William an opportunity to interfere with what was happening.  He also found it curious that his enemy hadn't sought him out during the last four months.  "You're right of course.  I'll go to Palachimeru immediately after the battle.  Right now I'll go get some things to treat the sick man."  William started to leave but then added as an afterthought, "I was so preoccupied that I didn't even ask that man's name."  He left the house and went back to the ship to get some medical supplies.
He didn't have to wait long for the battle.  Two days later, after returning to the city from putting the medical supplies back in the ship, he heard the warning blow of a horn.  A voice cried out, "The Mayan army is approaching!"  Frantically the vampire ran to his house, past the recovering plague victim whom he now knew was called Zepahah, and took his armour down from a shelf.  First he hurriedly put on the thick leather padding to protect his torso, shoulders and upper legs then tightly strapped on the weighty leather armour fitted with breast, abdomen and back plates.  He clamped a pair of protective bracers on his forearms and jammed the helmet on his head.  After strapping on his long copper-alloy dagger and a long quiver full of arrows and his arrow thrower, he picked up his obsidian-edged sword and his round shield and ran out to the city entrance to receive his orders.
Macheyui beckoned for William and Nerahom to join him just outside the city gate.  There was now a complete rampart around the city, outside the main wall, which effectively double fortified the city.  The wall of dirt had been built up over the last few months, and now it was a good four metres above ground level.  The rampart was parted by a gap in front of the main gate.  On the outside face, the slanted dirt wall continued down into the ditch from where it was dug, forming an empty moat.  Including the depth of the moat, the rampart had an eight metre front face on a steep angle that was thirty degrees from being vertical.
"William, I need thee up on the rampart to the left, close to the entrance.  Nerahom on the right.  Thou art two of my best warriors.  Should the Mayans reach the opening I will require thee both and the men near thee to get down here immediately to battle them in combat.  Be strong in your confidence, we have an excellent defensive position."  Macheyui turned and continued to direct soldiers to their battle posts and give them strategic instructions and encouragement.
There were hundreds of men lining the top of the dirt ridge, all armed with arrows as well as slings for hurling stones.  The inside face of the rampart wasn't as steep as the outside, and there were ladders every dozen metres along it by which the men could get to the top swiftly.  There was a substantial body of warriors filling the gap, tightly grouped together.  Because of their numbers being in the thousands, the mass of warriors extended some distance back into the city near the main gate.  They were all prepared to come forward when ordered, with their obsidian-edged swords, daggers and arrows at the ready.
William scrambled rapidly up to the top of the rampart.  He was amazed at the sight that met his eyes.  He felt a sense of dread accompanied by a rush of adrenaline.  Thousands of Mayan warriors were marching towards the city, all armoured with breastplates and shields similar to the Chiapanecs', though without helmets.  It seemed the idea had caught on since the battles that Nerahom had told him about.  He felt a tremor of fear pass through him, which was something that didn't happen very often.  From such a vantage point he could also see the Chiapanec army of thousands lined up in tight formation just inside the city and also behind the high rampart to protect them as much as possible from the enemy arrows and stones that would be thrown when they were nearer.  The rampart was spaced almost twenty metres from the main city wall in the area near the entrance to accommodate the legion, though the men were still pressed shoulder to shoulder.  William placed his shield beside him and readied the first arrow in his thrower, prepared to propel it hard when the order came.  The other soldiers lining the ridge did likewise.
"Jagartac has not come to battle against us this day," the soldier next to William observed as he watched the enemy approach.
The vampire had a sick feeling in his gut that his greatest fear since arriving in this time zone might've come true.  He'd tried to push it to the back of his mind, but now it seemed to be a very distinct possibility, or even probability.  It was not very likely a mere coincidence that it was a daylight battle and Jagartac was not present.  The king of the Mayans could well be a vampire now.  It seemed that the dream he'd had on his first night in Altehuanala might've been an accurate warning after all.
When the Mayan warriors were close enough to clearly see and evaluate the new defence of the city they halted uncertainly.  For what seemed to William like an eternity of anticipation they made no advance or retreat.  The Chiapanec army couldn't go out to battle them without losing their greatest tactical advantage.  Finally, apparently deterred by the fortifications and the great disadvantage that they'd have, the enemy army withdrew into the wilderness in a direction different to the way from which they'd approached.
"They're heading toward Sacutzal!" Macheyui called out.  "I want three thousand men to march to reinforce the soldiers there."
Immediately there was an uproar as the entire army volunteered, including William and Nerahom.
"We still need to maintain our defences here in case they return," Macheyui shouted.  "The three thousand nearest me shall go."
Both William and Nerahom were included in the selection.  Once the Mayan army was out of sight behind the rises of the undulating terrain, the three thousand set out and marched at a quick pace in the direction of Sacutzal, taking a different route around a mountainous region to remain undetected by the Mayans.  It took several hours of heavy marching in their weighty armour while carrying their weapons, and those who had shields had strapped them to their backs, but they had to maintain a steady pace in order to arrive first.
Finally they arrived, and as yet there was no sign of the Mayan army.  Because the region all around the city was mountainous, the Mayans could well be very close while not yet being in sight, so the reinforcements didn't slow their pace in the least until they'd actually reached the city.  Sacutzal was fortified in the same way as Altehuanala, with a high rampart surrounding it.  It also had high towers between the rampart and the main wall, with spear throwers manning them.  If anything, Sacutzal was now better fortified than Altehuanala, despite being a smaller city.
Before they'd left, Macheyui had ordered that unless they were instructed otherwise, all of the reinforcements were to go to the same relative positions that they'd been assigned to in Altehuanala, with the same instructions to use their arrows until they either ran out or the enemy reached the entrance.  Macheyui had stayed in Altehuanala to maintain its defences, but had ordered all soldiers to follow Alchetah's instructions precisely.  Alchetah was the commander of the forces at Sacutzal, and was well known and feared by the Mayans.
Quarter of an hour later, from his position on the rampart, William again saw the Mayan army advancing.  Again they hesitated for a few minutes, but this time at the command of their leaders they charged towards the city, most likely unaware that the army here had been reinforced by troops from Altehuanala.  The enemy obviously saw that the only way inside was through the gap in the rampart that lined up with the city's gate.  The main body concentrated their attack on that point, however there were some who circled around to the sides with the intent of crossing the dry moat and scaling the rampart.
William had his arrow thrower loaded and ready.  He clenched his jaw in anticipation of the battle that was about to ensue, keeping his mind clear and focussed.
Alchetah gave the order, and the warriors defending the entrance and positioned on the dirt wall slung stones and hurled arrows at the Mayans until they were almost within close combat range.  At that point, those defending the gap changed to using their obsidian-edged swords and daggers, while the men on the rampart continued hurling their arrows down into the enemy army.  William threw arrow after arrow with great accuracy.  Occasionally he aimed down at those who were attempting to scale the high ridge.  Most of the Mayans were attempting to charge in force through the gap in the hope that their weight of numbers would carry them through the Chiapanecs that were gathered there.  It was a disadvantage to the Mayans, because they were getting in each other's way in their attempt to compact their force enough to push through.  Those who were brought down by Chiapanec spears and arrows tripped the men pressing from behind as they fell.  The clumsy strategy left the relative few who actually made it through the gap to face the Chiapanec legion on the other side greatly outnumbered, and they were quickly slaughtered.
The Mayans persevered with a determined effort.  Inside the gap there was a constant clash of clubs against other clubs and armour.  The Chiapanec warriors fought well but were slowly being pushed back, away from the entrance.  William cast down his last three arrows, each of them hitting their targets, before he made his way down to the battle below.  He pulled his obsidian-edged sword from where it was strapped onto his back and lunged at the nearest opponent, who blocked him and attempted to counter strike.  William had left his shield up on the rampart, as he felt more comfortable using his weapon two-handed, so he deflected the attack, and as he did so he snatched his copper dagger from its sheath and in the one deft movement thrust the point of it into the stomach of the Mayan, neatly aiming between the metal plates that made up his armour.  His adversary slid off the point of his long dagger with a groan and fell to the ground dead.  As he looked at the bloodstained dagger in his hand William felt deep regret at having to do such a thing, but quickly found that he didn't have time to feel remorse during battle.  Another Mayan's axe attack just missed him due to a Chiapanec colliding with the warrior as he was repelled by another attacker.  William quickly dealt his fellow's attacker a deadly blow with the sharp edge of his sword and went back to the opponent with the axe, blocking the man's next attack and swinging around to continue the motion, ending the fight with the man's decapitation.
Two Mayans simultaneously chose William as a target and attacked together.  He jumped to the side to miss one strike while he blocked the other with his sword.  Holding it with one hand he struck the nearest one in the face with his elbow hard enough to knock him away, and then followed through with a kick that sent him stumbling to the ground.  It kept that one out of the way long enough for William to behead the other with a powerful swing, and then finish off the first by bringing his sword down vertically into the man's exposed cranium.  The next Mayan to attack him swung an axe in a horizontal arc, so William ducked and chopped at the man's thigh.  The obsidian shards lining his sword sliced through the flesh with little resistance, followed by a splintering crunch when it went through the bone as it severed the leg.  The warrior shouted in agony and fell to the ground clutching what was left of his limb.  Making the humane decision, William quickly ended the man's suffering.
He heard shouts of fury mixed in a discordant chorus with the wailing of the wounded and dying and the clatter of countless weapons striking as men fought all around him.  Throughout the mass of men there were wounded who were trying to climb away from the battle from amidst the bodies of the dead, only to be constantly trampled by friends and foes alike who were caught up in the heat of battle.
Nearby in the crowd of battling warriors, Nerahom was having difficulty when the two enemies he was holding off were joined by a third.  William spotted his plight and fought his way through the battle to help his friend.  He focussed mainly on blocking and swiftly countering to fight a path through the mass of men as quickly as he could rather than having longer fatal conflicts.  As one of the Mayans raised his spear ready to deal Nerahom a mortal strike, William swung his sword horizontally and struck him in the side so hard that the large obsidian shards penetrated and lodged into his armour.  The man collapsed onto the ground in agony, having failed to strike Nerahom.  William attempted to remove his weapon but it was stuck firmly in the metal of the armour and he was unable to retrieve it.  He dodged a swing from a nearby foe and kicked him in return, although he made little impact as his enemy was solidly built.  He snatched up the spear of his fallen victim and used it to successfully parry the next strike, and then speared his assailant in the throat with a deadly thrust.  He pulled out the bloodied spear and let the quivering body fall to the ground.  As the vampire blocked his next opponent's strike another Mayan soldier's sword slashed him across the right thigh, deeply.  His weapon dropped from his hand and he fell to his knees, clutching the gaping wound in his leg that was bleeding profusely.  An arrow that had missed its intended target a short distance away came down and pierced through the tricep of his left arm from behind.  It missed the bone, though it did protrude through the other side.  He cried out in pain and dropped to the ground.  A moment later he felt several hands pull him to his feet and carry him away.  The pain was blinding, and seemed to spread throughout his body from the wounds.  He couldn't focus clearly on the people who were helping him, but he was sure one of them was Nerahom.
Over the next few minutes his armour was removed and his wounds were cleaned and treated with herbal medicines.  The arrow was extracted and a red-hot poker was brought over to seal the wound on either side of his arm.  The pain from that was more intense than when the arrow had struck him.  A linen bandage was then wrapped around his arm by one person while someone else stitched the gash in his leg closed and bandaged that as well.
He overheard a man say that the Mayan army was fleeing now that their chief commanders had all been slain, and that the empty moat surrounding the rampart was now partly filled with the bodies of enemy soldiers who'd tried to scale it or dig it down to make a way through.  He found it difficult to believe when he heard someone say that although there were many Chiapanecs wounded, and most of the wounds were quite serious, none of them had actually been slain.
"Is that right?  Not a single Chiapanec dead?" William asked, trying to focus on the man who'd spoken.  He wondered if he'd misheard because of delirium.
"That is correct," the man relaying the information confirmed.
"I know the Chiapanecs are amazing warriors, but how is it possible they all survived the brutality I witnessed out there?"
"The Mayans were foolish to attack with so great a tactical disadvantage.  Our fortified position was strong, and although they now use armour similar to ours they still lacked helmets.  There was no way that they could have won."
William had to agree that it was imprudent of the Mayans to attack such a well fortified city in the first place, but was still amazed at what he'd heard. 
As his vision began to clear he saw Nerahom talking to Second Commander Alchetah, a man who, like Macheyui, was powerful both in authority and physically, but wasn't arrogant.  Alchetah was insisting that William should stay in Sacutzal until his wounds healed.  In protest William tried to stand up clumsily.
"Thou hast need of rest!" Nerahom said as he hurried over to lay the wounded vampire back down.
"I need to get back to Altehuanala, and then to Palachimeru," William protested determinedly.  He knew that if he could get to the blood supplement in his ship his wounds would heal much faster.
"Thou canst not journey with such injuries," Nerahom said adamantly.
William had to concede that he was in no condition to march yet.  "You're right.  I'm a little thirsty, is there any chance of getting some water?"
Alchetah answered.  "I will have someone prepare food and drink very soon.  First we must care for our wounded."
"Of course.  So, not one Chiapanec dead?"
"Not one soul, though we have many wounded," Alchetah replied and went away to tend to the other injured soldiers.
Nerahom came and sat with his injured friend.  "Truly Ahdonheiy smiles upon us this day," he said assuredly.
"It would seem so," William said irresolutely as he tried to move his bandaged leg with extreme pain and difficulty.
"We have sent spies to follow the fleeing Mayans from a distance so that we might discover where their camp is, and whether they are planning another attack and upon which city," Nerahom said, hoping it would be of some comfort to his wounded comrade.
"When will we know?"
"We expect them to return tomorrow evening.  How is Zepahah?"
"He seems to be recovering well now.  I think we got to him before his condition became irreversible," William answered with satisfaction.
"That is good to hear.  Allow me to help thee to a place where thou canst recover."
Nerahom helped William to stand and make his way to a long building with rows of crude beds where dozens of the other wounded soldiers were also recovering.
Nerahom stayed by William's bedside talking for half an hour, and left when Alchetah came in with several other soldiers who'd suffered only minor injuries.  The soldiers, including Alchetah himself, brought in meals for the soldiers.  William, though disgruntled with his immediate situation, was impressed by the way the leader was helping to care for his subordinates.
After a satisfying meal of deer meat cooked in herbs with vegetables, the vampire spent a few hours trying to rest, although he found sleep hard to attain.  On a table near his bed there were a number of surgical instruments made of hardened copper, most of which had sharp cutting edges.  The sight of them didn't help sleep come any easier, plus his injuries hurt too much to get comfortable.  He waited until later in the night, around what he approximated to be midnight, before sneaking out of the building, all the while being cautious not to awaken anyone.  Although if anyone did ask what he was doing he'd make something up, like he was looking for the gents' room.  Both of his wounded limbs were stiff and painful to move, but determination drove him on.  He could feel that they'd started to heal, but surviving on only common food and drink for so long had reduced his regenerative proficiency quite dramatically.
He stole away to a nearby pen of deer that were being bred for food, constantly vigilant for signs of anyone approaching.  Closing in on one of the sleeping animals he swiftly grabbed the creature by the throat to strangle any sound it would make, pulled its head back, tore into its throat with his fangs, and drank the blood he needed from it.  It kicked and writhed as best it could, but was powerless in the grasp of the vampire.  Within half a minute the animal's struggles had slackened.
When he'd finished drinking, William carried the carcass swiftly but cautiously to a nearby garden where he was fortunate to find a shovel-like tool with which to dig a hole behind a bush.  He figured that someone would probably notice that a deer was missing, but if he buried it, leaving no visible trace, the assumption would be that it got out of the pen somehow.  But if anyone found the devoured body and examined it the issue wouldn't be dismissed so easily.  He was able to walk and dig much easier since he'd fed on the animal.  He felt invigorated and his wounds were healing significantly faster.  Once his task was complete he made his way stealthily back to the building and into his bed without being noticed.
He lay awake for several hours, unable to fall asleep due to the feeling of euphoria from the blood.  He reminisced about what it had been like on Earth in his time, a place he missed very much.  The medical equipment was certainly not so crude.  Every major city had skyscrapers well over one kilometre high, and the upper floors were reached by air cars with ion-based propulsion systems.  A dozen levels of streets were bustling with quasium-powered ground vehicles.  There were numerous travelling cities around the world that were suspended several kilometres in the air by massive anti-gravity drives, which progressively travelled around the planet.  They were the major centres of international commerce, where one could find the food and fashions from anywhere in the world, or even beyond.  There was always a constant stream of anti-gravity transports ferrying people to and from the hovering cities.  Surrounding all of the cities on the surface there were extensive parklands where one would be just as likely to see an alien family having a picnic as a human one.  With money being non-existent there were no poor or homeless people, like he'd seen in other times that he'd visited.  All of the world's resources were distributed where they were needed.  If someone needed something they'd just go to the shop, and once they'd found what they wanted they could just walk out with it.  Since all fashions were available to all people it didn't create class distinctions based on the difference between cheap and expensive attire, vehicles or house furnishings, though new styles of each were constantly being developed.  All trading with aliens was done by bartering product for product in interplanetary warehouses for mass quantities, or by exchanging goods for a suitable credit statement when it was for smaller amounts or personal trade.  The aliens could use that credit in the shopping district, though such statements were considered as approximations, not strict amounts or values.  No one worried if they went a little over, as that would be too much of a triviality.
Medical advancements in combination with healthier lifestyles meant that the average human life span was generally over 120 years.  A great deal of research was being done to analyse vampire DNA for the determining factor that reduced the rate of ageing so that it could be used to extend the life span of ordinary humans further.  The work was progressing slowly, so people often became vampires in their late twenties or early thirties to prolong their lives while in their prime.  They generally did this after they'd had as many children as they wanted, since vampires didn't procreate like humans.  With every second or third person being a vampire, the cities were always much busier during the night, especially just after sunset, though during the day some vampires wore a full body suit that covered them from head to toe if they needed to be somewhere before nightfall.
Fashion had cycled through every conceivable style, eventually going through a sort of retrogressive phase where people were wearing modern versions of designs from the eighteenth century onwards, including fashions that were a mixture of different eras.  When William had been exiled, the basic casual fashion had been metallic-coloured business shirts, usually in the colour range between silver and dark titanium with a faint hue of another colour blended in, worn with a silk cravat, a jacket, and black or medium blue jeans, often in the faded style.  Women's casual fashions were quite similar, but in a more feminine style.  There were innumerable hair colours, such as metallic blueberry, mango smoothie, and silver-tinted forest green, with hues that could be easily customised.  Such unnatural colours weren't usually used by Temporal Security personnel as they'd be far too conspicuous for visiting other periods of history.
Society wasn't as fast paced as it used to be.  Generally, even in the shopping and commerce regions, no one was in a rush even at the busiest times.  The world was very peaceful.  The stresses of work were minimal, mainly due to the fact that people ended up being able to pursue the career they desired.  The employment system was organised in such a way that after the college-level educational downloads had been absorbed, one would be expected to work for five years in what were designated the necessary jobs, cleaners, waiters, shop attendants, labourers, et cetera.  Generally it was wherever people were needed at the time, although doing most of these jobs was fairly easy with the use of various robots and technological devices.  During this period people would usually receive their university-level downloads in whatever field they were aiming towards, and after five years they would go on to their desired careers, although they could remain in those necessary jobs if it was what they wanted to do, or switch to another.  William and Luke had both managed to bypass serving in the necessary jobs.  Earth High Command had pulled some strings based on their exceptional schooling results and offered them the option of going straight to the Temporal Security academy.
Sometimes William didn't know why he pursued a career that took him away from his utopian world to the less enlightened times in history, although one reason was that he worried about getting too accustomed to the peaceful and relaxed atmosphere of Earth society, and becoming indolent and effectively stagnating because of the easy lifestyle, and thus having no drive or adventure in life.  Secondly, he knew all too well that humanity was under constant threat by those who would attempt to change the way history had played out for their own reasons.  Someone had to protect the timeline.  Most of all he enjoyed the adventure of his work, whether it be chasing criminals through time or tracking the harmless time-jumping creatures called Thandrigs across the planet.  It certainly kept life interesting for him, and gave him the opportunity of visiting more eras of human history than most historians.  And although he wasn't supposed to, he had a habit of taking the occasional souvenir from different times, which he kept like trophies in his quarters on Epoch.  Hopefully they'll all still be there when I get back, he thought as he finally started to fall asleep.
By the time William awoke it was early afternoon.  A woman came over to him to change the dressings on his leg and arm.  He tried to dissuade her, knowing that she'd be shocked by the rapidity of his healing, but she insisted.  Coincidentally, Nerahom entered at that moment and reaffirmed that he needed fresh dressings to avoid infection.  Seeing there was no way of avoiding the inevitable he allowed them to proceed and braced for their reaction.
Nerahom stared in amazement for a full minute before saying, "William, thy leg is nearly healed!"
"Perhaps it wasn't as bad as you thought," William said in a feeble attempt at an explanation.
"No, no, I saw it, it was very deep!"
"I've always been a quick healer," William said with a dismissive gesture, as though that would settle the issue, and looked around the room for something he could change the subject with.
Nerahom beckoned for a couple of nearby surgical attendants to come and examine the wound.  They studied it with awe.
"Try to stand," the woman who'd removed his bandages suggested.
Carefully, William did as he was told.  His leg was still throbbing but he found that he could now put his weight on it and walk with only a slight lingering impediment.  Now the other wounded soldiers also stared at him in wonder, and also envy.
"Does this mean that we can return to Altehuanala soon?" William asked hopefully.  The longer they delayed the longer it would take to sort out the necrozine problem, which also meant he'd have less power remaining to move forward in time afterwards.
"It would seem so," Nerahom responded.
Word travelled fast, and in a matter of minutes it seemed that everyone William passed in the street stared at him curiously.  The one good thing was that no one mentioned the missing deer all afternoon.
It was still a few hours until sunset when William was officially discharged with some of the men whose injuries weren't severe, and he emphatically decided that they could reach Altehuanala before dark.  Nerahom couldn't understand William's urgency but complied with the request.
They were soon ready to leave, as were many of the others who were willing to go on an evening journey.  They delayed their departure when the spies sent to follow the Mayans returned and called for Alchetah.  Nerahom decided to wait for a few minutes to hear their report, so that he could then pass the information on to Macheyui.  Alchetah hurried over to them to hear what the spies had to say.
The head of the spy team reported with distinct emotional anguish in his voice.  "We overheard the words from Jagartac's own mouth when we infiltrated their camp.  His hatred is unabated.  He plans another attack, though a target has not yet been decided upon.  We do not dare repeat the words he spoke openly against our people.  He cursed with great fury, and also swore an oath to drink the blood of Chief Commander Macheyui, having concluded that he must have ultimately been the cause of their defeat."
The final statement struck at William's soul like a knife.  There was no denying it or hoping that it wasn't true.  Jagartac had become a vampire, a plague upon this land, and it was all because of his carelessness.
On the way back to Altehuanala William didn't say a word and his mood was sombre.  Nerahom was concerned but didn't want to intrude upon his friend's thoughts, so he walked with him in silence.
An hour into the journey, William's attention was caught by an impossibly out of place sound that he was sure he recognised.  Many of the other men had noticed it too, as they were looking around for the source of the noise.  William looked to the sky and was astonished to see an old-fashioned biplane soaring high above them, a model used in the early twentieth century.  Some of the soldiers around him were almost terrified with wonder, and the whole party stopped to look at it.  William couldn't conceive of how such a thing could possibly have ended up in this time, but there it was.  The plane turned about in a wide arc and headed back the way it'd come, and William was further astonished when it vanished in a green flash.  There was clearly some sort of technology in operation that used temporal physics, though it was doubtful it was in the plane itself.  William guessed it had something to do with whatever had stranded him in this era.
Finally, Nerahom spoke, still looking up at the now empty sky.  "What was it?"
"Something very out of place," William replied vaguely.
After waiting for several minutes for any further sign of the plane, the group continued on their way, though most of them kept looking up every so often just in case.
As they journeyed, with no further wondrous incidents, the sky darkened and the stars became visible.  Very quickly the moon became their main source of light as they crossed the rises and falls of the uneven terrain.
Upon their arrival in Altehuanala, with the last vestiges of light fading from the sky, they were greeted at the gate by Macheyui, who'd been informed of their approach by a watchman.  Nerahom promptly informed him of Jagartac's threat against him personally, but Macheyui remained untroubled by it.  It would take more than the threats of a wicked man to worry him.  All the same, he intended to be ready for the next attack when it came.
After their short meeting William returned to his house and went to bed, again unable to sleep.  The hours passed, and when dawn broke he still hadn't slept.  He felt guilty about the curse he'd brought upon this land, and also for what he was about to do.  He was so preoccupied with thoughts of Jagartac that he hadn't as yet given the mysterious biplane a further thought.
When it was late enough in the day he went to the barracks to find Macheyui, who was alone in a small office-like room studying a large map on the wooden table in the centre.  The vampire entered and coughed quietly to attract attention.
Macheyui was pleased to see him.  "William, how fare thee this day?"
"Chief Commander, it's time for me to leave," William said getting straight to the point.  "I must go on a journey to Palachimeru.  I believe I have the means to end the plague, or at least fight it.  From there I'll be going away for some time."  He was ashamed about Jagartac, and leaving that issue unresolved for the present, but his conclusion was that he had to act now on the threat to the people of Palachimeru from the future.  As for the part about making a jump as soon as he found a way to release his ship, he couldn't justify it to himself.  So instead he pushed it out of his thoughts as much as he could and decided to proceed anyway, because he'd never reach his own time if he continually procrastinated.  And after all, he wouldn't be able to jump very far, so Jagartac would still be around for him to deal with later.
"I understood when thou didst join us that it might only be for a short time," Macheyui said.  "I have been told that thou didst fight well in the battle, and I thank thee for thy service.  It is greatly appreciated."  He took several coins from a bag on the table and handed them to William.  "This is owing to thee.  Will we see thee again?"
"In all likelihood, yes.  Though it may not be for several years.  I may rejoin your army again, if you still have need of me at that time."
"Hopefully peace will reign in the land before then," Macheyui said with solemn sincerity.  Nerahom and another officer came in.  Macheyui introduced the officer to William.  "This is Second Commander Denamuco, a fine warrior and a great friend." Turning to Denamuco and Nerahom he said, "I was bidding William farewell."
Nerahom was surprised by William's apparently sudden plan to leave.  "Must thou depart so soon?  Art thou not returning later from Palachimeru?"
"I need to go away afterwards for a while.  I'll very likely return in a few years," William said, not expecting to get even a decade out of a time jump using the temporal drift method.  Addressing Denamuco he said, "I'm honoured to meet you.  Perhaps we can be better acquainted when I return to Altehuanala."
"I am likewise honoured.  Nerahom has spoken well of thee.  I shall await thy return with anticipation."
With a courteous bow William left the barracks.  He went back to the house briefly to wish Zepahah all the best and to change into the clothes he'd arrived in this era wearing, and then he made his way from the city.  He made a detour to the ship to get an omniscanner and a pistol, both of which he concealed inside his clothes.  Leaving the ship he headed in the direction of Palachimeru, following the directions he'd memorised from Nerahom.  Thoughts of Jagartac continued to pervade his mind.  It was the second time that vampirism had been taken from him without his consent since his exile began, which disturbed him considerably.  He was also unsettled upon reflection that Ramenhoses had known how to take vampirism from him, no doubt under the direction of William's black-robed adversary, whereas Jagartac did it inadvertently as an act of revenge.
As he walked, he was once again astonished to see something that had no rightful business in this era of history.  Ahead of him lay the dead but unmistakable form of a Spanish conquistador.  The cause of his death had been a thrown arrow that had pierced through his eye.  He was bearded, wore full-body armour made of steel, and on his head he wore a morion-style helmet with a crest on the top and a brim that curved to a peak at the front and back.  He was missing the long thin-bladed sword that William would've expected to see him with, so it'd probably been taken by whoever had killed him.  As the vampire was about to continue on his way the body suddenly vanished in a green haze, leaving no trace that it had ever been there.  The only explanation he could think of was that the disruption to time that'd brought the conquistador here must've been undone.  Presumably the man's sword would've also vanished from the possession of whoever had taken it.  William resumed his journey, keeping an eye out for anything else that was out of place in this time.
As he got close to the city of Palachimeru, William considered that he couldn't very well just walk in through the front gate and expect not to be noticed in a city of blue-skinned people.  Considering how pale his skin was, he couldn't even walk through the gate of Altehuanala without being conspicuous.  It was a pity Zepahah had decided to stay in Altehuanala until the so called plague passed, as he would've made a useful scout to send on ahead.  Now he'd have to wait until nightfall and slip in before the city gates were shut.  Either that or come up with a way to scale the high stone wall.
When the city's entrance was in sight, William hid behind a wide bush to observe the comings and goings of people while he waited for the time to pass.  The city looked less than half the size of Altehuanala, although it too had a multi-levelled cultivated mountainside.
William had watched the city gate for close to an hour, and unsurprisingly no visitors had arrived at the city during that time.  However, his attention was captured by a large group of finely dressed Chiapanecs leaving the city, each with a yoke across their shoulders with two wooden pails hanging from its ends.  There were two dozen of them, and none had blue skin.  They looked like they'd be of a high enough status to have servants, and William thought it strange that they'd shoulder the yokes themselves.  Based on Nerahom's descriptions of the area, he guessed that they were heading in the direction of the river on the other side of a narrow forest that was between it and the city.  He activated his omniscanner and took a reading of the group.  His scans revealed concentrated amounts of necrozine, but none of the people had it in their bloodstream.  Rather than rush over to question them he decided to wait and watch a while longer.
Twenty minutes later the group returned to the city, weighed down by their pails that were now full of water, as William could tell by the occasional splash over the side as they walked.  He did another scan and this time detected dilute quantities of necrozine.
When the group had re-entered the city William got up and followed them in as discreetly as he could.  He had to investigate what was going on, and couldn't wait any longer or he'd lose track of them.  Inside the city, the people carrying the pails were greeted like celebrities.  People flocked to them with ceramic cups to receive some of their water.  Whenever people did notice William strolling nearby they shied away from him, as if fearing to infect him with the plague.  William noticed an old woman sitting on a wooden stool in front of what was presumably the entrance to her home.  The long stone structure appeared to be a grouping of relatively small homes all under one extensive roof.  There was a narrow garden bed near her door where groups of white and blue petunias grew.  Calmly William approached the old woman, although she seemed to be getting anxious as he got nearer.
"Stay thee away, I am ill," she croaked.
"It's okay, I won't contract the plague.  I just need to talk to you."  The old woman still looked concerned, so William added, "I've had a sick man from this city living with me for a while now in Altehuanala, and I'm still fine.  I seem to be immune."  He held up his hands for her to see.
The old woman relaxed a little, but wasn't entirely convinced.  "Of what dost thou have need to speak with me?"
"I want to know about the people who bring the water."
"Canst thou spare a coin for an old woman whose hands' usefulness has waned?"
William dug around in his clothes and found the small pouch where he kept his earnings for military service.  He took one of the largest coins he could find and passed it to the old woman, who was clearly pleased by it.
"What dost thou wish to know of them?"
"Anything to do with why they're not infected and why they seem to be the only ones to fetch the water.  And do they know any unusual people?"
"They are the kin of Sansarael, a powerful man in this city.  His is a large and strong family."  The old woman had forgotten her fear of passing on the plague and was more eager to be informative now, if only for the sake of a good chat.  "Their family house is the lavish one up this main street, the one that looks like a small palace.  They were people of pride before the plague.  They had many servants whom they did not pay well, though they had the wealth to, and they dealt harshly with any who dared to disagree with them."
"I tend to disagree with people like that as a matter of principle," William mused, and gestured for the old woman to continue.
"A short time before the plague began they sent all of their servants away.  The family of Sansarael are the only people within this city immune to the plague.  None know why, not even the healers.  But now they show a kinder heart and bring water to the rest of us who are afflicted, so we do not need to risk spreading the disease beyond the walls of this city.  However, Sansarael himself usually stays inside the house.  The only acquaintances they keep now are people wanting water, although on occasion some of the sicker people are invited to the house for more intensive treatment, and do not return.  I have been told that some go to them with their gold and precious things, seeking to purchase whatever it is that makes that family immune to the plague, and are never seen again.  Either they die there and are buried in the grounds, or there is good treatment and protection from this terrible disease, and they do not wish to venture out in the city again for fear of relapse."
William was getting a better idea of what was going on now.  Appreciatively he said to the old woman, "Thank you very much.  You've been most helpful.  Just one more thing, how often do they bring fresh water from the river?"
"Six or seven times a day, to bring enough for all who suffer this plague.  It is a great service to us.  The water from the river is fresher than that in the wells.  It helps to ease the fevers and discomfort caused by the plague."
"Indeed, most kind of them," William said without conviction.  "Well, I certainly hope you feel better soon."  He took his leave of her and went to a more secluded area near the city's entrance where he sat in the shade of a building to wait, hoping that Sansarael's family still had another trip to make to the river today.
He was in luck.  An hour later, as the sun was close to setting and he was beginning to think he'd have to wait until tomorrow, the group began their tiring trek from the city carrying their yokes and pails unenthusiastically.  It was the opportunity he was waiting for, and he had no more than thirty minutes to do what he needed to do before they'd return to the family house after fetching and then distributing the poisoned water.
Despite people looking at him curiously, he ran along the narrower streets in a less direct route to Sansarael's house, which was indeed like a small palace as the old woman had said.  He went around to the back wall, and with a running leap he jumped as high as he could, just managing to hang on to the top of the high wall with the tips of his fingers.  Getting a better grip he pulled himself up and dropped over the other side into a courtyard with numerous garden beds that had once flourished, but were now poorly tended.  There were three arched entrances leading into different areas of the house.
William couldn't see anyone around so he took his omniscanner out and tried to pinpoint where the necrozine was kept.  The middle archway was closest to the direction of the necrozine, and led towards the centre of the house, so he went in that way.  It made sense for the drug to be kept as deep within the building as possible as a security precaution.
The scanner showed one life sign about twenty metres away.  Moving silently, William took a route through the maze of passages and rooms that kept him as far away from the person as possible.  It was probably Sansarael.
William came to a long windowless rectangular room that was empty aside from woven tapestries, four burning torches in wall brackets at the corners, and a large basket with a lid against the far wall.  There was one other doorway at the other end of the room, near the basket, which the scanner indicated as the direction of the necrozine.  William went through it into a storeroom that had several small baskets lining the back wall containing glass phials of the drug.  Another basket in the corner held empty bottles and phials.  William picked up a full phial and glared distastefully at the blue liquid that had caused so much suffering in this city, and which had led to his exile.  He still didn't know what the purpose behind it could be, or why Temporal Security seemed not to have noticed what was going on here.
The omniscanner gave a soft beep as its proximity sensor picked up the solitary life sign moving quickly in William's direction.  Still holding the phial, William went into the larger room and lifted the lid off the basket hoping he could fit inside it in a sitting position to conceal himself.  There wasn't enough room inside the basket, though not because it wasn't big enough.  It housed a very complex-looking device with many touch controls and a readout that said 'temporal jamming signal and flux inducer active'.  William put the lid back on to make it look undisturbed and hurried towards the main doorway he'd originally entered by, but he was only halfway across the room when a man came through the doorway, who stopped in surprise when he saw William.
"Why do you have this in your house?" the vampire demanded, holding up the phial of necrozine and attempting to take charge of the situation by putting the other man in the defensive position.
It didn't work as he'd hoped.  The other man furiously pulled out a long silver dagger and charged at William, who grabbed the man's knife hand and pulled him off balance.  Within a second the vampire had the man on the floor and was holding him down from behind with his arm around the man's throat, not quite squeezing hard enough to choke him.  With his other hand he held the dagger poised threateningly above the man's face.
The man gave up his attempt to struggle free and held his hands out in a gesture of surrender.  William released him and allowed him to stand, still holding the dagger ready in case the man tried attacking again.
"I want some answers," William said with anger in his voice.  "Where did you get this drug, and why are you poisoning your own people with it?"
The man's wavering voice betrayed the fear he was attempting to hide.  "I did not have any choice in the matter," he said adamantly.
"The hell you didn't."
"Myself and my family were granted our lives and freedom from the plague, in return for which we were instructed to put this in the water.  We were made to start the plague by slipping it into the people's food and drink whenever opportunity permitted, and once the appearance of a plague had begun we maintained it by putting it in the water that we brought back from the river."  The man's gaze constantly went from William to the dagger.  He was used to always having guards and servants to protect him, until he'd had to dismiss them to avoid them finding out and talking about the necrozine operation.  He knew he didn't pay them well enough for them to be discreet about what he'd become involved in.
"I assume you're Sansarael?"
"I am," the man replied, with a hint of pride in his voice despite his situation.
"What happened to the people who came here and were never seen again?"
"We did not kill them," Sansarael explained quickly, fearing retribution.  "The sorcerer took them away."
"Sorcerer?  Was it this sorcerer who gave you the drug and told you how to distribute it?"
"Yes."
"Who is he?  Where can I find him?"
"He called himself M…" Sansarael was suddenly thrown against a wall as though an invisible bull had charged into him.
"Perhaps I can better answer your questions," a male voice said in little more than a whisper.
It was enough to send a chill along William's spine.  The voice seemed vaguely familiar, but at the same time it was not a voice that he'd ever heard before.  He turned to look at the speaker standing in the doorway, and as he suspected it was the being enshrouded in a black hooded robe.  "So we meet at last."
"Indeed," came the whispery reply from beneath the hood.
"I want to know why you're here.  What use could these people possibly be to you?" William asked casually, determined not to be intimidated by this being who was surely just a man wearing a black robe with some technological device for flinging Sansarael across the room.  He wondered why this 'sorcerer' hadn't shown up on his omniscanner.
"I take these people, when they're completely dependant on necrozine, to another time and place where they work in a labour force as part of a much grander cause than the conquest of an ancient city."
"I take it you're saying they become your slaves?"
"As slaves they're very useful for the labours that my superior servants should not have to waste their time and energy on."
"So why did you bring me here?" William asked.
"It wasn't me, but one of my enemies who brought you."
"How long do you think you can keep this up before Temporal Security finds out what you're doing here?"
"It wasn't Temporal Security who brought you here either, and they certainly won't be coming to rescue you.  I'm jamming all time scans, so they cannot pinpoint this operation to within several decades or accurately read any historical effect this causes, as I've put this whole region in a state of constant temporal flux.  In short, I'll be finished here long before they arrive, if they ever do."
Determinedly William said, "Then it's my duty to put an end to this."
"You can try."  The figure sounded slightly amused.  "I'm aware that you have a phased positron pistol tucked away in your clothes.  By all means, give it your best shot."  The being held his arms out.  He wasn't holding a weapon in either of his black-gloved hands.
William drew his pistol and pointed it at his adversary, setting it to its highest setting.  With the dagger in his other hand he gestured for Sansarael, who'd tried to stay silent and unnoticed, to go and stand with his master.  William moved to the side so that Sansarael was directly between him and the hooded man, and then swung his gun arm back around and aimed for the basket.  The robed figure raised his left hand and Sansarael was thrown across the room and out of the way.  The being's left hand was now stretched out towards William, who fired twice into the basket.
William felt an invisible impact knock him across the room and into the wall in the same moment that the basket exploded, sending a shower of sparks, circuitry and fragments of burning basket in every direction.
William looked up just in time to see his adversary run from the room and along the passage beyond as though hell itself was chasing him.  Presumably he was trying to get away before Temporal Security showed up, which could be at any moment now that the temporal jamming signal was down.  The vampire got up and ran in pursuit.  As he rushed through the doorway he glimpsed the figure dart into an adjoining room, and a couple of seconds later there was a flash of green light.  When William reached that doorway he saw only an empty room with no other exits.  Somehow his enemy had successfully escaped.  He thought it best that Temporal Security not find him here in a house full of necrozine as it wouldn't help his case, so he ran as fast as he could out of the house and in the direction of the city gate, stopping only for a few seconds to tell a group of locals that the plague was really caused by Sansarael's family poisoning the water, and that they should warn everyone not to drink it.  Then he continued out of the city as fast as his legs could carry him.
Finally he arrived at the ship without encountering anyone from Temporal Security and went straight into the cockpit.  He powered up the craft and found that the power level had already dropped to 6.1 percent.  There wasn't time to worry about it yet, as he first had to prevent his shuttle from being detected by the time stations Epoch or Jidai.  Normally when on a mission, a ship would be equipped with a beacon that would emit a signal on a particular frequency that the stations' sensors would recognise, and the ship emitting that signal would be omitted from the stations' lists of vessels present in various locations throughout history with an active time field.  That way Temporal Security would avoid the confusion of detecting the presence of one of their own ships in the past from a future mission and then interfering in their response, which would create a greater disruption to the timeline.  Being a commander, William knew several of the frequencies.  Unfortunately his shuttle's beacon was missing, as he discovered when he tried to activate it.  Working quickly, he reset the frequency of the time drive to one of the beacon frequencies in the hope that it would have the same effect and hide him from the time stations' sensors.  When the appropriate settings were made he initialised the time drive for temporal drift, since a proper launch plus operating the time drive at full capacity would use up most of the remaining power within a matter of minutes.  The ship remained where it was on the ground and moved through time only.  The view outside was interesting.  Because time passed so much faster outside the ship than within, the days could be seen fleeting by, lasting for only a few moments each.  It appeared to be rapidly fluctuating between day and night at an increasing speed.  The path of the sun rising and setting became a steady bright stripe reaching overhead from the horizon, and the changing of day to night blended into something between the two.  Every so often the power reading dropped by 0.1 percent.
If Temporal Security had detected him they would've boarded the shuttle by now, since many days had already passed outside, so William knew he was in the clear, at least for the time being.  Relieved, he went to the back of the ship to have another look at the power cell.  While the time drive was active the mist from the leak was blowing out heavily.  Once the power was depleted he'd have to set up the cell to charge again using the panel from the quasium reactor and spend several more weeks in Altehuanala, assuming the Mayans hadn't managed to take the city during the time he was skipping.  It seemed he would have to endlessly repeat the process throughout history until the cell would no longer store a charge.  Then he'd do it with the firing capacitors until they too became useless, though they wouldn't hold nearly as much power as the emergency cell.  He had no idea what he could do after that.
He went back into the equipment room to continue his repairs to the life support circuitry.  It was a slow and intricate job.  The ship had enough fresh air inside it to last him for a short time, and the repairs seemed close to completion.  As he worked he thought about the device he'd destroyed in Sansarael's house.  Clearly that had been the cause of a biplane and a conquistador appearing at the wrong point in history.  How many other such incidents had occurred in the vicinity of this time and place was anyone's guess.  With any luck, all such instances would've been undone with the destruction of the device, like the way the conquistador had disappeared.  If not, Temporal Security would be kept busy for a while trying to put things right.
After thirty minutes, William noticed that the air was beginning to get stale.  This turned out not to be a problem since fifteen seconds later an alarm from the cockpit sounded.  He put the circuit down gently and went to the cockpit.  Once again the power was almost depleted.  The temporal readout now indicated 67 BC.  The ship had only taken him forward approximately five years.  He decided that it would be wisest to check out the area again before setting up the power cell to recharge, especially since he had no idea what the local situation might be now.  After shutting down the ship, he left and made his journey back towards Altehuanala.


Chapter 8:  The Assassin

Judging by the position of the sun, William estimated the time to be about four in the afternoon when he arrived in Altehuanala.  The high rampart was still in place, only now there was a palisade of sharpened wooden poles along the entire length of its ridge for extra fortification.  Around the city, between the rampart and the city wall, watchtowers had been built at regular intervals that were higher than the palisade, from which lookouts and spearmen would have a vantage point over the surrounding area.  The vampire entered the city through the main gate.  On his way to Nerahom's house he realised that he was still wearing the same clothes he'd been wearing when he left, but figured it shouldn't matter.  However, when he arrived the door was answered by a stranger.
"Of what service may I be to thee?" the man asked politely.
"I've come to find Nerahom."
Obviously unaware of who the vampire was, the man said, "He and his family are staying in his friend William's old house, I can guide thee."
"I know the place," William said.  "When did he move?"
"Nearly five years ago.  I am his brother."
"Thanks for your help."  William took his leave without delay and went to his old house.
As Nerahom greeted him, a look of surprise and great joy spread across his face.  "William!" he exclaimed.
"How are you, my friend?" William asked as they clasped each other's hand firmly.
"Happier at the sight of thee!  Do come in.  It must be five years since thou didst depart."
"Strangely it doesn't seem that long," William replied with a smile.  He noticed that Nerahom's wife was watching a pair of children as they played with wooden and ceramic toys.
Nerahom followed his gaze.  "These are my sons.  The elder is called Samahah and the younger is Korhonri.  After thou didst leave we came to this house to maintain it in thine absence.  The people who lived here before thee have decided not to return to Altehuanala, as they are prospering in Chitzapan.  My brother minds our house now.  But thou hast come back, and we shall return it to thee."
"I won't hear of you leaving the house on my account.  I might only be staying for a limited time again."
"That is unfortunate.  We have kept thy bedchamber as thou didst leave it, in anticipation of thy return, as much as for the fact that we have no use for it ourselves.  I shall fetch thee a change of clothing and a meal," Nerahom offered.
William was impressed by his friend's enthusiastic hospitality.  He accepted and went upstairs to the second floor and found his bedroom exactly as he'd left it.  A breeze blew through the wide opening in the wall that served as a window.  To the side of the window was a door that led to the large balcony outside that was enclosed at the sides.  He recalled many evenings of lying out on the balcony, under the shelter of its stone roof's overhang, looking out at the stars and pondering until he fell asleep.  To him it was a very short time ago, yet he knew it wasn't, but somehow it still felt as though he'd been gone for quite a while.  In the bedchamber there were two decorative but not overly elaborate tapestries on the walls.  His armour was on a table by the window.
Nerahom came in and placed a small open oil lamp and a bundle of clothes on another table next to William's bed.
"So, what's been happening while I was away?" William enquired.
"A short time after thou didst depart, a man named Hetapicah became chief councillor over the Chiapanec people.  The plague of Palachimeru has lifted and the people are well.  More cities and strongholds have been built and fortified, and the Mayans have been driven back into their own lands."
"Is the war over?"
"Actually there has been peace for a time, except for a dispute about land ownership amongst some of the outlying Chiapanec groups."  Nerahom said.
"How's Ramiah?  Did she settle in well with the Chontal?"
Nerahom was slightly confused by William's dialect, as he often was, but could usually understand his meaning.  He just assumed that it was the kind of language spoken in whatever part of the land he was from.  Suddenly he realised that he had no idea where his friend was from, though presumably that was where he'd spent the last five years.  "She has settled in well," he said, mimicking the vampire's manner of speech.
William smiled.  "That's a relief.  I was still a bit worried about her.  Is Macheyui in Altehuanala at the moment?"
"No, he went to Chitzapan, but he will likely return soon.  Come, let us talk more over a meal."  Together they left the room and went downstairs where they ate and conversed until well after dark.
The next morning William awoke with the thought that he was probably the only vampire ever who slept at night and arose in the morning.  Following a filling breakfast of maize pancakes he trekked back to the time ship and set up the power cell to recharge again outside the ship over the next couple of weeks, since the local situation was now relatively peaceful.  It still probably wasn't the safest idea to leave it unattended, but if it was to ever get charged enough to take him a significant distance across time he had little choice.  He'd be sure to come and check on it every couple of days.  He took a leather satchel back to Altehuanala with him containing the circuit and components from the life support system, along with the necessary tools to continue repairing it.
As he approached the city's entrance he noticed a woman who was also approaching it, though from a different direction.  They walked through the gate at almost the same time.  She was walking slowly, a little ahead of him, and looking all around at the city, as though she'd never been there before.  The strange thing was that she wasn't carrying anything, no bag of provisions or extra clothes for the journey she must've taken to reach Altehuanala on foot.
William went up to her to offer his assistance, convincing himself that he was doing it purely out of kindness, although the fact was that he found her very attractive.
The woman was visibly startled when she saw him, having been too busy surveying her surroundings to notice his proximity.  "Sorry, I didn't see you there," she said automatically and quickly stopped herself as though she'd spoken out of turn.  Her hair was long and dark brown, and shone in the sunlight.  Her skin colour was a little darker than the Chiapanecs', but lighter than the Mayans'.
William guessed that she was probably half of each, which wasn't unheard of in this part of the land.  "Are you looking for someone in particular?" he asked.  Even if she told him a name he probably wouldn't be able to help her, knowing hardly anyone in the city himself other than the soldiers he'd trained with, but it seemed like a polite way of making conversation.
She was silent for a moment before saying, "No, thank you, I'm new to the area."
"My name's William."
"I'm Kyomi," the woman replied.
"You must be tired from travelling.  I was about to fetch a drink, maybe a bite to eat.  You're welcome to join me," William offered hopefully.
"Thanks, but no.  I'd prefer to look around the city for a while," she declined politely, much to William's disappointment.
"Well, maybe I'll see you around later."
"Maybe."
William continued on his way slowly, looking back and waving to her once.  It hadn't gone as well as he'd hoped.  He'd never been great at talking to women he was attracted to, although in his own era being well known did help to some extent.  He wondered if perhaps his conversational awkwardness was why his relationship with Larissa had never gone beyond friendship before she became involved with Admiral Rivette.  He knew he was better looking than the admiral, though he didn't usually think in such vain terms, but his failure proved that looks aren't everything.  In any event, he was still grateful for the strong bond of friendship he shared with Larissa.
Kyomi subtly made her way around the corner of a building and out of sight where she removed a handheld scanner from inside her clothes.  It was made of an unusual green metal.  After studying the readout for a couple of seconds, an expression of incredulity crossed her face and she looked back around the corner, her gaze following the direction that William had taken.
William was inside his room hiding the satchel of equipment when he heard a woman's voice calling from downstairs.  He went down and was surprised to see Kyomi in the doorway.  He welcomed her inside, a little too eagerly.  "I didn't expect to see you again so soon," he stammered.
"I changed my mind.  I am a little thirsty."
William was enraptured by the very sound of her voice.  "Please come and sit down.  Make yourself comfortable."  He pulled out a wooden stool for her.
"Thank you," she accepted.
William found himself completely unprepared for this.  "So which city are you from?" he asked, not that he'd recognise the names of most of them.
After a brief hesitation she answered unconvincingly, "I move around a lot, I couldn't choose just one to call home."
William didn't think to question her uncertainty.  "Well, I'm not from around here either."
Kyomi stood up and moved a little closer to where he was preparing the drinks.  "So, do you live alone?"
William found himself unable to think clearly.  He was too entranced by how pretty she looked, as if nothing existed but her.  "No, one of the Chiapanec soldiers and his family lives here also."  He came over to her holding two ceramic goblets of a basic hot chocolate drink made from ground cacao beans and honey.  He handed her one, and as she took it her fingers gently played over his for a flirtatious moment.
Glancing around the place and listening for sounds of activity she said, "It seems they're not home."
As if on cue, Nerahom entered at that moment.  Upon seeing William and his guest he said, "Excuse my interruption, I have just seen Macheyui nearing the city."
"Thank you," William responded.  "This is Kyomi.  She's just arrived in Altehuanala."
"Honoured to make thine acquaintance," Nerahom said politely.  He then went into the next room so as not to intrude further.  He could tell by William's slightly nervous mannerisms that he was definitely interested in the young woman.
"Your friend seems very nice," Kyomi said.
"He is," William said.  "So, will you be staying in Altehuanala long?"
"I don't think so.  Listen, I don't want to impose on you too much.  I should be going, but perhaps we can meet again soon?"
"Absolutely!" William said, trying to suppress his excitement.
Kyomi put down the drink that she hadn't touched and exited with a smile.
After she'd gone, Nerahom came back, a quizzical look on his face.  "What was that unusual tongue in which thou wast conversing with her?  It was a language I have never before heard."
William was confused.  "What do you mean?  I've been speaking the same the whole time."
Nerahom leaned over and sniffed William's drink, then shrugged and walked away again.
William looked at the drink for a second, then put it down and said, "Let's go meet Macheyui as he comes in."
"Certainly.  But first, I have a gift for thee, William," Nerahom said as he presented a neatly folded bundle to his vampire friend.
William unfolded it to reveal an exquisite, finely woven robe, white in colour with intricate crimson designs.  The edges were decorated with a fine golden weave inter-linked with patterns of a slightly lighter red.  "It's… great!  It's magnificent!  Thank you!" he said joyfully as he put it on.
Nerahom was delighted to see him so exuberant.  "I am glad it is pleasing to thee.  Come, we shall welcome Macheyui."
Together they went to the city gate, but the moment they saw Macheyui's face they knew that something was wrong.
"How fare thee, Chief Commander?" Nerahom asked respectfully.
"Not well," Macheyui replied.  "I would speak with thee both, privately."
"Certainly," William responded.  He could see that Macheyui was too preoccupied for pleasantries at the moment.
The three of them walked quickly to the nearby barracks.  When they were inside the planning room, which still had the large map spread open on the table, Macheyui gestured for them to be seated, though he remained standing.  William and Nerahom waited patiently for him to begin speaking.
"There is a dispute among the Chiapanec people concerning Chief Councillor Hetapicah."  Macheyui began.
"Of what nature is the dispute?" Nerahom asked.
"There are those who would see certain points of the law altered, and they have made petitions to this effect.  They want the law to be more lenient in regard to certain crimes, specifically the type that they would benefit from.  Such alterations would create holes in the definitions of the law, through which they could escape justice for certain actions.  Hetapicah would not allow the law to be changed, so those people seek to overthrow him from his position.  They bear much anger towards him.  Threats have also been made against other councillors who stand with him in the matter."
"Has it come to bloodshed?" William enquired.
"Fortunately not yet.  But the people have divided into factions.  Those who oppose Hetapicah would overthrow the free government and place a king to rule over the land as was the case in the generations before our own, and they would ensure that it was one of their number.  They call themselves revolutionists.  Most of them are the wealthier people who consider themselves to be of noble birth, and therefore entitled by their wealth to higher political status.  They plan to change the government so that they may inherit positions of power and authority over the people easily.  The people who support Hetapicah and the free government, the loyalists, will maintain their covenant to uphold liberty, and the rights and privileges of their people, their religion, and their way of life.  The voice of the people in a vote supported Hetapicah."
"Then why art thou not content?" Nerahom asked.
"Jagartac has again raised an army to come against us in battle."
"So we have another war to fight," William commented quietly.  Then with renewed determination he said, "Let's get the men ready to face them.  Which city do you think they'll march on first?"
"Our spies said that they are planning an attack on Chitzapan, the capital.  They are gathering near the borders of the land.  But these revolutionists have not followed the voice of the people.  They refuse to take up arms in the defence of their country.  They are too blinded by their selfish desires for power to unite with us against a common enemy, who will attack us all, with no respect for political faction."  Macheyui was becoming angry.  He leaned forward with his hands on the table in front of him.  "I have petitioned the council that they might grant me power to compel the revolutionists to either take up arms and fight with us for our land, or be put to death for hindering our efforts for survival and freedom by diminishing our military strength and impeding our preparations," he said with exasperated finality.
William and Nerahom listened in silence as they contemplated the seriousness of the situation.
Macheyui spoke again, more calmly now.  "Our first concern is to put an end to the contention amongst our people.  How can we fight the Mayans whilst fighting between ourselves?  The three of us need to rally the men to be ready to march to Chitzapan on the morrow."
William and Nerahom stood up simultaneously and with a nod of acknowledgment left the room to carry out their mandate.
William made his way through the eastern part of the city while his friend went through the west.  As he was going from place to place spreading the word, he was approached by Kyomi.
Noticing the expression of urgency on William's face she asked, "What's the matter?"
Even with the present situation on his mind he found himself subjugated by her beauty.  He stopped his fast paced walking for a moment to answer, "The Mayans are preparing to invade.  All able men are being summoned to arms.  We leave for Chitzapan tomorrow."
Kyomi didn't appear to understand.  "Are you going with them?" she asked.
"Yes.  For as long as I live with these people I will fight with them also."
After a momentary pause Kyomi said, "Can I meet with you later tonight?  It's such a lovely day, let's go enjoy the sunset together.  After you've finished your duties, of course."
"That sounds nice," William said.  "There's a nice garden near the north wall of the city that I go to sometimes, I'll meet you there just before sunset."
"I'll be there," she agreed.
William started to walk away, finding it extremely difficult to draw himself away from her.
He went about for the next few hours calling for all who were willing to support the cause of freedom to be ready the next day.  Eventually between Nerahom, Macheyui and himself they were sure that everyone had been notified.  But all the while Kyomi was in his thoughts.  He was the victim of a very powerful attraction towards her.  And a very willing victim too.
It was a fine evening as she'd predicted.  When he arrived at the garden, wearing the elegant robe that Nerahom had given him, he saw several couples peacefully walking along the paved paths that linked the different garden areas.  Kyomi was seated on a stone bench by one of the paths waiting for him, looking around a little restlessly.  The moment she noticed him she stood up and went to him.
"Good evening," William said, as he courteously offered his arm.
A little uncertainly she linked her arm through his and they walked slowly deeper into the extensive, lush gardens.  The air was fresh with a strong floral scent.
William attributed her tentativeness to the possibility that Chiapanecs and Mayans didn't commonly walk in such a way.  Or if they did maybe he was just being presumptuous.  But she didn't seem to be averse to his attentions.  "You look very pretty tonight."  He mentally kicked himself for not coming up with something more imaginative, thinking that he must've sounded like a complete social oaf.
She smiled.  "Thank you.  This is a lovely place.  Do you come here often?"
"Sometimes I like to go for an evening walk here to clear my mind, or just to ponder in serenity."
"What do you think about when you come here?" she asked gently.
After a few moments he responded, "Usually the future.  Occasionally the past."
The sunset itself was a mural of brilliant orange and red shining through a thin scattering of clouds over the nearby mountaintops, the glow highlighting their edges.  The still water of a stone-paved rectangular pool in a lowered area reflected the sunset like a mirror, with the image disturbed only by a twenty foot tall, lavishly inscribed obelisk in its centre that had an artistic beauty of its own.  Kyomi was looking around at the other couples who were also enjoying a sunset walk, or were sitting together on the stepped stonework around the pond.  "I'd hoped we could spend some time alone here, but it seems everyone has the same idea, to watch the sunset in tranquillity."
They met each other's gaze.  The glow of the sunset seemed to enhance the allure of her features.  They stopped walking and faced each other.  William was completely enchanted by her.  After looking into his eyes for a moment she closed hers, as she slowly leaned towards him.  Without a thought in his head he did likewise, their lips meeting softly.  He held both of her hands in his.  The kiss was like an eternal moment of bliss, yet slipped fleetingly away in an instant.  For several minutes afterwards they just looked at each other in the fading light of the evening.  Then tenderly he guided her to the nearest stone bench where they sat together under a tree, not saying much, until the sun had fully set and the stars started to become visible.  Some other people in the garden were preparing an evening picnic under a nearby tree, which prompted William to ask, "Do you have dinner plans?" He'd said it before he realised how out of place such a modern question could be in this civilisation.
Kyomi looked down and said, "Actually, I'd made arrangements to dine with a friend I made today.  Her husband is in Chitzapan right now."
"A pity.  I'd suggest tomorrow but we'll be leaving pretty early.  Will you still be in Altehuanala in a week or so?"
"Possibly, I can't say for sure."
"I'll certainly look for you when I get back," William said hopefully.  "Can I escort you to your friend's house later?"
"No, thank you," she replied quickly.  "I'll go by myself.  See you when you get back."  She arose and quickly began to walk away with a farewell wave to William, who was perplexed by her sudden change of mood.  She'd become a little anxious, though she hid it well aside from her abrupt departure.
William got up and started towards home, unsure of where his relationship with Kyomi might be going, or not going.  Sometimes she seemed to get closer, other times she drew away, and within seconds of each other.  But he was not deterred in the slightest.  Perhaps that was just her personality.
When he arrived at the house Nerahom greeted him.  He was just about to sit down to dinner with his family.  "William, wilt thou join us for a meal?"
"Thank you, but no, I'm not hungry yet.  I'll be upstairs," he said as he headed for his room and went straight out to the balcony.  Still wearing his robe, he lay on a deck chair he'd built in his spare time during his first stay in the city, five years ago as far as the Chiapanecs knew.  It occurred to him that Kyomi hadn't spoken to him at all in the courtly way the Chiapanecs generally spoke, using thee and thy instead of you and your.  She spoke in the same manner that he did naturally, although the Chiapanecs had always politely accepted his vernacular.  His neural interpreter might automatically dignify his speech when it was appropriate.  He couldn't be sure how he sounded in their language.  But even so, why did he hear Kyomi's parlance differently to everyone else's?  He was aware that the ancient people of this continent had a great variance in language depending upon which region they were from, which was also why he wasn't too particular about how he spoke here.  But this explanation didn't quite satisfy him.  Nerahom had commented on a difference in language when he talked with Kyomi before.  There was certainly something different about her, he was certain of that, and not just in the way she spoke.
He fell asleep until about two hours later, when he was awoken by the sound of approaching footsteps.  The steps were very soft, almost stealthy, but his vampiric hearing detected them easily.  He looked in the direction of the balcony doorway and saw Kyomi emerge.  He was delighted at the sight of her.  She smiled at him as she stepped through.  He moved to get up but she said, "No, please don't get up."  Slowly she walked around to place herself directly in front of him at the foot of the deck chair, her silhouette now framed by the starry sky behind her.  William found himself entranced as she alluringly moved closer to him, leaning down towards him as if she was about to climb onto the deck chair too.  A movement distracted his attention from her.  Looking past her, he was startled to see a second silhouette behind her, standing on the balcony's stone balustrade.  The figure was that of a man, judging by the height and build, and was completely clad in black.  He resembled a commando, or more accurately, an assassin.  The figure was holding something in its hands, but it was too dark to see what it was.  At the same moment that William realised it was a pulse rifle the figure raised it and fired two blue flashes of energy that cut through the darkness and into Kyomi's back before the vampire had time to react.  Kyomi's body slumped down onto him as the assassin turned and dropped over the balcony to the ground below.  Within a second William was at the balcony's edge.  His keen eyesight could make out the dark figure running into the night carrying a pulse rifle, so with a shout of rage he leaped from the balcony and ran in pursuit.  He already knew that Kyomi was dead, so the best thing he could do would be to catch her attacker.  He was giving chase in a fury, using all of his energy, but the assassin was drawing away, despite the vampire's great speed.  It was no ordinary assailant that he was chasing.  When the assassin reached the outer wall he activated something on his belt and then began to scale the stone wall, apparently able to grip the flat surface with his hands and feet.  When he reached the top he looked back down at his pursuer for a moment, and then vanished over the other side.
William tried in vain to claw his way up the wall in pursuit.  It was too high for even him to jump up and grab the edge.  He kicked the wall in frustration.  Reluctantly he abandoned the chase and jogged back to the house.  When he returned to his balcony he discovered the family gathered around Nerahom's body.  Kyomi's body was nowhere in sight.  Quickly he leaned over Nerahom and was relieved to feel a strong pulse.  He was only unconscious.  Even so, his family shed many tears for him.  Trying not to speak with an insensitive tone he began to interrogate Nerahom's wife, Malitah.  "Where's Kyomi's body?  Who did this to Nerahom?"
Sobbing, the Chiapanec woman said, "When we heard strange sounds coming from here we became concerned and wanted to see what was happening, but my husband bade us to remain below while he came to see.  We heard him shout, and came up to find him like this."
William examined Nerahom's clothes.  There was a slight scorch mark on the chest of his tunic, which the time traveller recognised to be from the beam of a pulse rifle that was set to stun.  He also knew that the shots at Kyomi had been lethal.  The stun settings fired a steady ionised beam along which a strong electrical discharge flowed, while the kill settings fired a burst of positrons.
Nerahom slowly opened his eyes and let out a moan, which immediately mitigated the fears of his family for him.  Focussing on the vampire he said, "William…"
"Take it easy my friend."
"I heard unusual noises, so I came up to see… I saw a man in strange clothing… all black… standing over Kyomi," he said groggily.  "She was dead!  Her back had two holes burnt into it!  The man saw me, he was holding something, and then there was a flash like lightning… I remember nothing after that."
"Did you see his face?" William asked, although he anticipated the answer.
"His face was covered."
William helped his friend to stand up and supported him downstairs to a chair where Malitah brought him a drink.
"William, how could someone do that to her?" Nerahom asked, still unable to believe what he'd seen.
"I'm not sure…" William said thoughtfully, "but I intend to find out, and then return the favour!"  He had no real idea of how he could find out.  It would be no use scanning for a trail of Kyomi's DNA because the shots would've sealed the wounds, so no blood would have spilled out for him to trace anywhere.  He couldn't fathom why anyone with advanced technology would go to such trouble to kill a native.  William was the one in this city who was different, and whoever the assassin was they would've scanned the presence of his life sign as well as hers.  So why shoot her and not him?  Obviously while he was chasing one there was a second waiting nearby for him to leave.  Why they'd want to take her body was another question he couldn't guess the answer to.  And if they were willing to kill one native why bother to change the setting to spare Nerahom's life?  William hadn't known Kyomi very long, but already he'd begun to develop surprisingly strong feelings for her.  He wouldn't forget her in a hurry.
Despite knowing that he wouldn't be able to sleep well, he returned to his room and tried to get comfortable on his bed, his mind busy with thoughts of vengeance.  Eventually he concluded that the only way he could find the perpetrator would be to scan back to this time after he'd made it back to Epoch and cleared himself.  As much as he hated it, the answers would just have to wait.  Very faintly he heard the sound of a starship's engine.  Rushing to his window he got there just in time to see a small craft in the distance, rising into the sky from beyond the city.  It was an alien craft that he wasn't familiar with, its segmented hull made of a dull green metal.  He returned to his bed with regret that the assassin had got away.
At sunrise he awoke, fortunate that he'd managed to get a couple of hours of restless sleep.  He felt weary, nevertheless he made preparations for the journey to Chitzapan.  He left the house an hour later with Nerahom, both wearing their battle armour.  The journey was going to take some time, but wearing the armour was the easiest way to carry it.  They each had a satchel containing their provisions.  They were strapping their thick leather bracers onto their arms as they turned a corner onto Altehuanala's main street and the city gate came into sight.  What they saw was very encouraging.  There were thousands of Chiapanec soldiers making their final preparations, both within and without the gates, as they listened to Chief Commander Macheyui explain the situation in greater detail.
"He still looks pretty angry," William commented.
"For years he has laboured with great diligence to preserve the lives of the Chiapanec people.  Now those revolutionists show no gratitude, and are working against our cause with their stubbornness.  Rather than fight along side us they would watch us perish at the hands of our enemies, or maybe even assist them, to find favour in their sight," Nerahom said with solemnity.
William recognised the man who was standing with Macheyui to be Denamuco, the man he'd met briefly before leaving five years ago.  When Macheyui finished his address, William and Nerahom made their way to him through the crowd.  The sight of them seemed to alleviate his mood a little.
"How many men do we have?" Nerahom asked.
"In proximity of eight thousand," Macheyui answered.  Then looking at William he said, "I am delighted that thou hast once again joined us in battle for our cause, and I offer an apology for my lack of courtesy when thou didst return."
"You had a lot on your mind, I understand completely.  And I'm honoured to be here," William replied.
"William, dost thou remember Denamuco?" Macheyui asked, indicating the man beside him.
"Of course!  It seems we'll now be fighting side by side."
"Indeed we shall," Denamuco said with conviction.
"When we reach Chitzapan we will split the army into two groups," Macheyui said.  "I will lead one, Denamuco shall lead the other.  Nerahom, would thou assist me in my army?  William, I shall assign thee under Denamuco."
William's mind was still weighed down with regret that Jagartac had become a vampire.  He was now determined to remedy the situation before making another time jump.  Addressing Denamuco he said, "You may consider me as your servant to command until the battle with Jagartac is over and he is dead."
"I thank thee, William.  I see thou hast a very personal dedication in that battle."
Sure do, William thought to himself.
Macheyui led the massive army in the direction of Chitzapan at a steady march.  The journey took until noon the following day, traversing the forested mountainous regions and camping overnight, but finally they reached the great Chiapanec capital.  It was significantly larger than Altehuanala, with buildings that were higher and grander than any William had seen during his travels in the land so far.  It was in a much more mountainous area and was by the river, quite a distance further along than Palachimeru.
The army stopped outside the city walls and divided into two bodies.  In the higher levels of some of the buildings where the view overlooked the city walls, many people could be seen observing the army with wonder and apprehension.  A messenger came running from the city and handed Macheyui a note scrawled on a square of rough paper.  Macheyui read the note, and after dismissing the messenger he addressed the army.  Such was their number that the men further back were unable to hear him clearly, so men were appointed to relay his words back to them as he spoke.
"The petition has been granted!  Unless the revolutionists are willing to take up arms to support the liberty of the people under oath, we have the authority to pull down their pride and nobility, and level them with the earth!  We march!"
Macheyui turned after saying this and led his men into the city.  Denamuco likewise led his men with William to the places where the revolutionists dwelt and offered them the ultimatum.  Thousands of armed revolutionists came to fight the army, but many were swiftly cut down by the soldiers' sharp-edged clubs that served effectively as swords.  Many of their leaders were captured, but lacking time for trials before the anticipated battle against Jagartac's army they were held captive and imprisoned.  The battle was short, and when most of the revolutionists were dead, those remaining surrendered themselves to Macheyui and Denamuco and agreed to honour the Oath of Freedom and join the ranks of the army while needed.
When their unpleasant task was complete, the Chiapanec leaders and head men, including William since he was standing nearby, gathered to plan their defence against the army of Jagartac.  As they were discussing possible battle tactics a team of Macheyui's spies returned from their reconnaissance, raising the alarm with urgency.  They held everyone's attention.
The head of the group reported to Macheyui.  "The Mayan armies have now captured the cities of Tianchon, Perctlac and Kehanton, and many other cities by the coast northward!"
Macheyui responded instantly with rage in his voice.  "What!  While we have been here putting an end to our own contentions other parts of the land have been invaded!"
"They were seen now marching in the Land of Groves, slaying many of the people there," the spy added.
Macheyui raised his hand indicating that he'd heard enough.  "Denamuco, take thine army and march around to meet the Mayans in the western part of the Land of Groves.  I shall take my army to the south-eastern part of that land to cut off their retreat."
Denamuco and William left the chief commander and rapidly gathered their troops.  Within minutes they were marching again.  Shortly afterwards William noticed Macheyui's army moving off on their course, which was more directly northward from Chitzapan.  After a short time the undulating landscape hid them from view.
During their march, an army of Chiapanec warriors from a city they were passing joined them, a reinforcement that raised morale among Denamuco's men.
When they finally caught sight of the Mayan army it was less than an hour until sunset.  Denamuco led the army to cut them off from advancing deeper into the Land of Groves.  Both armies stopped for a while on either side of an expansive clearing prior to engaging in battle, during which time William enquired about a large and ornate shrouded box that a dozen of the enemy soldiers were carrying on a pair of thick poles.
"Jagartac rides in that barge.  He must be confident of victory to come to battle himself," Denamuco said.  "He has not attended battle in person for a number of years."
William didn't see that as a coincidence since most of the battles took place during the day.  Curiously he asked the Chiapanec leader, "How many years?"
"Not since the days that thou didst fight with us the first time," Denamuco answered.
If William needed any more evidence of Jagartac's vampirism he had it.  He moved into formation with the rest of the army.
A mighty cry of anger arose from the enemy soldiers and they began charging at the Chiapanecs, who similarly responded with a unified battle cry and charged to meet the enormous wave of men.  As William stormed towards the Mayans with Denamuco he noticed that the soldiers bearing Jagartac's barge were still motionless in the background of the conflict.  There were no signs of life from within.  Focussing on the battle, William braced himself to meet the onslaught with his obsidian-edged sword held tightly before him.  Unfortunately he was in the front line and was knocked to the ground by the weight of the incoming bodies, but wasn't wounded.  Without hesitation he was back on his feet and promptly swung his deadly weapon at the nearest opponent, striking a fatal blow across the side of the man's neck.  He reminded himself that he didn't have time for remorse now and moved on to the next attacker, who swung a heavy studded club at his head, missing him by millimetres.  While William dodged to the side he countered with his sword, taking down his assailant with an upward diagonal swing that sliced through his side.  Parrying a couple of rapid blows he struck down another, and another.  It was quickly becoming difficult not to trip over the bodies of the dead and wounded as he fought.  Without the advantage of their city's fortification, many of the Chiapanecs were also being slain in this fight.
A particularly robust Mayan warrior caught sight of William and pushed through the mass of men, obviously having selected the vampire as a target.  William deflected the first attack from the side as he met the challenger, weapons striking with a harsh clack of one obsidian-edged sword against another.  The Mayan blocked William's counterstrike and in turn countered with a swift kick to the vampire's chest that promptly sent him stumbling into a nearby Chiapanec, who in the heat of battle almost instinctively stabbed him with the dagger he was wielding, stopping just a fraction of a second before his blade would've made contact.  Regaining his balance, William advanced again on the Mayan, this time mocking a strike, causing his enemy to begin blocking, but then following the fake with an actual attack that nearly hit its mark.  His opponent had quick reflexes and blocked the actual strike successfully.  A nearby Chiapanec fell to ground dead right behind William's powerful adversary, and his falling arm brushed the enemy's leg.  The warrior glanced down automatically, giving William the opportunity he needed to land a mortal blow as he swung his sword into the side of his opponent's abdomen, a part that wasn't protected by armour.  The sharp obsidian tore deep into the Mayan's flesh.  With a look of unbelieving surprise the man fell to the ground as his eyes glazed over in death.
After felling yet another adversary, William glanced up again at Jagartac's barge, which still betrayed no signs of activity.  He was forced to immediately resume fighting when two Mayan soldiers lunged at him together, one with an axe and the other with a long dagger.  Dodging to the side he parried the closest soldier's axe strike and diverted his momentum into his fellow.  They both clumsily stumbled into each other and were struck down by two Chiapanec soldiers who were fighting in proximity.
The sun had recently set and the sky was beginning to darken, but still the battle raged on.  The sounds of blades, axes and clubs clashing against each other was ringing through the evening unceasingly in combination with the screams of the wounded and dying as well as the shouts of the vigourously fighting soldiers.
Having noticed that the sun had set, William looked up again at the barge.  This time he saw an ornately attired man emerge whom he instantly recognised as Jagartac, who dragged the dead body of a bound slave girl out of the litter with him and cast her aside onto the ground, wiping her blood from his mouth.  From her lighter skin William could tell that she was a Chiapanec woman who'd been captured from one of the cities Jagartac had recently taken.  From what William had heard, being drained of blood wasn't the worst form of death that prisoners of the Mayans usually suffered.  Some of the Chiapanec soldiers had told him tales of the Mayans disemboweling human sacrifices after first torturing them repeatedly.  These thoughts served to strengthen William's resolve to help the Chiapanecs win against such twisted enemies.
The king of the Mayans approached the battle wielding an obsidian-edged sword and began hacking into the Chiapanec soldiers in a flurry of movement.  His skill and power were significantly enhanced by his vampiric strength and agility.  William found his viciousness intimidating, but quickly cast his fear aside.  Jagartac had in recent days been feeding from his enemies, and possibly even his own men.  William could see that he'd fed well by his fast and energetic techniques.  Resolutely the time traveller ploughed his way across the battlefield towards this great enemy.  Jagartac also cut his way through the crowd upon seeing William, whom he immediately recognised.  The two vampires' swords crashed together so hard that splinters of obsidian were sent flying.  Like William, Jagartac fought without a shield, preferring to wield his sword with both hands to strike harder and with more control, while also allowing him to easily strike with his fist.
"I had hoped to once again encounter you," Jagartac said between strikes.
"I swear this will be the last encounter!" William replied with threatening commitment.
After a few moments more of intense sparring Jagartac said, "This night I shall drink from you, and your leader Macheyui!  It is a marvellous gift that you have given me!"
"It's one someone like you should never have!" William shouted in fury, though the fury was largely at himself for being the means by which Jagartac had obtained the gift.
Jagartac fought with such powerful blows that William was struggling to block or dodge them.  "Have you not fed tonight?"
"I have sworn to myself that I will never again feed from a human," William rejoined with conviction, as he jumped out of the way of another attack.  He unsuccessfully tried to counter with a swing to his foe's head.  "You don't need to either.  You can survive without human blood.  You can still consume food, or feed on the blood of animals."
"But I do not wish to merely survive like that.  I enjoyed drinking the blood of my enemies to absorb their strength even before our first encounter," Jagartac replied.
A nearby Mayan soldier attempted to assist his leader in fighting William, but after blocking the first strike William sent him stumbling with a blow to the temple using the hilt of his weapon.  The man fell in the path of a Chiapanec soldier who finished the job.
"It is unfortunate that you would deny yourself such a delicacy.  It would certainly have made you a worthier opponent," Jagartac said as he attempted to decapitate William, who evaded the attack and slipped around behind him swiftly.  Jagartac blocked the next attack, but one of the black glass shards of William's weapon grazed his arm.  It was a superficial wound, but the pain enraged Jagartac.  He bared his fangs as he said, "When I have slain you I will find that harlot Ramiah and drink all that she has too!"
William retaliated with a frenzy of attacks.  "Not if you're dead!" he shouted as he lunged forward repeatedly, gaining ground with each assault.
Jagartac was backing away as he defended himself from William's renewed vigour.  Taking in the scene around him he saw that his army was beginning to lose to the Chiapanecs.  He decided to call a retreat before he lost too many more men.  He waited for William's next strike, parried it, and then kicked him hard enough to knock him over.  By the time William was back on his feet he had disappeared among the warring masses.
William looked around hastily, hoping not to lose sight of him.  When he finally spotted Jagartac again he was too far away to catch.  Despondently he watched the Mayan army start to flee across the countryside.  Looking around the battlefield he found himself surrounded by the bodies of dead and wounded soldiers, both Chiapanec and Mayan.  Even though the Mayan army's numbers had been greater, the men led by Denamuco were better warriors, and yet the victory wasn't a joyous occasion.  The whole surrounding area was a scene of carnage.  The sheer butchery of the war was now evident.  Thousands of torn and bleeding bodies covered the battlefield.  There were moans and cries of anguish as men clutched at heavily bleeding wounds in the despairing knowledge that they were fatal, many of which had fractured bones protruding from them.  Men lamented in despair for their slain friends who lay wide eyed and motionless.  Survivors were turning the bodies of the dead face up to see if they recognised anyone, but not all of the faces were still recognisable.  After the last battle he'd fought in, William had been carried into the city injured, so he hadn't seen the aftermath.  He was saddened by the sight before him and infuriated that Jagartac had managed to get away alive.
Denamuco put his hand on William's shoulder.  "They have fled to their camp, let us now return to ours.  There will be another time to face him."  Denamuco held William's gaze for a moment in a silent promise that implied something more than his words alone had portrayed.  "Come and help with our wounded."
William reluctantly accepted his failure for the time being as he left the battlefield with the other soldiers, helping one of them to support an injured man.
Later that night, when most of the men in the Chiapanec encampment were asleep, William was lying wide awake in his tent.  If only he could've fought harder somehow, gained an advantage that would've ended the vampire ruler's evil reign.  While he was mentally punishing himself for his failure, Denamuco came quietly to the opening of his tent, indicating for him to remain silent and to follow him outside.  The Chiapanec leader took him to a nearby thicket of trees where they could converse out of earshot of the soldiers.
"What's going on?" William asked in a hushed voice.
"I have witnessed that in addition to being a proficient warrior thou dost personally hate the king of the Mayans.  I know that he attacked thy friend, Ramiah.  If thou art true to the oath that thou didst make to me earlier, that thou wouldst be as my servant for the duration of Jagartac's life, then be so now, and that promise may soon be fulfilled."
"I don't make promises lightly," William assured him.  "But why are you concerned about that in the middle of the night?"
"I intend to go to the Mayan camp to secretly kill Jagartac tonight!" Denamuco said.  "But I will need thy help."
"You know I'll help you with this!  Let me fetch my armour."
"No.  That would make it harder to move quickly and quietly, and your preparations might be discovered.  I have left mine behind.  We shall take only weapons."
"A few of the men are still awake, I'm sure they'll want to come."
"No, too many things can go wrong with a large group, and we could be heard.  It should be just the two of us," Denamuco insisted.
"Very well, I'll get my sword," William said and snuck back to his tent, being careful not to attract the attention of the men who hadn't yet gone to sleep.  When he returned to the thicket Denamuco was waiting for him with his sword also.  "Do you know where their camp is?" William asked.
"I do.  It is by the seashore, not far from here."
"Then why don't we prepare the army and attack in force?"
"Because they would hear our approach and have time to prepare.  If we kill Jagartac they will be leaderless and confused, and perhaps their courage will dissipate.  We will have so much more advantage in the battle tomorrow.  Their morale will be crushed when they find him dead in their midst!  Their fear will become our ally," Denamuco said definitively.
William agreed to the plan that Denamuco had laid out, and they silently left the Chiapanec camp and travelled with haste towards the coast.  It wasn't long before they could smell the ocean in the gentle night breeze.  From that point they began moving with greater caution.  They found a dune to hide behind that overlooked the enemy camp, which covered the whole stretch of beach in both directions.  From this viewpoint they planned their infiltration.
"There are still a few of them awake," Denamuco observed.
"Looks like they've been drinking," William said, noticing that some of them were stumbling around groggily and speaking loudly and incoherently.  "But why?  They don't have a victory to celebrate.  They fled."
"Likely it is for consolation.  They probably believe it will give them strength.  It assists our purpose.  They will be off-guard and unobservant."
"Which tent's Jagartac's?"
Looking around Denamuco said, "That very dark one, it is the largest and is better decorated."
"Lucky for us their camp's not well lit.  If we sneak around behind those tents on the left we can avoid most of the men walking around."
"I agree.  Come."
William followed Denamuco towards the camp, maintaining cover behind the dunes wherever possible, until they came down onto the beach.  The sound of the crashing waves masked any sounds of their movements well, and the moonlight was partially obscured by a thin scattering of clouds.  Twice they had to crouch behind a tent when some Mayans walked nearby.  The night was getting colder and windier, and most of the men were making their way to their tents for shelter, and to get some rest before morning.
When they neared Jagartac's tent, William gestured for Denamuco to use extreme stealth, knowing that the evil king's vampiric sense of hearing was above that of the average person's.  The wind was blowing the flap door of the tent open a little, being tied shut only down one side of it.  Very carefully they peered inside.  In the flickering light of a single lantern they could see Jagartac lying on his makeshift bed, his head slowly rolling from side to side with his eyes shut, as though he was very drunk.  The smell of wine was emanating from the tent, but William knew that alcohol didn't affect vampires like that.  In his time a synthetic substitute had been created especially for vampires to give a similar effect, called haemohol, but he had no idea how Jagartac had managed to get into such a state in this era.  They moved closer to the opening to see if anyone else was in the tent.  On its floor were the bodies of three dead Mayan warriors.  One of them still had a wine flagon in his grasp.  So that was how he did it.  Drinking from the drunk, he absorbed some of the alcohol already in the victim's bloodstream.  William looked at Jagartac in disgust, a king that fed on his own men.  There were another couple of men who were sleeping on the other side of the tent to their leader.  William couldn't tell if they were also drunk or not.
As he moved a little closer he felt something hard under his foot.  Reaching into the sand he found a javelin which was probably dropped by a drunken soldier earlier that evening.  More than a dozen notches had been carved below the spearhead, a tally of how many men the owner had killed with it.  Denamuco moved stealthily to the tent flap, but William caught his arm, gesturing that he should be the one to kill him.  Denamuco signalled that he would do it, and that William should keep watch at the tent door.  Reluctantly William abdicated to him, and passed him the javelin.  With a motion at his own chest he indicated that Denamuco should strike for the heart, knowing that it would kill such a young vampire outright.  Denamuco nodded in acknowledgment and crept into the tent, being extremely careful not to make the least sound that might awaken Jagartac or his servants.  William watched with keen anticipation.  When Denamuco was in position he raised the javelin and perfected his aim, then with both hands thrust it through the oblivious vampire's heart.  Jagartac died in a wide-eyed instant of surprise and pain without making a sound, as his servants slept through the event undisturbed.
William heard the sound of approaching soldiers.  He ducked inside the tent and readied his weapon in case they entered.  Fortunately they walked past the tent without even glancing inside.  They knew better than to intrude upon someone like Jagartac.
William took one last satisfied look at Jagartac's body before he and Denamuco crept out of the enemy camp.  They managed to get away without being seen.  William knew that when Jagartac's body was brought into the morning sunlight it would incinerate, completing his duty to destroy the evil king.
When they got back to the Chiapanec camp Denamuco awoke the army and summoned them to arms.  "I have just killed Jagartac in his tent!" he announced loudly enough for the whole army to hear.  "If they discover him during the night they may attack.  Stand ready for battle."
There were murmurs of amazement and cheers of triumph from the soldiers as he told them this.  They all hurried off to prepare for battle.
Denamuco addressed William.  "I thank thee for thine accompaniment.  Thy promise to me is now fulfilled."
"Truly, it was my pleasure!" the vampire replied, with more peace of mind than he'd had since his first encounter with Jagartac.
Dawn broke and the army marched to the borders of the Mayan camp.  The enemy soldiers were rushing around near their king's tent, having found him dead, and were panicking at the appearance of the Chiapanec army.  In unanimous accord they grabbed what possessions they could and called a general retreat.
"They will in all likelihood retreat to the city of Kehanton.  We shall rejoin with Macheyui's army before we battle them.  I suspect we will achieve more victories now," Denamuco said.  "This day dawns with new hope."
After they walked unhurriedly back to their camp William went into Denamuco's tent to speak to him alone.
"William, I have just received orders from Macheyui's messenger that from this time forth we are to retain all Mayan prisoners who fall into our hands, to hold as ransom for prisoners they have taken of our people," Denamuco said.  Noticing a hint of apprehension on William's face he asked, "What troubles thee?  Dost thou not rejoice in our time of victory over Jagartac?"
Following a brief hesitation William replied, "I do appreciate the victory, it's just that now that Jagartac's dead I'd like to return to Altehuanala."
Denamuco considered for a minute.  "We still have battles to fight.  The war is not over because of Jagartac's death.  It is likely that his brother Nimorah will succeed him, and continue the attacks.  But thou hast fought valiantly.  Thou dost deserve leave for a while.  So be it, and I hope that after a short time thou wilt rejoin us in battle."
"Thank you.  I don't expect to be disappearing again any time too soon.  I'm sure we'll meet again before long."
Denamuco silently placed his hand on the vampire's shoulder as an indication of respect and gratitude.  William did likewise and then left.  He had a good sense of direction, and was sure he could find his way back to Altehuanala again without difficulty.  His keen hearing would pick up any Mayans patrolling along the way, giving him enough time to hide.  He didn't enjoy war.  Now that Jagartac was dead, and he'd fulfilled his responsibility to see the end of the evil king's reign, he wanted to be away from the fighting for a time and continue repairing the life support circuit.  He also figured that if he removed another panel from the quasium chamber and connected it to the firing capacitors and the beacon's power supply he might be able to travel a few months further in temporal drift each time.  For the distance he had yet to travel every bit counted.
His trip back to Altehuanala was uneventful.  After an unsettled night's rest in his room he went out onto the balcony.  It was a beautiful morning, and it was only a few minutes since sunrise.  His dreams had been haunted by images of Kyomi's death, and he was still unable to fathom why she would be a target for people advanced enough to have particle weapons.  Obviously she must've had some interaction with them previously; perhaps she'd seen something she shouldn't have and they'd considered her a threat.  The vampire's train of thought was interrupted when he heard a woman's voice calling his name.  Looking down to the street he saw Ramiah waving up at him.  Briefly he returned the wave and went downstairs to meet her just outside the house.  She had a smile on her face as she hugged him tightly in greeting.
"I heard that thou had returned.  It is good to see thee again!" she said with genuine delight.
"You look happy, I trust everything's going well with the Chontal?" he responded.
"Yes, it is indeed, thanks to thee.  Shushan and Leakah have been very great friends to me, and have helped me to deal with my past and put it behind me.  I have thought of thee often.  Where hast thou been these five years?"
Hesitantly William replied, "Just travelling.  Would you care to join me for breakfast?"
"It would be an honour," Ramiah said as William invited her into the house.
William began preparing a seasoned omelette from a recipe he'd learned from Nerahom's wife.  "How are you enjoying tailoring?" he asked in a low voice, supposing that Malitah and the children were still in bed.
"Leakah says I have a natural skill for it," she replied dismissively, also in a hushed tone.  More seriously she said, "Five years ago I had convinced myself that there was no hope, no reason to go on.  I made myself believe that to end my life was the only way to end the pain, that perhaps it was how it was supposed to happen.  But Shushan, Leakah and thee have shown me that there is hope if one looks for it hard enough, that to take one's own life is not how it is supposed to end for anyone.  I thanked thee last time we met, but I would do so again."
"That makes coming here worthwhile," William said.  Solemnly he added, "Jagartac is dead."
Ramiah had a look of surprise, which strangely turned to regret.  "It was unfortunate that he would not change his ways.  He died in his evil."
"Yes he did."  They spent the next couple of minutes in silence, each in their own reminiscence.  When the food was cooked William served it with cacao bean chocolate drinks and corn cakes, and they sat down to eat.  "Malitah showed me how to make all this.  I'm sure mine's not as good as hers, but I hope you'll like it."
"I am sure it will be delicious," Ramiah replied with appreciation.  She had a thoughtful look on her face, but she didn't voice her thoughts until they'd both finished eating.  "Wilt thou leave this land to travel again?"
"Probably in a few months."
Ramiah stared at her empty plate, though she was not focussing on it at all.  She was busy trying to calm her nerves because of what she wanted to say.  "I would like to accompany thee as thy wife," she said bluntly.
William was caught off guard, and was momentarily speechless.  "I'm flattered and honoured… but it's a journey that I must take alone."  Seeing her disappointment he added, "Your place is here, in this land.  The place I'm going to is far away, and dangerous.  There are many great men in this land, one of whom I'm sure will make an excellent husband for you, as I'm sure you'll be an excellent wife to him."
A tear rolled down Ramiah's cheek.  "I understand.  But I could not chance thee leaving again without asking…"
William went over to her and put his arm around her shoulders.  She stood up and held herself close to him.  Regardless of the answer she got, being held by him made her feel that everything would still be alright.
"Go make a good life for yourself.  I'm sure I'll see you again every so often," William said in a soothing voice, though he knew it wouldn't be easy making time jumps and seeing her age with each trip, while he wouldn't seem to age at all in that time.  It would be impossible for him to take her, and it would be far too dangerous where he was ultimately going.  And it certainly wasn't a good time for him to be getting married.
She released herself from his arms.  "I thank thee for breakfast, it was wonderful.  I have some business to attend to whilst I am in Altehuanala, but I hope to meet with thee again later."  Before she left she gave him a brief kiss on the cheek to show that she wasn't bitter towards him about the decline, which he appreciated.
He silently acknowledged with a nod and watched as she exited with a glance back towards him.
William stared after her with a slight lump in his throat.  It hadn't been easy to disappoint a woman he'd grown to care about, but it was necessary.  Although he found her attractive, his feelings for her were well established as those of a friend.  He went upstairs, put on some clean clothes, and then returned to the ship.
When he got there he opened the hatch and noticed a small segmented metallic cylinder on the floor.  The metal was a dull green colour, like the ship he'd seen after Kyomi had been killed.  Carefully he picked it up and examined it.  Unsure what to make of it he used an omniscanner to determine its function.  The scanner identified it as a Pleyuran energy cell.  It was a close equivalent to a sphere of quasium, though not quite so powerful.  The energy cell would automatically open upon ionisation and the energy would be released as the element inside was exposed to the ionised plasma of a reactor.  The metal casing made it safe to handle.  William was vaguely familiar with the Pleyuran species from history lessons.  They'd begun to decline by this period in history, and ultimately destroyed themselves through civil war well before William's time, so he'd never encountered one.  They were distinctive with their very white skin and hair, and they had several small horns around the top of their foreheads, like natural tiaras.  But how did he come to be in possession of one of their energy cells?  It had evidently been left here for him to find.  But by whom?  And why?  The cell was the right size to power a shuttle easily.  It also meant that he could now operate his time ship at full power.
He brought the ship's leaking power cell back inside from where he'd hidden it near the ship and reinstalled the panel in the quasium chamber and the power unit into its housing.  When that was done he carefully placed the Pleyuran energy cell inside the compact reactor and sealed it.  On a nearby control panel he activated the electrostatic ionisation process.  Looking through the filtered viewport into the chamber, he watched as it filled with translucent plasma, which had a distinct red hue.  As the ionisation began he noticed tiny sparks of energy flash at various points within the plasma, like a tiny lightning storm was going on in there.  Within a few seconds the green cylinder opened at each end and radiated brilliant white light into the chamber.  William went into the cockpit to check the power readings.  To his further surprise he saw that an unfamiliar circuit was now welded to the console close to where the life support circuitry was supposed to be.  Like the cylinder, it was primarily composed of a dull green metal with gold circuit lines as fine as hairs across its surface as well as dozens of micro-components.  Again using the omniscanner, he determined it to be Pleyuran technology, specifically circuitry from a life support system.  It wasn't as compact as his own and wouldn't fit inside the same place, which was why it had to be welded to the console nearby and connected with wires into the ship's system.  The omniscanner showed it to be fully operational.  He wondered if Luke had managed to send it to him, but why wouldn't he just send the more compatible replacement circuitry of human technology?  Someone must've come to find out what he needed and then brought it here, but if not Luke then who?  He checked the communication log, but found no message.  The mysterious visitor had chosen to remain anonymous.  Exuberantly he ran a full systems check and prepared the ship for launch.  But first he needed to return to Altehuanala to retrieve his own life support circuit and repair equipment, and say a final goodbye to whoever he was able to.
Back at the house he packed away all his tools and circuitry into a satchel.  He also took the robe that Nerahom had given him.  No one was home to say goodbye to, and all of the Chiapanec soldiers that he was acquainted with were still away fighting battles, so with some disappointment at not being able to bid them farewell he began his lonely trudge in the direction of the city gate.  Now that the ship was fully operational he couldn't afford to waste any more time.  With Jagartac dead and with no further instances of something from another time turning up there was nothing left that he needed to do before he left.  It would only take a matter of hours for him to reach his own time now, during which he could find a way to mask his temporal signature to make his approach undetectable to the stations.  There was a Gultorian technique that he'd read about, which he'd attempt to adapt to his shuttle.
As he was about to walk through the city gate Ramiah ran up to him.  Having noticed his packed possessions she asked, "Art thou leaving so soon?"
Regretfully he responded, "Something's come up, so I must.  But this time I won't be coming back."
Tears immediately began to well in her eyes.  "Why canst thou not stay?  Is it because of what I said?" she sobbed, as she fell into his arms.
Holding her he said, "Not at all.  I'm delighted that you would hold me in such regard.  There's something very important that I have to do, something very dangerous.  I regret that I probably won't be able to see you again, but I assure you, I'll never forget you, Ramiah."
"I shall not forget thee," she said, and then pulled away from him and ran hurriedly away without looking back.
William's eyes lingered on her for a few moments before he turned and left the city.  In his heart he hoped all would be well for her.


Chapter 9:  Alternate History

The vampire's ship was in flight, his course again chronosynchronous with Earth's movement through space.  He'd changed out of the Chiapanec tunic and back into the black shirt, pants and boots that were the core of the Temporal Security uniform.  He was trying to perfectly align the ship's temporal signature to that of Epoch's temporal field, so that when he passed through it they wouldn't conflict and he'd remain undetected.  At least that's what he hoped would happen.  He'd also have to devise a way to mask the shuttle's approach.  The Gultorians had devised a way of altering the spatial rift generated by a ship's engines so that it would absorb a sensor beam and reflect no readings of its distortion in space or of the vessel's physical presence, making it much harder to detect.  Such a ship could then be localised only by the eddy in the interstellar particles caused by its movement, or visually if it was close enough and someone happened to be looking in the right direction.  William decided to try to simulate that effect.  He'd still have to pilot the ship carefully, as the engine modification usually fooled sensors for only a few minutes, ten at the very most, while they tried to make sense of the absence of any readings where the ship was.  That was the time he'd have to make his approach and board the station.
He went to the engine room and started reconfiguring the drive settings.  He wondered who'd forced him down in 73 BC, since his adversary from the future claimed with apparent sincerity that it wasn't him but one of his enemies.  He was also curious to know where his adversary had escaped to, and how, since he'd disappeared from a room with no other exits.  These thoughts were disturbed by a beeping sound coming from the cockpit, indicating that another ship was attempting to open communication with him.  He was a little perturbed as he hurried to the front of the ship, knowing that he could only be a little over half way back to his own time from Altehuanala.  Performing a rapid sensor sweep he picked up a small ship very close.  It was a Temporal Security ship, a time shuttle similar to the one William was piloting, although it was a couple of models more advanced.  It was still the same basic shape as William's, but noticeably more streamlined and with the most updated systems.  William's ship was obsolete and overdue to be decommissioned, which was why it could be spared for his exile, being a prominent reason why the exile option was feasible, in addition to the Admiral's request for clemency.  Normally such an idea would've been dismissed without a second thought.  William had been fortunate in that regard.  After procrastinating for a while he touched the 'answer' control on the communication console.  "What do you want?" he demanded, making no attempt to be polite.  A small two dimensional holographic screen appeared a foot above the console, and the image of a particularly cheerless face stared back at him at the same height as his own face.
"William Herschel, power down your time drive and surrender immediately!"  The man was wearing the crimson jacket of a commander.
"Why would I want to do that?" William asked, trying to buy enough time to figure out a way of eluding the Temporal Security ship, which had matched his course through time and space exactly.  
"You will soon create a temporal permutation.  We're here to prevent it."
"What are you on about?" William's mind was racing.  He wasn't foolish enough to idly mess about with history, and his plan for when he returned to Epoch was to gather evidence, not to change what had happened; he'd already made up his mind about that.  It was possible that they thought he had something to do with the necrozine incident in Palachimeru.  After all, necrozine was the reason he was exiled in the first place.  But the commander had said it was something he was going to do.  Unless for some reason they thought he hadn't been to Palachimeru yet.  He recalled Fleet Admiral Morgan's words at the trial, 'If you even attempt to interfere with history in any way you will be removed from time and executed.'  If he was somehow going to cause an alteration of the timeline, or be framed for causing one, he knew that Temporal Security would definitely execute him as he'd been told.  Exasperated, he remembered that he hadn't reconnected the firing capacitors; the ship's weapons were still inoperative.  He didn't have a lot of options.  He replied to the commander, "If you inform me of the details it can be avoided."
"You know very well that I'm not authorised to do that!" was the gruff response.
While the conversation was taking place William was shifting the communication frequency very gradually.  "Commander, I'm afraid my communication system's damaged, the signal's breaking up," he lied as the holographic image began to fade to static.
Just before it vanished altogether, the commander said, "You don't really expect me to fall for that do you?"
The moment the image was gone William activated the autopilot on a descent course towards Earth and ran to the engine room as fast as he could.  As he went through the doorway the ship was shaken by the impact of a shot.  He knew it was a gentle warning shot, so he had several seconds before the next impact.  He finished making the Gultorian modifications and put them into effect as the ship lurched again, more violently this time.  Hoping that luck was with him, he hurried back into the cockpit and took the helm.  Through the window he saw several blue particle bursts flash past.  It seemed the Gultorian method was working, and had been surprisingly simple.  But they'd soon realise what he'd done to fool their targeting sensors and compensate.  At the moment they were aiming by sight manually, and it would only be a matter of time before they got a few lucky shots in, despite his evasive swerving.  He steepened his descent vector dramatically, but his sensors showed that his pursuers were still on his back.  Earth loomed in front of him.  At the last possible moment he adjusted his descent angle for re-entry.  There was a fierce jolt as the ship violently entered the upper atmosphere, throwing William from his seat.  The small craft shuddered as he increased speed.  His sensors showed that the Temporal Security ship had decelerated for a safer re-entry.  They had more to lose, whereas William had nothing at all to lose now.  If they caught him he was more than likely a dead man, and that was the worst possible outcome he was facing if things went wrong with this course of action.  He continued to accelerate and there was a sonic boom as he passed the speed of sound.
North America filled his view, and the other ship was gaining on him again.  When he was dangerously close to the surface he guided the ship into a relatively narrow canyon, hoping to shake off the other ship, but to no avail.  He rolled the guidance ball swiftly but precisely, following the curves of the canyon as fast as he could without hitting the sides, but his pursuers remained close behind.  His craft shuddered again as another shot hit the hull.  Two more shots hit the canyon wall, blasting away chunks of rock.  There were numerous metallic clunks as some of the fragments struck William's ship.  He rolled the guidance ball diagonally back and to port, and his ship rose steeply from the canyon over the left wall, rolling a full three hundred and sixty degrees to the side in a wide arc, and continuing forward twenty metres above the ground.  He continued towards a distant area that his sensors showed as being much more lush and forested.  The other ship closed in until it was right on his tail, matching his movements even as he strafed rapidly from side to side.  A couple of shots flashed passed, narrowly missing his starboard engine cells.  At high speed he flew behind a mountain, so low that he brushed the treetops.  The turbulence of his wake shook the trees about as though they were in a hurricane.  Spotting a particularly tall tree protruding over the canopy he reduced his speed slightly, allowing the Temporal Security vessel to close in on him further, but also so that his ship would block their view of the tree since they were directly behind him.  As he was about to hit the tree he pulled up and barely avoided it.  The pursuing ship wasn't as lucky.  It started to swerve to the side but too late, and the uppermost branches struck the hull causing it to be thrown off course.  It was forced to reduce speed so as not to lose control and crash into the forest.
William kept going a little further to a vast grove nearby where he landed his ship in the smallest clearing it would fit inside to give himself as much overhead cover from the trees as possible, at least visually.  He seemed to be a reasonable distance from any highly populated areas, and the agents on the Temporal Security ship would've been too busy trying to restabilise to have seen exactly where he'd landed.  He was well aware that although he'd evaded his would-be captors for the time being there wasn't any hope of making it back into orbit without being shot down.  He would definitely be captured if he attempted to use temporal drift to sneak through time, because a few seconds of drifting inside the ship would give the agents at least a few hours to track him down and get aboard due to the temporal dilation effect it operated by.  He decided to lie low for a while.  According to his temporal readout the year was 1832.  It wouldn't take them long to detect his ship, so he shut down everything and took the main power system offline.  He deactivated the quasium chamber and vented the plasma, and then removed the Pleyuran energy cell, which had automatically closed itself again.  On his way out of the ship he strapped on a holster with a phased positron pistol and grabbed an omniscanner, which he set to emit a sensor scattering field.
Outside the ship William was greeted by a warm spring afternoon.  The air was fresh and scented by the various types of surrounding foliage.  The local area of forest-land was certainly graced in abundance by the beauty of nature.  He was pretty sure he'd landed somewhere in Alabama.  He took a quick reading from the scanner and found that the agents had set their ship down less than half a kilometre to the west.  He dug away some of the dirt and leaves at the base of the ship on the opposite side to the hatch and placed the energy cell and the omniscanner in the hole and covered them with dirt.  He deliberately chose not to carry an omniscanner with him while he was here, as the agents would be able to track its power source and scanning beam easily whenever he used it, but his weapon's power source would only be activated as he fired it, which he'd only need to do if they found him.  Taking a moment to ensure that it was set to stun, he set off at brisk jog away from his ship in the opposite direction to where the agents had landed.  The further away he was when they reached his ship the harder it would be for them to accurately pinpoint the direction of his vampire life signs.  Considering that he was already a fugitive he decided to lure them as far away from their ship as he could, and then let them get closer to him, at which point he'd double back around them, return to his ship and clear off.  If he had to he was willing to stun them.  He figured that would buy him enough time to leave this period and be somewhere else before they could get back to their ship, launch it, and track him.
Twenty minutes later he'd covered a lot of ground, but came to a halt when he heard the sound of voices further ahead.  He wondered if the agents had somehow managed to circle right around him and cut him off.  For all he knew he could already be surrounded, though it didn't seem likely that they'd have made it so quickly on foot.  And unless handheld scanner technology had improved since he was exiled, it was unlikely they'd have pinpointed his exact position already, though they would have a good idea what direction he'd gone.  Crouching in a cluster of ferns he listened carefully, gun in hand, ready to shoot and run if it came to it.
The voices he heard were too far away to distinguish individual words, but he could make out the accent.  It was the slack-jawed drawl of uneducated men, probably from some local country town, being this far away from any main towns or cities.  As he listened he could hear virulence in the voices.  Both his common sense and Temporal Security training told him to stay clear of any local situation, but his curiosity led him to investigate.  He left his cover, remaining alert with his weapon at the ready, and made his way in the direction of the voices.  The grove offered plenty more cover along the way, which he kept to just in case the agents were nearby.  A few minutes later he reached a clearing that overlooked a disused quarry.
The quarry was like a massive misshaped crater in the ground littered with numerous holes and piles of rock and dirt that had sprouted small tufts of weeds.  It was an arid contrast to the groves and forests surrounding it.  In the centre of the quarry William could see four men.  One of them was a Negro, and the other three had him backed up against a stack of rocks.  The three aggressors, who were Caucasian, were obviously intimidating him, though he held his composure well, displaying little fear for a man in a seemingly hopeless situation.  He was being careful not to provoke the other men, though it was clear that they had no intention of letting him be on his way.  Three horses had been tethered nearby, so the Caucasian men were obviously planning to spend some time tormenting him.
The aggressors were dressed similarly; brown pants, vests and leather jackets, white shirts and wide-brimmed hats.  The Negro wore patched dark brown pants with suspenders that hung over his dirty white shirt.  His dusty hat was on the ground between him and the trio.  They were trying to tempt him to pick it up, but he knew what they intended to do when he did.  Sweat glistened on his brow with apprehension, yet he kept his face firm.  He knew that any display of fear would only encourage them, not satisfy them.  He hoped that a lack of reaction would eventually cause them to lose interest and go away.  However, in the back of his mind he knew they weren't going to leave him alone, no matter what he did.  They'd chased him to this place for a reason, the same reason he'd had to bury his father three years ago, after a month of searching for him.  These white men barely knew him, and he'd never wronged them, yet they hated him.  As the moments passed he felt his fear building in strength.  Given enough time it would get the better of him, and that's what they wanted to see.  And his ordeal wouldn't end there.
One of the three men walked closer to their victim, the heel of his heavy boots crunching loudly on the gravel.  Casually he stood in front of the now visibly unsettled man, thumbs tucked into his vest pockets.  After spitting on the ground at the Negro's feet he spoke with a thick accent.
"Now d'ye realise it's mighty impolite for a black man to cross the street right in the path of a white man walkin' down it?  If there'd been a puddle ye mighta splashed me… and ye wouldn't wanna do that now, would ye?"
Restlessly the Negro looked at the ground, as he submissively answered, "No, Mister Jed, I wouldn't."
"You black people… yer nuthin' but trouble," Jed said maliciously, "and I don't like any one of ye."
"I'm sorry, Mister Jed, sir," the Negro said, trying to appease him before the mood got too heated.
Turning to one of the other men, Jed said, "Cooper, bring me some o' that there rope."
"Now Mister Jed, whatever you's plannin' to do, it wouldn't be real wise.  I belong to Mister Stevens," the Negro tried to reason as calmly as he could manage.
Jed turned back to him.  "You answerin' back at me, ye two-bit good-fer-nuthin'?"
"Didn't mean nuthin' by it, Mister Jed."
Cooper returned with a coil of rope.  "Got a bit of an attitude, don't he?" he said with animosity as he worked a lump of chewing tobacco around in his mouth.
"Sure does," the other man who'd been silent until now said, right before spitting loudly on the ground.  He continued to stand there, grinning in amusement.
The Negro was beginning to tremble visibly now as a wave of dread passed over him.
"Is Mister Stevens a good master to ye?" Jed asked.
With a wavering voice the Negro replied, "Mighty fine, nuthin' to complain 'bout."
"I reckon 'e treats ye a bit too well, if ye ask me.  Better than ye deserve.  Ye don't look no brighter than a cow pat."  As his friends laughed Jed began to turn away, then promptly swung back with a heavy blow that caused his victim's lip to bleed.  "It's disgustin' the way Stevens looks after you blacks so well.  Now yer gonna get what's comin' to ye!"
Trying to contain his defiance, the Negro said, "Mister Stevens won't stand for this.  You should let me go."
Jed grabbed his victim's shirt with both hands and hissed into his face, "D'ye really think Stevens has the guts to stand up to the three of us?  Yer life ain't worth squat, and certainly not worth him riskin' his own for."  He casually squirted a thin stream of spit through his teeth onto the Negro's shirt, and then threw the man to the ground.  "Cooper, Jimmy, tie 'im so 'e can't move, then we'll 'ave a bit of fun."
As the other two men tried to grab their prisoner he began to struggle furiously.  The two men laid their boots into his stomach a couple of times until he stopped resisting.
William was making his way towards them, his pistol in hand, keeping out of sight as he moved from one heap of rocks to another.  Soon he was crouched on top of a pile behind the three men and a little to the side.
The three had punched and kicked their helpless captive a few more times while William was getting into position.  As if their brutality hadn't already been harsh enough, Jed said to the Negro, "Seems all I see around these days is you black folk, well now all ye's gonna see is black.  And then me and the boys is gonna ride over to old Stevens' place and pay a visit to yer lovely wife Grace.  She's right pretty, for a black.  At least she is fer now."  As the Negro thrashed about in a rage Jed added, "We might even bring 'er back 'ere for some fun!"
The devastated Negro began shouting, "No!  No!  Do anythin' ye want to me!  Just leave her alone!"
The three men just stood around laughing.  Then Jed pulled out an old flintlock pistol and held it steadily at the man with an expression of steely hatred.
William aimed carefully but quickly and fired.  The beam struck Jed's gun-hand, causing it to go numb after the initial moment of intense pain, and he involuntarily dropped his weapon.  Jed looked back at him in shock.  The other two looked up in astonishment.  William jumped down and silently went over to the injured victim and begun untying him.  As he looked down for a second at the rope Cooper and Jimmy both reached for their pistols.  In his peripheral vision William saw the movement and shot them both down before either of them had time to even cock their weapons.  Jed stood watching in outrage as William freed his prisoner.
*

The Temporal Security agents were inside William's ship using their omniscanners.  One of them was reporting the results to the commander.
"The quasium chamber's empty, but I'm detecting a strong power source coming from the ship.  He must've hidden it somewhere, but there's a local scattering field.  We'll have to find it before we can launch the vessel."
The commander silently nodded.  Another agent approached him.  "Sir, I've just picked up an energy reading that looks like weapons fire."
"Where?"
"Three and a half kilometres in that direction," he said, pointing.
Addressing both agents the commander said, "Let's all go and check it out.  I don't want to divide our group, otherwise Herschel might pick us off one by one."
*

William helped the wounded man to his feet, and then walked over to Jed.  With his free hand he punched the Negro's assailant in the jaw, knocking him out.  He could've stunned him with the pistol, but he got more satisfaction this way.  To the Negro he said, "Are you alright?  Is anything broken?"
"Reckon I've got a cracked rib.  Aside from that just a couple of bruises.  Thank ye, sir."
"Listen… you don't have to call me sir.  You're a man in your own right.  What's your name?"
"Melvin… Melvin Johnson."
"Pleased to meet you, Melvin.  I'm William."  Glancing at the three men he explained, "They're not dead, just unconscious."
"I'm much obliged to ye.  If ye hadn'a stopped 'em I swear they'd a killed me and ma wife."
"Did you ever do anything to them?"
"No sir, not a thing.  They just hate us folks.  We ain't good enough or somethin'."
William looked him square in the eye.  "Melvin, you're no less human than the best of them.  Where I'm from black men are equal to white, not any better, not any worse.  In fact, racial prejudice is considered to be among the most primitive of mentalities."
"That do sound like a fine place.  Maybe I can see it some day."
"It's a long way from here," William said truthfully.  "Let's get out of here before they wake up.  Where's your wife?  We should get her to safety."
"She's back at Mister Stevens' place.  I'll show ye the way."
William beckoned for Melvin to take the lead.
After walking for about an hour and a half they reached a cotton plantation.  A well constructed double-storey house painted white with an extensive porch stood in the centre of the cotton fields.  Fortunately there was still no sign of the Temporal Security agents.
"This is the place," Melvin said.  "Strange there bein' no one around."
A huddled shape on the porch caught William's attention.  Melvin followed his gaze and recognised it immediately.  "Mister Stevens!" he exclaimed and ran over to him.  When they got there they found the grey-haired man dead, his shirt stained with blood.  Straight away Melvin ran through the house in a panic calling for Grace, but got no response.  "They've taken her!  They said they were gonna take her to that quarry."  Melvin began running as fast as he could back the way they'd come.
William hurried after him, keeping up with the man's frantic pace.  It was likely Jed and his men had woken up and ridden their horses to the plantation, overtaking them by a different route.  The vampire had an uneasy feeling that they were already too late to save Grace.
*

The commander was in his ship finishing a brief report for his superiors, mentioning the details of William's escape.  They'd been unable to find him or the power cell of his ship, suspecting that he'd taken it and somehow produced a false power reading to keep them occupied there.  They'd traced the weapon reading to a quarry, but all they'd seen there were two local horsemen riding away from it.  No sign of the fugitive.  They had then returned to their own ship to get a portable power unit to connect to the mainframe of Herschel's shuttle, so that once they captured their fugitive they could pilot both ships back to Epoch.
One of the agents came in and addressed the commander.  "Sir, the power unit's almost charged.  We'll be ready to take it to the shuttle in a couple of minutes."
"Thank you," The commander responded.  He didn't want to leave the fugitive's ship unattended for too long.  He wasn't really worried though, they were keeping their eye on it with their sensors.  If it was launched they'd intercept it without any trouble.
*

When they reached the quarry, William and Melvin found it empty.  However, William's keen eyes spotted a thin trail of blood leading behind one of the stacks of rocks.  He jogged over to investigate with a sense of dread, Melvin close behind him, and found a disturbing scene.  William tried to turn Melvin away, but it was too late.  The horrified man stared for a moment at his worst nightmare come true before collapsing onto the ground, wailing woefully next to the body of his wife.  It was obvious from her bloodstained torn clothes and bruised face what had happened.  The sight of Melvin's suffering was so terrible that William found himself unable to speak any words of comfort; the words just didn't make it past the lump in his throat.  He knelt down and put a consoling hand on the man's back, even though it was likely that Melvin was completely oblivious to it.  Then William's face set in determination as he resolutely decided on an extreme course of action.
Melvin felt himself pulled to his feet and was half led, half dragged away by William.  "No, we can't leave her!" he began protesting as he fought to stay with Grace, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"We're not going to leave her," William tried to reassure him as he led him into the grove.
The grove was beginning to darken as sunset drew near.  William led Melvin along for a while, all the time trying in vain to comfort him.  After a while he could finally see his ship through the trees.  There didn't appear to be any agents around, but he couldn't be too careful.  They crouched together behind a thick broken stump.  Melvin's thoughts were distracted momentarily by the sight of the ship.
"Melvin, I need you to listen to me.  I'm going to sneak over there, and I need you to stay here until I wave to you.  Then you'll know it's safe.  But don't come over until then," William instructed.  Melvin nodded to indicate his compliance.
William drew his pistol and covertly made his way to the ship, aware that if any agents were inside they would've detected his vampire life signs approaching long ago.  He didn't have the element of surprise, but he wanted to be careful enough to ensure that they didn't either.  Taking his time he cautiously checked the ship, one room at a time.  When he was convinced that no one was guarding it, he waved to Melvin, who waved back and hurried over.  William took the omniscanner and the energy cell from where he'd buried them, relieved that the agents hadn't found them, and reinitialised the shuttle's power.  He went into the cockpit and started the launch sequence.  
"What is this place?" Melvin asked as he entered the cockpit and stood behind William's seat.
"It's a time ship," William said simply, as if that explained it well enough.
"A time ship?" Melvin enquired further.
Patiently, William explained, "This is a vessel that can travel through time.  We can travel back to before those men took Grace and stop it from happening."
"Then we can save ma wife?" Melvin asked with restored hope.
"If all goes well."  William thought it safe enough to assume that Melvin and Grace weren't key figures in history.  They were supposed to be dead, so if he took them out of time altogether the historical aspect of their discontinued existence there should remain the same.
*

"Commander, the fugitive's ship is powering up!" one of the agents reported urgently.
The commander glanced at the sensor display.  "Take us up!  Pursuit course!"
*

As William's ship rose into the air, much to Melvin's alarm, a beep from the sensor alerted them to the pursuit of the Temporal Security ship.  William increased the vessel's speed to the fastest possible through the upper atmosphere.  The commander's ship was matching their speed, close behind them.  William set the time drive to active standby.  Seconds later the communication console beeped.  Answering the hail William said with exaggerated cheerfulness, "Good evening, what can I do for you?"
"Return to the surface and power down immediately!" the commander demanded.
"Sorry, can't do that!"
"We've detected someone on board native to this time.  I forbid you to remove…"
He was cut off as William disabled communications.  Melvin continued to stare in awe at the spot where the commander's face had appeared in mid air above the console.  William set a course for the future and engaged the time drive, aware that the agents wouldn't shoot at them with the risk of killing someone native to this time.  The ship was surrounded by a rippling green halo as it began moving through time.
*

"He's going forward," one of the agents reported.
"Stay on course," the commander ordered.  "Come out at the same point he does."
"Yes sir," the agent said, fine tuning their ship's temporal movement to precisely synchronise with William's.
*

When William was sure that the agents had set a parallel course to his, he reversed the time drive and flung his ship back into the past.  The destination was two hours before he'd launched with Melvin.
*

"Sir… I've lost them," the agent manning the sensors reported.  The commander looked over at the sensor readings and the agent added, "They just disappeared."
*

"Is that man I saw gonna catch us?" Melvin asked, concerned that the glimmer of hope might be taken from him.
"I think we're pretty safe for now," William said to put his mind at rest.  "I doubled back through time… lost them."  He went to the engine room and reinstated the Gultorian modification, although he altered the engine's operating frequency a little in case the agent ship in the past was still scanning for it.  He needed to remain undetected by not only the agents, but also himself in that time, or it could affect his past self's course of action.  He brought the ship down towards the forest again a few dozen kilometres from the quarry, so that their decent to the ground wouldn't be easily visible.  He then flew as close to the ground as he could towards Stevens' plantation, carefully avoiding populated areas and settlements.  With the help of Melvin's knowledge of the area he located a suitable grove with a small clearing not too far from the plantation where he was able to land inconspicuously.
"Why don't we just go back to before they took me?" Melvin enquired as the shuttle touched down.
"If we did that there would be two of you, each from different timelines.  That would be changing more than we need to.  What happened to you was terrible, but you got through it.  We should just focus on finding Grace."
"You the boss."
"How far away is Stevens' plantation?"
"About fifteen minutes walk from here."
"Let's go."  William led the way out of the cockpit.  He estimated that by the time they walked there they'd arrive half an hour after he'd previously rescued Melvin.  He wanted to make sure they got there and were gone before the original William and Melvin arrived, which they'd have to do successfully if they wanted to get Grace away before Jed got there.  Besides, if they met each other a number of complications would arise.  Melvin watched as William closed the hatch by touching the control under the hidden panel.
As they walked at a steady pace, Melvin stepped on a rock that was covered with a layer of old leaves and twisted his ankle.  He collapsed onto the ground holding his injury, wincing with pain.
"What happened?" William asked a little impatiently, constantly mindful of how limited time was.
"Tripped on that rock there."
William knelt and examined him by feeling around the ankle.  "It's not bad.  It'll hurt for a few hours, and you'll get some swelling.  Just walk slowly without putting too much weight on it.  Lucky it's not a bad sprain, or you wouldn't be able to walk at all."  He reached down and helped Melvin back to his feet.
"Thank you," Melvin said, and dusted himself off.  He carefully tried walking and found that he could do so, though with a distinct limp.  After travelling for a few more minutes he could tell that they were noticeably impeded by his slowed pace.  "If we don't make it… we'll just go back and try again, right?"
"We can't," William said decidedly.  "Well, physically we could do it, but it gets very tricky, not to mention dangerous.  We shouldn't even be here, so close to our past selves.  If we do it again there'll be three pairs of us running around, significantly increasing the risk of us running into ourselves.  If that happens, it becomes nearly impossible to straighten out the timelines."
"But it can be done.  Ye said 'nearly' impossible.  For Grace's sake I ask ye to try, if we don't make it.  But I'll do ma best to hurry along, that I surely swear."
Reluctantly William nodded his head in agreement and indicated for Melvin to continue directing the way.
Owing to Melvin's injury it took them three quarters of an hour to reach the plantation.  Grace saw them coming when they cleared the grove and ran out to meet her husband.  Her face showed immediate concern when she saw that Melvin's face had smears of dried blood from the quarry incident.  Tears of joy rolled down Melvin's face as she hugged him tightly with relief.  "I was so worried when I heard from Patty that Jed was goin' after you," she said.
William was glad that they'd made it in time to prevent the tragedy.  Grace looked completely different now, vibrant and alive, though the vampire's mind was still haunted by the image of her broken body.  During their walk he'd made Melvin swear not to reveal to her what had happened in the other timeline, also advising him not to dwell upon it too much himself.  Now they needed to get her away from here quickly.
"Here, what's all the fuss about?" a voice demanded.  They all turned to see Stevens walking up to them.
William took the initiative.  "Mister Stevens, good afternoon.  My name's William Herschel, it's a pleasure to meet you," he introduced himself as he shook Stevens' hand firmly.
Stevens was obviously impressed and surprised by William's clear-spoken greeting.  "John Stevens, a pleasure," he reciprocated.  Then curiously he asked, "That's interesting attire you wear, sir, may I ask where you acquired it?"
"New York.  I own a clothing establishment there, this is one of the new fashions we're experimenting with," William replied convincingly.
Stevens was delighted to have what seemed to be a prominent businessman at his plantation.  "Well, won't you come inside, Mister Herschel?  Perhaps I can interest you in a scotch?"
"Thank you, but no.  But if I may be so bold, I was wondering if I might take a walk with your servants?  I'm considering purchasing property in the area and I thought they might be useful in viewing the nearby regions."
"By all means, perhaps we can share a scotch afterward," Stevens said readily, eager to impress a man of influence and presumably significant wealth, especially if they might someday be neighbours.
The whole group looked up at the sound of approaching horses.  Half a dozen men on horseback, led by Jed, emerged from the forest on the opposite side of the house.  Cooper and Jimmy weren't among the group, no doubt having still been unconscious when Jed had woken up and left, but Jed had found some other men as his backup.  By now Cooper and Jimmy would most likely be riding about somewhere in the forest looking for their friend.
The only chance of escaping the horsemen was to go back through the forest the way they'd just come.  Urgently William ordered Melvin to take his wife back to the ship.  Then he turned to Stevens and said, "Get into your house and lock it.  I'll take care of your servants."
Stevens unquestioningly did as he was bid, and William hurried after Melvin and Grace, looking back momentarily to make sure that Stevens had made it into his home safely this time.  The horsemen seemed to ignore the old man, having spotted the others running into the woods.  They sped their horses into a faster gallop as they gave chase.
Despite Melvin's limp, he was maintaining a good speed owing to fear and adrenaline, but Jed and his horsemen were gaining on them steadily.  As William ran he turned back and fired a few shots with his pistol, which was still set for stun.  The series of thin but vivid blue beams startled the horses, causing them to rear up and slow a little, but the riders kept urging them forward.  None of the shots hit anyone.  Jed and two of his men raised long-barrelled rifles.  Holding them in one hand and the reins in the other, they cocked their weapons and fired.  William instinctively ducked his head as he heard the clatter of their numerous shots.  One of the projectiles slammed into a tree trunk that he was running past.  The men reholstered their rifles in their saddles and all of them in unison took out flintlock pistols.  A shot rang out with sharp crump, followed immediately by several more, and all three of the vampire's little group could hear the projectiles as they tore through the air near them.  The riders were getting closer and consequently their aim was getting better.  William was a little behind Melvin and Grace, and he hoped that by firing a few more shots of his own he might buy them a bit more time.  If anything happened to him they wouldn't be able to fly the ship on their own when they got there, but at least they'd be safe inside it.  The hull and windows were designed to withstand the glancing impacts of small meteorites.  Even aimed directly at the ship at any point, the riders' shots wouldn't be able to penetrate it.  William was sure that Melvin would be able to recall how to open the hatch with the hidden control.
The ship came into view and it looked as if they might make it on time, partly owing to the horses slowing down as the density of trees and fallen logs increased deeper into the grove, and partly because the trio was running harder than they ever had in their lives.  As William fired several times he was fortunate enough to hit one of the men, who dropped from his horse into the shrubbery unconscious.  Most of the horsemen had removed a second flintlock and were trying to steady their aim.  William leapt over a fallen tree trunk as four more shots rang out.  One of the balls slammed into his left shoulder while he was in mid-air and he collapsed to the ground in pain.  As he tumbled the pistol slipped from his hand and landed amidst the foliage.  There was a shout of success from the horsemen as they saw William drop.  Melvin and Grace heard the cheer and looked back, and seeing William climb to his feet they hurried back for him.  He was frantically searching through the ferns for the pistol when the two grabbed his arms and dragged him away.  Reluctantly he allowed them to do so, guessing that if he couldn't find it no one else was likely to, at least not before he could come back for it.
William was wrong, however.  Jed had seen him drop it as he fell, and sent the other men on in pursuit while he dismounted and rummaged through the flora.  Within a matter of seconds he found it, and held it up proudly as a couple of his men returned from their fruitless chase, the trio having made it inside the ship safely.  The other two horsemen were circling around it, looking for a way in.
"What's that yer holdin'?" one of them asked Jed.
"This 'ere's his lightnin' gun!" Jed said with triumph.
The other men were momentarily captivated by Jed's trophy.  Then one of them said, "Them three are holed up in some metal cottage.  Chapman and Jones are guardin' it in case they try to make a run from it."
Jed only half heard him.  He was busy examining the weapon.  He located the stun/kill settings and switched it over to the highest kill selection.  Tentatively he touched the trigger and jumped as a blue flash of energised particles erupted from the pistol and hit a tree trunk, leaving a fist-sized hole in it and sending charred splinters flying.  One of the men laughed and abruptly stopped when Jed cast him a sharp look.  A rushing sound like a fierce wind broke the tranquillity of the grove, and Jed and his men watched as the time ship rose into the air.  As it got higher and disappeared into the clouds Jed looked thoughtfully at the pistol in his hand.
*

"What is this place?" Grace asked, terrified.
"It's okay, everythin's gonna be alright now," Melvin said with his arms around her like he dared not let go of her for a second.
The sensor alarm alerted William to the fact that the Temporal Security ship had found them again.  He set coordinates for the future and engaged the time drive.  He began calculating a geosynchronous temporal orbit to drop into once he lost the agents yet again.
"Where can we go where we'll be safe?" Melvin asked.
While operating the ship's controls with quick precision William responded, "I'll send you through a gateway that my people set up at Stonehenge.  It's based on alien technology.  We use it to save people that history recorded as dead or disappeared, and send them to a planet where they can live out their lives without affecting the timeline.  You'll meet people from all different periods of history living together peacefully.  Sometimes my people use it as a means of getting back to my time if they get stranded in the past for whatever reason."  He shifted their temporal vector to the past, and then to the future again a moment later to throw off the Temporal Security ship.
"Don't those people you save miss their families?" Grace enquired reasonably.
"They do, but it's the only way we can save them from dying unnecessarily.  We'd be changing the timeline if we just prevented their deaths.  You'll both be safe there, my people protect that planet.  When you pass through the gateway someone will meet you to ask you a few background questions and help you to settle in.  There's nothing to worry about, so just cooperate with them and they'll give you a place to live."
"Won't you be comin' through this gateway too?"
"No.  The moment I step through it I'd be captured.  I'm a wanted man, but before you ask, I didn't do it."
Once the ship was in a stable temporal orbit William left the cockpit, returning a few seconds later with a small plastic box with rounded edges.  When he opened it Melvin and Grace both peered inside with curiosity at the various pieces of compact technological apparatus it contained.  "It's a first aid kit," William explained.  Seeing that this meant nothing to them he explained, "I can use these things to treat your wounds."
Trustingly, Melvin allowed the vampire to examine him.  William injected him with a painkiller and then a healing agent.
"How's your shoulder?" Grace asked.
"Painful," William responded.  "I'll need you to remove the ball so it can heal."  He injected himself with a standard painkiller and handed Grace a large pair of tweezers from the first aid kit, figuring that it'd be the easiest of the tools for her to use.  He winced a little as she carefully and skillfully removed the projectile.  He then injected himself with the healing agent to accelerate the regeneration of his muscle tissue.
Suddenly the ship lurched violently as something powerful hit it.  William checked the sensor readout.
"Have they found us again?" Melvin wondered with concern.
"No, something else hit us.  It's destabilised the time drive and the spatial engines, we're dropping back into normal space!"
There was a flash of sparks from beneath the helm console as a power overload surged through the system.  The ship began to fall out of control towards Earth.  The green ripple that surrounded it was fading.
*

On the Temporal Security ship the commander was studying the unusual readings.  "What happened?"
"They've been thrown out of time and back into normal space, sir.  Something disrupted their time drive and engines."
"What's the cause?"
"An anti-matter based explosive detonated near them.  It caused a brief dimensional distortion."
"Take us into normal space close to their position."
*

"That blast originated from Earth."  William looked at the temporal display with concern.  It read 1975 AD.  "How's that possible?" he muttered, mainly to himself.  "Anti-matter technology shouldn't be in use on Earth yet!"  Looking through the window he saw an armada of space vessels of a bulky segmented design, mostly assault craft by appearance, descending to the planet and firing starship-class particle cannons at the surface in an orbital bombardment.  While their weapon technology was advanced, their propulsion systems were chemical combustion based, with rocket nozzles that flared brightly with long flames when they were engaged.  It served as an indication that they weren't interstellar ships, as such means of propulsion were far too slow to take a ship even to the nearest star system in less than half a dozen generations.  Several more anti-matter charges had been launched from the surface at the fleet.  As they detonated William detected momentary dimensional ripples, which he concluded was probably the cause of his ship being shaken out of its temporal and spatial rifts.  Local gamma radiation levels were extremely high.  This is terribly wrong, he thought.  There was never a fleet of ships attacking Earth in 1975!  Being short-ranged vessels they had to be of human design, which the sensors confirmed with the human life sign readings within the ships.  However, none of the craft were of a remotely familiar design.  His sensors detected the Temporal Security shuttle as it materialised in this time as well.
A swarm of fighter ships ascended from the planet to meet the threatening armada, their energy cannons firing a barrage of energised particle bursts, damaging many of their targets in the first assault.  Within seconds there was a full-scale orbital battle raging.  A couple of stray shots impacted the hull of William's ship, causing no critical damage, but the time ship was falling into the crossfire of particle cannons and anti-matter missiles.  William desperately attempted to steer away, but his efforts proved to be futile.  He was unable to get any response from the helm controls.  Several more weapon impacts struck the hull, this time rupturing power conduits in several places, causing more systems to destabilise and overload.  Showers of sparks erupted from several consoles at once.  Melvin and Grace clung to each other, completely bewildered and terrified by what was happening.  An alarm sounded as a more powerful shot ruptured the hull in the engine room, and another tore through the portside crew quarters.  There was a distinct hiss as air blew out of the hole rapidly.  In a matter of moments the ship's atmosphere began to thin.  The life support system was unable to keep up with the loss of air.  William stabbed at a force field control but there was no response.  He stood and tried another control located just above the cockpit doorway, but still nothing.  Hurrying out to the equipment room behind the cockpit he opened a wall panel and began rewiring some of the circuitry to bypass a damaged subsystem.  Then he hurried back into the cockpit and tried again.  This time a force field formed across the cockpit doorway and the air pressure returned to normal within a couple of seconds.  Catching his breath William looked at the interior sensor reading.  The rest of the ship had almost completely decompressed now.  The vessel rocked as a couple more shots tore through the hull in the engine room.  The trio watched through the translucent rippling force field as sparks flew from the ship's stern section in explosive bursts.  The spatial engines were starting to overload.  The communication system beeped.  William activated it and saw the hologram of the commander's face staring at him.
"Your ship looks like it's in pretty bad shape.  We've created a space-time field around our ship to hide it from those fighters.  Try to land on the planet and we'll pick you up."
"What about these two?" William asked, indicating Melvin and Grace.
"We'll take them to Stonehenge.  Our sensors show that your engine's overloading.  Get to the surface quickly!"  The image vanished.
William managed to bring the anti-gravity landing thrusters online, and using them he was able to guide their descent to a limited degree.  For the moment they were still too far above the planet for them to have much effect.  As they flew through the Earth's atmosphere the heat from the air friction spilled into the ship through the holes in the hull.  In the cockpit the occupants were safe behind the force field, but throughout the rest of the ship the systems were being destroyed, along with the rest of the interior that was being scorched and torn apart.  Fortunately the landing thrusters remained functioning just long enough for the vessel to reach the surface, landing roughly.  William tried to get a sensor reading of the local area but the last vestige of power died.  The force field collapsed and let in a wave of heat, smoke, and the pungent tangy smell of burnt metal and plastic.  Looking through the doorway he saw that there wasn't much left of the ship.  What remained was a charred mess clinging to the more resilient parts of the framework.  He knew that none of the equipment would've survived either.  He felt a pang of regret that the superbly crafted robe that Nerahom had given him had been in the destroyed section of the ship.
He estimated that the radiation level in the area wouldn't be as high as it was above the atmosphere, though prolonged exposure would still be hazardous.  He went to the hatch and attempted to open it manually but the metal was too warped and half melted to be able to budge it.  He checked the portside quarters.  The heat of re-entry had widened the hull breach considerably, enough for them to climb out through.  Leading Melvin and Grace out of the smoking wreck he heard the sound of energy weapons firing from all around them, those of ground troops as well as the surface cannons that continued to fire brilliant discharges of energy into the cloudy night sky that illuminated the whole area of half destroyed buildings for several seconds each time.  From distant parts of the decimated city they could hear the screams of the dying.  William knew that they'd come down somewhere in Europe, but he had no idea what city they were in.  Being unarmed in such a war zone he now actually hoped that the commander would find them quickly.  It was a couple of hours after sunset, so at least they had the cover of darkness to hide them for a while.  A burning ship fell through the clouds and plummeted into another part of the city half a kilometre away.  The ball of fire from the explosion of its fuel tanks as it hit the ground was visible over the buildings.
All of the buildings in sight were broken and crumbling, most of them with several large sections blasted away.  There would be very few places left that would be structurally safe enough to take refuge in, and those places would no doubt already be occupied by the city's survivors.  William decided that they'd do best to avoid all contact with anyone as much as possible.
The place they were in had once been a thriving city.  Something dramatic had happened to Earth and it seemed like it was now a high-tech war zone.  Looking through a break in the cloud cover the trio saw the most incredible sight.  The moon appeared to have had a massive chunk blasted out of it, with nearly a quarter of its mass gone, and now the Earth had a thin ring made from its debris.  A shooting star caught their attention as it fell, seeming to originate from the ring.  What was left of the moon appeared larger in the sky.  Its orbit had been destabilised by the force of a massive explosion some time ago that had also changed its mass, and it was now on a gradual collision course with Earth.  With horror William realised that he'd changed the timeline.  The pistol he dropped must have been found and studied, and technology had then made great leaps prematurely, and at an accelerated rate of development.  By that one simple mistake he'd created an alternate timeline, and now with his ship destroyed he couldn't go back and prevent it as he'd done to save Grace.
"Where are we, William?"
"Melvin… I'm afraid history's gone wrong.  This is Earth in 1975, but not how it's supposed to be.  I have no idea where we are."
"Let's ask someone how to get to that Stonehenge place," Grace suggested.
"It doesn't exist, not in this timeline.  Well, the gateway my people installed there doesn't, anyway.  Things are happening differently.  The organisation as it is on Earth in my time will never have been developed, so that course of events, the building of the Stonehenge gateway in the distant past, won't have occurred in the future of this moment."  William knew that the sister stations Epoch and Jidai would've survived the change in the timeline, existing within the protection of their time fields, and that they'd have no doubt ascertained the cause.  It seemed that this was what the commander had been sent back to prevent, but in so doing had chased William into this course of events.  So in effect their attempt at prevention was what initiated this alternative.  If they didn't pursue him in the first place he wouldn't have landed in Alabama in 1832 for this mistake to occur.  With Temporal Security being so exceptional at monitoring events in time, and this type of easily avoidable scenario being a famous one studied at the academy, William had to wonder how this one had slipped past them.  He'd probably still be facing execution when the commander arrived to take him away, but he was hoping that he might at least have the opportunity to explain the situation and, if he was very lucky, make an escape along the way.  At least he knew that his two new friends would be safe in the commander's care.

*  *  *

Luke approached Admiral Rivette in the temporal scanning room aboard Epoch.  "Reporting as ordered, sir."
With a solemn expression the admiral said, "Come with me, Lieutenant Commander."
Luke complied, concerned about what the admiral might be about to tell him, as he was led into an adjoining conference room.  The lights were dimmed as the room wasn't currently in use.  Luke walked with him to the large window that was the span of an entire wall, overlooking the Earth.  He involuntarily gasped in amazement.  It was a scene of absolute desolation.  Thick clouds of smog covered a considerable part of the globe.  Most of what was visible of the planet's surface was scorched and arid, and the seas were almost black.  The world looked dead.  The moon had been reduced to a number of drifting chunks in space.  "Sir, what's happened?"
The admiral gathered his thoughts for a few moments before replying.  "The population of the entire planet is half a million people, and that number is constantly declining.  Many are mutilated, most are sick and malnourished.  The entire global ecosystem has been destroyed.  The Earth's orbit is shifting due to what happened to the moon during wars in the twentieth century, which altered the gravitational balance, as well as the later attempts to destroy what was left of the moon to prevent it from colliding with the planet.  Those new islands you see in the Pacific are chunks of the moon.  Hundreds of millions died the day they crashed down, from either the force of their impact or the tsunamis that followed.  The Earth's crust is fractured throughout the pacific, and volcanic eruptions are frequent.  It was their ash that blackened the seas.  Vegetation is sparse, even in what were once tropical environments.  In a nutshell, the Earth will soon be completely uninhabitable."  He looked Luke in the eye unblinkingly as he delivered the worst bit of information.  "This was caused… by William!"
"Sir, that's not possible!" Luke stammered disbelievingly.
"This would not have happened if his exile shuttle was retrieved immediately after his arrival in 5000 BC.  The retrieval mission was cancelled by my superiors, so it was outside of my control.  They were adamant about taking advantage of the opportunity to observe how William would respond to the various ordeals he would face, his being a unique situation.  Perhaps Morgan should've done what you suggested and brought him back, if only for history's sake."
"So we haven't been monitoring his progress simply to check on his well being, or for any historical impact his presence might have?  It was mainly because of him being a subject of study?"
"I'm afraid this ulterior motive for monitoring him was in effect before he even escaped the time he was exiled to.  Have a seat," Admiral Rivette offered.
"I wanted to speak to you in private about Tylvius," Luke said as he sat at the large circular table in the centre of the room.
"You've found new evidence?" the admiral asked with interest.
"In a manner of speaking.  It's all circumstantial at the moment, but hopefully our leads will take us to something more solid."
"After this incident I'm not sure that any evidence can exonerate our friend," the admiral said grimly.  "But please, continue.  Anything's worth a try."
"Tylvius has been going to the maintenance areas quite frequently, usually to the same place.  The interesting part is that there's a residual temporal reading in that same area.  I think it's a rendezvous point.  After careful consideration I've reached the conclusion that he's receiving instructions from a being in our future.  I just need to find a way to prove it.  I couldn't send you this information in a report in case he intercepted it somehow."
"I understand entirely.  He may have skills and knowledge that we're unaware of.  And the less he knows about what we know the better our position will be.  Keep searching for the proof you need, but discuss this with no one.  We don't want to alert him.  The moment you've got solid proof you have my permission to apprehend him by whatever reasonable means are necessary, then inform me right away."
"Thank you sir."  Luke paused for a moment, unsure whether he should mention something else he'd found out.  The admiral noticed his hesitation and looked at him expectantly, so Luke voiced what was on his mind.  "In all honesty I'm not entirely sure if it's relevant to the case, but I've found records of dozens of conversations between Tylvius and Captain Wallace in the communications log, except I don't have clearance to replay the recordings."
"That's not really substantial enough to speculate about.  After all, the two of them have been good friends for quite a while.  I can't just grant access to people's private conversations without solid grounds for doing so.  Remember I have superiors to answer to as well.  If you find something definitive that links Captain Wallace to William's case then by all means bring it to my attention, otherwise we can't consider him a suspect, not officially anyway."
"Understood sir."  At a permissive gesture from the admiral Luke rose and left the room, casting a final glance out of the window at the decimated planet.  He crossed the temporal scanning room, observing the flashing red line on the timeline display that diverged sharply from what it should be, marking the new change in history.  He exited by the door on the opposite side.
A little way down the well-lit corridor he turned left and almost collided with Captain Wallace and Senior Lieutenant Laurence Hartley, who were standing just out of sight around the corner.  Judging by the sullen look on Laurence's face, Luke guessed that Wallace had been in the middle of criticising him for something, as he frequently did.  It was almost always without cause.  Wallace was standing with his head tilted slightly back so that he was glaring down at Laurence over the bridge of his nose in a haughty way, as he frequently did when speaking to subordinates.  Hoping it would irritate Wallace, Luke stood next to Laurence as if waiting to speak to him, and also to be a subtle moral support.
Luke's presence certainly did annoy Wallace as intended, because immediately the captain said impatiently, "What do you want, Hawking?  Haven't you got timeline reports to examine?"
"I was going to ask Laurence for an atmospheric analysis, I think there's a bit of helium in the air," Luke replied with false innocence.
"I really don't know how you ever became a lieutenant commander," Wallace said disdainfully.
"You made it to captain, even though you're not the sharpest spoon in the drawer," Luke responded provocatively.
"Watch your tongue, Hawking.  Rivette won't be around to watch your back forever."  Wallace's tone was openly malicious.  He pushed past Luke and left.
"Don't mind him, he's got the intellectual prominence of a boiled egg, and endears as much respect as a urine stain," Luke said to Laurence to lighten his sullen mood once Wallace was out of earshot.
"I can't disagree about that.  So what's helium got to do with anything?" Laurence asked curiously in his mildly Scottish accent.
"It's about an embarrassingly immature joke Will and I tried to play on Wallace when we first came here from the academy," Luke answered the lanky man with a smile.  "We got into a lot of trouble for it with Admiral Rivette.  But it's a long story.  So, what was he complaining about this time?"
"Just the usual stuff."  Laurence was looking at the ground and fidgeting.  He frequently received complaints from Wallace about trivial matters that were usually the fault of Laurence's subordinates in the tech division, if there was actually any fault at all.  They were generally matters that wouldn't normally concern a captain, particularly as Laurence always had the issues resolved before Wallace even found him to make the complaint.  He was always relieved when Wallace left the station for a mission; it meant he had a few days of peace.  Changing the subject, Laurence said, "I finally beat Colin at poker the other night.  I think he might've been letting me win though."
"Don't know why he'd do that," Luke said.  "I wonder if you could do me a quiet favour.  I need an untraceable high-level access code to the communications log so I can see what's going on between John Tylvius and his good buddy Malcolm Wallace."  Luke knew that although Laurence was a man severely lacking in confidence he was very knowledgeable when it came to the tech division, which he supervised.
"I'm sure I can arrange something," said Laurence with a slightly mischievous grin.  He didn't have a lot of friends, and William and Luke had always been friendly towards him ever since they first met.  He was more than willing to help them out when needed.  Not to mention that it was a request that could potentially work to Wallace's disadvantage, or perhaps at the very least, some level of embarrassment.
"Thanks."  Luke gave him an appreciative pat on the back.

*  *  *

William and his two companions watched as the commander's time ship touched down close by.  The hatch slid open and the commander emerged with his two fellow agents, all with drawn pistols.  As both trios approached each other they found themselves suddenly surrounded by a ring of heavily armed soldiers who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere with their guns trained on the group.  Sensibly the agents slowly placed their weapons on the ground and raised their hands above their heads, as did the vampire and his companions.  Simultaneously their captors fired into the group, dropping them all to the ground, stunned.


Chapter 10:  Captives of What Shouldn't Be

Hours later, William awoke alone in a cramped cell.  Still a bit dazed, he got to his feet and observed the room, which was lit by a single bright electric globe in the centre of the ceiling.  A double wire led to it from a minute gap in an upper corner of the doorway, following the edge of the ceiling to midway along the wall, where it then led across to the light fitting.  Its entire length was held in place by tiny metal pins each spaced a foot apart.  There wasn't much else to see, just a basic bed with a basic wooden frame that was held together by metal bolts, an old mattress that had probably never been cleaned, a small toilet bucket, bare walls with no window, and a barred door.  Looking through the thick vertical bars he saw only bare corridor leading away in both directions.  There was a metal cup of water on the floor in the corner that didn't look particularly fresh, but it was probably the only ration he'd get in such a place.  He decided to leave it until he was really desperate before he'd consider drinking it.  His head was throbbing from being stunned.  Involuntarily he let out a moan.  In that instant he heard the march of booted feet coming towards his cell.  Two guards in basic grey military uniforms unlocked the door.  With weapons drawn they motioned for William to exit and walk ahead of them in the direction from which they'd come.  The vampire noticed that their pistols were based on the one he'd originally dropped in 1832, though its design was noticeably different.  As he was marched along the corridor he saw that there were several more barred doors right along its length, all on the same side as his to prevent prisoner interaction, but at present none of them were occupied.
"So where am I?" William asked.  His only response was a jab in the back from a gun.  He was taken to a large bleak room where a man sat behind a wooden desk.  He had a receding hairline and wore a slightly more elaborate uniform than the guards.  He was flanked by two more guards who stood at attention as motionless as statues.
The man nodded to William's escorts who promptly went over to the door and stood either side of it.  Focussing his attention on William he gestured towards a cushioned chair in front of the desk and said, "Please, have a seat."  His accent was distinctly German, and his face held a false smile.  Once the vampire was seated he continued, "Basically, this is how it is going to work.  I am going to ask you some questions.  If you answer satisfactorily you will be made reasonably comfortable and will be well treated.  I won't threaten what will happen otherwise, unless it becomes necessary, but I'm sure you can guess.  Understood?"
"Certainly.  May I enquire where I am?" William requested politely.  "And why we were shot without the chance to explain ourselves?"
The man was surprisingly accommodating.  "You are in the Dusseldorf prison facility.  I am Commandant Johann Himmler.  It is standard procedure to stun anyone we capture.  Unconscious prisoners are so much easier to manage, as I'm sure you can understand.  What is your name?"
"I'm John Smith, pleased to meet you," William said with half-hidden sarcasm.  He speculated that there was an infamous Heinrich Himmler in World War Two, and although history had taken a different course, he wondered if they were related.  Probably not, he concluded.  There are no doubt hundreds or maybe even thousands of people in the German military called Himmler.
A smile of disbelieving amusement crossed the commandant's face.  "Interesting, each of the other three uniformed gentlemen you were found with also claimed to be called John Smith, but strangely I do not see any family resemblance.  I feel I should impress upon you the foolishness of trying to have a laugh at my expense."
"What is it you want of us?" William asked seriously.
Commandant Himmler got straight to the point.  "You and your colleagues were captured close to the River Rhine, near a class of ship we've never seen before, and the burnt out ruin of another.  Explain."
William had no intention of divulging the true nature of the craft.  "They're just small leisure craft.  We had some trouble with the navigation systems and accidentally stumbled into your war.  Sorry for the inconvenience, we'll be on our way."  And having said that he stood up and made to leave, but stopped in his tracks at the commandant's next comment.
"It's a time travelling vessel, is it not?" As William faced him with a false look of incredulity he added, "We took the liberty of examining it, it's now in one of our hangars.  Also your Negro friend was very forthcoming, with the right persuasion.  His weakness lies with that woman, whom I understand to be his wife."
William took a step forward in anger but forced himself to remain calm.  "And what of the others?"
"We woke the Negroes first, and based on their answers we questioned the other three John Smiths.  They gave us no further insight, but we'll resume questioning them later using more persuasive methods.  You haven't yet tried to deny that the vessel travels through time."
"It wouldn't do me much good now, would it?" William said, not bothering to hide what the commandant already knew.
"No, it wouldn't.  We're willing to spare your life and the lives of your associates if you're willing to train us in the piloting of the vessel."
"And suppose I'm not too keen on that idea?"
"If you don't, we will eventually figure it out for ourselves, it will just take longer.  But let's just say that the longer it takes the less comfortable we'll make your stay here."
"I'm fine with that," William said defiantly.
"You and the other three gentlemen seem to be part of some military strike team, so I'm sure you can withstand a considerable amount of punishment.  I'm not so sure about those Negroes, they look like simple farmers to me."  Himmler waited for the implication to take full effect before concluding, "And you will be privileged to enjoy watching their suffering with us, as they look to you for the deliverance that only your cooperation will provide."  He nodded to the two guards at the door, who stepped forward to escort William back to his cell.  As they were about to leave the room Himmler said, "You have half an hour to make your decision before we begin their punishment."
William trudged back to the cell trying to come up with an escape plan.  The two guards were walking too far behind for him to make a successful surprise attack and knock their weapons' aim away from him before they could fire.  He'd have to try something later when an opportunity presented itself.  Once the guards had locked the door and left he examined the bed and mattress.  Neither of them had springs or any other wire parts that he could break off to pick the lock with.  The mattress was a sponge block inside a linen covering and the bed frame was entirely wooden.  The metal cell door swung inwards so he couldn't simply kick it into the guards the next time they unlocked it.  The hinge pins were welded into their positions, so he couldn't pull them out.  And the metal pins that held the light's wire to the ceiling were much too small to pick the lock with.
He went over to the door and looked at the lock.  Even if he had a piece of wire he would've had difficulty in picking it, with the keyhole on the other side, but he certainly would've given it a go.  The lock itself seemed to be quite basic, probably for the sake of quicker manufacture during wartime.  Even from the sound of the guards locking the door behind him that much was obvious.  The building was very old and the key used by the guards was large and unsophisticated.  He was pretty sure that it was just essentially a sliding bolt lock like the cell he was in when he was a prisoner in Memphis, except a smaller version that was housed within a key lock so that a prisoner couldn't just release it by reaching through the bars.  He figured that it was a barred door rather than a full metal one because in times of war a nation's metal supplies were dedicated to the manufacture of vehicles and weapons, and little was spared for anything else other than the purely essential.  The bolt was most likely held across in the locked position by a small spring until the turned key pulled it back.  The release of the key then let it slide back into the locked position.  William glanced at the bed again, and with a sudden inspiration looked at the cell's bright electric light.  He bent over to examine the footboard of the bed and was delighted to see that the bolts that held the bed together were made of iron.
His attention was drawn by the muffled boom of an explosion not far away.  There was no telling how long he had before the war reached this building.  Quietly he tipped the bed up onto its end so that the headboard was in the air.  Then he grabbed the top of the headboard with one hand and the end of one leg with the other while keeping one foot on the footboard to keep it firmly in place on the ground.  He pulled down on the top of the headboard while pushing the leg up until the bolts holding the headboard onto the frame began to pry out of it.  Taking a moment to listen for any nearby guards, he put the bed back down and held onto the frame while he used his leg to push against the loosened headboard.  Eventually it came off at one side, so he moved the bed and did the same to the other.  Still listening for any guard activity, he placed the headboard on the ground with the protruding ends of the bolts facing downwards and stood on it, hefting his weight upon it slightly until one of the bolts was mostly pushed back out of the wood.  He pulled it free and put it aside to focus his attention on the light globe.  Its housing was just a basic metal socket.  The explosions were getting louder and nearer.  The socket was only attached to the ceiling by a couple of small screws.  After removing his shirt he picked up the headboard and folded the shirt over the end of one of its legs to soften the noise while he cautiously used it to tap the socket, being careful not to hit the globe.  He tapped a little harder until the socket came loose enough to rip free.  Tugging on the socket he pulled down a length of electrical wire from along the ceiling.  When he had a good couple of metres to work with he tore the end of the twin wires from the light socket, plunging the room into near darkness.  The only light now came from the corridor.
Carefully keeping the two plastic-coated wires apart, he confirmed by the shaft of light coming through the bars that they were made of copper.  He separated the two wires along their length, and put one of them safely on the mattress and picked up the iron bolt.  Keeping an inch free at the end he began coiling the wire tightly around the bolt along its entire length.  Holding it so that the bare end of the wire was kept safely away from his hand he picked up the other piece.
He went over to the lock and held one end of the iron bolt against it.  He touched the ends of the two wires together with a spark and was delighted to hear a slight movement from within the lock, caused by his makeshift electromagnet.  Luckily the spring in the lock wasn't very strong, and the plate covering the lock on his side was very thin.  Holding his magnet against the lock where he estimated the sliding bolt inside to be, he slowly slid it away from the door frame.  He could hear the lock being pulled across with it by the magnetic field.  With a final click the door swung open a few inches.
Unfortunately the guards at the end of the corridor were alerted by the sound and could be heard coming to investigate.  Acting quickly, William uncoiled the wire from the bolt, poured his cup of water all over the bars of the door, and hooked the two ends of the wires onto the bars, one higher on the door and one lower, being careful not to make contact with it himself.  Then he leaned the mattress up against the back wall at an angle.
Cautiously the two guards approached the slightly ajar cell door and peered through its bars into the darkened room, pistols at the ready.  The leading guard grabbed the door to push it open and began to spasm rigidly, due to the electric shock he received.  Thinking quickly, the second guard kicked him away and then kicked the door open.  The first guard collapsed onto the floor unconscious.  Noticing the mattress against the wall the second one crept nearer, gun poised, ready to pull it away and fire as soon the prisoner jumped out at him.  It wasn't the first time a prisoner had used such a method for a surprise attack in the hope of making a run for it.
Unseen by the guard, William was in position above the doorway, propped up with his feet against one wall and his hands against the other.  Pushing away from the wall he dropped onto the guard and they crashed to the ground together.  William landed a couple of quick punches and then wrested the gun from the guard's grip.  He quickly set it for low stun so as not to cause the man any serious injury before firing it at point blank range.  When the guard collapsed, William went and checked that the other one was also still unconscious.  Swiftly he dragged the electrocuted guard into the cell, stripped him of his uniform and put it on over his own clothes so that he'd be able to dispose of the disguise later.  When he'd finished dressing he hooked the keys onto his belt, grabbed each of the guards' pistols, and made his way down the corridor.
Cautiously he crept through the empty passages to another cellblock.  He found Melvin and Grace in separate cells, both of whom were overjoyed to see him.  However, there was no sign of the agents.  William holstered one gun and started trying some of the keys with no success.  He heard several pairs of booted feet approaching from a side passage that branched off near the other end of the corridor.  He stood back from the cell and kept the gun in his other hand out of sight as he began walking casually in the opposite direction.
Moments later a strong voice in the distance behind him called out, "What are you doing in this section?"
William kept walking at a steady pace hoping to get around a corner before the curious guards caught up to him.  He considered replying; his neural interpreter would convey what he said in German, since the guard had spoken first, triggering the language. But realistically the men would soon catch on to the fact that William was an impostor.  His best plan would be to keep as much distance between him and them as he could, and then as soon as he was around the corner make a run for it.  No matter what, it would only be a matter of time before the alarm was raised, whether it was by these guards or others when his cell was visited.
One of the following guards shouted, "Stop!"
William continued walking.  He heard the sound of pistols being drawn from their holsters so he quickly spun around to face them, raising both of his as he did so.  He fired a number of shots in quick succession, taking down all four guards.  Four more rounded the corner at the other end of the corridor and gave chase, shouting as they did so.  One of them hit an alarm button on the wall and sirens began wailing throughout the complex.  Several more guards joined the pursuit with their fellows.  William fled down the nearest adjacent corridor and, holding both guns in one hand, began to unbutton the shirt of his guard uniform with the other.  At the end of the corridor he turned down another and stopped.  He ripped off the shirt and threw it as far down the corridor as he could.  It landed on the floor about halfway along.  William opened the door immediately beside him and entered the room, fortunate to find that it was empty.  He closed the door softly and stood behind it with his back against the wall, guns ready.  He was relieved to hear the troop run past his door and follow the corridor in the direction that they presumed he went, based on the shirt.  He removed the guard's uniform pants, and once he was back down to his own clothes, plus the guns and keys, he left the room and went back the way he'd come.  Eventually he reached Melvin's cell without further incident and released him and then Grace.  He signalled for them to remain silent and follow him.  Furtively, they crept through the prison complex until they found an emergency exit.
*

"Someone has opened an evacuation exit," a guard reported to the commandant.  This was indicated by a flashing red light on a basic wall console.
"Send the soldiers.  Order them to kill on sight."
"Jawohl, Herr Commandant."  The guard hastily marched away to deliver the orders.
*

Outside the prison, William was leading the way through the ruined city in no particular direction, just further away from the complex.  The sun had recently set and the sky was darkening rapidly, which offered them some cover.  This meant they must've been in the complex for a whole day.  The sounds of pursuit could be heard behind them.  They instinctively ducked as they ran when numerous pulses of energy flashed past them and slammed into the walls of the surrounding decimated buildings.  William led his fellow escapees down a narrow alley where they had to jump or climb over piles of rubble every few metres.  Within seconds more shots flashed past them as the group of soldiers reached the alley's entrance.  William returned several shots and the soldiers ceased firing for a few moments to duck for cover.  William indicated a hole in one of the walls to his companions, where the masonry had been blasted open by heavy weapons fire.  They could still hear the German soldiers giving chase.  The trio zigzagged their way through shattered houses and other crumbling structures, keeping under cover as much as was possible.
"I can smell water," William said as he paused momentarily.
"I don't smell nuthin'," Melvin said in a hushed voice.
"It must be the Rhine.  The commandant mentioned that we were captured close to it.  Come on, this way."
William poked his head around the corner of a building to survey the darkened street they were about to cross.  There were no streetlights, in case of an air raid from passing orbital assault craft.  Further down the street a couple of soldiers could be seen on patrol, heading away from them at a casual stroll, unaware that there were a few fugitives on the loose.  They soon disappeared into the gathering fog.  William beckoned for the others to follow him.  While they were crossing the wide street they were alerted by a mechanical noise coming from their left.  A battle tank slowly emerged through the fog, and although it was very similar to models used in World War Two there was something distinctly different about it.  Their curiosity left them looking at it a little too long and the tank spotted them.  William expected it to fire heavy artillery shells, but was surprised to see massive balls of red light erupt from its twin cannons.  All three threw themselves to the ground and the shots passed over their heads, close enough for them to be lightly singed by the radiating wake of the dense particle clusters, which slammed into a house a little further along the street with explosive force.  The house was completely destroyed.  The only thing left in its place was a mess of shattered brickwork and burning lintels.  The trio scrambled to their feet and dashed between buildings, again zigzagging to avoid pursuit.  As they ran they heard building after building being blown apart as the tank cleared a path to hunt them down.  Eventually they lost it after a lot of weaving through buildings and finally circling around behind it.
When they came to another street they were extra cautious before stepping out onto it, which was just as well, because a group of seven soldiers came through the fog towards them.  They hadn't spotted William's group, and William observed their difference in uniform and insignia.  He guessed them to be troops of a rival faction that were looking for enemy patrols to attack.  Crouching low behind a pile of rubble with Melvin and Grace, he watched as the soldiers got nearer.  Suddenly a ring of six German soldiers appeared seemingly out of thin air around the other seven, much like they had when William and the Temporal Security commander's groups had been captured near their ships.  William guessed that technology hadn't advanced far enough for it to be a form of teleport, since even by his time the only thing they had like that was the one-way temporal transference platform, so he figured it must be some form of personal cloaking device.  Following a brief firefight between the two groups, five German soldiers remained standing.  One of them had been killed by a couple of enemy shots, but all seven of the other group lay dead with craters seared into their flesh.  The German soldiers started to collect the weapons from the dead when they were alerted to the pounding of dozens of pairs of booted feet coming towards them.  Without delay, the five Germans started running down a side street as thirty enemy soldiers charged at them through the fog in pursuit, firing their particle weapons as they ran.  When they were all out of sight, William went over to the German soldier who'd been killed during the initial ambush and examined a conspicuous device on the man's belt.  It was a cumbersome unit the size of a small lunchbox, and it had a few basic controls set into the top.  After a quick examination, William concluded that it was a crude camouflage device like he suspected, which bent light around the wearer to make them temporarily invisible.  The soldier wore a headset that covered one eye, connected to the camouflage device by a thick wire.  Similar technologies had been experimented with during World War Four but had been ultimately abandoned.  Because light was bent around the wearer it effectively rendered them blind.  The headset the soldier wore was to translate sonic impulses into a visual image, to enable the wearer to see the shapes of objects around him.  The drawback was that the sonic impulses were easily detectable, hence why it had been abandoned in William's timeline.  Apparently such sensor technology hadn't yet been invented in this world.  William tested the device, but it'd been damaged when the man was shot, and was therefore of no use to them.  The trio continued on their way.
They finally reached the river without any further encounters.  It was a neglected place, due to this world now having little use for boats, but there were still a few small abandoned-looking craft moored along the riverside wharves.  Very carefully, they went to a boat with a canopy, looking all around them as they did so, and climbed inside.  William noticed the twisted metal remnants of a bridge that had once crossed the river to the north, another reminder of the war's destructiveness from which nothing was safe.
"Take this," William said as he passed Melvin one of the guns.  "It's set to stun, so don't hesitate to use it if you're discovered.  Wait here until I return."
"What are you going to do?" Grace asked.
"I'm going back for the time agents, then I'm going to locate their ship before it's too late.  Once Himmler's lot master the controls and launch we'll have no way of leaving this world as it is now."
"Let me come with you," Melvin offered.
"No," William said bluntly.  "Your first responsibility is to look after your wife.  I'll be as fast as I can.  If by tomorrow night I haven't returned it'll be safe to assume that I'm a prisoner or dead, in which case I want you both to make your way to the countryside and find a quiet place to live away from the war.  You'll no doubt get hungry waiting here, but do not under any circumstances go out to look for food.  Just bear with it."
A series of brilliant flashes, each accompanied by the sound of discharged energy, startled the three of them.  They looked to the source of the flashes, which came from along the river to the south where it curved away.  The bursts of energy ascended rapidly into the clouds, which were illuminated a moment later by the yellowish-orange flash of an explosion.  A huge burning mass plummeted through the clouds and crashed to the ground somewhere on the other side of the river.  When a few more shots were fired into the sky, the watching trio observed that they came from a mostly submerged submarine that was moving slowly towards them around the bend in the Rhine to the south.  A pair of rocket-propelled fighters swooped down towards the submarine, firing particle cannons as they made their pass.  The shots that hit the water sent up thick plumes of steam.  A turret on the submarine above the waterline swivelled about to aim at the fighters and shot them down with a rapid barrage of energy bursts.
"What if that underwater boat realises we're hiding here?" Grace asked fearfully after witnessing such destructive power.
"They're just patrolling the River.  They'll come past here, but I doubt they'll be worried about a couple of people taking refuge in a boat, if they even notice you.  They'll probably assume that you're German survivors who couldn't find anywhere safe on the streets to live.  Trust me, they've got more to worry about in the skies above," William answered, hoping that he'd allayed their fears.
Melvin and Grace both nodded in understanding and huddled together under a piece of tarpaulin beneath the boat's canopy.  Stealthily William made his way back towards the prison.  He took a different route just in case there were still ground patrols about.  He had little difficulty hiding in the darkness now that he was alone.  His black clothes blended into the shadows perfectly.  Only the white skin of his face and hands was visible.  He moved as quietly as he could, listening for any sounds that might reveal the movements of soldiers on patrol who might be using their invisibility camouflage devices.
Ten minutes later he was near the prison.  As he made his way towards it he passed through the ruin of a library.  There was no longer a roof, and the shelves were all bare and thick with dust.  Suddenly he found himself confronted by three men wearing camouflage devices on their belts.  They were dressed in civilian clothing that was dirty and worn, and had the appearance of having lived on the streets for some time.  No doubt they'd stolen the camouflage devices from dead soldiers.  They all wielded either a metal bar or a baseball bat studded with nails.
"Nice night for a walk, isn't it?" one of the men said in a strong German accent with sarcastic politeness.
"Indeed," William agreed with equally false politeness.  "Well, apparently I've disturbed you gentlemen, so I'll leave you to it."
"Not in a hurry to go somewhere, are you?" the man asked.
"Actually I do have an appointment to keep," William said casually as he began to move away to the side, making sure he kept the three men in sight at all times.
"Don't be in such a hurry," said one of the other men.  "We just want to talk."
"About what?" the vampire's impatience was beginning to show.
"Looks to me like you were heading for the prison," the second man continued.  "Now, why would you be doing that?  It occurred to me that, dressed how you are, you're probably going to bust someone out, and any prisoner in there is an enemy of the German people."
"I'm not your enemy," William insisted.
"Your people murder hundreds of Germans every day in your space war, sometimes even thousands.  Your friends can stay in that prison, whoever they are, and you can stay here and pay for the suffering that your people and so many others have caused!"
The three men advanced upon William, who drew his pistol.  Before he could point it at anyone something struck him from behind and he dropped his weapon.  A fourth man had been waiting silently and invisibly in the shadows.  Such was his stealth that even the vampire's acute hearing hadn't picked up on his presence.  As William jumped back onto his feet he was struck by one of the other three men who had a steel pole.  As another lunged at him he side-stepped, grabbed the man's baseball bat, and using his own momentum against him, pulled the man forward and tripped him.  Spinning around he dropped another of his attackers with a powerful uppercut under the jaw.  He heard the metallic scrape of a knife being unsheathed and turned just in time to grab his assailant's hand in both of his and keep the knife away from his throat.  While his hands were raised, another of the men saw the opportunity and swung his nail-studded baseball bat into William's side.  The vampire found himself crippled with pain, and even more so when the bat was pulled away and the nails tore his flesh.  He collapsed to the ground in agony and was unable to fend off the men as they began to kick him repeatedly with the full untempered force of their rage.
The situation changed as several blue bursts of energy were fired into the group and all of the men fell to the ground dead.  William, who was still on the ground, hadn't been hit.  As a group of German soldiers surrounded him he tried to get to his feet.  He heard one of them say, "Take this one."  Then an electrifying beam plunged him into unconsciousness.
A while later he awoke to find himself strapped to a metal chair that was bolted to the floor in a cold and dimly-lit room.  There were four guards with their weapons trained on him unwaveringly.  He wasn't sure how long he'd been unconscious, but it didn't feel like as long as when he'd first been captured.  He guessed a lower stun setting had been used so they wouldn't have to wait so long to interrogate him.  Either that or they'd injected him with a stimulant to wake him up.  He couldn't be sure; in his injured state he wouldn't be able to tell if there was a needle prick amongst his other wounds.  A metal door behind him opened with a grind of rusting hinges and heavy footsteps approached.  When the footsteps stopped beside him William looked up, unsurprised to see the angry face of Commandant Himmler glaring at him.
"Sorry about the bed," William commented.
"You have humiliated my guards, and you will be punished for that, but not yet," Himmler said.
"A pity, I was looking forward to it," William said sarcastically.
"Your escape was ingenious, I commend you for that.  After you disappeared we resumed interrogating your comrades."
"And?"
"Nothing.  They are very strong willed, even under the threat of watching each other die."  Himmler noted the concern in William's eyes and went on.  "Don't worry, we did not kill them, yet.  Their knowledge is far too valuable to us, as is yours.  We have in our detention cells thirty two American prisoners of war, along with twenty seven English, sixteen French, and several others who had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Some of them are civilians.  They will all die very unpleasant deaths unless you help us to understand the time ship's operations."
"What have innocent civilians done to warrant death at your hands?" William demanded.
Himmler leaned close to William and said softly but with intense anger, "What did fifty-five thousand German civilians do to warrant death at the hands of the Americans?"
"What?"
"For a time traveller you seem to be lacking in your knowledge of history.  Americans started this war, not us!  They were the first to develop energy weapons, and they used their advantage for conquest.  Any nation who did not bow to their will was attacked and subdued.  Germany was targeted because of its strategic position for American campaigns against Britain and Europe.  Fifty-five thousand were killed in the first day of their attempt at conquest, including members of my family.  We are losing this war."
"If you give me the time ship I can prevent the war!" William insisted.
"I cannot trust you.  You will use that ship against the German people.  I will pilot the ship and change the course of the war myself, and you will show me how.  You will watch one prisoner die every fifteen minutes until you comply, or until our scientists discover how to operate it, whichever comes first.  And if we run out of prisoners there are plenty more in other complexes that can be transferred here."
Himmler signalled to one of the guards, who left the room and returned promptly with a dirty and disheveled prisoner, a middle-aged civilian woman with a cut and bruised face who'd evidently been treated badly within the confines of the prison for some time.  She was thrown roughly to the ground and two of the guards levelled their guns at her, setting their weapons to a high setting.  At a nod from the commandant the two guards fired several shots into both of her legs.  The woman thrashed and screamed in excruciating anguish, grabbing at her legs that were now lined with smouldering holes with chunks of flesh missing.
William convulsed violently in his chair against the straps that held him bound, and shouted in rage.
Himmler leaned towards William, though staying at a safe distance, and said, "Do I have your cooperation?  Or would you like to see another suffer?"
"Don't try to put it on me.  I'm not the one who'll pull the trigger."
"But you're the one who can make the choice to prevent it."
After a few moments William said in reluctant submission, "Leave them alone.  I'll help you."
Himmler nodded to the guard again, who raised his weapon at the woman's chest and fired twice.  The woman's cries of pain ceased.
"That was unnecessary!" William hissed.
"I wanted you to know we were serious.  Besides, the woman was suffering.  Would you rather that we had not ended her pain?  But the next time we will not be so merciful so quickly."
William was horrified by the brutality he'd just witnessed.  The guards unstrapped him and pulled him to his feet.  He was led along a number of corridors at gunpoint until they reached a large hangar.  Dominating the hangar was the agents' time ship.  The hangar was surprisingly empty of personnel, other than a couple of scientists who wore long white lab coats.  Presumably the ship was being kept very secret and as few people as possible knew of it.  William was taken to the ship and brought inside by a group of guards, followed by two scientists.  He knew he wouldn't be able to escape at the moment without being killed in the attempt.  It'd been quite a while since he'd eaten anything, and he'd lost some blood in the fight at the library ruins, so he wasn't on top form.  He could still feel a great deal of pain in his side where he'd been hit and the flesh torn, though it was healing.
Himmler detained one of the guards outside the ship after William was taken inside.  In a low voice he said, "If the launch is successful we will have no further need of him, and he would only be a threat then.  Kill him."
The guard snapped to attention and said, "Jawohl, Herr Commandant."  The two of them then followed the others into the ship.
William was made to sit in the pilot's seat, his every word and move scrutinised by the commandant, his soldiers, and the scientist who were taking notes of everything he said.  "This is where you input the temporal coordinates for the destination, which is entered as the year, then the month, then the day.  The final four digits indicate the destination's local time in hours and minutes.  This is the temporal displacement control," he said, indicating a section on another panel.  He casually rested his left hand on his left leg and pointed to the various consoles with his right.  "This controls the spatial engines.  That," he said, turning in the chair and pointing behind him to just above the cockpit doorway, "is an emergency force field control, in case of intruders or a hull breach."  While he spoke, and everyone's attention was focussed on the doorway, William quickly reached his left hand under the console and touched one of three hidden buttons.  Then he went on to describe the navigational controls.  He was pretty sure that no one had noticed his misdirection.
After a few minutes, when the commandant was satisfied with the explanation of the ship's systems, he ordered one of the scientists, who also had some piloting experience, to confirm that the ship was ready for launch.  William was roughly pulled out of the pilot's seat.  After becoming familiar with the controls based on William's tutorial the man confirmed that the ship was indeed ready to fly.
"You have done well," Himmler remarked with an unattractive smile.
"Thank you," William said.  Then in a flash of movement he dove at the controls and attempted to press a number of buttons, but was grabbed by several soldiers and pulled away roughly, still shouting.  Himmler subtly nodded to the soldier he'd spoken with earlier.  The soldier aimed his weapon at William's head and gestured for him to leave the ship.  William noticed the soldier adjust his gun to the kill setting, so he complied without any more fuss.  Once William and the soldier were a few metres away from the ship they heard the soft hiss of the hatch sliding closed, and they both turned and faced it.  William was constantly mindful of the guard who still had the weapon aimed at his head.  Accompanied by a crackle of energy, a ripple of green light suddenly surrounded the ship.
William watched as it dematerialised before him.  He took the chance that the guard was sufficiently distracted by the disappearing ship and spun around quickly.  With his left elbow he knocked the aim of the gun away from him and followed through with a right hook to the guard's jaw.  Momentarily dazed, the guard dropped the weapon and staggered back.  With all of his force, William shoved the guard in the chest with both hands, knocking him to the ground a few metres away.  He pounced on the gun and reset it to stun.  The guard looked up from the ground fearfully as William aimed at him, unaware that the setting had been changed.  The vampire fired, and a moment later another shot just missed him.  He looked up to see a scientist on the other side of the hangar aim a pistol and fire again.  The second shot missed also.  The scientist, unaccustomed to being in a combat situation, wasn't a very good shot.  With expertise William returned fire, and with a single shot neutralised the threat.  There was no one else in the hangar so he dragged the unconscious guard over to where the scientist lay and hastily dumped the two men in a nearby room.  For the second time he stole a guard's uniform and wore it over his own clothes.  He tucked the scientist's pistol into his belt beneath his clothes and strapped on the guard's holster.  When he re-entered the prison complex he put the guard's gun into the holster so he wouldn't attract attention.  This time there was no alarm alerting the other guards that there was an intruder roaming freely, and there wouldn't be unless someone found his handiwork at the hangar.  He made his way to a side exit where he marched right past the soldiers on duty without raising suspicion.  He walked briskly to the side streets nearby and once he was out of sight he broke into a run towards the river.
After running for several minutes through the darkened roads and ruins he reached the river.  What was left of the moon was hidden by clouds and offered no illumination.  In the distance he could make out the boat where he'd left Melvin and Grace.  There were no signs of life, not so much as a ripple in the water to betray movement inside.  He sincerely hoped that they hadn't been captured.  As he headed along the wharf towards the boat his footsteps echoed loudly on the loose wooden planks, despite his efforts to move stealthily.  While he was passing a large stack of crates he noticed that the tarpaulin under which the two had been hiding was draped over the side of the now empty boat.  There was no sign of Melvin or Grace.  He heard a sound from the crates behind him, and as he turned he felt a heavy fist strike him in the jaw.
"Melvin?" he asked in surprise as he focussed on the man who'd hit him.
Melvin relaxed as he suddenly recognised the uniformed figure.  "William, I'm sorry, I thought we'd been found by one of them guards."
"It's okay," William assured him.
"We didn't want to use the gun if we didn't have to in case it were seen or heard," Melvin explained.
Grace came out of hiding from among the crates.  She was holding the weapon that William had given Melvin earlier.
"We need to get back to the prison quickly, we haven't much time," William said urgently.
"How are those agent people?" Grace asked with concern.
"I didn't see them, but I imagine they've been better."  William took out the spare gun from under his clothes and passed it to Melvin.  Together the trio went back to the prison at a jog.
Before they were in sight of the prison William suggested that Melvin and Grace each conceal their guns and be led in by him at gunpoint as though they were captured prisoners.  As they marched into the entrance of the complex they were stopped by one of the four guards on duty.
"They are two of the escaped prisoners, aren't they?" the guard asked.
"That's right, I'm taking them to the commandant," William said, hoping that his neural interpreter gave him a natural enough accent to fool the guard.  It appeared to work.
They started to continue inside when the guard called out, "I'll have one of my men assist in escorting them."  He gestured for one of the other guards to go with them.
"I can handle a couple of Negroes," William objected as though escorting them alone was a matter of pride.
"They're escaped prisoners.  They might try to escape again."
"Very well," William agreed to avoid a conflict.  He figured it would be easier to knock out one guard a few passages down than to deal with the group.
William led the way along the main hallway and down a side passage to the left.
"This isn't the way to the commandant's office," the accompanying guard remarked.
"You're very observant," William said as he landed a couple of heavy punches on the guard, who fell to the floor unconscious.  Melvin and Grace drew their guns ready.
"I didn't know you could speak German so well," Grace commented.
"It's a gift!" William boasted.  "Come on, we've only got about ten minutes left to locate the agents."  He led the others through the corridors until they reached one of the cellblocks.
After peering carefully through a doorway into the next holding area William whispered, "There are five guards, three on the left side of the room, and two on the right."  On William's signal they burst around the corner together and fired until four of the guards had dropped to the ground stunned.  William called for everyone to stop firing before the fifth guard was shot.  The three pointed their weapons at the guard, who dropped his gun to the ground in submission.  "Where are the three prisoners the commandant's been so interested in?"
"I will not answer," the guard replied simply.
William set his gun to kill and asked again.
This time the guard replied, "They're in cellblock 4, through the door on the left.  Here are the keys."  He tossed them to William.
Without a further word the vampire reset his weapon to stun and fired.  They ran to where the agents were being kept, and as William unlocked the door he said to Melvin and Grace, "Keep your weapons on stun.  If any of these men try to take them from you, shoot them without hesitation."
The commander glared at William furiously when he heard that.
"Don't look so grumpy, we're getting you out of here," William said to the commander.  He marched them to the hangar where the time ship had been, successfully avoiding being spotted by any patrolling guards.
"It seems you've rescued us too late, Herschel!" the commander said gruffly, noticing the empty hangar.
"Relax, I initiated Emergency Protocol Three before they took the ship."
The commander's mood visibly lifted.  "How long has it been?" he asked, now almost casually.
"About an hour.  Should be any minute now."
"How did you not arouse their suspicion?"
"I made a last moment attempt at resetting the main systems before I was taken off the ship, otherwise the commandant would've started wondering why I hadn't tried anything," William said.
"What are we waiting for?" Grace asked.
William decided to offer the explanation to kill time while they waited.  "Under the console of every ship there are three hidden Emergency Protocol buttons.  Protocol Three instructs the ship to ignore any further settings made, and when the time drive or spatial engines are activated it dematerialises and life support is reduced to a bare minimum.  Anyone inside the ship will be rendered unconscious by the lack of oxygen, but kept alive until it rematerialises in the same location an hour later.  Do you understand what I mean?"
"Vaguely," Grace replied.
"Why not just turn the life support thing off, that would kill them, right?  They'd be no trouble then," Melvin enquired.
One of the commander's assistants explained.  "What if they'd taken one of us hostage?  Then we'd be killed too.  This way they're simply neutralised until we can retake the ship.  No loss of life on either side."
The discussion was interrupted by the crackle of energy accompanying the green ripple inside which the time ship reappeared.
"Guard them," William ordered Melvin.  Then he went into the ship cautiously and checked that Himmler and all of his soldiers were indeed unconscious.  He removed each of their weapons and put them in one of the ship's storage lockers so that the Temporal Security agents wouldn't have any means available to attempt to retake their shuttle.  With that done he left the ship and had the agents remove the unconscious soldiers under the watchful eyes of Melvin, Grace and himself.
Himmler and his guards were just starting to regain consciousness in the hangar when they saw the time ship dematerialise.
Inside the ship, William herded the three agents into one of the living quarters and covered the entrance with the force field that was normally used for containing hull breaches.  Unlike the one he'd been exiled in, this ship was equipped with force fields for every doorway.  After that was done he removed his German uniform and was able to relax with his two friends in the cockpit as he set their course back to 1832.
"So if I understand right," Melvin was saying, "going back to that time will stop that future from happening?"
"That's right.  Their technology was based on the pistol I dropped and what Jed and his friends saw of the ship launching, which inspired scientific precepts that should never have been known or even thought of so early in history.  Such technology gave people more power than they were ready to have at that time," William answered.
"Are there wars in your future?" Grace enquired.
"Between your time and mine there were several world wars, and a number of lesser wars.  War seems to be an inevitable characteristic throughout human history."
"All the hatred that causes war, people fighting and killing other people, it just doesn't make any sense," Grace commented.  "If all people came together and moved forward with a united effort so much more could be accomplished."
"Since when has such logic permeated human society?" William said regretfully.  "No, it took a long time for people to stop thinking about themselves and realise that all people, all nations, are part of the same species.  Only then did humanity begin to progress and advance greatly.  Even in my time when society has become more enlightened, still not all of its people have."
A soft beep and a flashing green message on the navigation console told William that they were approaching their destination.  He left the cockpit and went to the engine room, passing the room from which three unhappy faces glared at him through the shimmer of the force field.  He was becoming quite proficient at setting up the Gultorian modification now, and he soon had it set to a new frequency so that none of the other ships in 1832 would detect them landing.
When he returned to the cockpit he set the landing coordinates for a few hundred metres from where he'd dropped the pistol.  "Right now our past selves are probably on their way to pick up Grace," he said to Melvin.
"Would you like me to come with you?" Melvin asked.
"I appreciate the offer, but I need you to guard the ship in case it's discovered, or in case the agents break out somehow."
"Understood," Melvin acknowledged.
William looked at the navigational display to get a bearing on where he needed to go.  Three versions of him were now in the area in this moment of time.  Picking up a pistol on his way from the cockpit he left the ship and jogged through the grove to the place where his past self would drop the weapon.  He looked around until he located the fallen trunk he'd be leaping over when he was shot and the fern clusters his weapon would fall into, and crouched amidst the foliage just behind them to hide.
Right on cue he heard the sound of horses approaching.  He heard a few shots being fired from both flintlock and positron pistols.  The sound of running footsteps drew closer and then he saw Melvin and Grace jump over the fallen tree trunk and race past.  A moment later he saw his past self make the leap.  It was a strange sensation, seeing himself from another perspective.  It was completely different to simply looking into a mirror.  He could only appreciate it for a moment before he saw his other self tumble to the ground immediately after a shot rang out.  The pistol glided through the air and landed almost directly in front of him.  As he watched his past self scramble back to his feet he grabbed the pistol and flung it closer to the other William so that it fell onto a bare patch of ground between plants.  The past William began searching for it, not having seen it get thrown, quickly found it, and continued running along with Melvin and Grace who'd come back for him.
Mission accomplished, William thought to himself with satisfaction.  He knew that Jed had seen the gun fall from his hand but wasn't sure if this time he'd seen it get picked up again, so he stealthily crawled backwards and deeper into the ferns for better cover.  Evidently he had, as all of the horsemen, including Jed, continued to ride by in pursuit.  When they were well past him William got to his feet and returned hastily back to the ship where he informed Melvin and Grace, and also the time agents, that history from this point onward had been restored to how it should be.  He then set a course for England.
A short time later they arrived at their destination.  Through the window Stonehenge could be seen in the darkness of the evening as the ship smoothly descended towards it and landed outside the ancient stone ring.  The three Temporal Security agents were herded out of the ship towards the wondrous prehistoric monument.  Unhurriedly, the group went into the grassy midst of the great circle of time-weathered stones, some of which lay scattered on the ground as though they'd been knocked over by some giant child playing with building blocks.  There were a few structures in the ring where the massive horizontal stone slab was still atop a pair of pillars, but most of the stones stood now as single rectangular monoliths.  William left the agents under the guard of Melvin and Grace and went over to a more intact section of the ring.  He tried to recall which pair of vertical stones contained the identification scanner.
"It's the next one to the right," the commander corrected him when he went to the wrong one.
He went to the next gap between pillars and stood inside it beneath the horizontal slab, facing into the circle.  He felt a faint tingle as a scanner beam probed his genetic structure.  For a few seconds afterwards nothing happened while the scanner processed its readings to confirm if he was a listed member of Temporal Security.  As soon as his identity was verified a shaft of light appeared in the exact centre of Stonehenge, seeming to radiate up from the ground itself, reaching towards the starry sky where it faded from sight a dozen metres up.  The light shimmered progressively from shades of violet to blue, then green to cyan, somehow blending them together as it wavered between the colours.  It was as if the aurora borealis was contained within the luminous column.  William gestured for the Temporal Security agents to step into the light.
"You do understand I'll be making a full report of all this.  Stealing a time ship is a serious offence," the commander said coldly.
"Ye wouldn't be here if it weren't for William," Melvin interjected.  "He went back to the prison to save ye when it woulda been safer to just leave ye there!"
William put his hand on Melvin's shoulder in appreciation, but also as a sign that he should stop.  "Commander, I'm only borrowing the ship for a while.  And when you write that report be sure to include the fact that your attempt to capture me was what led to the course of events that changed time.  I would've had no reason to set down in this time if I wasn't trying to get away from you in the first place.  On your way back think about why Temporal Security might not have foreseen that."  His words seemed to make an impression on the commander, because the expression on his face changed slightly.  As a parting question he asked the commander, "Who authorised your assignment anyway?"
"The order was issued by Fleet Admiral Morgan and was relayed to us through Admiral Rivette," the commander replied.  At a gesture from William, he started walking towards the column of light, but paused a metre in front of it to say something to William, and a softer expression crossed his face.  "For what it's worth, I do sympathise with you, and in your situation I might've done exactly what you did.  I was just following my orders."
William gave him an acknowledging nod, and then motioned for the agents to step into the shaft of light, which they did one by one.  As each stepped into it they vanished with a brief flash.
William addressed Melvin and Grace.  "This device will transport you to another world.  It'll be in my time, since the system's been keyed to my identity.  When you get there turn your weapons over to some agents who'll be waiting for you.  You'll be able to live out your lives on a peaceful planet that's protected by my people."  He could see that it was hard for them to conceive of living on another world, but he also knew that they'd be fine once they got used to it.  Exclusively to Melvin he said, "Back at the hangar, you implied that the soldiers who took the time ship should've been killed by Emergency Protocol Three, rather than just harmlessly neutralised.  I know that you've been through a lot over the last couple of days, but no matter what people have done to you, you should never wish death upon them, because then you start to become like them.  You're better than that.  And besides, if they die they won't have the opportunity to change.  Everyone deserves to have that opportunity, even if they don't use it."
"I understand what yer saying.  And ye're right.  Many thanks, William," Melvin said and clasped his hand in farewell.
On their cue Melvin and Grace held hands and closed their eyes before hesitantly walking into the light, vanishing together in a flash.  Slowly and thoughtfully William exited the ring through the same pillars he'd been scanned between, and the shaft of shimmering light vanished.  Stonehenge was left as though nothing had happened.  He went over to one of the fallen stones and sat on it to ponder for a while.  His mind was dwelling on everything that had happened to him since his exile, and on what he should do from here, and how.  It was a long time since he'd seen Luke, Larissa or Admiral Rivette, and he missed them all.  He even found himself missing people like Colin Finch and Laurence Hartley.  There was no way for him to know if the plan to clear his name would even work, but he needed to try.  He also needed to have an escape plan in case things didn't work out in his favour.  After about an hour he got up and went back to the ship to set a course for the future.

*  *  *

Deep inside Epoch the two figures were again conversing in darkened recesses deep within the maze of maintenance passages, enshrouded in their hooded robes.
"What's Herschel's status?" the master asked in a low voice.
"He's on course for this time even as we speak.  What must I do?"
The black-robed being was silent for a moment before responding.  "The time has come to sacrifice the pawn to save the king.  You know what must be done."
"Yes, I understand."
*

Unfortunately for Luke, the recordings of the conversations between Tylvius and Wallace that he'd obtained with Laurence's help had yielded no results.  The only references that were of any relevance to him were the occasional comments of mutual dislike towards William and himself, Laurence, and even Admiral Rivette.
He was strolling along a busy corridor thinking about this when Colin came running towards him, pushing his way through the crowd and ignoring the numerous remarks of annoyance that were directed at him.  It was perfect timing as far as Luke was concerned, because not even two minutes earlier he'd tried to call Colin on his multi-com without getting a response.  Colin was in a rush, and then Luke realised it wasn't a rush to find him, because Colin hadn't actually noticed him there until he was seconds from passing by.  As Colin was about to run past Luke called him to a halt.
"Lieutenant Commander, I really can't stop to talk now, I'm already late for my shift," Colin protested adamantly, continuing to shuffle along as he spoke, as though the extra couple of metres would make a difference.
"I tried to call you on your multi-com."
"I'm sorry I couldn't take the call, I was in a hurry getting ready," Colin said, panting.
"Alright, I'll be really quick.  When you get to the scanning room I want you to discreetly find out where Tylvius is, as long as it's safe to do so without being noticed, and let me know.  The sooner the better."  Luke considered that it probably wasn't the textbook definition of subtlety to call out such an instruction to someone in a crowded corridor, but Colin wasn't going to wait around for a private chat, and Luke needed to act soon.
"Sure thing.  But I've really got to go now."  And without hesitating a moment longer Colin continued running down the corridor towards the lift at the end.
Luke watched him go then went in the direction of Tylvius' quarters.  He had a plan.  When he wasn't able to get in touch with Colin earlier he'd thought his plan might have to wait until tomorrow.  He didn't want to ask anyone else, because he still wasn't sure who he could trust, and if he asked the station's computer, his request for such information might be retained in a log, which could be tapped into.  He needed someone else to do it so that his access codes wouldn't be found in the internal sensor log in case his activities were being monitored, and he preferred not to trouble Laurence for another untraceable access code if he could avoid it.  He knew he'd feel terrible if Laurence was caught doing it and got into trouble while doing his bidding.  What he asked of Colin wasn't illegal, it just needed to be kept secret, at least for a short time.  If all went well he might be able carry out his plan now after all.  It all depended on Tylvius being home before starting his shift so that Luke knew his exact whereabouts, and the timing had to be perfect.
*

The lift couldn't have been moving slower for Colin.  It was the second time in a week that he'd been late for starting his shift, and he was sure that Admiral Rivette had noticed, though he hadn't said anything about it last time.  The moment the lift opened to deck 10 Colin ran to the temporal scanning room, nearly knocked over another ensign as he crossed it, and pressed a button beside the door to Admiral Rivette's office to request admittance.  After a few moments that felt like minutes to Colin, the door slid open to reveal the admiral sitting behind his large desk.  Puffed from hurrying all the way, Colin entered and stood to attention, trying not to look at the stern expression on the admiral's face, so instead he stared at the currently blank screen on the wall behind his superior.
Before Colin could utter a word of excuse or apology, Admiral Rivette said in a voice that sounded calm yet condemning, "You're late again, Ensign Finch.  That's twice this week.  Any particular reason that I should be aware of?  Or should I just assume that your poker sessions have been going later into the night than usual recently?"
"I apologise, sir.  It won't happen again," Colin replied nervously.
"You're right about that," the admiral said severely.  Then dismissing the issue he gave Colin his instructions.  "I want you to scan the timeline to find out where and when William Herschel is at present, and try to determine his ultimate course and destination.  I also want you to ascertain if there are any residual effects from the change that happened earlier."
"Yes sir."
"Dismissed."
Thankful that he was able to leave, Colin hurried from the room and went to a console in the temporal scanning room.  For about ten minutes he ran the routine scans of William's progress, as he had a number of times before, until the junior lieutenant at the console next to his got up to go for a break.  While no one was watching him, Colin scanned for Tylvius' location based on his multi-com's signal and found that he was in his quarters.  His shift was scheduled to start in twenty minutes.  After casting a subtle glance around the room to be sure no one was near enough to see what he was doing, he made a note of this information on his console and sent it to Luke's multi-com.  He then resumed his scans of the timeline.
*

Having received Colin's message, Luke was pretending to study something on a wall display down the corridor from Tylvius' quarters.  After a few minutes of waiting, he watched out of the corner of his eye as Tylvius came out and cast a hostile glance at him before going down the long corridor in the other direction.  As soon as he was out of sight, Luke went to a doorway leading to the service passages that ran behind all the nearby quarters, including Tylvius'.  Once inside the passage he closed the access door and moved quietly through the cramped space until he was standing before a particular panel of the wall.  He reached behind himself and tucked the back of his jacket into his pants behind a concealed pistol he had in his belt it so that it'd be easier to reach for if he needed to.  On the ground below the metal panel was a small toolbox that Luke had placed there early that morning in preparation for what he was about to do.  He opened it and removed a magnetic clamp, which he attached to the middle of the panel.  Then he took out a pen-shaped device that he activated and began tracing the outline of the square panel.  The device was designed to release the molecular adhesion that held the panel to the framework surrounding it.  With one hand he held the magnetic clamp to support the panel as he finished unsealing it.  Then he lowered the panel forward into the room beyond and placed it softly to the side against the wall.
Looking through he saw Tylvius' sparsely decorated quarters.  Stealthily he entered the room and went over to the small control box next to the door that operated the lock and opening mechanism.  Using the same tool he opened the control box and exposed its circuitry.  Then he removed a device from his pocket that was no bigger than a fingernail and plugged it into an unused port in the circuit, after which he resealed the box.  Pulling back his left sleeve he adjusted his multi-com device and then proceeded to search Tylvius' nearly bare room, which was kept immaculately clean.  There wasn't so much as a single pair of underpants thrown carelessly into a corner.  Luke looked through drawers and under the bed but didn't find what he was looking for until he opened a locker at head height near the bed.  Inside he found a neatly folded garment of brown cloth.  Taking it out, he unfolded it into a full-sized hooded robe, just like the one William had described.
Luke turned around quickly at the sound of the door opening.  Tylvius entered with his pistol drawn and aimed at him, and the door slid closed again.
"Don't tell me you didn't think I'd find it suspicious, you standing in that corridor just when I was going on duty?" Tylvius said.
"I can't say I'm surprised to find that it was you," Luke said.  "So who are you working for?  Wallace?"
"I work alone," Tylvius said, although he wasn't very convincing.  "Now put your hands on your head."
Luke dropped the brown robe and placed his hands behind his head.
Tylvius raised his gun so that it was aimed directly at Luke's upper chest.
"Just one question, why were you sending necrozine through time?" Luke enquired.  "I imagine there's a reason."  
"There's a reason alright, but I won't discuss it with you.  Let's just say it's part of a grander purpose."
Behind his head Luke carefully extended out his finger and touched the screen of his multi-com.  The signal he activated triggered the tiny device he'd inserted into the door's control box, causing the door to open with a faint hiss behind Tylvius.  Instinctively Tylvius spun around, worried that backup had arrived for Luke, and in that instant Luke reached back for the pistol in his belt and fired it at Tylvius' gun arm on the stun setting.  In his spasm of pain Tylvius fired a shot, a burst of energy that was indicative of it being on the kill setting, which harmlessly hit the wall before he involuntarily dropped his weapon and fell to his knees, clutching his wounded arm.
"Actually, I was counting on it being suspicious to lure you back here."  Luke said with satisfaction, his trap having worked perfectly.  "And I was well aware that your multi-com would've detected me putting that toolbox behind your quarters earlier.  It ensured that you would give me time to make it inside your quarters so that you could find out what I was up to before bursting in."
"And how will you prove that you didn't just put that robe there to frame me?" Tylvius asked defiantly.
Luke raised his left arm in a fist in front of him, displaying his multi-com device.  "I recorded our conversation," he stated simply.
"I can still charge you with unlawful entry and assault!" Tylvius threatened.
"I've been authorised by Admiral Rivette.  Now get on your feet!" Luke ordered, perfectly willing to use force if he had to.

*  *  *

William set the time drive to exactly the same frequency as the massive time field that surrounded Epoch, so that when he penetrated it the ship wouldn't disturb it, leaving him undetected.  In theory it was a sound idea.  If it didn't work he'd find out pretty quickly.  As a precaution he also reset the Gultorian modification to a new frequency that he figured would reduce the apparent size of the absence of readings to Epoch's sensors.  Normally the modification was effective for no more than ten minutes before sensors would be able to isolate it, but he estimated that his new adaptation would give him about twelve minutes to get aboard before the shuttle was detected.  He planned to activate it just before arriving at his destination in time.  The temporal coordinate he'd set was for three hours before he'd originally found the necrozine.  That was how long he'd allowed for making preparations and getting into position.  He didn't want to arrive any earlier than that because the time station's security forces might locate him before he could gather the evidence he needed.  He expected to arrive at Epoch within a quarter of an hour.  An unexpected beep from the communication system alerted him to the fact that his ship was being hailed.  In despair at being detected he answered the call.
To his surprise a holographic image of Luke's face appeared.  "Welcome back to 2509 my friend!"
William was ecstatic with sudden hope.  "Luke!  It's good to see you again!  What's been happening?  When are you calling from?"
"The temporal coordinate for me right now is 25090428-1226, so set your ship to arrive half an hour later than that and we'll be ready for you.  Be careful though, we've had reports of Gultorian scout parties in the area lately.  We've convicted Tylvius with some evidence I managed to acquire.  His sentence will be carried out in two days."
"What's his punishment?" William asked.
Solemnly Luke replied, "Temporal execution."
William was relieved to be cleared but had no delight in Tylvius' punishment, despite the suffering he'd been through because of the man.  Temporal execution was a particularly nasty form of death.  He reset the coordinates to arrive at the time that Luke specified.
"All charges against you have been dropped, your record's clean, your access codes have been restored, and you've been reinstated at your previous rank.  Congratulations, Will," Luke said, delighted to be bearing such good news.
"Thanks.  I'll see you shortly," William said and closed communication.  He took several deep breaths as he appreciated that it was finally all over.  In a matter of minutes he reached the right point in time and was piloting through space towards Epoch.
A shrill alarm broke his sense of well being as the ship's sensors detected two Gultorian scout ships closing in on him swiftly.  He scrambled over the controls increasing the ship's speed and arming the weapons as the Gultorian ships began firing.  William's small time vessel shook violently, and he was roughly thrown from his seat, as several bursts of energy impacted the hull in rapid succession.  He was appreciative that this model of time shuttle had a stronger hull than his old one, but really it only meant that it would take the Gultorians a little longer to kill him.  While rolling the manual guidance ball in an intricate evasive pattern, he returned fire at the nearest ship.  Through the window he saw a number of bright blue flashes of energy shoot from his ship's cannons and tear into the nearest enemy's hull.  However, the enemy ships were significantly larger and more powerful than his, not to mention better armoured, and he knew he couldn't hold out for long.  He grabbed onto the console for support as enemy fire struck the hull loudly, right above the cockpit, knocking him off course.  Fortunately that shot didn't cause a breach, having been a glancing hit, but another one would.  The ship restabilised and he resumed an evasive flight path, all the while heading in the general direction of Epoch.  He had no intention of throwing in the towel in this fight, especially now that he'd been cleared, but he knew that regardless of how well he handled the weapons and guided the ship, the small vessel wasn't going to survive long enough against these aliens for him to make it to the station.


Chapter 11:  The Truth About Kyomi

The whole ship lurched repeatedly as dozens more shots ripped through the stern section.  The Gultorians were targeting the engine room.  There was an explosion followed by a sudden rush of air as the ship began to depressurise.  Working swiftly, William activated the force field across the engine room doorway.  The lights on the cockpit displays flickered as the ship's power systems were disrupted.  The sensors showed that the spatial engines were beginning to overload.  Power to the weapon system went offline.  Fortunately the force field remained steady, although William had no idea how much longer it would last.  With no power to weapons, he had only a few shots left with the energy stored in the firing capacitors.  He waited until one of the enemy vessels passed directly in front of him and then fired a few shots.  One missed, the others did negligible damage.
The two Gultorian ships suddenly broke off their attack as a much larger Temporal Security starship arrived on the scene and began firing, its weapons more than a match for them.  The enemy ships left the vicinity at top speed.  The vampire was hailed by the new arrivals.
"This is Captain James Peterson in command of the time ship Marseille.  Commander Herschel, our sensors indicate an overload in your engines.  Are you able to correct it?"
"I'm afraid not, that section's inaccessible," William replied.  He knew Captain Peterson to be the grandson of a well known Admiral Peterson, whom Admiral Rivette had once served under.
Captain Peterson briefly conversed with a member of his crew and then returned his attention to William.  "I've got a couple people suiting up to receive you in the launch bay.  Try to dock."
"You won't have time to repel this ship before it explodes if I make a landing," William objected.  "Have the launch bay doors open.  I'll suit up and jump across."
"Understood," The captain closed communication.
William left the cockpit and his heart sank as he realised that the bio-suit he needed was kept in a storage locker in the decompressed engine room.  Looking through the hatch's little window he could see the other ship lining up.  Their launch bay was open and he could see two figures wearing bio-suits waiting for him.  He tried to recall the zero pressure procedure, something he'd never really thought he'd need to know, until now.  Through the force field he could see sparks shooting around inside the engine room.  It was imperative for him to leave the ship immediately.  His shuttle was in the shadow of the much larger Marseille, so at least he'd be out of the untempered sunlight.  Instead he had the dead cold to worry about.  Trying to stay calm, he took a few fast deep breaths and then exhaled completely, so that there wouldn't be enough air pressure in his lungs to burst his body open.  He touched the control that opened the hatch.  With great force, the air blowing out of the ship propelled him forward.  His last glimpse before he closed his eyes tightly reassured him that he was indeed heading towards the waiting crewmen of the Marseille.  Once he was clear of the hatch he curled into a tight ball, squeezing his muscles with all of his strength, his thumbs plugged into his ears so that the vacuum didn't rupture his eardrums.  Within a couple of seconds he was free floating in the vacuum of empty space as the outrush of air from the shuttle dissipated.  He was drifting towards the ship that he dared not look at until he was in an atmosphere again for fear of his eyes being permanently damaged.  Despite the fact that he'd exhaled, his lungs felt like they were about to burst, as did the rest of his body.  A piercing cold sensation was surrounding and penetrating his entire being as if he was being stabbed all over by sharp shards of ice, and even though his vampire body was physically stronger than a human's it still felt as though every capillary under his skin was haemorrhaging.  In space there was no sound to reveal how close he was to the people waiting to catch him, and the few seconds of agony felt like unending minutes.  It was a pain the like of which he'd never known before, and it was constantly increasing.  Then finally he felt the anticipated hands grab him.  Moments later air was restored to the launch bay, and sound with it.  He was so cold that he couldn't even uncurl let alone respond to the people around him.  His breathing was in short spasms that matched his shivering.  He felt a CV injector touch his neck and at last his muscles began to relax.  Now that he was safe he allowed himself to slip into the welcome embrace of unconsciousness.
William was rushed to the ship's medical unit where several doctors scurried around him.  Some closely monitored different aspects of his condition while others worked on warming his blood.  They also infused him with fresh vampire blood from a donor on board who'd been summoned.
Several hours later he awoke, and the first thing he noticed was the unique clinical smell of a medical facility.  He opened his eyes and looked around to find himself in the spacious medical unit on Epoch, lying on one of a parallel line of treatment beds.  Deep inside himself he could feel the vampire thirst as his body craved the nutrients of blood to heal itself, but it wasn't so strong that he couldn't ignore it.  His body still felt sore all over, and it felt like his blood was boiling beneath his skin.  He looked at his hands.  His blistered skin was healing.  He decided not to do space jumping without a bio-suit ever again.  Looking around he saw Luke, Larissa, Admiral Rivette and a very pretty young Korean woman wearing the white jacket of a doctor hurrying towards him.
"Will, how are you feeling?" Luke asked, concerned.
In a slightly croaky voice William answered, "Fine.  Seems like I haven't seen you in about thirty years, if being left to rot in an Egyptian tomb counts!  I feel like I'm burning up."
"That's because the doctors used diluted Orsekin wasp venom to warm your blood.  You'll probably feel the urge to drink blood for a while.  For a vampire it's a perfectly natural healing response to poison in the bloodstream, even in small quantities."
"Orsekin wasp?"
"It's a large flying insect that lives on Orsekin.  Being an icy planet, the animal life is suited to living in the cold.  The venom warms the bitten animal's blood beyond its tolerance inducing hyperpyrexia, and the animal dies a short while later.  The wasp then lays its eggs in the body and the young eat their way out."
"Well it's certainly good to see you too, Professor!" William said, smiling just for the fact that he was back in his own time.  He noticed that Larissa was holding onto his hand with a worried look, even after the doctor reassured her that he'd be fine by the next day.
"I'm glad you could make it back to us, young man," Admiral Rivette said with a smile.  "And I feel I must apologise for having doubted you."
William looked up at him.  "Thank you, sir.  How were you able to pin Tylvius?"
"I'll leave that for your friend Luke to explain.  It was really all his doing," The admiral said.
"Doctor Yeung, when can he leave medical?" Luke asked the attractive physician.
"I'll release him tomorrow.  I recommend that he rest until then, his body's been through quite a shock," she answered in a soft voice.
"Will, let me know as soon as you're out of here, I'll give you a full update then," Luke said.
"I will.  Hey, thanks for everything."
"Don't mention it," Luke said, slapping William's arm with manly affection before leaving the room.
Larissa let go of William's hand and silently left with Admiral Rivette.
As the door closed behind them William asked the doctor, "How long will it be before my skin heals?"
"If you were human it would take a couple of days with treatment, but being a vampire it should be healed naturally by the time I discharge you tomorrow."  She came over to him holding a CV injector, which she pressed against his arm just above the wrist.  "This is a subcutaneous regenerative combined with a mild synthetic prostaglandin that's been designed specifically for vampire physiology.  It should control any inflammation and make you more comfortable so you can rest."
"Thanks."
"While you were away I heard about you being buried in that tomb in a comatose state for twenty eight years, and I've got to say that it's a miracle you survived.  Medically speaking, you should've died in about half that time.  I'm sorry if talking about it disturbs you, I just can't help being fascinated by it."
"It's quite alright.  Actually, while I was in there I could've sworn that I was visited by a couple of people.  I thought I must've hallucinated them, but in hindsight I think they might've put oxygen in the air from a tank and given me nutrients intravenously.  I'd hoped someone here might be able to tell me who they were so that I could thank them."
"To my knowledge no one was sent to you in exile.  Perhaps your friend Luke knows more about it, or maybe the admiral.  For now you need to get some rest," the doctor said.  William nodded and rested his head on the pillow.
The doctor turned and started to leave his bedside.  Thinking quickly William said, "Doctor Yeung, since we're both stuck in here tonight, perhaps you'd join me for dinner?" Right after he said it he realised that he couldn't look too impressive, sprawled out on a medical bed with blistered skin.  At least he'd been left wearing his uniform, so he still had some dignity.
The doctor turned back to him with a pleasant smile, the first significantly emotional response she'd exhibited since he regained consciousness.  "Actually my shift ends in twenty minutes so I'm afraid I won't be here."  Despite her decline it was evident that she was flattered by the offer.  Before she left she added, "But please, call me Elara."
William was disappointed that he'd failed to get a dinner date, but at the same time he was delighted to be on a first name basis with her.  He touched a bedside control and the lights above his bed dimmed.
The next morning when William awoke his skin had completely healed and he felt on top of the world.  Doctor Yeung walked up to him with a bio-scanner and took a few readings, and also checked a three dimensional holographic statistical display that was projected from square plate by the head of his bed, where numerous spikes pulsed up and down across its surface at different rates, some for current and average heartbeat regularity and blood pressure, others for different aspects of brain activity, etcetera.
"Everything looks fine.  You're healing well, and your vitals look normal," she informed him.
"Thank you, Elara."  William said.  He was pleased when a slight smile crossed her face as he said her name.
"Lieutenant Commander Hawking sent a message for you.  He said he'd be at Green Tim's for lunch and hoped you'd join him and Larissa Rivette there."
"What time is it now?"
"0952 hours.  I also have a fresh uniform here for you and a multi-com that's already been programmed.  And your quarters have been cleaned."  When the doctor had recited the messages she excused herself.  "I'd love to stay and hear more about your recent adventures but I have a number of other patients at the moment.  You should stop by sometime."
"I certainly will," William promised as he climbed off the bed.  The doctor walked over to one of the other patients a few beds along and began to examine her.  William grabbed his things from his bedside table and left the medical unit, activating his multi-com device as he exited.  First he went to his quarters, and found them unusually spotless.  His rooms had never been terribly messy, but sometimes there were clothes, books and dinner plates, et cetera, left lying around until the next day, or occasionally the day after that.  Several shelves of artefacts he'd accumulated from his many missions to other times and other planets decorated the main room, and he wished he'd been able to include the robe from Nerahom among them.
He had a shower before reviewing the data collected from the station's monitoring of his exile.  He noticed in the log of the mission to prevent him from creating the alternate timeline that Fleet Admiral Morgan had authorised it, just as the commander had said.  He was unwilling to dismiss the possibility that Morgan was in some way affiliated with Tylvius and the necrozine smuggling.  He also started to wonder what either of them could gain by smuggling a narcotic to another point in time.
After spending the next couple of hours getting up-to-date on what he'd missed during what was a month on Epoch, he put on his crimson commander's jacket and made his way to deck 38.  When he arrived there he had to squeeze his way through a thick crowd to get to Green Tim's.  Once there he pushed through an even thicker crowd, occasionally being stopped for a moment by someone congratulating him for his return.  Aside from the dining tables there were many tall bar tables with people standing around them, drinking and chatting.  As he continued through the crowd a bent old man bumped into him.  William automatically muttered an apology, not that it could be heard in such a busy place.  He took a couple more steps and paused.  There was something out of place about the old man, and oddly familiar.  He turned to look for him again but he was nowhere to be seen.  Probably disappeared into the crowd, William guessed.  He had a momentary image in his mind of the old man he'd seen walking across the street in the dream he'd had about Arnold some time ago, and then a brief recollection of the old man with the younger woman who'd visited him in the tomb, but it couldn't possibly be the same man.  The one in the Arnold dream had been some distance away from the boy, and he hadn't been able to properly focus on the one in the tomb in his delirious state, so he was probably just getting them confused because they all happened to be old.  Passing it off, he kept looking for Luke.
Having finally spotted his friend, he made his way to the table where Luke was seated.  When Luke noticed him he stood up.
"Good to see you on your feet!" Luke said as he greeted his vampire friend by clasping right hands while embracing with their left arms.
"Luke, I can't thank you enough.  I've spent nearly thirty years in a tomb, fought in ancient battles, travelled to an alternative timeline, and it's only been a month for you!" William turned his chair backwards before sitting down with his friend, resting his arms on top of the backrest.
"For what it's worth you don't look any older.  I was actually monitoring most of your travels.  It was certainly interesting!" Luke said, smiling, but it was evident that he still had something on his mind.
William realised he was missing a lot of answers, and now he could finally ask the questions.  "Do you know anything about two people visiting me while I was buried in the tomb?  A woman and an older man?  They didn't come in through the tomb's entrance, because it was sealed the whole time I was in there, so whoever it was had to have gone there with some sort of spatial-temporal transference device."
Luke gave him a curious look.  "Are you sure?  I've reviewed all of the scans of your progress in exile, and no one else was detected in your vicinity in the tomb, and we picked up no temporal readings from there at any point."  Giving it some consideration, he added, "You don't suppose it might've been Larissa and Admiral Rivette?  After all, you did say a woman with an older bloke.  Who else do you know that fits that description who'd have the means of getting there?"
"Even in a semi-delirious state I'm sure I would've recognised them.  I wasn't able to see the people clearly, but I know it definitely wasn't either of them."
"And they haven't left the station the whole time you were gone.  I've kept track of all comings and goings, so I'd know if they'd been on any of the ships," Luke said with certainty.
"What if they used the temporal transference platform to send themselves straight there and erased the temporal scanner logs afterwards?" William asked, purely for the sake of contradicting him for his own amusement.
Luke hadn't considered that possibility.  Not wanting to be outdone, he thought quickly, and realised the obvious answer.  "That would only send them there.  They'd still have to take a ship to get back to Epoch.  You said that the tomb remained sealed until you were dug out, so even if they did use temporal transference to get in there, they wouldn't have been able to get out."  He leaned back in his chair with a grin, satisfied that he'd got the upper hand in their repartee.
"I don't know what you're looking so smug for, you're the one who suggested that it was them in the first place," William said, and Luke's grin vanished.
"Alright then, let's suppose for a moment that those two people were real, and were able to get into the tomb by temporal transference.  How did they get out again?"
William had to admit that he didn't have a plausible answer.  He'd hoped to finally get an answer about the mysterious beings from Luke, but according to evidence and reason there was no explanation for how they could've really been there at all.  Changing the subject, he said, "I had another thought while I was away.  You know how on a rare occasion Jidai's time field has gone down?"
"Yeah, that's why they built Epoch in the first place.  But now those infrequent occasions have affected both stations simultaneously on more than one occasion.  The science division concluded that it could be an anomaly caused by fluctuations in the fabric of time itself, though there's no pattern to the malfunctions."
"It occurred to me that someone might've been disabling the stations' time fields to give them a window of opportunity to send necrozine through time, since during those occasions Temporal Security wouldn't be aware of being affected by any historical change that might happen as a result of it."
Luke thought about it for a few moments.  "I don't think it's possible for someone on one station to knock out the time fields of both simultaneously.  Besides, those field disruptions have been going on intermittently since Jidai was first built, and there's not a single person on either station who's served aboard for even half that time.  Not to mention that the most recent one was several years ago.  I don't think this has any connection to it.  To be perfectly honest, I'm more inclined to go with the science division's explanation on that one."
William had to agree that it sounded unlikely when Luke put it that way.  "So how did Larissa know about the Sirius rockworm blood?  It had a permanent effect.  The science division's been trying to come up with a way to protect vampires from sunlight for years, and she knew how all along.  Where is she, by the way?"
"She'll be here soon, so if we're going to talk about her we'd better make it quick.  Even though it's not the most romantic of places, she and the admiral went to the Sirius system for their honeymoon, so she must've got hold of the rockworm blood then.  For all we know that's why she chose that location.  I've ascertained that she arrived in her pod from the future, with her memory intact."
"Why pretend to have amnesia?" William asked, confused.
"My guess is so that whoever was working against you wouldn't consider her a threat if they ever found out about her," Luke said, "enabling her to do what she needed to, unsuspected.  But don't worry, she's on our side."
"Here she comes," William said as he noticed her approaching, implying that they should change the subject.
"...and so while the biologists were trying to increase the mental capacity of bumble bees…" Luke began once she was within earshot.
"Gentlemen, I can guess what you were really talking about, so no need to pretend," Larissa said when she got to the table.  As true gentlemen Luke and William stood and offered her a chair.  They only took their seats again when she was seated, though William kept his chair turned backwards.  A faint smile crossed her lips, as if the sight of William back in full health and safely aboard the station alleviated a hidden anxiety.  "Yes, I'm from the future.  But I'll say no more than that."
"Then why did you come to this time?  And when exactly did you come from?"  William's curiosity was burning.
"Will, you know the principal law of time as well as I do.  I can reveal nothing further.  Suffice it to say that my purpose has now, for the most part, been accomplished.  I haven't been briefed on the finer details, so in all likelihood most of the facts that we turn up from this point on will be new to me too."  Larissa was startled by a shout of excitement from behind her.
"There he is!"
All three looked up to see Green Tim, the Resurian-human hybrid who owned the establishment that they were dining in.  He was evidently happy to see William again, with his green reptilian skin pulled into a tight smile.  William stood to meet him and was pulled into a crushing embrace.
"I've heard about some of the things you've been through lately.  Mind you, I hear about everything, with all of the officers that dine here.  It's good to see that you made it back.  So, what'll it be?  Blue haemohol?" Tim offered.
"No, I've decided to give it up actually," William said, permanently deterred by thoughts of the wine-sodden Jagartac.  "But I'd love an iced chocolate and a Timburger with the lot."
"I'll make you the best one you've ever had," Tim promised jovially.  Taking Luke and Larissa's orders as well, he hurried away to the kitchen with a bounce in his step.
To Larissa, William suggested, "Perhaps you should make the knowledge of the Sirius rockworm blood available to all vampires serving in Temporal Security."
"I'm in favour of that!" Luke said with surprising enthusiasm.
William gave him a questioning look.  Being a vampire he could distinguish another of his kind, and Luke hadn't become one while he was away.  When he looked at Larissa he could tell that she was a vampire by the finer details of her iris, the smoother texture of her skin, and her gracefully adroit movements and gestures that stemmed naturally from enhanced mental acuity.  Luke displayed no such indications.
Savouring the moment, Luke said, "I'm going in for the operation tomorrow night, and I've already applied to be on the new Vampire Elite Squad that's being organised."
William was astounded.  He was completely unaware that his friend had any interest in becoming a vampire.  He surmised that Luke only considered it now with the possibility of eliminating the greatest characteristic weakness of vampirism.  "Well, congratulations, I guess."
"I took the liberty of signing you up for it too, so we'll be able to serve together."
William was about to automatically object, but he considered the possibility for a moment before replying, "That actually sounds like an interesting idea.  We'll probably be sent to all kinds of interesting times and places."
Luke breathed a sigh of relief.  For a moment he was worried that he'd made a presumptuous mistake.  "Oh, I almost forgot.  Research has progressed regarding the idea of compact engine cells with spatial rift amplifiers that you submitted to the science division a while back.  They said it's quite promising.  They also said that even if it doesn't work, the knowledge they've gained from their research and experiments based on the concepts has already been worth it."
"That's great," William said.  "I'll have to look into their progress."
"What's this spatial rift amplifier idea?" Larissa asked.
William explained, "It's a much more compact and also more powerful design of engine cell, specifically for smaller craft, like the time pod you arrived in.  They're generally short-range pods because their spatial engines are small and have a very low output.  They're capable of travelling through time to any era, but the engine isn't powerful enough to get them across space very quickly.  So to go to a distant point in history it would take a hell of a long time to get to the area of space where the planet was in its galactic orbit that long ago.  My compact engine cell design can theoretically produce the thrust of a normal starship-class cell while being the size of an escape pod's cell.  In theory it should still create a rift large enough to envelope a regular sized starship.  With the spatial rift amplifiers it increases the rift's strength while at the same time focussing it down to the size of a pod's rift to amplify its intensity further."
Larissa nodded thoughtfully.  "So in addition to being an already amplified rift, concentrating it into a smaller area makes it more powerful still, like focussing sunlight through a magnifying glass."
"If it works, the pod should then be able to travel faster than a full-sized starship.  And with a time drive as well, it could go pretty much anywhere and any-when.  Hopefully it can be adapted to shuttles for the longer journeys, because I'm sure no one wants to be stuck standing inside a capsule for a journey of more than a couple of hours."
Larissa appeared to understand the explanation easily enough.  William had always been impressed with her intelligence.
Green Tim returned bearing a tray with their dishes on it.  William was certainly impressed by the size of his Timburger with chips on the side.  Even his iced chocolate seemed to be in a bigger glass than usual.  In fact all of their meals were very generous servings, larger than any of them were likely to finish.  Larissa had a chicken salad with a glass of juice, and Luke had a thick steak with mashed potato and gravy.  The trio expressed their thanks and Tim slipped away with an appreciative smile.
"Oh, before I forget, the time scan was accessed from a service passage using your access codes before the Marseille actually brought you aboard the station," Luke informed him.
"That's strange," William said, curious.
"Certainly is.  Your codes were only reactivated recently.  There are enough safeguards in place that even Fleet Admiral Morgan shouldn't be able to log in under your name."
"What data was brought up?"
"The specific details were erased, but the time scan's log indicated that the scan was directed at the fourth century AD.  I'm looking into it for you."
"Thanks.  I'd be interested to know who it was," William said, as he picked up a couple of chips and reached over to Luke's plate, using the chips to scoop up a lump of his friend's mashed potato and gravy.
"Me too.  They managed to erase their life sign from the internal sensor log."
"Do you think it's connected with what's been going on?"
"We won't know that unless we manage to find out who did it," Luke answered, helping himself to few of William's chips.
Five minutes later the group was joined by Admiral Rivette, who'd actually managed to spot them through the crowd.  He was holding a glass mug of a murky purple alien tea that had a mist coming off the top rather than steam.  He sat beside Larissa.  Before he could voice any greetings they were also joined by Colin Finch, who found them by chance while he was looking for somewhere to sit.  Colin hesitated nervously upon seeing the admiral in their group, the chastisement for being late a couple of times still fresh in his mind, but he relaxed when the admiral insisted smilingly that Colin should sit with them, which he did.  But with so many people in the place he had a hard time trying to get the attention of a waiter.
A casually dressed young African woman stopped for a moment as she was passing William's seat, and put her hand on his shoulder to get his attention.  "It's good to see that you made it back safely, Will," she said in a gentle voice.
William smiled up at Patricia Malawi, who was almost a year younger than him, and who was also a prominent young commander.  "Thanks Patricia.  Care to join us?"
Her glance around the table showed that she wanted to sit with him, just not with so many other people.  "I've got some friends waiting for me at another table," she declined.  "But I'll see you around."  She walked away with a final glance back at William.
William noticed Luke looking at him with a grin, his eyebrow raised in either curiosity or amusement.  Larissa's gaze on the other hand was following Patricia disapprovingly.  Everyone else seemed indifferent.
A few moments later, Colin asked the group, "So is anyone going to tell me that helium story?  Laurence mentioned it earlier but didn't give me any details, though he did say it wasn't something that Wallace was terribly keen to stay and chat about."
William and Luke exchanged a glance with each other, then glanced at Larissa, but remained silent.  It was one of their more immature stunts of mischief that had happened years ago, one that a mature person would never expect to work, let alone even think of in the first place.  They certainly didn't want it voiced in female company, even though Larissa had already heard numerous tales of their mischief from her husband.
Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Admiral Rivette decided to offer the explanation.  "It happened when William and Luke were less than six months out of the academy, about eight years ago.  You've probably noticed how similar these two are.  They have a brotherly bond.  They've been tight for as long as I've known them.  They're even about the same height.  They and Wallace were at odds from the start.  One day they'd overheard Wallace saying something unkind and humiliating about Laurence Hartley and took it upon themselves to get revenge.  Wallace was several years older, a lieutenant commander at that time, already with a high opinion of himself.  He took a smaller ship with a crew of twenty to Ganymede for a training exercise, and it was on his way back that these two played their practical joke from one of Epoch's unused communication rooms.  They inhaled some helium and made an audio call to Wallace's ship with their changed squeaky voices, claiming to be aliens who'd taken over the station.  What was the name you claimed your species was?"
With embarrassment Luke said, looking down at the table, "Zorkels."
"Ah, that's right," the admiral said, casually sipping his tea.
Luke wasn't convinced he'd really forgotten, but that he was trying to stir up a little extra embarrassment, which he succeeded in doing.  Out of the corner of his eye he noticed that William looked very awkward too.  Occasionally he was glancing at Larissa to gauge her reaction, which was one of quiet amusement, more at their discomfort than for the story.
After letting William and Luke cringe inwardly for a few more moments while he took another sip of tea, the admiral continued.  "They were hoping for Wallace to make a fool of himself by boarding the station in an attempt to retake it.  However, he wasn't on the bridge of his ship at the time the call was received.  A young and particularly gullible ensign on the bridge, believing what he'd heard, panicked and activated the ship's emergency alert system.  Acting on protocol, the entire crew, including Wallace, had to leave whatever they were doing immediately and report to their stations.  Unfortunately for Wallace he was on the toilet at the time, an awkward situation to say the least.  When he found out that it was a false alarm he was quite irate, even more so by his crew's involuntary reactions to his… aroma, he having not had time to… sufficiently tidy up his affairs in his haste."  The admiral was clearly amused by his own choice of words.  "When I received the report I had little difficulty in figuring out whose mischief it was.  After all, who else would've done something like that?  And to this day I still don't know where they obtained the helium in the first place."
Both William and Luke would certainly have preferred the story not to have been told in front of Larissa, and certainly not in such a public place since several people near their table had paused in their own conversations to hear the tale.  Due to most people sharing their dislike of Wallace they received a number of appreciative and congratulatory comments as the crowd dispersed.
Colin thought the joke was great and could picture Wallace scrambling from the loo with a lot of satisfaction.  He couldn't wait to talk to Laurence about it.  But he couldn't help but wonder if the two friends were now planning an embarrassing revenge on him for being the one who brought it up.
William and Luke finished their meals in silence while Larissa watched them with a faint smile.  Surprisingly, William managed to finish his Timburger, though only just, leaving only a scattering of chips on his plate.  Handling the enormous burger had been a pretty messy operation, and he'd ended up with the sauces all over his hands.  Even after cleaning them with his serviette they were still a bit sticky, so he rubbed them down the side of his cold glass to gather the condensation with which to do a more effective job of it.  He looked up at the group to see them all watching him.
"That's an unusual way of doing it," Larissa commented.
"Our William's an unusual man," Luke said while still chewing half a mouthful of steak.  "He's even been known to iron a shirt while he's wearing it."
Larissa raised her eyebrows, intrigued.  Admiral Rivette rolled his eyes, unsurprised.  Colin wasn't sure what to make of it.
*

The next morning William reported in for his first day back on duty.  Everyone greeted him warmly like a celebrity.  He spent the morning directing scans of the timeline for unauthorised activity and reviewing reports of the station's operation and maintenance.  In the early afternoon he received a message on his multi-com device reminding all personnel who were to be present at Tylvius' execution that it would be held in one hour.  He returned to his quarters to prepare himself mentally.  He knew exactly what temporal execution entailed and that it would be disturbing to watch.  A short time later there was a soft chime from his doorbell.  Answering the door he found Luke, Larissa and Admiral Rivette waiting to accompany him to the place of Tylvius' final moments.  Together they solemnly went to deck 82 without speaking.
The execution chamber was an amphitheatre with an upright cylindrical cell as the main focus, which the prisoner would be placed inside.  The cell was partially embedded into the wall so that only two-thirds of it protruded.  The part that stood out from the wall was transparent and the circular area inside had a diameter of little over two metres.  Above the cell was an array of advanced technology that had several displays for functional statistics.  At the moment the system was on standby.  A number of people were already present and had taken their places, patiently waiting for the unpleasant ceremony to begin.
"I've never been to an execution before, what's going to happen?" Larissa asked her husband softly.
"The prisoner will be placed in that cell and a time field will surround it, within which time will be accelerated exponentially," Admiral Rivette replied.
"So he'll be accelerated to old age and then death?"
"No, not quite.  From his perspective time will feel like it's moving normally, and we would appear to him to be moving exponentially slowly.  Not that he'll be able to see us; the lights out here will be off at that time.  He doesn't have any supplies to last until he's old.  As far as he's concerned he'll spend a week or two alone in there with no food or water during which he'll starve to death.  In combination with being able to see nothing outside, he'll probably go insane long before the moment of death.  The time field will be left on until he begins to decompose.  It's rather cruel and undignified in my opinion," the admiral said with distaste, "but the punishments have to be so severe and involve a lot of suffering to dissuade people from tampering with history for their own purposes."
"What if the criminal was a vampire?  Wouldn't they just become comatose?" Larissa asked.
"In their situation we would use the same procedure, but they wouldn't become comatose in the same way that happened to Will in Egypt because the oxygen supply would still be on.  They would be left in there for what would be years to them, starving until they wither away.  At the end they would be injected in the heart with the venom of the Rakalian Latrodectus spider to ensure that complete death has occurred.  It's a poison so strong that it would even kill a healthy older vampire in about thirty seconds."
"It sounds like the vampire criminals are worse off then.  Their suffering would last much longer."
The admiral nodded.  "It would be like a living death."
Over the next few minutes the amphitheatre filled with people.  Admiral Rivette took his place next to the cell where he would preside over the event.  William and another commander stood either side of him.  In one hand the admiral held a bio-scanner ready.  He touched a control on his multi-com and a split appeared down the middle of the cell's transparent front.  The two halves separated and slid back along the cell's curvature, opening the confinement area.  When everyone was present and settled the admiral raised his hand indicating the commencement of the ceremony.  The low murmuring of the crowd's hushed conversations died down into silence.  The admiral then touched the face of his multi-com device and said, "Bring in the prisoner."
The entrance doors opened to reveal Tylvius struggling against six escorting guards as they dragged him to the cell shouting and cursing.  Now dressed in the plain grey two-piece outfit of a convicted prisoner, he was brought to the cell.  The admiral used the bio-scanner to confirm the prisoner's identity with a genetic recognition scan as was standard procedure.  It had been known for people to substitute someone else in their place, usually by threatening their family, and use a detailed mask or surgery to make the replacement look like the prisoner.  After analysing Tylvius' DNA the omniscanner showed a positive genetic match.  The admiral nodded in confirmation to William that no substitution had been made.
William stood to attention as his superior carried out the formal speech.
"John Tylvius, you have been pronounced guilty of violating the laws that govern the use of time travel technology.  You will now be punished in accordance with the law.  Have you anything to say before the sentence is carried out?"
Tylvius glared at William as he spat the words, "It's not over yet, vampire!"
The admiral gestured for the guards to put the prisoner into the cell.  Tylvius thrashed about wildly as he fought to stay out of the cell, but the guards soon beat him into submission and threw him inside.  The admiral immediately resealed the transparent cell.  The split was completely gone, leaving no trace that it could even be opened.  Inside, Tylvius jumped to his feet and began banging on the door, inaudibly shouting in protest within the soundproof cell.
As William and those with him moved off to their seats around the room he noticed that Fleet Admiral Morgan wasn't present.  Usually the fleet admiral would be the one presiding at such an event.  This only strengthened in William's mind the possibility that Morgan could be affiliated with Tylvius, despite it being a suspicion without any tangible evidence.  He also noticed Wallace's absence.  When everyone was in their places the lights slowly dimmed into blackness.  The only light now was that which lit the cell's interior.
Admiral Rivette made an adjustment to his multi-com device, then touched the screen and said with finality, "Execute!" Immediately the technology above the cell powered up and the time field activated.
Inside the cell Tylvius could still be seen marching back and forth shouting at the audience he could no longer see.  Then his movement sped up until he became a blur flailing around the cell.  On a display above the cell there was a readout showing how much time had passed for Tylvius.  A couple of days for him took less than a minute outside, and time was continually accelerating within the cell.  Tylvius' movements appeared to be a flurry of pacing, sitting, banging on the transparent front of the cell, and lying down intermittently.
William found it curious that there were a number of fleeting moments when the prisoner appeared to be banging on the back wall of the cell.  William figured that he must've been doing so for quite a while each time, for it to be visible for even a fraction of a second to anyone watching.  He guessed it to be the insanity taking hold.  After a short time Tylvius stopped moving and lay on the floor of the cell motionless.  Everyone present watched with a mixture of horror and fascination as the body in the cell began to waste away before their eyes.  The flesh withered until the skin clung to the bones.
Admiral Rivette again touched his multi-com device and said, "Deactivate."
The counter above the cell stopped at two years eight months as the time field shut down.  For most of that time the body had been withering and drying out.  Such was the impact of the experience that no one was really sure how long they'd been there watching.  The lighting in the room slowly returned to normal and the audience began to disperse.  A few people remained, however, to witness the removal of the body.  Two doctors wearing white jackets entered guiding an anti-grav bed, which they lifted the body onto.  Tylvius' face was a permanent mask of torment, his mouth tightly shut in a grimace of despairing anguish, while his shrivelled but open eyes still held a glare of defiance.  The doctors took the body out of the room towards the launch bay.  There they would place it in a self-propelled coffin and launch it into space where a basic guidance system would lead it into the sun.
Everyone else left the room of execution except for William and Luke.
"He said, 'It's not over yet', even though it clearly was for him," Luke commented.
"It's not over," William said.  "I'm sure there's another of them.  When I was in Egypt I saw another person dressed in a similar robe, but theirs was black.  Tylvius couldn't have gone to Egypt or Altehuanala without being missed, so it must be someone whose absence wouldn't be noticed or questioned."
"I had a suspicion that there was another one as well.  I discovered some interesting readings in an area that Tylvius went to several times, though he had no business being in that section.  I believe it was a rendezvous point for receiving instructions.  Whoever we're looking for may not even be someone in the vicinity of our time, which would make them harder to locate and identify, especially if they have future knowledge of what we're doing now."
"We'll have to examine that area when we've got some time to spare," William said.  "Don't you have to go in for your operation soon?"
"Yes, in an hour and a half."
"I wonder what you'll be like as a vampire," William said thoughtfully.
He found out when he went to the medical unit the next day, when Luke's transformation was complete and stabilised.  Luke sat on the side of a medical bed, and looked as he'd never looked before.  He'd shaved off his goatee before the operation, and the skin of his face was now perfectly smooth and unblemished.  His blue irises looked more vivid.  Even his blonde hair had a new lustre.
"Looks like I've got some competition, you're almost as good looking as me now!" William commented as he sat on the bed beside his friend.
"Well, let's put that to the test!" Luke replied with a mischievous smile.  He called out, "Doctor Yeung…"
William frantically and silently signalled for his friend to stop but without success.  Elara entered the room and said, "What can I do for you, Lieutenant Commander?"
"Will and I were just wondering which of us you think makes a better looking vampire."  Luke's recent operation had clearly not imbued him with a sense of discretion.
Doctor Yeung studied each of them in turn with a mock smile of contemplation before answering, "I've always liked blondes better!" as she looked at William, enjoying the moment of gently teasing him.
Luke smiled with satisfaction.  He bared his new fangs and faked biting the doctor, who waved him away with a soft giggle.  William inadvertently shuddered with the memory of what such an act was really like, and the regrettable consequence that had stemmed from it.  Though it was a natural thing for a vampire, in his mind it was still the most unnatural thing he could think of.
"Come on, you two, out!  Play time's over," Elara said with a smile.
The two vampires left the medical unit and William noticed that Luke was staring at the wall displays along the station's passages as though intrigued by them.  He understood what his friend was going through.  He remembered doing the same sort of thing for weeks with his newly sharpened sight when he'd become a vampire.  They were about to enter a lift to go to the temporal scanning room when both of their multi-com devices gave a soft beep.  Simultaneously they answered their calls.
"I'd like to see you both in the briefing room in fifteen minutes for your first Vampire Elite Squad mission," said the tiny image of Admiral Rivette on their screens.
"Understood, Admiral," Luke responded, and their screens went blank.  As they continued on their way, he said to William, "This is exciting, isn't it?"
William smiled, sharing his friend's anticipation, although now that he was finally back he wasn't looking forward to leaving again.  But duty calls, he thought.  "Have you got hold of any rockworm blood yet?" he asked.
"Not yet, it's still a secret for now, but Larissa said to see her before I go on a mission.  She's already used it on herself a while back to be sure it works before you took it," Luke said.
When they entered the briefing room Admiral Rivette greeted them.  "Please come in.  We're still waiting for someone."  He introduced a vampire that was standing with him.  She was a young-looking attractive brunette with her shoulder-length hair hanging loose, whose jacket was a dark shade of orange.  "Allow me to introduce Senior Lieutenant Cerah O'Neil."
Cerah confidently shook the two by the hand.  "I've heard a lot about both of you," she said with a smooth voice that portrayed confidence and a strong will.
"Well I hope that what you've heard is good, we'd hate for you to know the truth!" William said jokingly.  More seriously he said to the admiral, "I'd like to do a detailed scan of the Altehuanala area.  There was something strange happening around the time that I was present."
"Actually, that's why you're here now.  I'll explain during the briefing," the admiral said mysteriously.  "Please have a seat."
The three vampires already present took their places around a large black circular table with a highly polished surface.  It was big enough to accommodate ten people quite comfortably.  William and Luke both turned their chairs around and sat on them backwards.  The low backrests were the right height for them to fold their arms and lean on.  The admiral looked at their casual postures with disapproval but said nothing.  Seconds later another vampire entered the room, a young man who'd mastered his personal grooming to the point of perfection.
"This is Junior Lieutenant Peter Dawson, for those who don't know him," the admiral said.
The newcomer removed his yellow jacket and neatly folded it over the back of the chair next to the one he sat in.  The admiral was about to open their meeting when a call came through on his multi-com.  It was Malcolm Wallace.
"Yes, Captain?" the admiral asked a little impatiently.
"Sir, we've just returned to the station, I thought you'd like to know."
"Yes, thank you.  Don't unpack yet, I have another assignment for you.  I'll contact you later with the details."  Admiral Rivette didn't wait for a response before ending the call.  He remained silent for a few moments to gather his thoughts before beginning the briefing.  He deactivated his multi-com so that he could give the vampires his full attention.  "First, let me start by welcoming you all to the new Vampire Elite Squad.  Yours is the first of six vampire teams that are being formed.  Your upcoming training will be more advanced than usual, and as this is an experimental unit I would appreciate any comments, feedback or suggestions you may wish to offer.  Now, about your mission.  Most of you may not be familiar with the Pleyuran species.  Their main characteristics include their white skin and hair, several small horns around their forehead, and very basic telepathic abilities.  Their civilisation reached its peak by about 180 BC.  They later became extinct after several centuries of civil war.  By 67 BC the war had already been raging for more than a century."  William was visibly startled by the mention of that year, but the admiral went on, "There were several factions, the most treacherous of which was the House of Onkari.  Whilst Commander Herschel was in Altehuanala, a Pleyuran ship was in orbit plotting to steal his time shuttle, since they lacked such technology themselves.  One of their operatives detected a vampire life sign and was consequently sent to assassinate Commander Herschel."
"It seems their assassin shot the wrong person," William interjected.  He was still bitter about what had happened that fateful night.
The admiral raised his hand for silence.  Looking directly at William he said, "The Pleyuran operative's name was Kyomi."
A lump began to form in William's throat as he stammered, "There must be a mistake!  She didn't look remotely Pleyuran, her hair and skin colour was much too dark and she had no horns."
"I'm sorry William, but it's the truth.  She was surgically altered on her ship to pass as a native of the Chiapas region."  The admiral paused before delivering the next words.  "Will, you were the assassin on the balcony.  Acquiring a time ship would've completely altered the history of their people, not to mention their role in galactic history.  It would've inevitably affected Earth's development, since they lived in relative proximity to our system.  I felt it was your right to be on this mission, not to mention how important it is that things occur as you remember them.  Not going would change how things happened."  Observing William's silent contemplation he said compassionately, "I'm trying to understand how you must feel.  It isn't easy to tell you all this.  But would you prefer that I hadn't told you and sent someone else instead?"
"No, I'm glad you did.  I'd rather know the truth, always, even if it's not what I want to hear."
"Will you go on the mission?"
William felt betrayed by Kyomi, and the rage was welling up inside him.  "Yes," he said definitively.  "I'll go, and I'll be the one to carry out the objective."
"Very well," the admiral said.  "You will lead the mission.  Be ready to leave at 2300 hours.  Dismissed."
The four vampires got up slowly and left the room, along with Admiral Rivette.
William stayed in his quarters to be alone during the hours prior to embarking on the mission.  He tried to get some sleep, however his thoughts mercilessly wouldn't allow him to.  He didn't want to believe that Kyomi was really a Pleyuran spy, and at the same time he was furious that she was.  Looking back he could see how she'd used her telepathic influence on him to further her treacherous design, and he was angry and disappointed with himself for not seeing what she'd been doing then.
While he was lying on his bed a call came through on his multi-com.  He answered it and saw the face of Ralph Smithers looking at him from the tiny screen.  The call was being routed through the station's main communication system.  Ralph had been a friend of William's for several years, although their careers kept them from meeting up very often.
"Long time no see, Will.  I heard you were back.  So how is everything now?"
"Well, I survived it all," William responded.  "How are things on Earth?  Still working for the Terran Guardians?"
"Yeah, I just got promoted to senior special agent.  I hear John Tylvius was executed, but no loss.  I never liked him anyway," Ralph said indifferently.
William thought his response was a bit cold, since even he had felt some pity for Tylvius' death.  "At least Wallace will miss him, though he's probably the only one."
"That would explain why his ship was in Mercury's orbit before he returned to Epoch."
"Yeah?  I didn't know that."
"He probably had his crew stand and salute Tylvius' casket on its way into the sun.  I never liked him either.  So, I understand you're still hanging around with Luke Hawking?" Ralph asked casually.
"Same as always.  It was actually Luke who caught Tylvius and exonerated me."  William knew that Ralph and Luke didn't like each other, even though neither of them said anything to him about it out of respectful politeness.
"That was good of him, to go to the lengths he did for you.  He even came to Earth to plead your cause to Fleet Admiral Morgan, which became an argument pretty quickly.  It was worth a try, but he should probably stay clear of Morgan for the next couple of centuries."  Ralph's voice indicated a higher regard for Luke than he used to have, though he'd never admit it.  "Didn't he mention that we crossed paths while he was here?"
"He hasn't said anything about it to me."
"No matter.  The reason I called is because I've come across something to do with your exile that you might be interested in, something I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have told you about.  Have you got time for it now?"
"I'm afraid not," William said regretfully.  "I'm about to head a mission into the past to tie up some loose ends."
"They're already sending you out again?  You only just got back.  Didn't get much of a breather, did you?"
"I'll be sure to get in touch with you as soon as I've returned to the station."
"Sounds good.  I'll talk to you then."  Ralph ended the communication.
William was certainly curious about what Ralph wanted to show him.  The man often came up with interesting information that other people didn't usually find or have access to.
A little while later, at 2230 hours, an alarm went off on his multi-com.  He got out of bed, still fully dressed, and went to the mission preparation room.  There he found Luke, Cerah and Peter, all delegating various pieces of equipment amongst themselves.  When he arrived they all went respectfully silent, understanding how William must be feeling about the situation they were going into.  While he appreciated their thoughtfulness, he didn't want to make a big deal of it.  He preferred to put his feelings aside and treat it like any other mission.  The other three vampires were already dressed in their black combat outfits.  William went into the next room to change into his.  A moment later Luke entered.
"Will, I realise this assignment's tough.  Do you want me to do it for you?"
"Thank you, my friend, but no.  It's something I have to do.  Don't worry about me, I'll be fine," William responded as he took a pair of combat boots from a supply locker.
When he'd finished getting ready he was wearing the same black attire as the others.  The whole outfit was armoured with 20 millimetres of solid padding, which was segmented around the joints so that it didn't impede their movements.  The padding was designed to provide protection against energy weapons to a significant degree and also softened the blows in hand-to-hand or bladed weapon fighting.  They each wore a utility belt that had several compact pieces of equipment attached, and more items were strapped to their legs, arms and shoulders.  They each had two phased positron pistols, one holstered at the left hip to be drawn with the left hand, and the other below the left armpit where it could be retrieved by the right hand.  All wore black leather gloves, and none of them wore any depiction of rank or personal identification.  Before they left the room they each took a pulse rifle and a flexible black mask that would cover their entire head when worn.  Night vision equipment was mounted on the mask over the right eye, which could also be used as an infrared scanner.  Over the ear on the same side there was a communication device that also served as an audio Geiger counter.  They still wore their multi-com devices so that they had a second means of communication, as well as for the devices' scanner function.
The group of vampires marched into the launch bay where the security personnel directed them to a shuttle that was already prepared for departure.  The small time ship was the same model as the one William had returned to the station from his exile in.
Once they were aboard, William directed, "O'Neil, please conduct the pre-launch checks.  Luke, take the helm.  Retrieve exact coordinates from launch control of the Pleyurans' arrival in the vicinity of Earth.  Dawson, I'll need you to initiate the ship's temporal beacon."
His crew promptly sat at their respective stations in the cockpit and executed their designated assignments in a professional manner.  William stood behind them in the doorway to supervise the preparations and await their confirmations of readiness.
"Pre-launch checks complete, sir.  Ready for launch," Cerah said crisply.
"Thank you, Senior Lieutenant," William acknowledged politely.  He didn't necessarily believe that the cold and impersonal approach was the most effective when dealing with equals or subordinates.  He believed in professionalism in carrying out one's duty, but was happy to drop formality when the crew members were comfortable with each other.
A few seconds later Peter reported, "Temporal beacon active, sir."  The beacon identified their shuttle to Temporal Security's monitoring systems, to easily distinguish them from other groups operating at different points in the timeline, and it also emitted a signal that the time stations' sensors omitted when bringing up general results on temporal movement and activity throughout history.  That way they wouldn't trigger an alert on the temporal sensors from other points in the stations' timelines, past or future, which would cause a lot of confusion.  Their unique signal would only show up for those on the station who were monitoring the progress of their specific mission at the point in time that they departed from.
"Thank you.  Luke, take us to Altehuanala, 67 BC."  William sat down in the fourth cockpit seat now that they were ready to go.
"Course set," Luke responded.  There was a subtle jolt as the shuttle rose off the deck and began to move towards the open vista of space outside the launch bay.  "Leaving the station now."  Once the ship left Epoch's time field Luke activated the time drive.  A green ripple surrounded the ship as it propelled itself into the past.
After they'd been in time flight for a few hours Luke reported, "We'll be arriving at the temporal and spatial coordinates in five minutes."
"Thanks," William acknowledged.  He left the cockpit and came back a minute later with four portions of synthblood and distributed them among his crew.  "Land during Altehuanala's night time, and use the anti-gravity thrusters so that no one sees the light from our engines.  When are we?"
"This is the night before you met Kyomi," Luke replied.
"Good," William said in contemplation.  "Is the Pleyuran ship out there?"
Cerah, who was operating the ship's sensors, answered, "Yes, we'll arrive at the point when they've just entered orbit."
"Monitor all of their transmissions, and try to tap into their ship's internal communication system," William commanded.  He went into the engine room and modified the engines and the anti-gravity thrusters using the Gultorian method to hide them from sensors so that the Pleyurans wouldn't detect their approach or landing.  In consideration of how much more primitive the Pleyuran sensors were, he set the modification to rotate its operating frequency automatically every ten minutes, since they wouldn't be able to detect the momentary shift of frequency each time it occurred.  Minutes later the shuttle touched down several kilometres outside of Altehuanala without having been detected.
It was a couple of hours before Cerah picked up anything worth reporting.  When she did get something it was exactly what William needed for confirmation of why they were there.  He recognised Kyomi's voice, though the tone in which she spoke was different.  The allure of her voice was replaced by militaristic sharpness.  She was saying, "Yes, Captain, it is definitely a temporal transit capable ship, of an apparently futuristic design."
Another voice, male, was heard responding.  "The humans are a primitive species.  They haven't made any technological advances.  Scan for any non-human bio-readings."
Several seconds later Kyomi's voice was again heard.  "There are no aliens down there other than the humans, but I'm detecting one unusual reading coming from the city nearest the time ship… it's a vampire!"
"There've been no reports of vampires on that part of the planet before.  It must be the ship's occupant.  Maintain orbit.  We'll send down a shuttle when morning dawns on the city.  The vampire will be completely debilitated then.  Kyomi, report to the medical department for some cosmetic surgery.  We'll need you to look like one of the natives."
"Whatever for, sir?" came Kyomi's protest.
"The vampire may have a hidden temporal transmitter to summon his people with from whatever point in time he came from.  As a precaution, we require him dead before we take the ship," her captain said.
"I'm not detecting any technology apart from the ship," she objected.
"Don't be too concerned, Kyomi, the surgery can be reversed and your natural appearance restored after your mission.  Remember, you'll be doing the House of Onkari a great service."
After a momentary hesitation Kyomi responded, "I understand, sir.  I'll do it."
William contemplated what he'd heard.  "Continue to monitor their communications and record anything of note.  Luke and I will get some rest.  The two of us will embark on the mission tomorrow evening."
"Understood, sir," Cerah said unquestioningly.
When William and Luke were alone in one of the quarters, William asked, "Did you get any rockworm blood from Larissa?"
"The admiral was with her the whole time prior to our departure, so I didn't want to draw any attention to her that might raise questions.  I'll see her about it before our next mission though," Luke replied.
"Good idea.  That's probably for the best," William concurred.  "Let's get some sleep."
They each took a bunk, but remained completely dressed in their combat armour so that they'd be at full readiness at a moment's notice.
By the time Peter came to wake them they'd had plenty of rest.  The young junior lieutenant reported, "We've monitored some more transmissions."
William and Luke got up and went to the cockpit where they reviewed the relevant communications that Cerah had recorded.
"Captain, I've located the vampire… he was walking around during the day!" Kyomi's voice was heard to say.  William realised that Cerah and Peter now knew of his immunity to daylight.
"Are you certain?" her captain asked.
"Yes, I spoke with him without realising who he was just before I did my scan, which pinpointed him as the vampire.  He's also carrying some concealed technology with him, some of which I've identified as pertaining to a life support system."
"He probably removed it to avoid anyone stealing the ship.  You must retrieve those components and terminate him."
"I don't think it'll be hard to get close to him, he seems to be attracted to me.  I personally find this human appearance to be quite hideous!"
"Enthrall him so that he trusts you and is off guard around you.  As soon as you get the chance to be alone with him carry out your instructions."
When that recording had finished William listened to the next one, which took place several hours after the first.
"The vampire's leaving the city tomorrow," Kyomi said, "so I've arranged to meet with him tonight.  I'm hoping that in the evening there'll be fewer people about, so I should be able to be alone with him."
"Very good, but be careful.  Vampires have greater strength and agility than the average human.  And he may have a weapon on him."
"I will.  I've prepared a concentrated alkaloid that I've treated a knife blade with.  It's potent enough to kill even a vampire with a mere scratch.  And I'll be sure that he's too distracted to be on guard."
"Excellent.  Keep me up to date on your progress."
William reviewed the next communication, which had been received a matter of minutes ago.
"Captain, it's been harder to get him alone than I thought.  The place where we met had too many people, so I left in the hope that he'll return to his house.  When he does I'll go to him there."
William and Luke made their preparations and left the ship, each grabbing their pulse rifle on the way out, leaving Cerah and Peter behind to monitor their progress and prepare to give whatever support may be needed later.  As the two friends made their way across the dark forested terrain to Altehuanala they put on their masks and set the plan.
"We'll scale the city wall and go to the house I was staying in, where we'll wait below the balcony until Kyomi arrives, since the front door is on the other side of the house to it.  When she goes upstairs to the balcony I'll go up and make the strike.  My counterpart will no doubt give chase, so I'll drop back down from the balcony and you'll immediately run as fast as you can back to the wall to lead him away.  With any luck he'll be too busy to look back to where I am.  Set your weapon to stun and shoot if you have to.  Once he's gone I'll go up and retrieve the body, which I'll carry away over a different part of the wall."  William said with a certainty that it was going to work.  After all, that fit how things had occurred according to his memory.
"So all I have to do is try to outrun an angry vampire?  I've got the easy job, haven't I?" Luke said sarcastically.
"Remember, you can't let him find out that it's you."
"Don't worry, Will.  It'll be fine.  Let's do it!"
The two entirely black-clad vampires reached the deep ditch with the rampart on the other side and clipped their pulse rifles onto their backs.  They pressed a release button on each of their forearms and a long ice pick style blade flicked out to be perpendicular with their arm.  It was attached just below the wrist, so had they the need, they could hold a pistol in each hand as they used the picks to climb the dirt wall.  After a short run up, they leaped across the ditch's width and landed halfway up the face of the rampart, catching themselves with their extended picks.  They each pulled one pick out, reached up and thrust it into the earth wall above their heads, then did the same on the other side, pulling themselves up as they went.  It didn't take them long to climb the rest of the distance to the top.  They made it over the palisade at the top with relative ease, owing to their heightened agility, and hurried down the other side to the main city wall.
Their black outfits hid them in the darkness superbly, so they remained unseen by the watchmen in the towers that were spaced at regular intervals between the rampart and the main city wall.  They could hear the gentle snore of the sleeping watchman in the nearest tower.  The silhouette of a man was discernible in each of the towers to their left and right, but they were looking out over the darkened landscape away from the vampires.
At the base of the stone wall they took several small pieces of hardware from pouches on their belts and began clipping them onto the toes of their boots and the palms of their gloves.  Touching controls on their belts activated the devices causing a soft red glow around them.  They faced the wall and placed their hands on it above their heads.  Immediately the devices adhered to the stone.  They touched the devices on the ends of their boots to the wall near ground level and began scaling the wall, hand over hand and foot over foot.  The devices were perfectly programmed to release one hand and the opposite foot, and then after they were placed again on the wall they released the other hand and foot.  The two vampires moved up the wall like a pair of lizards on the surface of a rock.  From the top of the wall they checked that no one in the city could see them before they repeated the process to make their way down the other side.  When they reached the ground again they touched the same control and deactivated the devices.  The ones on the boots were positioned in such a way above the toe that it was unnecessary for them to remove them to be able to walk freely, since they'd need to use them again to get back over later, and the ones on their hands were also flat enough that they wouldn't get in the way.
Stealthily the pair made their way to the house William had stayed in and took their positions in silence beneath the balcony where William of the past lay sleeping.  They knew that the slightest sound from either of them could be enough to wake him.  After waiting for a while they heard sounds coming from the other side of the house.  There was the murmur of voices followed by the sound of a single pair of soft footsteps ascending towards the balcony from inside the house.  Luke took an omniscanner from his belt and did a bio-scan of the balcony above.  It confirmed that there was one vampire and one Pleyuran on it.  He nodded to William, who then reactivated his climbing equipment.  Luke unclipped his own pulse rifle soundlessly, ready to do his part.
William activated the infrared scanner on his mask and used that to make sure that he emerged over the balcony's edge directly behind Kyomi, so that she was between him and the other William.  He carefully pulled himself up, and once he was in a crouching position on the balcony's edge he deactivated his climbing devices.  Using extreme caution to remain silent, he unclipped his pulse rifle and set it to kill, then rose into a standing position.  For a brief moment he looked at his victim, and despite the hurt he felt at her deception, he had no desire to harm her.  But he was under orders, and he knew that it was necessary.  Looking just past her, he recognised the robe that his counterpart was wearing, the one given to him by Nerahom, which had been destroyed along with his shuttle in the alternate timeline.
Suddenly the other William spotted him, so without further hesitation he raised the pulse rifle into a firing position and pulled the trigger twice.  He watched in horror as two blue pulses of phased positrons tore into Kyomi's back.  She fell forward onto his past self, hindering the other William's attempt to get up to attack him.  He used the opportunity to drop back down over the balcony where he pressed himself flat against the wall.  In that instant Luke began running with vampiric speed towards the city's wall.  Looking up, William saw his other self leap from the balcony over his head in pursuit.  When they were away he reactivated his climbing gear and went back up to where Kyomi's body lay.  No sooner was he there than he saw Nerahom in the doorway.  Thinking quickly he reset his weapon to low level stun and fired as Nerahom lunged at him.  The Chiapanec fell to the ground unconscious.  As much as he'd have liked to be reunited with his old friend he knew that he couldn't without seriously disrupting the timeline.  He had to remain focussed on his objectives.
He searched Kyomi's body and found the small poisoned knife she'd planned to use on him.  There were sounds of approaching footsteps coming from the house's lower floor, so he tucked the knife into his belt and picked up the body.  Carrying her over his shoulder, he dropped heavily from the balcony.  Keeping to the shadows to stay out of the moonlight, he made his way along the nearly empty streets to avoid his past self, who would now be returning to the house.  He took a roundabout route to the part of the wall that he and Luke had scaled earlier.  The watchman was still asleep, which was just as well since it would've been harder to dodge arrows and get away from pursuing soldiers with Kyomi's body slowing him down.  Very awkwardly, he carried her over the wall and the rampart, this time needing to use the climbing devices to get over the palisade.  He soon made it back to the ship where he found Luke safely waiting for him.
"How far away is the shuttle that Kyomi came down in?" William asked Cerah.
"About two kilometres north-east of our position," Cerah responded.
"Luke, stay here with the ship, and scan Kyomi for tracking devices or any other equipment.  And keep a sensor lock on us.  O'Neil, Dawson, you're with me.  We're going to capture that shuttle.  Let's go!" William ordered.
Cerah and Peter were already wearing their combat armour, so they hastily pulled on their masks and grabbed their pulse rifles and were ready to leave in less than twenty seconds.  William led the way.  It didn't take the party of vampires long to locate the shuttle in a small clearing in the trees.  Its segmented length was three times its width, and it was constructed entirely from a dull green metal.
In his earpiece William heard Luke say, "There's a light flashing on Kyomi's communication unit, I think someone's trying to get in touch with her.  It won't be long before they realise that something's happened."
Four armed Pleyuran soldiers could be seen guarding their shuttle.  Their uniforms were a basic two-tone design of brown and dark green.  William used his multi-com and detected two more Pleyurans inside the shuttle.  He signalled to the others that they should all find good cover away from each other to give the Pleyurans multiple targets to worry about at different vectors.  When they were all in place he said to the others through their mask's communication units, "There are two more inside.  We'll each target one of the three nearest the hatch first, respective to our positions.  After the first shot, fire at will until all hostiles have been taken out."  The other two vampires acknowledged his instruction.  "We'll all fire the first shot simultaneously on my mark."
Faintly they could hear one of the Pleyurans listening to a transmission.  "…She's not responding, stay on guard.  We've detected more vampire life-signs in your vicinity," the voice on the other end said.
"Yes, Captain."  All four Pleyurans raised their weapons at the ready.
William gave the countdown for action.  "Three… two… one… now!"
At once their three shots pierced the darkness and hit their designated targets with expert accuracy.  The three Pleyurans nearest the shuttle hatch dropped to the ground dead.  Immediately the other two from within the ship joined the fourth.  The three aliens began firing randomly into the surrounding foliage, uncertain of exactly where their assailants were hiding.  One of them stayed crouched in the open hatchway while the other two took cover behind a couple of nearby trees.  The thick orange beams of their weapons charred the trees and bushes they impacted, but none of the shots hit any of the vampires.  William took a few shots at the one in the hatchway, but they all missed as the Pleyuran ducked back into the shuttle.
Cerah and Peter united their fire on a single target behind a tree until they hit him.  The one behind the other tree had gained a fair idea of where Peter was shooting from, and as soon as the vampire took a shot at the one hiding in the hatchway he fired.  The beam hit Peter in the abdomen, but the armour he wore took most of the impact.  However, he did still receive a superficial wound.  The Pleyurans' weapons were of a higher energy rating than the average pistol, the House of Onkari being a major warring house, but the vampire's armour had still served its purpose.  The Pleyuran who'd fired at him was surprised when Peter stood up and fired back, the shots slamming into the tree trunk and blasting charred splinters about.
The one in the hatchway got in a lucky shot at William that hit him in the left forearm, followed immediately by another that hit him square in the chest.  The impact knocked William over momentarily, but ignoring the pain he got straight back up, and to the Pleyuran's astonishment fired back.  The shot from William's pulse rifle hit its target exactly over the heart and left a smouldering crater in his chest.
The sole surviving Pleyuran could be heard calling to his superior for help from behind his tree.  "The vampires are invincible!  Our weapons have no effect on them.  Send reinforcements immediately!"
"Negative," a voice replied.  "Try to get into orbit."
The Pleyuran made a desperate attempt to run to the shuttle but was cut down by shots from all three vampires.
After receiving confirmation from Luke that there were no more alien life signs, the vampires emerged from their places of cover.  Cerah checked William and Peter's wounds and diagnosed them as being non-critical.  Their armoured outfits had served them well.  But receiving another shot in the same place would've been fatal.
William's Geiger counter was clicking softly, indicating an accumulation of radiation caused by the many shots fired during the confrontation.  He checked the levels on his multi-com's scanner, which showed that they weren't high enough to have a significant impact on the local area, so there was no need to set up an absorption field.  He went inside the Pleyuran shuttle and looked around.  "What's the status of their main ship?" he asked Luke over his mask's communication unit.
"They're breaking orbit.  It seems they're abandoning their landing party," came the reply.
William went into the part of the shuttle that housed the power system and deactivated it.  He opened the housing of the power chamber and removed a familiar dark green metal cylinder.  Hurrying into the cockpit he looked around until he located what he was sure was the backup power system and brought the engines online.  He did a quick scan of the console, then opened a panel and ripped out a circuit.  He focussed his attention on the controls.  It didn't take him long to figure out the navigation system, even though it was in an alien language.  His multi-com had a visual symbol translation function, with a tiny inbuilt visual scanner to read the writing with.  Wherever he moved it across the console the appropriate translation was displayed for him on the device's screen.  Despite the fact that it was constructed by a completely different species, the same physical laws had to be overcome to achieve advanced space flight, so the fundamentals of this ship were similar to human space craft in the ways that mattered most.  After setting a course and putting the navigation system on a time delay he pressed the 'engage' button and ran out of the craft, signalling for Cerah and Peter to help him load the Pleyurans' bodies on board.  "I've set its course for the sun, it'll launch on autopilot about one minute from now."
Minutes later the trio was back aboard their own ship and had removed their masks and extra equipment.  The Pleyuran shuttle had launched as planned and ascended out of the atmosphere.
William took the helm and piloted their shuttle close to where he'd landed in the past, using only the anti-gravity thrusters and flying low so as not to attract the attention of anyone in or near Altehuanala, although the engines of the Pleyuran shuttle may have already done that when it launched.  When he landed the shuttle he went out alone to the old ship that his past self was using.  He deposited the metal cylinder inside the hatch and went into the cockpit where he quickly wired the stolen circuit into the system before welding it onto the console using one of his pistols.  He left the ship and resealed the hatch before rejoining his group, none of whom questioned what he was doing.
"She's the product of some very skilful surgery," Luke commented as he performed a detailed scan of Kyomi's body.  Even upon closer inspection she looked exactly human, even down to the texture of her skin.  "She also has an interpretation implant.  It's very sophisticated; it might even be able to translate Dutch."
William remembered back to his time in Altehuanala, when Nerahom had commented about the strange way that he and Kyomi had spoken together.  As William recalled she'd spoken to him first at the city gate, which she naturally would have done in her own language since nothing had yet triggered her implant to use any other language.  William's neural interpreter would've picked up on her language and used that whenever speaking to her, even though he heard it in English.  So assuming that her implant worked the same as his, Nerahom would've heard them speaking in Pleyuran, a dialect that was unknown on Earth in 67 BC.  If he hadn't been so entranced by her he might've pieced the clues together then.
"What do you say we check out those readings I took in the maintenance passages when we get back?" Luke asked.
"I think we should," William concurred.

*  *  *

Deep in a different area of Epoch's service passages to their previous rendezvous point, the two robed figures again met.
"I want you to transmit all of the logs of all of the admirals to me, without the file access being detectable," the black-robed master ordered.
"It shall be done," the one in the brown robe responded.
"How did you persuade Tylvius to take the fall?"
"I led him to believe that he'd be rescued at the last moment.  I made him think that we still needed him,"
"Excellent!  Now we must be rid of Herschel before he can interfere further!"
*

When the Vampire Elite Squad was back on Epoch, William and Peter stopped by at the medical unit to have their wounds checked out, even though they were superficial, since it was standard procedure.  William didn't mention it to her, but he was secretly glad to have been injured, because it meant being treated by Elara again.  But all too soon their wounds were cleaned up, they were injected with a subcutaneous regenerative, and then sent on their way.  Their wounds wouldn't take long to heal, despite them both being very young vampires.
On his way out William touched his multi-com's screen and said, "Luke."
A moment later his friend's face appeared on the tiny screen and said, "Hey Will, all set to check out that area Tylvius went to?"
"Give me half an hour?  Before we left for the mission I got a call from Ralph Smithers, he said he's got something to show me.  I'll meet you at your quarters and we'll head out then."
"Sure thing," Luke said.  His badly hidden dislike of Ralph showed at the mention of his name.  "Talk to you when you get here."  The screen went blank.
When William was back in his quarters he poured himself a glass of water and went over to a large screen on his wall from which he called Ralph.  While he was waiting for a response, he sat on a lounge facing the screen and drained his glass in one long gulp.
Ralph's face appeared.  "How'd the mission go?"
"Fine.  Got shot a couple of times, but nothing serious.  So what was it that you wanted to show me before?"
"You might want to keep a copy of it for yourself," Ralph recommended.
Using a remote command on his multi-com, William programmed the wall screen to save any information that Ralph sent.
"Just remember that I didn't send you this," Ralph said.  William nodded in understanding and he continued.  "It shows how Earth High Command was using you as their agent even though you were officially an outcast, and I thought it might at least be of interest to you.  It's a conversation that took place while you were in exile, between the President of Earth High Command and Admiral Bruce Rivette.  Talaman, the legendary ancient vampire who's also the president's advisor, enters the president's office part way through the recording, though he doesn't get close enough to the president to be seen on the screen."
Ralph could be seen pressing a button and the view on the screen changed to show the footage of both ends of the recorded conversation.  One half showed Admiral Rivette and the other showed an image of a man whose long white hair was tied back and who had a neatly trimmed pointed beard.
Admiral Rivette began their discussion.  "President, I'm delighted to see you in such good health.  What may I do for you?"
"Admiral, I'm calling about an anomalous reading we've detected in Mexico near the Guatemalan border.  The entire region seems to be in a state of perpetual temporal transition.  It's peculiar because if there's been a change in the timeline we shouldn't be aware of it on Earth.  What can you tell me about it?"
"We've only just detected the anomaly ourselves, I was informed of it on my way here to take your call.  It certainly is most unusual for you to be aware of it before anyone on Epoch or Jidai.  It appears to have altered history and is continuing to do so as we speak.  However, since it's constantly changing, we're unable to accurately ascertain what the impact actually is, and therefore when it originated from.  May I ask how you detected it?"
"Anyone entering the area has vanished, and people from other times have come out.  Sometimes those people simply vanish a short while later also, presumably as something else changes from within the timeline of that area.  My advisors tell me that the constant comings and goings are what's keeping it constantly changing with historical alterations.  It needs to be prevented from happening in the first place to restore things to how they were.  Are you able to correct it?"
"Our problem here is that something's preventing us from getting any accurate readings.  We can't even determine the year that this change began more accurately than putting it between…" Admiral Rivette paused at the sound of someone entering the room on the president's end of the call.
"Talaman, my advisor, has just joined me.  But please continue," the president said.
William could tell by the admiral's momentary hesitation that he was uncomfortable discussing the matter with the advisor present, but continued as instructed by his superior.
"We estimate the origin of the anomaly to be somewhere between 250 BC and 150 AD.  We can't pinpoint the geographical location any more accurately than you, I'm sorry to say, as it covers an extensive area.  Without more information about what we're dealing with we can't risk sending our people in, as they may be lost to the anomaly also."
The president's attention was drawn by Talaman, still off-screen, whose voice could be heard very faintly saying, "President, William Herschel will pass through that time zone eventually."  His calm voice portrayed patience and the wisdom of ages.
"Are you certain?" the president asked his advisor, also speaking softly.
"Yes.  I've been watching his progress during exile thus far, and I've also seen what's to come using the Sapphirus Tempus."
William saw the admiral react to the words 'Sapphirus Tempus', though he wasn't sure what the reaction was, only that it had captivated his attention.  He made a mental note to ask Ralph about it after the recording had finished.  The president was still talking quietly with Talaman and hadn't observed the admiral's reaction.
"Can you use it to get more information about the anomaly?" the president asked hopefully.
Talaman was silent for a moment before he was heard again.  "I cannot say with absolute certainty, but if the two time stations direct their temporal scanners on the approximate time and place I may be able to use that as a temporal conduit through which I can better focus the Sapphirus Tempus to draw William Herschel to within a few months of the anomaly's origin.  But once he's there, in proximity of whatever's interfering, there will be nothing I can do to help him.  He'll be on his own."
"I believe it's the only practical option available to us," the president said.
"I agree, unless another possibility presents itself," Talaman said.
The president returned his attention to Admiral Rivette.  "I want you to coordinate your efforts with Jidai and direct your scanners at the anomaly with as much precision as you can.  I'll contact you when we're ready for you to begin."
"Yes, President," the admiral acknowledged.
The president pressed a button on his desk and the recording ended to be replaced by Ralph's face.
"So what do you think?  Was it worth getting?" Ralph asked William, obviously pleased with his acquirement.
"Definitely.  It answers a lot of questions, but raises more.  What's the Sapphirus Tempus?"
"Very few people have even heard of it.  Only admirals and above are ever told of its existence, and many of them don't believe it's actually real.  That's why, as I'm sure you would've noticed, your friend Rivette was captivated by the mention of it.  He probably didn't know it was real, or that Talaman's the keeper of it."
"So what actually is it?" William's curiosity was making him impatient.
Ralph decided he'd better get on with the explanation.  "It's the Sapphire of Time.  A sapphire that's completely unique, deep blue in colour, and about the size of both of your fists put together, that has the ability to transport the person holding it through time using the power of thought.  Its origin's unknown.  It takes a lot of concentration and mental discipline to use, that's why Talaman's its keeper, he being the oldest living vampire.  His mental abilities are very well developed.  He can even use it to look through time in his mind without actually having to go anywhere, or any-when, and with much more accuracy and clarity than Epoch's temporal scanners."
"How long has he been the keeper?"
"Centuries, at least.  So now you know how and why you ended up in 73 BC.  Do you know who it was that was using the temporal jamming signal?"
"No, he was disguised.  Somehow I have the feeling I'll run into him again.  Maybe I should just wait until then and ask him."
Ralph smiled slightly.  "You'll probably have as much success doing that as going fishing in a magma pool."
"I'm surprised you don't know who it is.  You seem to have access to a lot more knowledge than your clearance permits, as usual."
"One can never have access to too much information.  It's a good thing you're my friend, otherwise I'd be worried that you might turn me in."
"I have to admit, your info often does come in handy.  I should get going though, there's something I need to check out with Luke."
"If you come up with anything interesting you'll let me know, won't you?"
"So that's how you do it, you just know all the right people."
"One does one's best to stay informed, whatever it takes.  I'll stay in touch."  Ralph closed the communication leaving the screen once again blank.
William considered what he'd learned from the recording.  He was surprised that the famous ancient vampire Talaman had even been looking in on his movements, let alone manipulating them, and couldn't help but wonder what other events he might've had a hand in.  At least he'd managed to get back from exile with a cleared name, and seen the mystery surrounding Kyomi's death resolved, but many more mysteries remained.  Perhaps with Luke's help he might yet learn more about the mysterious black-robed being whom they supposed had been Tylvius' master, operating with the advantage of future knowledge.  They had no way of knowing what such a being might do next, even without his minion.
William was also troubled that he still didn't know what the significance of his connection to Arnold was, or how he'd been able to see events through the eyes of the boy who'd lived five hundred years earlier.  He considered speaking with Luke about it, in case his friend could offer any insight from a fresh perspective.  He was after all about to meet his friend to conduct scans of the area where Luke had seen Tylvius lurking, and it'd give them something to talk about while they were doing it.  He got up and made his way to Luke's quarters.
When he got there, Luke was putting some instruments into a compact tool kit that was on a table against one wall, which also had a framed photo next to it of Luke standing on the Martian surface wearing a scarf over his bio-suit, with a comical grin on his face.  William recognised it, as he'd been the one to take the photo.  That day they'd marked history by being the first people to make a snowman at Mars' northern pole.  Knowing his friend to be completely trustworthy, William told him about what Ralph had just shown him, in as much detail as he could remember, and explained about the Sapphirus Tempus.
"Can't say I've ever heard of it before.  There must be a mention of it in a database somewhere.  The only trouble with searching for information about something that requires admiral-level clearance is that it's bound to send up a flag in the system somewhere, which they'll trace to us and start asking all sorts of difficult questions.  Still, you must be pretty special if Talaman's been keeping an eye on you," Luke said, handing him an omniscanner and pocketing one himself.  Then a look of concern crossed his face.  "I just had a nasty thought.  Suppose Talaman's the one Tylvius was working for?  With that sapphire he'd be able to look into the future."
William was doubtful.  "It doesn't seem likely that someone so old and in such high standing would risk it all on a smuggling operation."
"You did say that robed bloke in Altehuanala used some sort of psychokinetic ability.  Vampires develop such traits with age."
"I suppose you've got a point there.  On the other hand, what if Talaman was the man with white hair that visited me in the tomb?  That visitor and his younger female companion had an object that shone with a blue light, which might've been that sapphire.  He might be on our side."
"True," Luke said with consideration.
"Here's another nasty thought for you.  What if Tylvius wasn't the hooded bloke's only follower?  There could still be an operation in the works.  If there is, I dare say it'll be of a much larger scale than just smuggling.  The robed guy in Altehuanala said that he was using necrozine dependant people from Palachimeru as a labour force for some grand design in another time and place, something much bigger than the conquest of an ancient city."
"So you reckon the necrozine smuggling was just a means to an end?"
"That's pretty much what I'm thinking.  And if he's willing to go to such risky lengths to get an addiction dependant labour force, the main operation must be something of far greater proportions."
"Then we'd better find out what it is before it happens," Luke said.

*  *  *

End of Book One
The adventure continues in Book Two - The Fate of Humanity