ARC of the IMMORTALS/Book 1

Pursuit: 10.4.3 /It Starts (for a third time)

Recap: Jac discovers from Dreamtime that he can manifest his thoughts on demand. Bendel pressed Pursurer-Jac for his actionable thoughts./“You know we don’t have to go back,” Touzdae said. “We could bring Nez, Yon, and even Harry here and escape Pursuer forever.”

[two short scenes of violence]

“That’s a nice thought,” Jac paused. “I can’t run away from my destiny.” He sighed. “It’s time I faced up to it and capture Pursuer and jail him in a prison of no escape.” As an afterthought, Jac added: “Like a Labyrinth.”

“Is that a kind of triple redundancy prison? You know; where thoughts of escape tighten the prison walls inside the mind of the prisoner? Touzdae asked.

“Exactly.” Jac’s face became crestfallen.

“What’s wrong? she asked him.

“We have to go back. Now.”

Pursuer-Jac engaged the Hyper-Light Speed engines for 1/99th of a nanosecond, timed by the navi-computer. What they didn’t account for was the poor deployment of crash gel. While it did deploy there was enough to prevent instantaneous death. But not enough of the gel to prevent unconsciousness.

The J NezTouz materialized on the tail end of the Fish as the Needlecraft appeared. The Fish rocked forward and backward from recoil as a result of the Needlecraft’s jump.

“They’re unconscious for now,” Jac rose from the helm chair and slipped into a translucent garment.

“What was that?”

“To fight him, I need to wear an aggressor suit developed by Georgi Forae. It’s the only one of its kind. It takes a little while to meld with me. But I must dash, my love.”

“Did you wear it in the games?”

“Yes,” he said. “Please stay hidden when Pursuer comes through.” He ran.

I will, my love. I will, she thought.

Harry was eating a sandwich as Jac sped past him.

Jac ran the length of the Nez, jumped into the holographic tree, to the ladder, to the escape hatch. Yon was awakening.

“Hide yourself, Yon, he’s coming. Do NOT jump here inside the ship or anywhere in the hinterland. I AM VERY SERIOUS ABOUT IT, your Life and everyone depends on you NOT JUMPING HERE!” Jac opened the outer door of the escape airlock and stepped onto the hull.

Something’s wrong, he thought. He hesitated. Retrace steps, he thought. Jac thought, Yon by my side.

Yon emerged from the escape hatch and said, “May I join you?”

Jac nodded with enthusiasm in the affirmative.

They ran forward into an electromagnetic scoop. The force field that surrounded Nez brought Yon and Jac forward toward the second iris. They went through the inner iris into the Multi-Platform Confluence of Realities.

Bendel awakened. “Jac, you conscious?”

Pursuer-Jac groaned into attack mode (he was identical in appearance to Jac). He depressed a switch. The canopy cover over the cockpit dematerialized. Pursuer-Jac dismounted the Needlecraft and ran toward the Fish thirty feet forward. He broke into the ventral hatch on the escape vehicle and climbed up into the cabin. He pushed forward at lightning speed.

Harry was chomping on his sandwich and in a daze looking down at the pool of life. Pursuer-Jac slammed into him.

“Jac, you’re here again?” Harry shocked.

“You fool, it’s me,” Pursurer-Jac (P-Jac) swung a blow to his jaw in the exact spot for a knock-out and he dropped. P-Jac followed Jac’s trail.

P-Jac climbed into the escape hatch airlock. A ghost version of Yon lingered in a sitting position. Jac crouched. “Who are you? Where did Jac go?”

“Up on the deck and away,” Yon said pointing up. P-Jac pulled out his laser blaster and fired into Yon’s abdomen as the ghost image faded. A burst of light filled the small airlock and blinded him. When his vision cleared nine minutes later, he saw blast marks and a hole in the deck where Yon had been. Confused P-Jac opened the outer door. He climbed up on the hull’s flat spot and looked out towards the Iris. It was undulating in a slow manner.

P-Jac wondered how Jac transversed the distance of several miles in the time allotted. Something is off, he thought.

Harry came to. He climbed the ladder to the bridge. He surveyed the controls and found what he wanted. He depressed a switch and spoke into a microphone:

“If you hadn’t been in such a hurry and had asked me questions, young Jac. Well, to get to the point. You’ll need to see the Gatekeeper. He or she will provide you with a key. The key you will need to open the iris to the Platform.” Harry said and it blared outside of the Fish.

Touzdae was in the hold below the main deck of the captain’s cabin. She made herself comfortable with one small headlamp. She had a hibernation chamber at the ready and a small laz pistol as a last resort, by her side. She wore a necklace of a one by one inch transdimensional cube. Harry’s voice vibrated throughout the hull of the ship. “That is so irritating,” she whispered.

Yon appeared at the opposite end of the hold and immediately said in a whisper, “It’s me, Yon.”

“You can speak in a normal tone. I have a dampening field up.”

“Okay,” he said approaching. “It’s crazy out -”

Yon’s image wavered in and out of visibility.

“Are you hungry, Yon?” she asked.

“I’m not really here,” Yon began. “I’m left over from the last time-loop. Do you remember?”

“I have some yak jerky for you,” she said oblivious to his message.

Bendel climbed down from the cockpit. The landing lights were operational and illuminated the flat featureless ground beneath Needlecraft. He walked aft to the ventral cargo hold at mid-ship. The Needlecraft was a long cylindrical craft. At the stern was a multipurpose light pulse engine.

He inserted the two keys and turned each. The large hatch opened with ease.

“Now that Harry has finally shown his true colors, Pursuer Jac is about, I’m sure Bendel is close behind,” Touzdae said. She blinked, shocked.

Yon faded in again and out.

“Oh my Spirits, where did you go?” she wondered.

“This is confusing.” Yon’s voice reported. Touzdae sensed his presence.

“Can you say more about ‘the time loop’?” she asked as his presence faded and she was left with fragments. They were wisps of information that she knew needed sorting.

Bendel removed the large half-life gray sarcophagus from the cargo hold. He activated the antigrav flotation electromagnetic (EM) cushion. It floated about six inches from the gray surface of the hinterland. Bendel moved it with care toward the Fish.

P-Jac sat on the flat spot above the escape hatch airlock. He reviewed stored files from his other memory banks.

“Seek the gatekeeper, the town…” P-Jac exclaimed. He jumped down and walked away from the Fish to the left side of the ship. He turned on his headlamp. Fog appeared. This is a good sign, he thought.

The previous sub-chapter caught in a spacetime loop:

the previous chapter:

The Next Chapter:

Thank you for joining me in the adventures that span lifetimes and worlds. (If you do NOT wish to be tagged, let me know, and I’ll tag you not):

Barbara Murray | K. Pearson Bradley | René Beauchemin | Dougfrombk | Rebecca Romanelli | Joseph Lieungh | Adam Mackay | Dr. Preeti Singh | Pene Hodge | Ravyne Hawke | Dr Mehmet Yildiz | Kris Bedenian | Alberto García 🚀🚀🚀 | Blaine Coleman | madmess’s thoughts | Lee David Tyrrell | DL Nemeril | David Price | Rip Parker | Annelise Lords | Libby Shively McAvoy