

Quatra

By Stefan van Vliet

Copyright 2011 Stefan van Vliet

Smashwords Edition

### Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

### Dedication

For my dear friend and inspiration; the person with the infectious smile and contagious laugh; the one that lights up a room with her presence.  
Genevieve, this is for you.

## Prologue

"Well," Angela said, standing from where she had been curled on the couch, "I suppose I had better go."

"Really?" William inquired, sounding disappointed, "Do you really _have_ to go now?"

"I should, it's getting late and you know I have to be up early in the morning."

"Oh, all right then," William said, with a sigh, as he stood up, "I'll walk you out."

The pair left the tiny lounge of William's house and were soon standing on its front veranda. William leaned in and hugged Angela tightly "I love you, Poss," he said, using a shortened version of the nickname 'Possum' he liked to call her.

"Love you right back Will," Angela whispered. She disengaged herself from William's tight embrace, turning to walk to her car, thinking, for an instant, that she had noticed something move - something vaguely person sized, just out of sight in the gloom. Shaking her head abruptly, as if to shake the thought from her mind, she waved goodbye to Will and walked down the veranda steps towards her car.

Almost half way across the front lawn a sudden feeling of inexplicable cold washed over her, which she thought was strange, as though the night was cool it was not _that_ cold. She almost dismissed the coldness as a breath of cold air blowing through when she though she saw something again move in the darkness, causing her to stop where she stood.

"You all right?" William called after her, paused halfway through the door.

"I just thought I saw..." her voice trailed off, "Oh, never mind." She forced the idea of something moving in the darkness from her head and resumed walking. This time she barely managed two steps before the movement caught her attention again, there was definitely _something_ there. But there was something odd about the way it moved, it looked as if the darkness all around her was moving, not just something moving through the darkness. Once more she stopped, and again William called out to her "Are you _sure_ you're all right?"

"Yes, yes I'm fine," Angela snapped at him.

"Be like that then," replied William and slammed the door, retreating indoors and leaving Angela standing alone in the unusually crisp air.

"I do wonder about him sometimes," Angela said quietly to herself, as she brushed her dark blonde hair from her face and fumbled in her pocket for her keys, working hard to ignore whatever was - or more likely wasn't - going on around her. "Damn it," she exclaimed, realizing that she had left her keys inside. As she turned to go back inside a creeping feeling up the back of her neck made her turn around again. Straining her eyes to look into the darkness, past the glow of streetlights, she became sure that there was something out there, seeming to taunt her and her inability to see it, carefully lying just outside her range of sight. It was gently moving, as if swaying from side to side, or back and forth. As she strained harder to see whatever it was, she became certain that no, it wasn't swaying. It was moving. Definitely moving. Moving steadily closer even. Faster and faster it came towards her, rapidly losing the swaying motion she thought she had seen.

Soon she could make out the shapes of a crowd of people, all rushing towards her. They all seemed to be dressed in what she could swear were suits, they had slicked back black hair and the moonlight glanced off their polished shoes. Each looked identical to the next, but as they drew closer, she could see minor variations in their appearance. A feeling of cold dread and a long-forgotten fear re-awoken fell upon her and she turned and ran towards the house, tripping and falling as she did so, letting out a cry.

As Angela tripped William reappeared at the doorway, he had been watching at the window since he went back inside. He had, of course, not really been angry at her, but sometimes Angela just annoyed him with the little things she did, or the way she spoke to him. Angela scrambled back to her feet and called, in a voice a lot less strong than usual, to him, "Help me! They're coming! Help me!"

William looked out at the darkness and was immediately confused; he couldn't see anything or anyone. The night was still, barely a whisper of wind stirred the trees and yet Angela clearly sounded in distress, and was clearly yelling at him about a 'they' who seemed to be mysteriously after her. He quickly ran down the steps to her aide, unsure of what to make of what was happening.

"Back inside, quickly!" Angela half yelled at him, grabbing his hand as she ran past. "Q _uickly_!" she said again as he was spun around by her and forced to follow her inside. Bolting through the door he only just made it inside before she slammed the door shut, bolting the lock immediately.

"Where have they gone?" she asked, peering fearfully around the lace curtain that covered the doors windows.

William leaned over her head and looked out of the window as well, "I don't see anyone out there Poss... and I didn't before either," he told her.

"Really? You didn't see anybody? But there were so many of them, surely you must have seen them."

"No, I didn't see anybody."

William caught Angela's raised eyebrow and look of incredulousness in the reflection on the glass. "Oh, don't look like that," he said, "I believe you when you say you saw something, why can't you believe me when I say that I didn't?"

"Because something _was_ there. _That_ is why!"

"Fine then. Let's say something _was_ there. And if something _was_ there, you'll be able to describe it to me."

And so, Angela explained to him what she had seen. The details were so precise that it left William with no doubt that she had seen the strange suited men outside the house. But the nagging in his mind wouldn't go away - if _she_ had seen them, why hadn't _he_? But more important than that was the question of where they were now? He had drifted into his own thoughts and tuned back in to hear Angela saying in a hurried, rambling voice as if talking to herself, "- he said something to me that time. Something about a dream he had. There were suited men in that, they all had grey suits - just like the men I have just seen, and they were all almost identical. He told me that they were coming and warned me that I should be ready. But it was just a dream, dreams have no basis in reality. But there was always something about what he said, it pulled at the back of my mind. Like it was something I knew I should be able to remember, but couldn't. And -"

"Sorry, who said what?" William interrupted.

"Jake. Jacob said he had a dream about grey-suited men. He said they were coming. Coming for me."

"But that's just _crazy_ ," scoffed William. "Dreams aren't real. And, if you ask me, that guy is more than a little bit off his rocker. He is just so... so..."

"He is just so _what_?" Angela demanded. "He's my best friend."

"Oh, here we go, getting all defensive of him again. So, your friend had a dream and it just happens to coincidentally relate to something you _think_ you saw so immediately it's all real."

"I did see it! I mean, I did see them! They _were_ there."

"Then where are they now then? Vanished into thin air? That many people can't just vanish into nothing. And you know that as well as I do."

"Oh, this is so stupid Will, we're arguing over something utterly ridiculous. The longer I sit here in the light and the warmth the more absurd the whole thing sounds."

"True that," William said, a half smile on his face.

"Can you walk me to the car please, just... you know, just in case?"

"Oh, _all riiight_ ," William replied feigning reluctance, "just this once."

"You're such a dick," Angela laughed. She was feeling better about the whole ordeal, she was almost sure she must have just imagined it after all. Will had raised a good point, if they had been there _where_ had they gone to now? People, especially that many people, can't just vanish into nothing, and if he hadn't seen them perhaps it really _was_ just her imagination, playing off what Jake had told her about his dream. Even as she thought this though, she was unable to quite shake the feeling of a memory trying to push itself to the front of her mind. They headed back outside, hand in hand. A slight movement caught Angela's eye again, "Did you see that?" she asked William.

To her surprise he replied that he had seen something, "It's probably just a dog or something," he replied, his voice calm.

They carried on walking, at a slightly increased pace and as the temperature dropped again Angela felt the goose-bumps appear on her arms

"Hell, that's cold," William said, clearly noticing the chill as well.

They got to the car, and Angela walked around to the driver's side to get in. As she went to open the door she swore loudly. Her keys, of course, were still inside, the reason she had been going back inside in the first place was to get them. She told William and he obliged to going back and getting them for her.

She bounced slowly on her feet to keep away the cold chill that seemed to be sweeping through and watched as William vanished up the steps and through the front door. The instant he was out of sight they appeared again, those strange suited men. They had entirely surrounded the house, cutting off all the exits - there was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. The short distance to the door suddenly seemed to stretch out to the distance across the universe. She yelled out to William who appeared after a couple of seconds at the door, holding her keys up. "Do you see them now?!" she demanded of him, her voice cracking a little in panic. The keys dropped from William's hand as his face changed to an almost comedic expression of shock; there was her answer. He saw them, he saw every last one of them. He suddenly broke into a run and rushed towards Angela yelling "Look out!"

So focused on William was Angela that she hadn't seen the suited men - they wore grey suits she could see now - closing in on her from the sides and behind. As she quickly spun around, she noticed how close they had got and she screamed as three of them lunged forward and grabbed her. They started to drag her away, her shoes scraping across the gravel of the driveway, then the hard surface of the road. She struggled and twisted, managing to turn to see William being held back by another group of the suited men and she knew there was no way he could help her now. As she came to this frightful conclusion, she really started to panic.

She screamed, yelled and thrashed about, trying to break the grip of the suited men. Then, suddenly, in amongst the chaos of her panic an idea sprang to her mind. She knew that there _was_ someone who could help her, but he was too far away to be of an use right now. There was someone else who knew of these grey-suited men, and the danger they presented. She knew if anyone could help her it was him, stuffing her hand hastily into her pocket she pulled out her phone. Faking another thrashing fit of panic - which wasn't hard to do - she threw the phone towards the house behind her. "Call him," she yelled as loud as she could, hoping William would hear her. "Call Jake! He'll know what to do, he'll know how to -"

A sharp blow struck the side of her head and she neither saw nor heard anymore.

As suddenly and mysteriously as they had appeared, they vanished. The suited men that held a struggling William to the ground just vanished. He thought he had vaguely heard someone yelling to call Jacob, but he didn't have his number. His cheek and mouth were throbbing where he had been punched in the face and it seemed to hurt to think. There had been something, something else. A phone! She had thrown her phone! He searched the ground around him, but couldn't find it while groping in the dark. He was working hard not to panic when he suddenly realized he could call Angela's phone and it would light up. He scrambled in his pocket for his own phone, and quickly rang Angela. As he had hoped her phone lit up, not far from where he knelt on the cold hard ground and he reached across and grabbed it. "Why did you throw this away? Why?!" he asked the now silent, warm, night-air around him. He rubbed his hand across his face, then through his hair - not noticing the blood on his hand afterwards.

"The Police!" he said suddenly, springing to his feet. He again got out his phone to place a call, this time to the Police. For who else was there to ring when someone was abducted? Jacob? No, Jacob was just a nuisance and just a normal person, no way could he find Angela. Not like the Police, he thought, the Police would find Angela. Quietly to himself he whispered that there was no way in hell he would ask Jacob for help. No way in hell. Despite whatever Angela might have yelled to him about calling him.

## Chapter 1

In the two weeks since Angela's 'Mysterious Abduction' - as the media had labelled it - William had been interrogated by the investigating Police officers twice. If it hadn't been for his fractured jaw, which their specialists had determined not to be self inflicted, William was sure he would be the sole suspect.

Evidence that there had been someone else present proved to be impossible to find. William was told at each of his interrogations that there was no DNA, no fingerprints, not even a hair or two to indicate anybody else had been in front of his property. That the grass had been trampled by a 'large number of persons' to quote the reporting officer did not surprise William, he had seen all of the men. What did surprise him was to be told that the trail was officially cold. Other than the drag marks, presumably from Angela's feet, leading vaguely towards the nearby plantation - which had been thoroughly searched - there was no trail for anybody to follow. Though the officer didn't say that they had given up, it was the impression William got.

On being told the news, while seated with Angela's foster family, William had remained stony faced. Now he had returned home however, the facade cracked. He wanted to rage and yell and preferably hit something, he wanted to do something _anything_ to somehow vent the anger, the frustration but mostly the ever-deepening sadness at Angela's disappearance.

The sun slowly dipped beneath the horizon as the seemingly endless day wore on and William eventually turned to his bed - though he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep. As he lay in the darkness his mind endlessly repeated the events of that night, over and over again in flawless detail, the same detail he had given to the Police both times they had 'interviewed' him. Eventually William passed into a fitful sleep, full of nightmares where Angela's panicked voice kept screaming at him, screaming at him something about calling somebody, screaming at him that there was something he had forgotten.

William woke early the next morning, remembering only that he had forgotten something yet positive that it was only a dream. As William lay in bed, undecided on whether he should even bother to get up or if he should just lie there until he didn't feel as on edge as he did, the memory of that horrible night again washed over him. His mind's eye watched as Angela was hurriedly dragged away from him, he could barely see her through the bodies that surrounded him. He saw he throwing her phone towards him, heard her yelling at him to do something. But he couldn't remember what she had yelled. The Police had, of course, been extremely interested in this part of the story, but try as William might he couldn't remember what she had yelled - nor why she had thrown her phone at him. A doctor of some description had declared he was likely to be suffering from some form of stress-induced amnesia and that the memory would probably return eventually, the Police had told him to let them know when it did.

The Police had taken the phone, examined it in depth and then returned it to Angela's foster family. Her foster family had shown no real interest in it, nor had they shown an interest in her, and William had asked if he could have it. He turned and saw it sitting beside his own phone on the dresser beside his bed. Unsure why he was doing so, he reached for it thinking perhaps he could find a clue in it somewhere as to what had happened to Angela. Pressing one of the keys he was surprised when the screen lit up with an icon stating '1 New Message'. He hit the button to read what the message said and, more importantly, to see who it was from. At the top of the screen was a name which made William screw his face up in disgust: Jake.

Jacob was as different from William as William thought it was possible to be. Jacob was the type of person to which sports and having friends and the like didn't seem to matter; he was often seen to be reading books on a seemingly endless variety of topics. Strangest of all of Jacobs traits, however, was that Angela was his friend. And that he was hers. In her words he was her best friend, though whenever William asked her why she always stated, without exception, "Because he's Jake", with a look in her eye that slightly unsettled him.

Glancing down the screen from where Jacobs name was displayed William read the message, suddenly remembering what it was that Angela had yelled, screamed at him to do. The message contained two simple words: Call Me.

Jacob jumped slightly when his phone rang, before picking it up and looking at it, deciding whether or not he should answer the call. He decided that he should, because although the number was unknown, he knew exactly who was calling. He pressed the little green icon and held the phone to his ear.

"Hello William," he said after a slight pause.

"Jacob."

"I've been expecting your call."

"Have you? That's great."

"What is your address?" Jacob asked, and listened intently as William told him. "Good, good. I'll be there in around twenty minutes. Half an hour max." Jacob rolled his eyes as the line went dead; William had hung up on him. With a heavy sigh Jacob pocketed his phone and headed to his car, to drive to Williams house. Now there was something that he hadn't expected to ever do, but desperate times...

The Police had, of course, interviewed him. Of all the contacts on Angela's phone he was the one she most often communicated with - at all times of the day and night. But unable to place Jacob, or anyone really, at the scene of the abduction they had soon given up asking him if he knew where she had been taken. When they finally stopped asking, he had been glad, constant lying to them was getting tiresome, after all, he had to make sure his story was the same in each retelling.

Lost in his thoughts Jacob found himself parking in front of Williams house in next to no time, looking at the small house he had parked in front of he could still vaguely see the marks in the ground where the confrontation had taken place. The Police had, helpfully, marked the drag trail in a paint and it pointed right towards a relatively young plantation. Jacob exited his car, leaving the keys in the ignition and the doors unlocked, knowing that he wouldn't be needing it again.

He walked up the steps and across the veranda to the front door of Williams house, where he rapped sharply on the glass. 'This is going to get messy,' he thought as William opened the door.

Hearing the sharp short knocks on the door William got up from his seat, trying, in vain, to remove any sign of resentment from his face. Now that he remembered it, Angela had been _adamant_ that he ring Jacob and so he had done so. Now it was time to find out if Jacob really could help, he doubted that this guy could be better at finding a missing person than the Police, but he was at such a loss that almost any crazy idea could be entertained in his mind - though he didn't dare raise his hopes. He opened the door, "Gidday," he said.

"And the same to you," came Jacobs reply.

William thought to himself, not for the first time, 'How _on earth_ can she be friends with this guy?' Out loud he said, "I suppose you had better come in."

"In? No... definitely not in. It's not like she vanished inside is it. Out will do us, are you coming out? I assume you are," as he was speaking Jacob had ambled over to about the position William had last seen Angela. "About here was it?" he called. William, barely containing a sudden urge to yell profanities, instead stepped outside.

"Yes, right there was the place I saw her. The Police dogs tracked her to the plantation over there." He waved his hand vaguely at a dark blur that stood up against the horizon behind Jacob's shoulder.

"I see it, perfect place a plantation. Everything is so... hidden." Jacob muttered as he turned around, raising his hand to his eyes to better see the trees in the distance.

"Yes," William said, sounding a little confused. "But what is it supposed to be hiding?"

"A Trans-dimensional Jump, or a T.D.J. if you will."

"Trans-dimensional..."

"Jump, yes," Jacob nodded. "They happen all the time. Well, no, not all the time. All the time if you know what you're looking for... and how to do it... so, yeah, all the time really. Require _incredible_ amounts of energy to make happen of course, which makes me wonder what they used as the energy source for such a feat."

"Energy source?" William asked realizing that although he had been telling himself not to build up hope that Jacob could help, he had apparently had doing just that. He felt the bubble bursting within his chest as Jacob talked what was clearly some sort of delusional gibberish. 'Trans-Dimensional Jump' seemed like a pretty straight forward term, it seemed to imply exactly what it said: jumping between dimensions. The problem lay with whatever dimensions were, whatever they were it didn't seem to ring any bells with his own understanding of the world. He only knew of dimensions as a type of measure - length, width and height - but he suspected Jacob was talking about something else entirely. William realized that, while he had been lost in his thoughts, trying to come to an understanding that made sense, Jacob had continued to babble on and when William tuned back in, he caught Jacob ending "- so we need to go to the plantation. Off we go then, lead the way and follow the path that they took."

William reluctantly led the pair towards the plantation, as Jacob became strangely quiet with a thoughtful look on his face. He was counting on his fingers, then would seem to lose count, screw up his face then start counting again.

"Any use?" William asked, a more than little sarcastically.

"No use at all," Jacob replied seeming to either miss or ignore the sarcasm, "I was trying to work out the energy needed for so many to cross and it's just not possible. Well, at least it shouldn't be possible, obviously it is possible or we wouldn't be here doing this right now. But it really shouldn't be. Massive amounts of energy would be needed, _massive!_ "

"You do know you're not making any sense. All this talk about dimensions and things. What's a dimension?" William sheepishly asked, he knew he wasn't the smartest person out there, but like most people didn't like to make it obvious.

"A dimension? This is a dimension that we are walking through right now. This universe as we know it is a dimension."

"With you so far..."

"Good. So, think of it like... tissues in a box. Each tissue is by itself singular, but both above it and below it, are more tissues. In this instance, each tissue is a dimension."

"So, you are talking about other universes? Parallel worlds? That sort of thing?"

"Yes! Excellent you understand it! Except, well, it's nothing like what I said... but if it helps you understand what dimensions are, then it's exactly like what I said. But it's important to remember the difference between different dimensions and parallel worlds or universes. A parallel reality everything is much the same, some differences here and there. In an alternate dimension anything is possible, nothing can be similar to our universe at all." Jacob looked excited now, like a kid in a candy store. William had a funny feeling he may have just unleashed another torrent of nonsense, but none came. Instead when William looked across at Jacob, he instead saw that he had resumed his counting.

The pair walked on, eventually entering the plantation that Angela had disappeared in. Jacob told William to keep going to the exact spot where the trail went cold, and William obliged. All the while thinking about how pointless this whole thing was, and wondering why Angela had been so determined that he contact Jacob. They walked up to where the police tape still encircled the exact location of the trail going cold.

"Right, so this is the place?" enquired Jacob.

"This is it."

"Excellent. Right. So. We are looking for a bit of glass. Probably a bit like a mirror. It probably won't be very big, maybe about the size of a fingernail, maybe the size of a large coin. Something in that sort of range anyway."

"You're saying that you brought us all the way out here, to look for a piece of mirror? Why did you not say at home?! I could easily have broken a damned mirror and given you a piece!" William yelled, enraged at Jacob's seemingly stupid request.

"It's _not_ a mirror you idiot. It's a portion of a Trans-Dimensional Gateway. Maybe even the _whole_ gateway," snarled Jacob.

Yelling again William snapped at Jacob, "You know what? I don't believe you. Not even a tiny bit. You're just talking nonsense, some fantasy that you made up. None of what you have said makes any sense and I don't believe you. I don't and... _and_ I won't. Trans-Dimensional Jumps! What sort of idiot do you take me for? There is no such thing; you just brought me out here to somehow rub my face in it. This is just a complete waste of -"

"Oh, _shut up_ would you" interjected Jacob. "You have no idea what you are talking about. You just wait, you'll see and then you'll be sorry. For then, then we'll see who you really are."

"What is that supposed to mean? Can you not ever just talk normally; in a way that, you know, _makes sense!_ "

"You know what? Go away. Go on! Clearly you don't want my help, so off you go. Leave."

"Well, you're right about something for a change. I don't want your bloody help. You are a bloody annoying know-it-all who thinks they're superior to everyone. The only reason you are even _here_ is because Angela told me, with the last words I heard her speak, to call you. So, I did. And now here you are being no help at all!"

"Funny that she told you to call me, she was being abducted by the grey-suited men after all. And who knows more about the grey-suited men than I? So here I am. _Helping._ "

"Some help you are, all you've done so far is speak in riddles, and bring us all the way out here to look for a mirror! What are these grey-suited men anyway if you're the expert? Some sort of freaking alien zombies from the planet Zorg in this other dimension you're on about? Do you take me to have no brain at all?! I am _not_ that stupid!"

"Hmm. So, you _do_ know about them then," Jacob calmly said, the heat of the argument seeming to suddenly leave him. "But you can't know, or you wouldn't be acting like this..." Jacob heaved a sigh. "Do you know?"

"Do I know _what_?" William snapped, less willing to let go of his anger than Jacob was.

"About the grey-suited men. You said 'alien zombies', so I want to know what you know about them."

"Are you trying to tell me that that is what the grey-suited men are? _Alien zombies_?" William was incredulous; this whole situation had left the ridiculous and had become downright insane.

"Ah so you don't know but have instead just sort of stumbled upon it. In a way, I suppose, yes that's what they are. I don't know where they come from, or why they do what they do - though that isn't for a lack of trying to find out and I have my ideas. The basics of it, really, is that they are not of this earth, they are not even from this dimension... and the more of them you eliminate, the more there seems to be. Just like all the good zombie movies. So, yeah, 'alien zombies' probably is a very fitting term. Have you found me that mirror yet?"

"No, I haven't found your damn mirror yet. Are you going to tell me the rest of this stupid story now?"

"The rest of the story? No. Not now. We have far, _far_ , more pressing issues at hand. See, it gets late."

William looked up, from where he was scanning the ground for this 'mirror' Jacob was on about, to see him pointing at the sky, which, sure enough, was darkening into dusk. Where the day had disappeared to William didn't know, "Can't we just look for it tomorrow?" William thought if they went back to his house, he could perhaps break a mirror, or something like it, give it to Jacob and then maybe he would be content and stop with this silly story, this silly charade.

"No, no we can't delay any longer. It's already been two weeks, that's almost an eternity! It has to be around here somewhere..."

Reluctantly William helped to look for the mirror like object Jacob was so determined existed. He even went so far as to dig through the pine needles that sat several centimetres thick, but he saw no sign of the mirror or even a shard of glass. As the light slowly failed William sat at the base of the nearest tree and declared the search hopeless, as well as pointless.

It didn't take long before Jacob joined him. "I am sorry, it would seem we may be too late."

"I should've called you sooner..." sighed William, resigned to going along with Jacobs crazy trans-dimensional idea - for the moment at least.

"And we still would have found nothing. Let us not worry about should-have-dones, would-have-beens and what-ifs. Let us instead worry about what we're going to do next. I'm not usually one for giving up entirely, but -"

"This time you are?"

"I was _going_ to say that, however..." Jacob trailed off. It looked to William as if he was staring far into the distance, a look of grave concentration was written all over his face.

"However, what? This time you are going to give up? I knew you would, this is all just some sort of game to you isn't it? Tell me why, _why_ , does Angela like you so much. I don't see -" William started, launching into another verbal assault on Jacob.

"Shh!" said Jacob suddenly, holding his hand up in a half pointing - half shooshing gesture towards William. "Someone is coming."

William held his tongue and listened intently. He couldn't hear anything and was about to say so when there was the unmistakable sound of a branch snapping, as if under a heavy foot. Jacob tapped him on the shoulder waving for him to follow as he disappeared behind the current row of trees and then another.

"They're back," whispered Jacob, "the grey-suited men."

"How can you be so sure?" asked William, trying to keep quiet.

"Well who else is it going to be?"

William could think of many other people it could be, from the owner of the bit of land come to see who was wandering about in their trees at near darkness to the police come to pick up the last of their equipment, it could even be some drunk, staggering around lost on his way home; many, many options occurred to him. However, to Williams surprise, when the figure finally came into view it _was_ one of the grey-suited men. He pulled something small and round from his pocket and started to pull on its edges. As the pair watched from the trees the small object was suddenly hand sized, then plate sized as the mysterious grey-suited man teased it out. "We need that," Jacob suddenly whispered, making William jump and swear loudly.

The grey-suited man snapped around at the sudden noise. His eyes seemed to almost glow in the half-darkness of the setting sun and William found himself caught in the man's gaze. For a moment the grey-suited man had been looking the other way, or at least William thought he had been looking the other way, then, suddenly, he was gazing right into the eyes of the man. He felt as if he was leaning towards him, as if his feet were planted firmly on the ground but his head was being stretched out and drawn into those strange eyes that seemed to look right into his very being.

Out of nowhere, with a loud crash of tree branches, Jacob flew at the man tackling him to the ground. William's gaze was suddenly freed and he rapidly realized the whole time his gaze had been held he hadn't been able to move, not that he'd had the urge to do so - it was a truly strange sensation that he almost wanted to experience again. But now that he could move and look around, he saw that Jacob was bashing at the man's head with a rock.

William was shocked to his core.

This was something he hadn't expected. When they had been at school Jacob wouldn't even throw a punch if he was suddenly in the middle of a fight - which seemed to have happened quite a lot, Jacob was one of the main targets of the school bullies after all - yet here he was bashing a man in the head with a rock, seemingly determined to kill. William was suddenly urged into action, the man was about to slip into unconsciousness, he could see it in the way the man's struggling suddenly subsided and his head began to roll. He ran over and grabbed Jacob's up-stretched arm, as he reached up to deal the final blow. "What the hell?!" William demanded.

"He will kill us. Have no doubt in your mind of that," replied Jacob, the calmness and finality in his voice almost had William believing him.

"He's the only one who knows where Angela is," William reasoned, trying to bring the man back to consciousness by slapping his face gently, then harder, "without him, how the hell are we meant to find her?"

" _I_ know where she is and now that I have that little object of his that's a little bit like a mirror, we can get to her, get her back. We don't need him. He _will_ kill us; it is his duty."

"Duty? What the hell are you on about?!"

Jacob let out a roar of anger, "There is no time to explain, you have wasted enough time as it is!"

"You _will_ explain!"

"Will I?" there was a strange glint in Jacob's eye that put William off pressing the issue anymore. "I will explain when I see fit to explain and _now_ is not when I see fit."

"Fine have it your way. So, what do we do? We can't just leave this guy here."

"Oh, yes we can. And we are going to. We're leaving."

"Leaving?" asked William half raising an eyebrow, "Leaving to where?"

"To another dimension of course," declared Jacob, in a tone that implied it most obvious thing in the world.

William looked up from the man lying bleeding and half conscious on the ground to where Jacob was standing. He had in his hands the thing that the suited man had had and was stretching it out in much the same fashion, making it bigger and bigger. Soon it was the same height as him and within a few seconds it was wide enough for three men, let alone two, to stand side by side in front of comfortably. Its surface appeared to be made of glass, but you couldn't stretch glass like that. In it were reflections of the trees, looking slightly different, as if distorted somehow. Jacob also had a reflection in the strange mirror, looking just as distorted as the trees. However, on inspection, William saw no sign of a reflection of himself nor of the suited man lying on the ground. It took William a few moments to realize this fact and when he did, he jumped to his feet, staring at the strange mirror feeling panicked. He began to rave like a mad-man, "I can see you, and I can see the trees! But... I don't see me! Or him! Why don't I see me? What kind of mirror is this? You've killed him! Haven't you? That's why I can't see him! Does that mean I am dead as well? I have no reflection so I must be dead -"

Jacob loudly cut across his ravings, "You aren't dead you imbecile and this isn't a mirror. Nor are things like the dead having no reflection even remotely true, of course they have a reflection or as soon as something died it'd vanish from sight. _This_ is a Trans-Dimensional Gateway, a T.D.G. Not to be confused with T.D.J. Easy mistake to make, they do sound the same," Jacob's tone of voice changed as he spoke, he seemed to suddenly be enjoying himself. He sounded like someone who was about to burst into a fit of laughter "Of course, Gateway and Jump sound nothing alike so you could just say TD-Jump or TD-Gateway but it's just too much of a mouthful, so everyone uses the easily confused version for simplicities sake, in a somewhat ironic twist."

William was slowly becoming use to Jacob's strange way of talking, he was starting to realize that Jacob had a habit of going off into tangents and talking largely to himself as opposed to whoever was near him at the time. "So... this mirror thing is a Gateway? To another dimension? But... why are you already there?" He asked while the suited man on the ground groaned and tried to roll himself onto his stomach.

"That's elementary my dear Watson," answered Jacob, and flashed a grin. "I've always wanted to say that, although in the books Sherlock Holmes never did actually say it himself - it's just a common misconception... a bit like how 'Beam me up, Scotty' was never actually said in _Star Trek_ , though everyone thinks it was. Any who, the reason you see me and you don't see yourself is simple. You don't exist in that dimension. I do though, but it is quite difficult to have myself awake in both places at once, quite difficult indeed," he said by way of explanation, kicking the suited man who was struggling to his feet back onto the ground.

"So, Angela... she is... in that other dimension? With that other you?"

"Yes, that's where she is, thought she isn't stricktly with that other me. So, if you really want her back - you do want her back, don't you?" William nodded slowly, "Well, in that case it's through we go then. Your very first T.D.J., note that I said J for jump not G for gateway. Though it is your first gateway as well really. Oh, how I envy you right now, I remember my first time, such a strange sensation. A bit like being pulled into a black-hole but not quite the same, a bit less... spaghetti like. Right off we go... ah of course, but first..." Jacob reached out and touched the mirror-like gateway, as William noticed for the first time was actually holding itself up as opposed to being held up by Jacob. There was a bright flash of light and Jacob went hurtling backwards through the air, crashing through several rows of trees before coming to a stop when he landed heavily on the ground. He hauled himself back to his feet swearing loudly and massaging his temples. As he got to his feet, his attention seemed to be caught by something, he gave a brief smile seemed to say something and give a small nod, then walked back to where William stood.

"What the hell was that?" enquired William.

"Oh, that, well you see I had to merge the two versions of me into one version of me. Imagine two of me! I'd be arguing with myself all day long, yet still I'd never get a word in edgewise. It'd be brilliant! _I_ would be brilliant if there was two of me, twice the brilliance of one of me..."

Sure enough, when William looked back at the gateway, he saw that Jacob no longer had a reflection. He looked from the gateway to Jacob then back to the gateway, then back to Jacob.

"You'll get a crook neck if you keep that up much longer," Jacob laughed.

"You've changed!" exclaimed William suddenly, "There are some things that aren't the same as before, where did you get that bag?" He pointed at a green, apparently canvas bag now hanging off Jacob's shoulders. As he watched William became sure that Jacob also looked physically older, more careworn, but he brushed it off as being a trick of the light.

"Oh, I got that from the version of me that was in the other dimension. It's very hard to explain -"

"Don't bother with it then, I wouldn't understand," William stated, before Jacob could launch into an explanation that would undoubtedly take all night and involve going off on at least twenty different tangents before finally arriving at its point.

"So, off we go then! Let the adventure begin. I'm sure it'll be an adventure."

"But, won't we just get blasted back? Like you did?" asked William as Jacob marched towards the gateway.

"No, no, no. That was the two different versions of me merging into the one version of me. Don't you listen? If you don't listen, I advise that you start. It is a very important thing to do, listening."

"Oh..." said William. Truth be told he was rather apprehensive. This was all insane of course, none of it was possible, not even slightly possible. It must just be some awful dream that he'd wake up from at any moment. But it didn't feel like a dream and although he wished, for a moment, that it was he soon accepted that he was in fact very, _very_ , awake and this was really happening to him. Somehow.

Why it was happening to him he didn't know and the why and how of how Jacob had got involved was well outside of his understanding right now. He felt a hand land on his back giving him a sharp shove, then before he could say a word, or even utter a cry, he felt himself hit the gateway and slowly move through it. It was as if he was walking through a thick jelly. He came to an awful realization that he couldn't breathe, but, before he could panic, he was suddenly standing in the air again. 'I'm through!' he thought, feeling triumphant. The feeling didn't last long, however, as he felt his feet swept out from under him and saw them stretching out into the distance, far away from where his head watched them. Then, with a sickening motion akin to a long piece of rubber being stretched and let go, the top half of his body suddenly went racing after his feet. With a thud he landed on the ground, rolled several times and came to a stop. He didn't dare open his eyes to see where he was in fear of what would happen next.

"Up you get then! How was that? Brilliant wasn't it!" William opened his eyes to see Jacob standing over him, chattering away like the birds in the dawn chorus, "They have done well, far better than I anticipated, see? We came through and bam! Gateway's closed itself, seems it was a good thing I had my hand on your back, or you'd be stuck here without me. Looks as if the portal collapses in on itself and comes out on the side just travelled to, bit of a stroke of luck that the grey-suited man came along, or we'd never have gotten here. Well, not to this exact spot anyway, which is where we needed to be as that's where I was waiting," he stooped and picked up a coin like object from the ground, sticking it into his bag. "We'll keep that, as we'll need it for later so we can go back."

William slowly sat up, dazed from his experience. "Should..." he felt like he was talking at a million miles an hour, he tried to speak slowly "Shouldn't..." he found that even speaking slowly he still felt like he was talking ridiculously fast, it was as if he had no control of the speed of his voice. He lifted his hand and slowly rubbed his head, but even that felt like it was happening at an impossibly high speed. He groaned quietly.

"Out with it man! We don't have all day. Well we do, I suppose, but not really."

"Shouldn't there be a guy... lying here with us?" William finally managed to say, his head spinning.

"Oh, well you see, because we went through the gateway without him touching either of us at the time the gateway has gone and closed with him there on the other side. So, conveniently for us he is now trapped forever on the other side, not so convenient for him. Ha!"

"Why... why does it seem everything is going so fast?" queried William. Jacob seemed to be in an answer giving mood so he thought it best to answer the most pressing questions first.

"Oh, hell, of course!" Jacob rummaged through his bag and pulled out a flask. "Have some of this, it'll calm that right down. You've got a little temporal adjustment to do."

"A what?" asked William, as he peered into the flask dubiously, sniffed at it and took a small sip, 'Water' he thought as he swallowed.

"A temporal adjustment. Time isn't a constant as you should know, its relative - here in this dimension time is completely different to time on Earth and its dimension, where, of course, we just were. A minute on earth is about four point three four earth equivalent hours here. Your problem is you're still running on earth time." William gave Jacob a strange look. "See look at my watch, its running on earth time," Jacob held out his arm so William could see his watch, he could just see the second hand slowly moving. Jacob screwed up his face as he looked at the watch, "I suppose that things pointless now," he said and took it off, placing it, too, into his bag.

"So, what you're saying is," started William, noticing he didn't seem to feel as if everything was going so fast anymore, "if I was to spend... what was it? Four and a bit hours here, when I went... back? To Earth. It would only have been..."

"A minute!" finished Jacob. "Isn't it fantastic? Mind you, easy to get carried away, we have a mission remember."

"Yes... we have to go get Angela. But..."

"But?"

"How long has _she_ been here then? It's been two weeks to me but here it has been?"

Jacob sighed, some of the joy seeming to leave his voice when he spoke. "I was hoping that thought wouldn't occur to you, but since you ask... gah, this is going to be tricky. So, we'll start with sixty minutes times twenty-four hours. So, that's one thousand four hundred and forty minutes. Times that by four point three four and we get how many hours here that she has been missing per day on earth. Yes?"

"Ah yes?" replied William, rapidly lost amongst all the numbers.

"So, that would be... six thousand, two hundred and forty-nine point six minutes. So, if we then divide that by twenty-four - as I will work this out in 'earth equivalent time', a day here isn't twenty-four hours, nor is a year three hundred and sixty-five days. But I digress. Dividing six thousand, two hundred and forty-nine point six by twenty-four gives us two hundred and sixty point four days for each earth day. Multiply that by fourteen earth days, and we have three thousand, six hundred and forty-five point six days. So, that is... about nine point nine eight or so. Let's round that up and call it the equivalent of ten years, because of leaps years and so forth."

"What?! TEN YEARS!" yelled William, suddenly beside himself. "She has lost ten years of her life just because I didn't call you soon enough?"

"No, no, no, calm down. That's not how it works. Because of who she is, she will be two _weeks_ older, if she appears any older at all. It would all depend on if she remembers, which in turn will depend on how well they have merged her consciousnesses"

"Really?" said William, unable to hide his tone of disbelief.

"Oh, yes, well... her body anyway. Her mind will be ten years older of course. Hell, that's quite a wee while that is; if she keeps that up, she might catch up to me."

"What? Catch up to you? And what do you mean by 'because of who she is' and' if she remembers'? Remembers what?"

"Oh, never mind any of that right now. Up you get, we've got ourselves a damsel in distress! Just like in them old earth stories..." Jacob abruptly started to walk off, causing William to rush to his feet, making his head spin. As he did so he noticed a sword and shield slung over Jacob's back, alongside his bag.

"Where did you get those?" he said, pointing at them.

"Oh, these? I've always had them. For as far back as I can remember which is, between you and me, quite a fair way - but only if I want to."

"But..." William stammered out, "you didn't have them before."

"No, I did not. Anyway, you didn't have those before either, yet you don't see me asking silly questions," Jacob paused for a moment a look of curiosity on his face. "Although I probably should be asking them..." Jacob waved his hand towards William and for the first time William looked over himself properly. He had obtained, through no memory to him, a short sword slung to his left hip. Reaching around to his back he found a small shield with something else strapped over the top of it. He pulled it around to find it was a rifle. Not just a rifle, it was nearly weightless and had nowhere for bullets to go. Instead a small gauge on the side indicated in ten glowing green bars that the rifle was 'charged'. He looked down its sight and fired off a shot at a nearby tree. The entire tree burst into flame near instantly.

"Why the hell did you do that for!" yelled Jacob, turning around to face William.

"Ummm..."

"No, don't tell me. It was because you could wasn't it? Listen to me and listen _carefully_. If you're going to travel with me you _are_ going to follow my rules -" began Jacob.

"And if I don't?" William challenged, some of his earlier anger returning to him, encouraged by the anger Jacob was showing him.

"If you don't follow my rules? I leave you here. Simple as that, if you think you can find your way around this world be my guest. But remember, without me there is no getting back to your old life on earth. So, you follow my rules. Yes?"

William cowered, as much as he wanted to get away from Jacob and what seemed to be his overbearing ways, he didn't really like the prospect of being stranded here without hope and without help. "Fine then," he sighed.

"Good, so there are two rules," Jacob began, his voice losing the anger of moments before. "Number one: don't go giving away our position by doing things like that. You've just announced to all and sundry in the area that there is someone with an energy weapon nearby. Very few people have them, so it draws attention. Especially since we're in a nature reserve, not meant to have any sorts of weapons here; not energy weapons, not knives, not swords."

"Ok. And number two?"

"Number two: do exactly what I say when I tell you to do it. At all other times you're free to do whatever you like, but if the need arises and I tell you do to something, you do it. Got it?"

"Got it boss," replied William, his voice oozing sarcasm.

"Don't call me boss."

"Ok."

"See? Learning already!" laughed Jacob and resumed walking in an apparently randomly chosen direction.

"So... we're going to find Angela now?" asked William.

"Oh, yes, hence we are on the move and not just sitting there counting butterflies. Incidentally, we'd be at zero butterflies as I haven't seen any. Must be the wrong time of the year -"

"Do you even know which way to go?" William interrupted, not caring in the slightest about butterflies.

"I always know which way to go; it is a little skill of mine that I acquired at some point. It's like an intuition. It's never been wrong yet, it always takes me to where I am needed, sadly it doesn't often take me where I want to go. But luckily where I am needed is where Ange is, which happily is also where I wan to be. It's all very simple once you get your head around it," explained Jacob.

"If you're sure..." said William, not overly sure of Jacob's confidence. "But I have to ask, where did I get this stuff?"

"Now that, that is a _very_ good question. Perhaps the portal sensed that you needed them and so kitted you out with the gear. But that would seem rather odd and very unlikely, for that the portal would need a consciousness and I didn't sense one as I travelled through. I know where _my_ gear came from - it came from the version of me that was on this side. I left it here for me when I came back through from the other side. But... how and _why_ you have that gear I do not know. Least, I don't know yet. But I will soon, least I think I will. Welcome to the strange reality of being a Trans-Dimensional Explorer."

"Let me guess, a T.D.E.?"

"No, _not_ T.D.E. That would be _completely_ ridiculous. But... I like it, so T.D.E. it is. So, you've became a T.D.E., something very few humans, if any, have ever been able stake a claim to. I suppose if the gateway, or something controlling the gateway, issued you with that gear there must be a reason behind it. Why it, or they, chose to give you those things only you - and them, whoever they are, I suppose - really know. And if you don't know you'll soon find out."

"That's just crazy."

"Nobody said it wasn't."

The pair resumed their walk as, over the horizon in the darkened night sky, a massive ringed planet game into view, glowing gently in the reflected light of the systems star.

"Whoa," said William, awestruck, as he saw the vast planet slipped into view.

"Welcome to Quatra," Jacob said. "The fourth oldest of the dimensions. Well... of the ones that have been discovered anyway. No idea at all what we'll do should we discover one older than this one, the numbering system will be all out of whack..."

## Chapter 2

Angela awoke to find herself feeling as if she was being stretched out like spaghetti, then with a sudden tumble she landed on the ground. Her body felt okay, except for an aching head, but felt something wasn't quite right. She pushed herself to a sitting position and looked around, remembering with a shock that she had been captured by the grey-suited men.

When she had first seen them, a few years ago now when she was only in her mid-teens, she had nick-named them 'Murray'. She had chosen the name because it seemed to her to be a good name to take away the fear that always grabbed her when she saw the strange grey-suited men. Jake had laughed when she had told him she called them 'Murray', he thought it was a fine name to remove the fear from them. "Name a fear and halve its power over you," he had said. However, now that she was completely surrounded in them, having a name for them didn't make them any less threatening at all.

They had always been part of her life, these strange grey-suited men. For years she had thought that they were mere figments of her imagination and, for a while, she had worried about her state of mind. But they never seemed to want to hurt her, they always watched from a distance and didn't seem to be able to enter buildings. She had thought of them as her strange suited friends, friends that only she could see.

Then along came Jacob into her life and everything changed.

Jacob was one of the strangest people Angela had ever encountered. He liked to talk about anything and everything, no topic was off the agenda, and he read like he talked - if it had words it got read. At first she had been a little wary of him, there was something about him she couldn't place, but as they had become closer she had let him get to know the real her, the real her that had been hidden away from nearly everyone for a great number of years, if not all of her life. Whenever she thought about it, she said that she had let him get to know the real her - but the truth was he had just refused to take her at face value, always believing she was something more, something better, than what she appeared to be to others. He, of course, had been right and his constant pestering paid off with her lowering her walls and mental defences and letting him in. It was not long before she first mentioned the strange men in the grey suits to Jake. She had been part-way through describing his appearance when Jake had interrupted and finished her description for her. "Do you... do you see him too?" she had asked.

"Yes. Yes, I do. I often think, 'why is he watching me?' or, 'What is he waiting for?' But I am afraid I shall never know," Jake had replied, the tone of his voice had let her know that this greatly annoyed him. Jake liked to know everything; if he didn't know it, he went and learnt it. "But now, now we have a more pressing issue than not knowing why he is watching, not knowing why he is waiting and it's this: if we're both seeing him does that suddenly make him no-longer a figment of the mind, but instead a real and solid thing? And if that _is_ the case, then why, _why_ , is he watching us? I feel like I _should_ know, like I am forgetting something, but try as I might I just can't seem to stick my finger on it."

It had been one of the strangest conversations of her life. As she talked to Jake about it, while he spouted out theory after theory about who or _what_ the strange men could be, she began to truly trust him for the first time. It was a weird feeling, a feeling she couldn't quite place. She tried to explain how she felt to Jake and he, of course, had an answer. "It's as if... as if we have _always_ known each other. Actually no, not always. Longer than that... forever. It's like we have known each other since before we knew each other. Like... maybe in a past life or something." Angela had grinned and told him that was exactly it, she felt as if they were kindred spirits from a time long since past.

"Ours isn't a romantic love really," Jake started one day, "least I don't think it is. It's more like, well, we just feel like... brother and sister. Or something like brother and sister anyway, maybe something more than that," he finished, a look of deep thought on his face.

"Did you just admit to loving me?" grinned Ange.

"I may have done... do you love me?"

"Of course! I love you; I _always_ have!"

"In that case yes, yes I did just say that I loved you."

The bond the pair shared in seeing the grey-suited man when nobody else could had established a strong base for their friendship. Each of them was the others go-to person, when the going got tough they turned to one another. Jake had a way of dispensing advice well beyond his years, he blamed it on all the reading he had done, whenever Angela had a problem. And whenever Jake had a problem Ange used her own gift of being able to make it seem small, insignificant and something to be laughed at as opposed to something to be worried over.

As the years went on their friendship had grown stronger, sure it had its moments where they felt like they hardly knew each other anymore, but they would always come back to one another before too long. There had been a few large fights, a few less-large arguments, though they accepted this as part of their friendship: they were both strong-minded and often set in their ways, so it was just something they had learnt to live with.

Angela was suddenly snapped back into the present when one of the Murrays grabbed her arm and started to drag her along.

"I _can_ walk, Murray!" she had spat at him, pulling her arm free of his grasp.

"But you don't know where we are going."

"Then how about you tell me where you're taking me? That'd be _real_ great, thanks."

The nearest of the Murrays turned to face her and in an eerily quiet and calm voice said, "We are taking you to where you can never, ever, escape. Even if he was to wake up, he still wouldn't be able to get to you. Tell me, how do you feel?"

Angela thought this last bit was strange question and that the statement about the 'he' who may 'wake up' was even stranger than the question, so she decided it best to reply with silence.

"Ah, so you're not going to talk to us then? I'll make it simple for you, follow us. If you don't we'll just knock you out again and then you'll have to follow us, for we'll just drag you along like the sack of meat you are."

Angela decided that with only her against what would easily be over a hundred of the grey-suited Murrays, doing as they said was probably in her best interests. Though why so many had come just to capture _her_ was something she didn't understand, she was just one person.

As they walked the question of 'How do you feel?' weighed on her mind. 'What was that supposed to mean, how do I feel?' she thought. She felt fine. Well... maybe not fine. There was a strange feeling like she was forgetting something, something very important. But every time she felt she was about to grasp what it was; it'd slip back into the depths of her mind. There was also the dull ache in her head, which she attributed to being hit earlier. But other than those things she _did_ feel fine. As they walked night slowly fell and as it did so a huge ringed planet, a bluish purple in colour, appeared over the horizon. "Jol," she quietly said.

"What? What did you say?" demanded a nearby Murray, grabbing her arm and pulling her roughly towards him - Angela couldn't be sure but she thought it was the same one as earlier.

"Nothing. I just stubbed my toe," she replied, shrugging off his grip.

"Mmmm," murmured the Murray and Angela knew he knew that she was lying.

Angela's mind was racing, why _had_ she said 'Jol'. The name felt like it was familiar, like the name of a place she had visited when she was younger. But why would she see a ringed planet and think 'Jol', why not 'Saturn'? Saturn was the only clearly ringed planet in the solar system. Mind you, she thought, it had become apparent that she wasn't in the known solar system anymore, the colour of the planet with the giant rings was enough to give that way, that and the fact that nothing orbiting Saturn could possibly be so similar to Earth, she supposed she had just made the name up upon seeing the planet although, that idea didn't feel right to her.

The Murrays eventually stopped their seemingly endless march and set up their camp - Angela supposed a 'camp' was what you would call it. The men just threw their suit jackets on the ground and lay on them, all of them but a handful that stayed standing, obviously on guard. Strangely, every second one in the ring faced inwards towards where the remainder lay, as if they were expecting trouble from within the camp. On observing this Angela put the vague idea of escape from her mind and taking the offered blanket lay down and tried to sleep, relieved to finally be off her feet, even with the present company.

She lay there for some time, listening to the hushed conversation coming from her left, fearing for her safety. It sounded as if someone with authority was over there where the voices were coming from and she raised herself slightly up on one arm, to both better listen and see the proceedings.

"...Do you think he knows?"

"Oh, I doubt it, it's only been mere minutes since we took her and over there that's seconds, fractions of seconds. We should send someone back just the same, if within two weeks of their time he hasn't appeared, our man can come back."

"Only two weeks?" asked one of the Murrays. Angela thought that watching the pair talk was one of the most confusing things there could be. It was like watching a man talking to multiple mirrors. But it was obvious each person was yet another slight variation on the general grey-suited, black-haired man.

"Two weeks will be plenty of time, if he hasn't come by then he isn't going to."

Angela suddenly sneezed, much to her own surprise as much as that of the Murrays standing talking.

"Ah, our guest has been listening in," said the apparent leader. He turned to face Angela and walked over, the little band of fellow conversationalists following him.

Angela stood up, and drew her petite frame to its full height, "I demand you tell me _what_ is going on."

"Oho, this _is_ good! You really don't know do you? Or maybe you do and are just toying with us?" the Murray paused for a few moments, as if thinking, staring at her. "No, I think you really don't know."

"Oh, I know, I just want to hear you say it," Angela bluffed, she really had no idea at all and that nagging feeling at the back of her head wouldn't go away, she hoped if she could get some information it would.

"Ha, liar. You have no idea at all. Well, there is no harm in telling you something I suppose. But only a little, we don't want you getting ideas, or worse - figuring out what's going on. So, here, have this bit of info," he paused as if for dramatic effect. "I, _we_ , want _you_ because you are the last."

"The _last_? The last what...?" but even as she spoke an image came to her mind. It was the image of a city seen as though looking out of a window in an impossibly tall building, a city that was alive with the orange, red and yellow of burning. Grey-suited men walked everywhere, bringing death and destruction, she saw them aiming and firing their weapons at woman and children even babies and animals were not spared. If it moved, even slightly, it was obliterated.

Her expression must have changed slightly, because the Murray said "Ah, I see you have some memory. So, we shall not say anymore, in case you remember who you are, what you are."

The group of Murrays turned and left and Angela lay back down, struggling to comprehend what she had just seen. She hadn't made it up, she was sure of that, the vision was some sort of memory. Angela tossed and turned for another hour, before finally falling to sleep.

Her sleep was by no means pleasant; she kept waking from nightmares filled with all manner of horrendous images. Death and destruction went everywhere she went in her dreams as if it followed her, was part of her somehow. In each dream it came disguised as men wearing grey-suits. Here a city burned, there a quiet village. In another dream she saw the destruction from an extreme birds-eye view, as if she was in some kind of spaceship, witnessing an entire planet burn. It seemed as if it was always her fault, but she was forever escaping the destruction - that much became clear. She didn't know why she always escaped, or why the Murrays wanted her. Her dreams just told her that they wanted her and would stop at nothing, not even the slaughter of their own kind, to get to her.

It was during yet another nightmare - she had lost count of how many she had already had that night - that a new image appeared. She was huddled in the corner of a room as the Murrays closed in on her. She opened her hand at them, as if expecting something to happen, but nothing did. There was rubble falling from the roof, the building was on fire and seemed to shake violently from time to time. As the Murrays approached one of them spoke, a smile of pure evil on his face. "Where is your saviour now then? Too many times has he thwarted us, but not today, _not_ today! Today is our day!" Angela tried to force herself away from him, back into the wall behind her as the Murray reached out to grab her, when he suddenly stopped. The tip of a sword appeared in the centre of his chest and disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. The Murray fell forwards, with a look of surprise on his face, as the other Murrays spun quickly around to see who held the sword. Their expressions turning from triumph to rage at the sight. Angela looked between the figures of the grey-suited men as they tumbled and fell to the ground at the blade of the sword wielding man and when she saw who it was she promptly woke, panicking for a few moments at her unfamiliar surroundings.

Soon she remembered where she was, lying on a blanket surrounded in the suited men who haunted her dreams now and had now captured her. The image of the man with the sword still burned clear in her mind, "Jake..." she quietly whispered and everything suddenly became clear.

She knew where she was now and why she had known the name 'Jol'. She even knew who she was and _why_ she was the last. The planet 'Jol' was located in system twenty-nine of the Iota section of the remote Hygo galaxy. She was standing on one of the planets fourteen moons, the nearest to the planet and the largest. The planet, Jol, itself was uninhabitable. It was a huge ball of liquid Hydrogen, perfect for mining purposes. This was, of course, how some of these moons came to be inhabited in the first place: mining. Resources are always needed and Hydrogen made for good rocket-fuel and was vital for use in water creation amongst other things.

Angela remembered that she had been brought here by Jake, after the destruction of Deta, the only habitable planet, but not planetoid, in this part of the galaxy. Deta had been home to over 8 billion people; all had been destroyed when the Murrays came, but in a fitting sort of justice the Murrays themselves had been destroyed when the planet had exploded, which was her doing. The destruction of an entire planet left her exhausted for weeks but Jake said that they should be safe now and that he had had an idea on how to stop the Murrays. At the time he called it 'The Mirror Principle' and said no more on the matter.

Angela was the last of the ancient race of Zonians, able to manipulate matter with her mind. She could turn solid rock to water, air into rock, if it was matter she could shape it, she only needed the smallest handful of atoms. The remainder of her people had been killed by the sudden appearance of the grey-suited men. She didn't have a name for them then, she was only about three at the time and had no real memory of the event, only what she had been told by Jake. By the time the grey-suited onslaught reached the Zonian home-world, Zonia, they already controlled 16 galaxies, which was over 90% of the galactic neighbourhood surrounding Hygo. Zonia was on the edge of the Hygo galaxy and as such had been the first planet to be taken by the grey-suited men, as such Zonia had no warning of their arrival, the grey-suited men were just suddenly there.

The control of matter was simple enough for the Zonians to do, but it took a great deal of effort and the people had become exhausted, it was this that had allowed them to be overcome. The grey-suited men came in huge numbers, wave after wave had pushed and pushed and pushed until the Zonians were exhausted. Then they just wiped them out, despite the pleading of government, the pleading of the people, the mothers, the fathers and the children. One by one every last inhabitant, every living thing that moved on Zonia was destroyed. Everything that is, except for Angela. As a rule, the grey-suited men always kept one of the dominant species of every planet they conquered, and sometimes some of the lesser species with desirable traits. They would keep this individual alive in order to take samples of cells from them. These cells would then be merged with current grey-suit cells and the next generation of grey-suited men would arrive with traits of yet another conquered planets races. What drove the grey-suits to do this, nobody knew. Not even Jake knew, which was saying something.

Angela's memory settled on Jake; he had saved her when there was no longer any hope all those years ago on her home-world. The grey-suits had been just about to seize her to take her away and he'd arrived. He had come through the doorway sword swinging and levelled half of the Murrays before they knew what had hit them. He had picked Angela up, fighting off the remainder as he did so and taken her to his waiting space-ship, where he had then launched them both to safety as the planet burned below them. Jake hadn't told her this part of the story though, she had learnt this part of the story when she was older from Tabitha Rose, who it seemed, had also been saved at some point from the grey-suited men by Jake. "Who _is_ he?" Angela had asked her one day.

"I don't know," Tabitha had replied thoughtfully, "I really don't. A friend is what he'll say if you ask him." Sure enough, when Angela had asked him that's exactly what he had said.

The grey-suited men, however, did not give up their prey easily. They never let anyone escape; they _always_ killed everyone and captured the last remainder of the species. They had pursued the trio all over the galaxy, raging war whenever they made planet-fall. Some was in hunt of Angela, but most was just their own need to conquer. The Murrays were relentless in their hunt and Angela had learnt to use her matter controlling powers to fight alongside Jake and Tabitha, as they tried to save planets, people and, of course, themselves. Most of the time they were forced to retreat, but every now and then by helping the residents of a planet they managed to fight hard and force the grey-suits themselves to retreat, but the victories were few and far between.

This went on and on for hundreds of years, Jakes species - whatever it was - apparently aged very slowly. Jake admitted, once, when Angela had commented on the fact that none of them seemed to be getting any older - for even Tabitha didn't seem to age - that even he didn't know the lifespan of the average Zonian: Angela was his first encounter with the species.

By Angela's reckoning, as with none of them seeming to age past early adulthood keeping track of years wasn't very important, it was a good five or six centuries after she had been 'adopted' by the pair that Tabitha had been cruelly ripped from them.

They had made planet fall to help yet another civilization try and stave off the grey-suited onslaught and, somehow, the trio had become separated. When the battle was over, the planet a shadow of its former self and a handful of survivors celebrating their victory over the grey-suited men, there was no sign of Tabitha. Jake didn't speak of it very often for he blamed himself for Tabitha's death, no matter how vigorously Angela refuted the claim.

It was not long after Tabitha had passed on that Angela had first noticed changes in Jake. She noticed he was looking different... older. He also seemed to become confused more easily, as if his grasp on his mind and on reality was slipping away, as if all those centuries of life were suddenly catching up on him.

The battles raged on and on, the loss of Tabitha seeming to make Jacob determined to defeat the grey-suited horde, until the day Jake finally spoke his 'Mirror Principle'. His plan was to take part of each of their minds and character and then deposit it into another dimension. He would also split their DNA to form the two versions of themselves. He explained to Angela, in some long winded and complicated way, how it would be done, insisting that it would help against the grey-suits. He explained that they needed a 'whole' person; they would need both the her that was left to exist in this dimension and the her that existed in the other dimension. He had explained that in order for them ever manage to imprison her to take proper samplings of her DNA for their strange reproduction principle; they would need to merge both parts of her being back together.

Angela had been wary of the principle, she didn't know if she wanted to be split across realities, but nevertheless some eighteen months later Jake had come to her and said it was ready. "Now," he had said "firstly you will need to create a clone version of me, from a sample of my own blood. There will be little point in starting me as an adult; adults don't just randomly appear in the world, so the clone will have to be a child. A baby preferably. Then I shall implant part of my mind into the new version of me and using this apparatus here," he indicated at a machine holding a circular object that showed a picture of the front of a building that had the word 'Orphanage' in large letters across the door, "then we shall send the clone me through to the other dimension!" He paused and took a deep breath, in his excitement he seemed to have forgotten to breathe while he was talking. "Then, if I am right, which I will be, because I always am, every time you sleep there, you will be awake here and vice versa. I shall try it first and if I don't wake up here within a year... Well, then I think I'll write it off as a failure."

Angela had protested, if he never woke up she'd be alone, more alone than ever before. But he wouldn't have a bar of it, he wanted to be sure it worked he said. Begrudgingly she created a clone version of him, a baby version of him, and placed it in front of the Orphanage picture. As she did so Jake had strapped himself into a chair, looking down the barrel of what could only be described as a gargantuan energy cannon. "Here goes nothing," he said, and hit the 'Engage' button on the seats arm-rest. His body glowed and then so did the clone version of him as an energy ribbon shot from the adult Jake to the baby Jake via the strange cannon.

Jakes opened an eye, "Did it work?" he asked, looking at Angela. She turned to the baby and saw it sitting lifeless in front of the picture and shook her head. "I think we need to shock it," Jake replied thoughtfully, taking a pair of power leads from the energy cannon and placing them on the baby. "Now," he said, "you need to push it into that, then shock it and give the leads a sharp tug to pull them back through. I will sit down."

"What?" asked Angela, "Push it through a picture?"

"Not a picture, a Trans Dimensional Gateway," he replied, matter-of-factly, as he sat down.

Angela sighed and shook her head as she took the baby and pushed it into the picture. To her surprise the baby went into it, a strange sensation like her arms being stretched out followed. She placed the baby on the ground and then withdrew her hands. Working the controls, she turned to face Jake, "Here goes nothing," she said as he smiled confidently at her. With a crack the energy sparked down the cables into the gateway. The baby immediately started crying and Angela watched as the Jake who was in the room with her instantly appeared to be thrown into a deep sleep, his chest rising and falling slowly. Angela retracted the leads then sat and watched him.

And watched him.

And watched him.

Hours went by, then days, then weeks. Then suddenly with a lurch Jake woke back up. "Whoa! An infant again, I never knew what that was like. Four hours as an infant and now I'm back!"

"FOUR HOURS!" Angela roared at him, "It's been almost a month and a half! I thought it had all gone wrong!"

"Interesting, it would seem time is different in this other dimension to what it is here."

"Interesting? _INTERESTING_! I fret and worry for over a month and you think it's _INTERESTING_?" Angela yelled.

"Well... yes. You _do_ have to admit it _is_ interesting."

Angela had groaned and shaken her head, "I give up," she said, raising her hands in mock despair and left Jake to it. And, so, the pattern of sleeping for months in one dimension and waking for hours in another was adopted for nearly 160 years in Angela's dimension, and almost eight months in Jakes new dimension until the day came when Jake had awoken and told Angela it was time for her to cross over too. He had delayed from doing it as he wanted to be sure they both arrived in the same dimension and that there was little to no long-term effects that would injure or kill them. Little did he know that once they were in the other dimension neither would have any recollection of this dimension as they got older and the 'young', new, versions of themselves became the dominant version, leaving the version in their home dimension a shell of what they had used to be.

Time rolled by, in both dimensions, until Jake suddenly awoke in his native dimension to find no sign of Angela anywhere. He searched the entire ship manually when the diagnostic had told him she wasn't onboard. Yet, before his search was completed, he knew the diagnostic had been right - she wasn't onboard. He pulled up the ships automated security footage and to his everlasting horror he saw grey-suited men, five of them, come aboard his ship, even though it was hidden deep underground, and take Angela away. It had happened months ago, not too long after Angela had crossed over to the new dimension. Of course, to Jake, it had seemed like mere hours in his new life. He was relieved that the grey-suits couldn't find a way to cross dimensions; he had destroyed the gateway apparatus after Angela had crossed over. As long as they didn't have the two halves of her mind, they would never have her, or her abilities.

Angela remembered being terrified when she first woke up in the clutches of the grey-suited men, they had been furious. Rattling on about "missing half her being" and the like. She had only fleeting memories after her capture in this dimension, the Murrays had always kept her sedated.

But now, now she was whole and complete again, she could feel it somehow inside her. The Murrays had found a way to cross dimensions and had found her, who knows how, and merged her back together. She remembered Jake saying if both halves came in contact with a dimensional gateway at the same time they _should_ be reunited, though it might not work properly, or as easily as it seemed it would on paper. Angela assumed that this is what had happened.

She smiled softly as she realized now that she remembered who she was and, more importantly, what she could do. One of the Murrays came and pulled her to her feet, it was time to proceed again on their journey to take her to wherever it was that they could begin to take cell samples from her and merge it with their own. Angela had a different plan though, there was no way she would let her race become part of the grey-suits and with a sudden surge of memory and a flick of the wrist the approaching Murray turned to water and sloshed to the ground. There was a sudden commotion as the Murrays realized Angela knew who she was, knew that she remembered how to manipulate the universe around her. As they rushed at her she turned several more to water or air before she started to feel tired, dreadfully tired. Twenty more fell to her power before, with a heavy sigh, she fell to the ground. The Murrays quickly closed ranks around her, a hypodermic needle was produced and a bright green liquid loaded into the syringe. Angela was injected with the liquid, and fell into a deep, drug induced coma, of which she would not awake from for nearly ten years.

Just as William fell with a thud out of the gateway and Jacob landed in a graceful crouch beside him, Angela's eyes snapped open. For the first time in nearly ten years she spoke, "He has awoken and... and he has come. Now you will pay for what you have done," her eyes fluttered shut and she resumed her drug-induced sleep.

Her guard woke up; the sound of her voice in the usually death-like silence had startled him. How he had been lumped with this job he didn't know, but he did know the importance of it. She wasn't to get out and nobody else was to ever get in - not unless they had the proper authorization anyway and there were only two people with that. What his boss would say if he was told that the girl had spoken and he hadn't heard what she said he didn't dare think about. The video should have it recorded anyway, so he could at least say he had heard it but didn't understand it. Yeah, that would do. 'The video', he thought wondering why they didn't just leave it in charge. It pointed right at her while he sat just inside the door, outside of its field of view. He got up, walked across the room and pressed the buzzer. Presently another guard arrived and they swapped places the exiting guard telling the newcomer that the girl had just spoken.

The guard walked down the dark, bleak and damp concrete corridor towards his superior's office. His boss wasn't the big boss of course, he'd pass the information along to them, everyone was just a link in a chain and the guard felt this was all his life amounted to most days. Stepping into the office he spoke, keeping his voice steady and calm, "Sir, she spoke."

"Really? What did she say?!" The boss was clearly excited by this development.

"Umm, ah... I didn't... I didn't really catch it Sir. She caught me a bit off guard," the guard stammered out, trying hard not to give away that he had been sleeping.

"Sleeping, were you? Well, I do not blame you. That is an incredibly boring job that, used to be mine, I'm very glad it isn't anymore."

"So..." started the guard, thrusting his hands into the pockets of his heavy-duty vest - the main bit of clothing that helped distinguish the guards from all of the other 'Murrays'.

"So, we look at the video." The boss stood up from behind his desk and strode across to where a TV screen constantly displayed the tied-up girl's image. He hit the 'Watch' button on the console beneath the screen and reversed the recording. He stopped when he found the part where her eyes opened and pressed the 'Play Current Sector' button. The guard and the boss intently watched the screen, they watched her body lose its relaxed limp appearance and become suddenly controlled as her mind fought off the drugs for a brief moment. Her eyes opened, "He has awoken and... and he has come. Now you will pay for what you have done," she said before her eyes slowly closed again, as her body regained that relaxed sleeping look.

The boss turned to the guard, and the guard turned to the boss. The boss let out a string of profanities that would undoubtedly be heard throughout the building, "After all this time! It has been nearly a decade! Why now? And how? Go. Sound the alarm, we have a problem. The biggest problem ever! Go! NOW!"

The guard uttered a short "Yes-sir," and ran for the main alarm in the corridor, he broke the glass, punching the dimly glowing red button. It flared a bright red and then began to pulsate. Far, far down the corridor an alarm siren could be heard, as well as sudden shouts and running feet. The guard held his position beside the alarm as protocol stated, shifting his weight nervously. Soon the boss, the real boss, arrived. The boss's suit was as immaculate as ever, his slicked back black hair perfect and his shoes looked freshly shined as they managed to somehow reflect even the dim red from the alarm button. He strode up to the guard, who gulped down a mouthful of air before stammering out a "Sir."

"You sounded the alarm?"

"Yes Sir."

"Why?"

Another voice joined the conversation, "My instructions Sir, she spoke."

"Did she just? And what did she say?"

"You... you have to see this for yourself..." the guards immediate superior replied, a slight crack in his voice.

"Very well then, show me." The two men stepped inside the office, leaving the guard standing alone in the corridor. The guard breathed a sigh of relief, but it was short lived as a new burst of foul language issued forth from the office. The two bosses emerged, near indistinguishable from one another. The guards immediate boss turned to him, "Go back and stand guard. I want ten men on that room at all times. Don't let _anybody_ in, no matter what their clearance, hell don't even let _me_ in there! And don't let her out, whatever you do. _Do not_ let her out! If it really is him, she _will_ try to escape."

"But she is drugged and chained. She cannot escape."

"That doesn't mean she won't try. Do not forget what she can do, at the first sign of trouble shoot to kill."

The other boss nodded along and added, "We are at war now soldier. Prepare yourself."

The pair walked off, at a cracking pace, towards the commotion caused by the alarm that echoed far, far down the corridor.

## Chapter 3

"So," William asked, turning to face Jacob, "what is this place actually called?"

"Huh?" grunted Jacob, as if being woken from a dream. The pair had walked right through the night and on into the morning. William had sworn loudly and imaginatively when he had seen the systems binary star rise over the horizon, as the realization he truly wasn't on Earth anymore sunk in. After emerging at the edge of a forest they had walked into its deepest, darkest parts during the night. Now the odd pair, brought together entirely by circumstance, sat at the top of a small, surprisingly bare hill.

"This planet we're on, what's it called. And _where_ is it?" clarified William. In the light he decided that Jacob really _was_ older looking than before, he decided he didn't really want to know - mainly due to the fact he expected a long-winded explanation, an explanation that didn't entirely make sense.

"Oh," murmured Jacob in a tired voice, "this isn't a planet we're on now. It's a moon in orbit around the planet Jol - that's the one with the rings you saw last night. We are in the Iota sector of the Hygo galaxy, in the twenty-ninth planetary system. This galaxy doesn't even exist in your universe..." he trailed off and with a sigh lay back on grass, staring at the sky above them. William cast him a confused look, before he too lay on the ground. Soon William dozed off, basking in the heat of the two suns.

William woke with a start. Jacob stood over him and was not-so-gently kicking him in the ribs to wake him up. "Wakey, Wakey lazy bones," he said, "things are afoot."

William grumbled himself awake and responded by asking Jacob, "Don't you ever just... you know... speak normally?"

"Normally? Define 'normally' for me. This is normally, this is how I normally speak. How do you want me to speak? Like you? Well, maybe _you_ don't speak normally. Then we'd look like a pair of right idiots to these people coming up this hill. Imagine if there was two of us not speaking normally when they asked us whatever it is they want to ask us, they'd probably assume we were speaking gibberish or that we were completely mad and sell us to a circus as curiosities or the like. And I don't know about you, but I don't much fancy a life as a circus curiosity." As he rattled off this spiel to William, he had turned and was now facing the setting Suns of the planet - moon - that William found himself standing on. Just as William was about to ask Jacob who and where the people were that he had just mentioned they appeared over the crest of the hill right in front of where Jacob had turned to, it would now seem, await their arrival.

The two people both wore dark blue uniforms and carried guns, remarkably similar to the energy-gun that William now carried, at their sides. They walked with their heads up and their shoulders squared. William was immediately reminded of police and when they stated why they had come up the hill to talk to the pair, he felt he had done well to guess at them as being police, or whatever this moon had in place of police.

"In the dying hours of last evening, an energy weapon was discharged in this vicinity, discharging an energy-weapon in the sanctuary zone is illegal and carries a compulsory prison sentence. Are either of you the holders of said weapon?" enquired one of the newcomers.

William panicked, "Ye-" he began, before being promptly cut-off by Jacob.

"One of us may indeed be the person you are after. But first and foremost, what is your rank and what is your faction."

"We are Officers of the Jol Lunar System Defensive Force, Sanctuary Faction. I ask again, are either of you holders of said energy weapon?" replied the man who had first spoken to William and Jacob.

Jacob turned to William, "Fancy name for Police."

"Thanks. I had figured that out."

"So... officers of the Jol Lunar System Defensive Force, did I get that right? I did, didn't I? Damn I _am_ good, you must admit. You guys really should shorten it though, it's a real mouthful for anyone who isn't me-"

Jacob was interrupted by one of the Officers, "We would like you to answer the question," he stated, waving his energy-gun towards Jacob.

"Question? What question is that then? Oh, the energy-gun. Yes, yes, that was us. Well, not _us_. _Him_ really, _I_ had nothing to do with it," Jacob pointed at William.

The two Policemen aimed their energy-guns at William, "You will not move," they instructed.

"Whatever you guys want! Just don't freaking shoot me!" a panicked William stammered out, as Jacob stood idly by and ran his hand through his hair as he slowly shook his head, a look of disbelief on his face.

"They won't shoot you, idiot. Well, not yet they won't anyway. It's just because you have that gun, they need to take precautions. In a couple of seconds they'll probably shoot-"

Again, Jacob was interrupted, "You are unknown to us. Designate your species and planet of origin," stated one of the officers looking intently at William.

"Um... ah... Human? Of... um... Earth?" William's answers were both questions as he looked to Jacob for guidance, but Jacob just stood there with a half smile on his face.

"The designation you have given is unknown. You are unauthorized to carry an energy weapon and will immediately surrender it to us."

"Ah... okay. Look. Just don't shoot me okay..." William stammered, un-slinging the energy gun from his back.

"No," Jacob suddenly said.

"No?" asked William worriedly, speaking in unison with one of the Policemen.

"Yeah, I said no. Sling that gun back around. Now." William did as he was instructed, while one of the Policemen turned, pointing his own weapon at Jacob. Now the situation had both William and Jacob held at gunpoint, which William thought to himself, was worse than them both being pointed at him. Now there was nothing Jacob could do to distract them in order for them to be able to make a run for it.

"You will instruct this man to hand over the weapon," stated the officer pointing the gun at Jacob.

"No, I will not instruct this man to hand over the weapon," Jacob replied, imitating the officer's manner of speaking.

"What do you mean 'no'?"

"N. O. No. It's a pretty simple concept really."

"Excuse me," interrupted William, "do I get a say in this? I have the gun they want you know."

"Yes, you do get a say," replied Jacob. "Well, actually, when I say 'yes' I mean maybe. And when I say maybe, I mean no. So, no, you don't get a say in this at all."

William went to argue but was cut-off by the officer pointing the gun at Jacob, "Make him hand over the weapon. He has no authorization to carry the weapon."

Jacob sighed heavily, "I can't believe I am saying this, but... I give him authorization to carry that weapon."

"You are not authorized to give authorization."

"Aren't I? You never asked who _I_ was and, what's more, I never saw you scan me. So, I could be anybody. I could even be your boss - clearly I'm not though - but you wouldn't know because you haven't checked to see who I am."

"Very well, who are you? What is your species and planet of origin?"

"Well, you see, there we have a problem because I am not authorized to tell you that information."

"In that case we will scan you."

"Is that a wise course of action? If I am not authorized to tell you, doesn't that mean you are not authorized to know who I am? And if you are not authorized to know who I am you probably shouldn't find out. Just in case, you know, I'm authorized to remove you from existence to protect my identity."

William had intently watched and listened to this strange conversation playing out, the look on Jacob's face seemed to imply that he, at least, was thoroughly enjoying himself. He watched, with increasing disbelief, as the two Policemen lowered their weapons and turned to face one another. A short exchange followed consisting entirely of them making beeping and clicking noises at one another before they turned to again face William and Jacob.

"We have decided to accept your authorization of this energy weapon and the discharge of said energy weapon," the one speaking then walked up to William and slapped a big green sticker saying 'Authorized' to his energy-gun. "The energy signature has been registered with us and will no longer raise an alarm if discharged within the sanctuary zone. We apologize for any inconvenience we may have caused." The pair then turned and walked back down the hill the way they had come, with the exact same style of walk: shoulders square and head up.

"What... what just happened there?" William asked.

"Confused them. There's a trick you need to learn, how to confuse someone. They weren't too bad as they were mid-level robotic scouts not actual people. Yes, I know, they _looked_ like people but they were robots believe me," Jacob said to William just as he opened his mouth to interrupt. "They were on about authorization so I used it against them. Try it one day, you'll be surprised how far you get when you take what someone is focusing on then use it to your advantage."

"I'll try..."

"What's the good in trying? Do. That's a much better option. Now then. Where were we? Ah yes that's right. Leaving."

"But won't they tell someone they've seen us?"

"It _is_ possible, but I doubt it. After all, if they aren't authorized to know who I am they probably aren't authorized to see me at all. So, all going well they'll just carry on as if they never met us."

"Is it really that simple?" asked William, unable to keep the disbelief that anything could be _that_ simple from his voice.

"Let's just hope it is, otherwise we'll likely meet a whole army of them sooner or later. Robots like armies. Now _there_ is something to remember, seen far too many robot armies - they get all super intelligent then decide to be rid of their creators, happens quite literally - and I mean literally here, all the time. Right then, so let's... well. Now that _is_ interesting." William was getting very sick and tired of Jacobs constant disjointed sentences, "What's interesting this time? See a pretty flower? A strange pile of rocks? _What?_ " he angrily demanded.

"Whoa, calm down. Look at that out there, that dark spot on the horizon. There is something about that, something that isn't right."

William looked where Jacob pointed, eyes straining before, sure enough, right on the horizon there was a dot, a tiny smudge barely the size of a thumbnail. As he looked at it he felt himself suddenly feeling low on energy and incredibly tired. With a great effort he dragged his gaze from it, "I feel... tired, like all my energy is gone" he told Jacob.

"Exactly. I don't like it, look how the light seems to be drawn into it."

"I don't think I will, or I'll go to sleep right here."

"There's a good point, can't have you dozing off, we're on a mission. But... damn it! There is something, something I can't quite remember. I need a bigger brain, really I do, so I can store all this stuff..." Jacob was pacing up and down rubbing his hands through his hair, back over his head and down his neck. "Right, priority is to find Angela. So, we shall do that. Otherwise we just have a longer trip, as Angela is that way," he pointed roughly ninety degrees from the location of the black spot on the horizon, "and the black spot is well... that way," he pointed at the spot. "I suppose that sounds alright with you?"

"Oh, so I _do_ get a say after all do I? Then yeah, it sounds fine. The faster I get to Angela the sooner we can leave and I am not stuck with you," snapped William, he really was feeling very tired again now and he was sick of having to guess as to what the hell was going on all the time. He thought Jacob just liked to leave him out of the loop deliberately as it seemed like the sort of thing he would do.

As began to walk down the hill, on the opposite side to that which the two Police robots had disappeared down, William glanced towards Jacob and saw that his face was hard with concentration who seemed to be trying desperately hard to remember what it was he had started to remember when he had seen the strange cloud. "Any luck?" asked William, unable to hide his curiosity.

"No, none. I just can't remember... old age must be getting to me. Plus throw in this whole merging of the consciousnesses thing... seems I overlooked something in the original equation."

"Huh?"

"Oh, when I first split my consciousness so that I was in this dimension and the other at the same time. The consciousness in this dimension was meant to be the dominant one, but it wasn't. As I got older in your dimension, that consciousness became dominant, leaving the one here completely in the lurch. I kept dreaming of this place, but I thought it was just that - a dream. Extremely detailed, but a dream none-the-less."

"You're making no sense at all."

"I'm making sense to me, so maybe I wasn't talking to you but was instead talking to me..."

William rolled his eyes in frustration and fell silent, listening - though he tried not to - to Jacobs never-ending tirade. It was, on some level of his mind - though he wasn't consciously aware of it - very interesting.

"There is another problem of course," Jacob continued, "and that is how, _how_ , did the Murrays - the grey-suited men - generate enough energy to create that TDG. It doesn't make any sense, short of somehow harnessing the power of a super-nova... I mean, the concept behind it is easy enough. I managed to send a version of myself and a version of Angela through a gateway to Earth after all, with very little difficulty, but they were moving _extraordinary_ amounts of matter. Not just one or two people, but a whole army of people! Do you have any idea how hard it is to move matter between dimensions?"

"Ah..." said William, still only half listening.

" _Very_ hard doesn't even begin to describe it. The sheer amount of energy needed... oh," Jacob fell quiet for a couple of moments. "Unless they are using Angela. She could probably be used, even before they had both parts as they could just... plug her in for lack of a better term. The matter could be broken right down to its atomic level, then sent through and reassembled on the other side. Though there would still be the same amount of matter, just it wouldn't be as big."

"Wait. What was that about Angela?"

"Oh, they could be using the power of her people to break the matter down to the atomic level, then reassemble it on the other side. That could be how you got those weapons - portals can't just make them out of nothing. The sword and shield I'm carrying are of course mine, brought here by the version of me that existed in this dimension, but you, you got the energy-gun, sword and shield from seemingly nowhere. She probably re-arranged a few oxygen atoms here and there to form the metal and what-have-you. Oh, clever, clever girl!" Jacob ended, sounding elated.

"So, what you're saying is that... Angela is some sort of alien?"

"Ah, yeah. I suppose to you she would be, yes. Zonians from the planet Zonia is, was, the name of her race. She is the last."

"My girlfriend is an alien, I never thought I would say that..." William replied, uncertain what to think.

"Well, she didn't know. My fault entirely she didn't know, I stuffed up those equations _and_ I let the version of her in this dimension get captured-"

"You did _what_?!"

"Oh, that's right, hadn't told you that yet had I? I've been looking for her ever since I found out she had been taken. I knew she was on this moon because my ship hadn't recorded any energy readings from any other craft departing the system. Even if it was buried under a mountain," Jacobs tone seemed to sadden for a moment, "can't use the ship anymore, got no energy left to run it on."

"So... how long have you been looking for her?"

"About... twenty Earth years, I thought it was all a dream. Didn't even know what I was looking for half the time"

"Twenty years... But wait! That's like... how long _is_ that?"

"That'd be, oh... About five thousand years here in this dimension. Well best split it in two as I haven't been here the whole time, have I? I had to wake up to my life in the other dimension every time I fell asleep -"

"Five! Thousand! Years!" William interjected, "And you expect to find her now? After you have been looking for so long."

"Pretty much."

"Can I ask how?"

Jacob replied, "It's simple really: you're with me now."

William rolled his eyes, 'As if that explains everything' he thought.

"Back to where I was before, what they'd really need is some way of controlling energy. I mean sure, making the matter into teeny tiny atoms makes them easier to send through the gateway, but you still need to power... the... gateway... somehow..." Jacob trailed off and stopped so suddenly that William, who had been following behind him due to the layout of the terrain, walked straight into him.

"Why the bloody hell did you do that for?!" he demanded, as he stepped around Jacob and turned to confront him. Jacobs face had fallen to an ashen white and he swayed a little as if he might suddenly fall over, causing William to reach out instinctively to steady him by the shoulder. "Are you alright?" he asked, his hostility all but forgotten for the moment.

"The black spot on the horizon," Jacob whispered, "you didn't just feel tired, you said you felt as if the energy was drained from you."

"Yes. But I -"

"The Murrays need energy to power the portal, energy and matter control. They can use the energy to open a portal, then use Angela's matter control abilities to make everything small enough to go through it, that was the stretching out bit we experienced, we were stretched to be a mere atomic representation of ourselves."

"I don't understand. Is that black cloud thing another portal? Are they opening another portal and bringing someone else here?"

"No, I think it's a sponge. It's soaking up all the energy around it so they can use it for their portals."

"So, they are going to open it again, open another portal?"

"No, they'll need energy for other things. Probably for hunting me, hunting us, down and killing us off amongst other things," Jacob swayed again, this time so much that William couldn't steady him and he fell over, somehow managing to throw out an arm to break his fall. He landed with a soft thump in the undergrowth of the trees the pair still walked under. He pushed himself up into a sitting position, as William crouched in front of him. "Other things? Like what sort of other things?"

"They must know we are here..."

"The Robots?"

"No, Angela."

"I'm not Angela."

"No. They will know we're here through her."

"You don't make any sense at all; do you understand me? No sense!"

"The energy sponge... we... we have to stop it," with that he let out a long sighing breath and fell unconscious. William shook him vigorously to wake him up, but it had no effect.

William swore, "Now what the hell am I supposed to do?" he asked Jacobs unconscious body, giving it a short, sharp kick. He paced up and down and scouted around the area, eventually deciding the best thing to do - since daylight was again approaching - would be to set up camp. He lit a fire and dragged Jacob alongside it, all the while uttering profanities under his breath. Soon, the energy-less feeling washed over him again and he fell into a deep, yet troubled, sleep.

Across the last glimmers of light in the day something invisible reached out to Jacob, sucking more of the energy from him as he lay there seemingly unconscious, it had been sucking the energy from him since he first spotted that smudge on the distant horizon. However, he wasn't unconscious and was still acutely aware of his surroundings, he felt Williams kick sharply in his ribs, he had just been drained, drained of all the energy inside him. He knew now that he shouldn't have looked into that black smudge. Somehow, by looking at it, it had looked at him, seen him and liked what it had seen. He knew as he lay there, unable to move, that the longer they stayed put the sooner the Murrays would find them, this energy tap they had on him now would provide a nice clear marker for them to follow and he was sure they would follow. He could feel the tendrils of the energy sponge moving over him, it seemed to dive in and out of his body like a dolphin would jump in and out of the water, it was a feeling he felt was vaguely familiar, from a time long since past.

His mind fought hard to keep the sponge from entering it, but he didn't have the energy to keep it up for long. His mind soon lost the fight and the tendril like energy sponge touched his mind. Jacob thought that was it, if the energy was drained entirely from his mind he would he would surely die. If the tendrils entered his mind and took from it the energy that all minds contained there would be no electrical currents to transfer thoughts and instructions between the neurons in his brain, no instructions to his heart to keep beating and just like that, in the blink of an eye he would be gone. But, too his surprise when the tendrils of the energy sponge touched his mind, something else entirely happened. The energy sponge retreated suddenly, as if it had been stung somehow, and, slowly, he felt his energy returning.

As he returned to full consciousness he caught a scent on the air, an electrical ozone sort of smell, that reminded him of someone he had known a long, long, time ago.

He sat bolt upright, as if he had been shocked. "Tabitha," he said, his voice waking William. "Tabitha Rose."

## Chapter 4

"Who?" asked William, unimpressed at having been woken but quietly glad that Jacob was back among the land of the living. Secretly he worried that he would have to try and find Angela alone and although he didn't like Jacob much, he had been proving useful to have around - at least until he understood more about this world, then maybe he could do without Jacob, and save Angela on his own.

"Oh, someone I used to know. But that was years upon years ago," replied Jacob as a look of sadness flashed across his face, "So, long ago. Time goes on, people move on. Memories don't though, they live on forever in the moment - all you can do in the end is bury them." He shook his head, as if to try and shake the thoughts, the memory of whatever it was, from his mind. He turned to William, "Well, I suppose we should get going. Onwards and upwards. Well onwards and downwards really, as it's downhill that we're going." He reached for his bag, slung it, his sword and his shield onto his back and after turning around on the spot to gain his bearings, resumed walking.

William scrambled to pick up his gear and kick out the last glowing embers of the fire he had lit. As he put his foot through the hot ash he thought it was strange, as before he came here he had no idea how to light a fire yet now he was seemingly an expert. It was just one of a few things William had noticed that had changed about him since his arrival in 'Quatra' or whatever it was Jacob had called it. He wanted to ask Jacob about them, but Jacob would undoubtedly talk to him like he was an idiot, or use overly complex language just for the sake of doing so, in order to _make_ him look like an idiot.

Traipsing after Jacob he plotted various ways in which the pair could become separated, but he knew he first needed a way of knowing where they were headed. Jacob had said he had an intuition, a gut-feeling of where to go, which William didn't believe for a second. If it had been wrong for the last five thousand years, a time period William also didn't believe, what would have changed now to let him know where Angela was? Also annoying him was the fact Jacob seemed to be enjoying himself immensely despite the current situation. They were meant to be rescuing Angela as she had been kidnapped and taken to, as difficult for him to comprehend as it was, a different dimension. Amongst all of this was Jacob acting as if it was all some sort of strange game. As he thought this it occurred to William that this didn't just _annoy_ him: it downright infuriated him. He wanted to know why Jacob couldn't take this seriously. Lost in his thoughts William suddenly noticed the pair had emerged from the trees onto a vast open plain and feeling a bump at his elbow and turned to see Jacob holding a pair of binoculars out to him. "So, what am I looking at?" William begrudgingly asked.

"Oh, I thought you'd ask where I got the binoculars first!" replied Jacob, unaware he was irritating William all the more. "I got them from out of my bag in case you wondered, I don't really understand how it works, which is a source of constant irritation. Sometimes I wonder if that's the sole purpose of its existence, to irritate me."

"I've had the same thought about something else," William muttered.

Seeming to either not hear or ignore William, Jacob carried on. "You'd be surprised how much it'll hold. Anyway, if you look out there straight ahead, and then go right about oh... twice the width of your hand... See it?"

William _did_ see it, the lateness of the night helped him to find it. The sky was lit by a familiar mild orange glow. "A city?" he asked.

"That's the one and that's where we're heading, for now anyway. As I don't know about you, but I'm feeling a little bit peckish." Now that Jacob mentioned it, William _was_ hungry. He hadn't eaten in two days, yet this was the first time he felt hungry.

"You'll still be running on Earth time," replied Jacob when William mentioned this fact, "it's been two and a half days here, but mere minutes, have gone past on Earth."

"I don't think I am going to get used to this differing time thing. Anyway, so we're going to the city?"

"Yes, why not? It _is_ on the way after all."

They resumed walking, yet again, and now that they had a definite destination William felt a bit better about his situation. He still didn't like it, but he felt a bit more confident about it. He knew, when he thought about it, the only hope he had of ever finding his much-loved Angela again was to stick with Jacob, at least for now. Perhaps once he saw where she was he would give the guy the slip and then rescue her all by himself. How she would adore him then. Then, perhaps, they could make their escape together, away from the overbearing Jacob. He would need to get that coin thing out of Jacob's bag though, so they could get back to their own world. In his mind's eye he plotted all sorts of different schemes, but it always came back to the fact that without Jacob he was lost.

Suddenly, his attention was grabbed by what appeared to be the mother of all lightning storms raging on the horizon. He stopped alongside Jacob to gaze at it, the look of grave concentration was again on Jacobs face. It was as if the man had only two emotions: cheerful and sternly thoughtful. Though the flash of sadness earlier on had set William wondering just who the girl Jacob had mentioned was, what was her name again? Tabitha something or other. Rose. That was it: Tabitha Rose. An unusual name to say the least, but it was when Jacob spoke of her, with an odd softness, that William saw that perhaps there was a little bit more to him than his often cocky, arrogant and sometimes thoughtful attitude let on. William wondered what it would be like to have lived as long as Jacob claimed to have lived, five thousand years at the very least - his mind just couldn't comprehend it. "That's quite a lightning show," he said to Jacob.

"Mmm..." murmured Jacob.

"It must be hundreds of K's long."

"It's the energy sponge. It's drawing more and more energy to it and its getting bigger. _Or_ it's getting closer. Either way, I don't like it."

"So, you have said, why don't you like it?"

"Can you not feel it? I feel as if I am drawn to it, or maybe as if it is drawn to me. I think it is coming for us."

"Coming for us?"

"The Murrays they will know we are here by now, if they didn't the instant we arrived. Perhaps this energy sponge is something they have set-up for our arrival."

"Murrays?"

"The grey-suited men. That's a name Angela gave them, to try and remove some of the unknown from them. People always fear the unknown, give the unknown a name and the fear diminishes."

"But that... that would mean she knew of the grey-suited men. Why didn't she tell me?"

"If she had told you, would you have believed her?"

"Yes," William said, his tone adamant.

"No you wouldn't have. If she had said to you she had seen grey-suited men standing on her lawn but they weren't really there, you would have told her you believed her but you wouldn't have really. Perhaps you would have thought she didn't have enough sleep the night before, or perhaps you would have thought her to be insane, maybe you would have thought that you imagined her saying it. But believed her? No, you wouldn't have done that."

"You don't know me!" William roared angrily. "How dare you put words into my mouth and claim to know what I think!"  
For the first time since stopping to watch the lightning Jacob turned to face William as he spoke, "You really do love her don't you?"

"Yes! I do! And I _would_ have believed her."

"Really?" asked Jacob, not raising his voice to match the near yelling William was now doing, but instead speaking in a quiet and calm tone.

"Yes! Really!" William was fuming, how _dare_ Jacob question him. It was as if he doubted that he trusted and loved Angela with all his being and the thought of that questioning enraged him to his core. Jacob had turned away from him now and was again staring at the lightning storm the same thoughtful expression on his face as before, though William thought it may have looked a little sadder. William realized, while he tried to burn holes into the side of Jacobs head with the heat of his rage, that, in actuality, he hadn't believed her. When she had been taken away from him, when she had first ran panicked inside, he hadn't believed her then. He felt his anger ebb, his shoulders slumped and he whispered quietly to himself, "I didn't believe her. She told me that night, but I didn't believe her..."

Jacob turned to face him again, "See," he said, William feared he was going to have his face rubbed in it, but what Jacob said next shocked him, but not only because he didn't expect it. "Sometimes we just don't want to believe things and so we don't, by sheer mind power alone - even if it's a contradiction to what our own eyes tell us. I've not believed in a few things in my time that I should have, and once, a long time ago, that cost me dearly, cost me someone..." Jacob sighed heavily. "Well, we'd best be going if we're going to make that city before daylight, which, by the way, is my intention."

William thought over what Jacob had said, strangely finding himself softening a little bit more towards Jacob. He had pinned Jacob down as someone who didn't share information about himself and yet here he was telling William of something that, by the look of his face, was obviously still a painful memory. He thought perhaps Jacob had made it up to help him feel better, but he somehow knew that Jacob wasn't that sort of person. The tone of his voice had given it away as truth as well. William wondered if this person was the Tabitha Rose that Jacob had earlier mentioned, since Jacob referred to the losing of someone long ago and of knowing Tabitha long ago he thought that this was very likely. He was tempted to ask Jacob about it, but knew he'd get no answer. That and the fact that although he didn't like Jacob much the memory of the person clearly still pained Jacob, and William didn't really want to be the person to dig all that up, not right now anyway. Jacob might have some sort of mental breakdown and then they'd never find Angela. No, it was best to just try and put it out of his mind for the moment.

As the city drew closer individual lights could be distinguished from the glow on the horizon, including a pair that shone on a large sign. As William and Jacob passed it, William attempted to read what it said, but it was written in a language that William couldn't understand. It had an image of a shining city perched on the curve of a planet, he thought it must be the 'Welcome to Whatever' sign, funny how even here on this world, in an entirely different dimension, cities still had giant welcome signs that nobody ever paid more attention to than a brief glance. Jacob must have seen him looking at it, "Welcome to The Glow On The Horizon."

William laughed, stopping abruptly when he saw Jacob wasn't laughing. "That's its actual name?"

"Oh, yes, it's the only major settlement on this side of this moon we're on. Few people that live on this rock come here so to them it's always been referred to as 'The Glow On The Horizon'. The city had been nameless for centuries before it was actually given that name by popular vote. Well nameless to the people of the time anyway, once it was known as what roughly translates now into 'Hope'. Although, now that you mention it, 'The Glow On The Horizon' is an amusing name to give a city," Jacob chuckled, flashing a smile. They walked on for perhaps a further kilometre into the city before Jacob stopped and turned to him, swinging his belongings off his back. "We're going to stand out like sore thumbs if we go much further. You hold these. I'll be back," he instructed William, who went to protest but found it was too late: Jacob had handed William his belongings, then taken off at a run.

"You better come back soon!" William called after Jacob, adding "if you come back at all," in an angry mutter, as he carted the stuff Jacob had left with him to the side of what he now saw to be a road. As he sat by the roadside the thought came to him that this would be the ideal time to get that little coin thing from out of Jacobs bag for whenever he finally got Angela back and the pair of them could leave. However he soon struck a problem. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find where, or how, the bag opened. It was as if the bag was a ball, with no visible openings. He struggled with it for a good ten minutes before giving a small yell of frustration and throwing it to the ground beside him. He sat down and lent back to stare at the now lightening sky: dawn was approaching. "Oh, Poss," he said thoughtfully, and with a small tinge of sadness, "come back to me. _Please_. I miss you so much..."

His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden bright light and a strange whooshing noise, looking around he saw a car coming towards him. He sat and watched awestruck as it literally flew past him, as if to prove that this really was another world. But if it was so advanced, why carry swords? He decided to ask Jacob when, if, he came back. A few minutes passed and William again fell to wondering about Angela. Where was she? How was she? Was she even alive at all? Jacob seemed to think she was alive, so that was a comfort even if he didn't admit it to himself. He hoped that she was alright and when he found her that she was just as she had been before she had been so cruelly snatched away. "It's not fair!" he yelled, then jumped as a reply came to him "It never is," Jacob said as he sat down.

He tossed a bag of food at William and told him to eat up, "What you can't eat can go in the bag," he said picking it up from where it lay and opening it to throw in a collection of food he had brought back, saying, as he did so, that he had already eaten. William watched carefully as Jacob had opened the bag, to see if there was a trick to it. He was surprised to see there wasn't there was just a simple zip, just like on Earth, and then it opened. Only... there hadn't been a zip there before. He was sure of it. Deciding it was just one of the many things about this world he didn't understand, he asked Jacob about why he carried swords when there was such impressive technology all around him. Surely there were better weapons than swords.

"Don't like guns," replied Jacob, his tone thoughtful, "plus these things are like my friends. I've had them as long as I can remember, which is a long time. They were forged in the fire of a Tiberlon, magnificent beasts those. You should have seen them!"

"And what, tell me, is a Tiberlon?"

"Oh, you'd call them Dragons. Mighty beasts, like giant winged lizards. They did all the things Earths dragon myths said dragons did. I'm of the opinion that a long time ago one somehow crossed dimensions and appeared on Earth. Or, perhaps, they exist in that dimension as well as this. Well, I should say they _used_ to exist here. They needed no space-ships, they could travel through space themselves in a peculiar fashion that wasn't really flying, but at the same time wasn't really not-flying. But it has been many a millennia since I have seen one now, they used to be abundant and I would see them everywhere, now I fear they are either extinct or near extinction."

"What happened to them?" asked William, drawn in by the tale.

"Like all the great beasts of all the worlds in all the dimensions, they were hunted. Their fire could be used to forge steel - like that which is used in my sword: the Tiberlon fired metal so strong it's near unbreakable. Their bone could be powdered and used to cure many common ailments, oddly enough it was the cure for the common cold. Nobody saw that one coming, it had been written off time and time again as incurable. The Tiberlon had been wise and knowledgeable creatures, but who cares about that when you can turn a few dollars off selling their bones? Now they are just myths and legends of times long ago, so long that nobody even knows if they were real or not..." Jacob trailed off, remembering.

"You've seen a lot haven't you?" asked William.

"Yes, but none of it ever lasts. It all vanishes in the end," replied Jacob, his voice bitter.

"You seem to last, how old _are_ you?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you, but after all this time even I'm unsure as to the answer to that particular question."

"So, people don't die of old age in this dimension?" asked William, genuinely interested, spurred along by the fact Jacob seemed to be in the mood for answering questions again.

"Oh, they do, all the time. Most live lives about the same length as those on Earth, relative to the time in this universe, so an average of about 75 years here, give or take a decade. In Earth time that'd be just a few months of course."

"But not you? Or Angela?"

"No, no not me. Nor Angela, but that's because she is a Zonian. I believe part of their matter-transforming abilities allows some subconscious process to constantly alter their cells so that they don't die, they continually rebuild themselves from scratch, though I imagine if she were to choose to die of old age, she would."

"So, you aren't a... Zonian?"

"No, definitely not. I can't control matter for starters, which pretty much rules it out. Then there's the fact that I was around when the Zonian star-system was but a cloud of gas and dust slowly collapsing in on itself."

"So, you're at least as old as a solar system?"

"Yeah..."

"As old as the universe?"

"Now that _would_ be stretching it a little, so no I'm not that old. The Tiberlons were older than even I."

"Oh," replied William simply, having nothing else to say.

"I suppose we should find somewhere to sleep," Jacob said, gathering his belongings and standing up. We've got a long day, or night rather, ahead of us. As we need to skirt around the edge of the city, cutting through will invariably cause delays. Plus, they don't allow weapons in there, so we'd have some issues getting through customs."

"Customs?" William laughed aloud at the idea, Jacob joined in.

"Yes, even here bureaucracy runs rampant."

They walked off together to find somewhere to set up their rudimentary camp - a fire ringed with stones, that they could lie beside while the double-suns soared. William was, for the first time, semi-enjoying Jacobs company, he wondered where they would sleep should it start raining, if it rained here he reminded himself. He supposed it did, there was plenty of tall lush grass and plant-life, and no matter where he was that must need some sort of water.

As the second of the twin stars slowly emerged from the horizon the pair lay down to sleep, in a spot they had flattened out in the grass. They decided they needed no fire, they had eaten well and the suns were warm.

## Chapter 5

She was running, always running. She didn't know what she was running from, only that she had to keep running lest whatever it is catch her. Down an alleyway she ran, a high brick wall to one side and a high wooden fence to the other. The end of the alleyway suddenly appeared and a cat sat watching her. She looked frantically around, in a state of extreme panic, for a way out of the alley, she couldn't see one at all and then, appearing from nowhere, there was one on her left. She turned down it and resumed running from whatever it was she ran from, constantly feeling that it was getting closer, closer, closer. She could feel its breath on her neck, she could feel it reaching out to grab her. With a burst of speed, she ran faster before, yet again, the end of the alleyway suddenly appeared, with the same cat sitting and watching her. Looking, again frantically, for an exit she couldn't see one, until one appeared at her left and she took it. Round and round the never-ending cycle of alleyways, dead-ends and exits appearing just in time she ran, until quite suddenly she ran headlong into someone, who grabbed her around her waist and pulled her to the side of the alleyway, the side beside the high wooden fence.

There had never been anyone else in the alleyway before - she panicked, thrashing her arms and kicking violently. Who was this person? How did they get in? If they could get in could she get out? Her mind was fuzzy and filled with questions, but when she tried to think she couldn't remember anything except the running and the alleyway. She knew, though, that there had never been anyone else. Whoever the person was fought off her struggle and grabbed her by the shoulders, she strained to make out their features but realized she couldn't. They were somehow made of shadows that writhed and moved like smoke in a breeze, a tiny glint from the dim lighting in the alley gave away eyes in the shadowy shape of a man. Eyes that stared into hers with a determined fixation. The shadow spoke suddenly, its tone commanding yet somehow almost pleading, "Wake up," said the voice booming around her head, "you have to wake up Angela!"

The shadow person vanished as quick as they had arrived and Angela stood alone in the alleyway, a creeping sensation working its way up her spine. Something was coming, she could feel it reaching for her, its clammy breath and its long fingers. She knew she should start running again... but, why had she been told to wake up? Was this a dream? Some sort of never-ending nightmare?

The walls of the alleyway started to become less defined, before suddenly vanishing as if they too had been made of shadows. She stood alone in the dark, there was nothing here now - not even what had chased her.

Although still heavily sedated Angela was managing to throw it off, the shadowy man had helped her to see what was right before her: this was nothing but a cruel, never-ending, dream. She had to wake up, but she couldn't. The sedative was just too strong. Fighting to stay awake she had a sudden bright spark of inspiration. Using all the energy and concentration she could muster; she used her powers over matter to change the sedative in her blood into blood itself. She knew she had succeeded when she felt herself becoming more alert, realizing, for the first time, she hung painfully from the ceiling. Oh, how her arms ached! Suddenly the effort of changing the sedatives chemical make-up hit her, causing her to promptly fall into a deep sleep.

One of the guards standing watch in a circle around Angela's limply hanging body leant closer to her suddenly. "I think she moved," he said his voice tense.

"Ridiculous," replied one of the other guards, "with the amount of sedative they've been pumping into her since she spoke the other day, I'm surprised she's still alive, I'd literally eat a hat if she moved."

"I still say she moved."

"You just like to cause a fuss, you do. Mind you, this is tedious. I don't see why they need us, what's she going to do? Before we first sedated her, she only managed to take out perhaps a dozen men before she collapsed from exhaustion. Imagine what a decade of hanging there will have done to her!"

"I _still_ say she moved. Not much, just a little."

High up inside the tall, square, concrete building that held Angela, one of the grey-suited men of authority walked up behind one of the lesser grey-suited men sitting at a computer terminal. "What is the status of our energy reserves?"

"We're nearly at capacity. The Leech is literally sucking the life out of everything it touches."

"Good, very good. Let's see him take us on now. We have had millennia to prepare, always moving around so he couldn't find us. Now we have the advantage, while he has stupidly searched, in vain, we have prepared ourselves."

"Too right we have, but..."

"But?"

"I got a strange reading before. It was as if the Leech siphoned energy off us _back_ into something. It was only there for a second, probably a computer glitch."

"Get it checked to be sure and get one of the war party to check the actual Leech as well."

"Yes Sir."

"Right then, next order of business," the grey-suited man of authority said, "are we ready to begin the creation cycle again?"

"We are standing by," replied one of the men further down the row of computer terminals.

"Good. Good. Initiate the cycle on my mark... MARK."

In front of the computer bank a large metal door slowly lifted up, from behind it a bright while light shone out. The grey-suited men didn't blink nor cover their eyes as the door lifted and the light shone out into the room. The light suddenly cut out, leaving numerous soft red glows in its place. Each glowing red light lit up a pressure sealed door which hissed and popped forward, each of the doors then lifting up on two sturdy hydraulic arms before there was a dull thud as they locked into place. Again, a bright white light filled the room, this time bursting forth from the individual capsules that had been revealed when the series of doors had lifted up and open. The light softened and turned green, then dimmed entirely as men emerged from the capsules.

Each wore a grey-suit, some carried briefcases and all had their shoes polished to a near mirror shine. The newcomers looked just like every other grey-suited man that filled the building, except for one small detail. Their hair, while still slicked back, was no longer black. It was now a dark blonde colour, inherited from the genetics of the latest race of conquered people.

The grey-suited man in charge of the operation walked towards the first of the new newcomers and stood before him, placing a stack of papers on the ground. "Let's see what you can do," he said.

The newly created blonde-haired grey-suited man looked intently at the pile of paper, then he slowly raised his hand. He held it, palm outwards, towards the pile of paper which rippled and warped before turning, in the blink of an eye, to dust. Then in another blink of the eye the dust turned back to paper.

"Excellent," exclaimed the grey-suited man who had brought the papers over, "We have matter control! Ten years of trial and error and now, finally, _now_ we are truly unstoppable!" As the last of his sentence trailed from his mouth he ceased to exist, he turned to air in a slight puffing sound.

The newly created grey-suited man he had stood before lowered his hand "We are the new order," he said simply.

This change of command was not uncommon in their race: each improved generation immediately took over the leadership from the generation before, so that one of the latest generation of their kind was always in charge. "Commence full-cycle creation. Do not stop until you are instructed," the new leader commanded, his mind already programmed with everything he needed to know.

"Yes Sir!" replied a chorus of voices. The small metal doors on hydraulic arms swung shut, then opened again mere seconds later revealing another group of the new breed of grey-suits. They wouldn't replace the existing grey-suits, no, that would be foolish and unwise while in a state of war. They would simply add additional forces, enough to crush their enemy forever.

Lightning flashed overhead and hurtled towards the thirty spires of varying heights that sat atop the massive egg-shaped metal construction, striking one of the spires the electricity raced down its length before vanishing into the metal of the egg itself. The egg-shaped construction was surrounded on the ground by six rings of grey-suited men, charged with keeping guard over it. They totalled nearly four thousand and with the men monitoring the eggs energy collection they numbered just over it. The men monitoring the egg watched as each lightning bolt struck it and the energy was collected, it was then passed into a large battery storage facility, in front of which the egg was perched.

The egg and storage facility were mounted on top of enormous tank-like tracks to make it mobile. To the layman it would have looked a bit like something resembling a cement factory had merged with a giant bulldozer and was now charging across the country side. Of course, the layman wouldn't have lasted long before he was obliterated and all the energy stored within the very atoms within him turned into yet another of the bolts of lightning that struck the spire-topped egg.

Nothing was safe from the monster of engineering. Ahead of the massive vehicle lay lush green grass and trees, small towns and villages. Behind it lay a powder finer than dust: nothing survived the onslaught of the energy-Leeching machine, but the best bit about it, to most people it was completely invisible, leaving each planet's inhabitants to wonder at what sort of phenomenon was destroying their world.

Through the dust behind the huge machine travelled a near constant stream of E.T. vehicles from deep within the bowels of the giant moving factory. The Energy Transfer vehicles themselves were essentially a giant portable battery, it was charged from the battery banks stored inside the energy collection machine and then sent on its way to where-ever the grey suits needed the harvested energy most, which at current was the main headquarters - to fuel the creation of the next generation of grey-suited men. The E.T. vehicles didn't take a direct path though, they scattered all over the place before heading to the headquarters as a direct line of E.T. vehicles would soon give away the location of the base, even though they had near perfected the art of making the vehicles and base invisible.

A message suddenly appeared on one of the computers being monitored:

UNUSUAL POWER READING

POWER SPIKE OUTGOING

CHECK LEECH

CONFIRM

The grey-suited man monitoring that particular screen saw it and immediately stood up and clothed himself in a heavy rubber suit, after donning it he looked much like the astronauts of Earth. He motioned to one of the other grey-suited men and they made their way up the long stairway to the metallic egg. Opening a large door in its side the heavily suited man stepped in, the other shut the door firmly behind him and stood patiently waiting for the signal to open the door again.

Five minutes passed by before a blue light outside the door flashed, the grey-suited man opened it and from within stepped the man suited in rubber, a suit now covered in electrical burns and scorches. He removed the helmet and the pair returned to their computer stations, neither saying a word to the other.

After removing the protective suit, the man sat back down at his station. 'LEECH CHECKS OUT FINE. NOTHING UNUSUAL. SUGGEST COMPUTER GLITCH,' he wrote, before hitting the send key on his keyboard and resuming his usual task of monitoring the amount of energy intake. He glanced up at the monitor that displayed the current course of the energy Leech. They had discovered the arrival of Jacob and William when Jacob had first noticed the black spot on the horizon, and ever since they had been slowly heading towards them, at their current speed on their current intercept trajectory they would meet with them in about four days time. Oh, how he looked forward to that!

Angela woke up, careful not to change her breathing rate or to open her eyes, careful to give no sign that she was awake and that she was again herself. Instead she used another of her people's abilities, now that she had slept properly, without that awful dream, she remembered more of what she could do. It was, in a way, a kind of third eye that allowed her to see, without physically looking, her surroundings. It wasn't true vision; it instead showed her the physical make-up of everything around her. When she had first developed the ability and explained it to Jake and Tabitha, she had told them it looked like a thermal image, but the colours referenced the different types of matter surrounding her instead of the intensity of heat, even the air and the dust in the air was visible to her. It had taken her years to master the art of being able to see through the matter that was the air, to see the other things that surrounded her. Then years more to master being able to work out which colour represented what type of matter. She had had to learn this herself, as none of her race had survived the onslaught of the Murrays except, of course, her. Jake and Tabitha had helped as much as they could but as had neither of them had any experience of it themselves, they hadn't been much use.

Now, however, even after however long it had been since she had last used the ability, she remembered how it was done with ease. She sensed ten guards circling her, her wrists and ankles were chained and she hung in the air about two metres from the ground. She steeled her resolve. There was no way she was waiting around here any longer.

Jake was coming, she knew somehow, like some kind of extra sense. She also knew that someone was with him, he hadn't come alone. What she didn't know was who was with Jake, or why they were travelling with him. She assumed it would become clear in time, when she finally met back up with Jake. But it didn't stop her hoping, with all her heart, that the person travelling with Jake was William.

Will would have had to put aside his differences and accept that he needed help from Jake, but she was sure he could do that. Especially as it was for her, Will would do almost anything for her. Now that she was aware of herself and her thoughts turned to Will, she realized how much she missed him. He was what really motivated her, it was less her wanting to be free than her wanting to be back with him, sharing her life with him. She settled, hopefully, on the idea that it was Will and Jake coming to save her and, in that split second, she made her decision. She opened her eyes and spoke, for only second time since being placed in this strange prison.

"Murray," she called, her voice sing-song. "I've had _quite_ enough of this."

The guards all spun towards her the moment she began to speak, they raised their weapons and spoke together, in frantic voices, "Do not try anything! We will shoot to kill!"

"You know," Angela casually replied, "I don't think you will." She focused all of her attention on the matter making up the Murrays. As she watched, she found herself laughing with enjoyment as the guards slowly turned to dust, "Take that," she spat. She used the dust to fashion herself a net, positioning it carefully underneath her. With a glance at the chains they turned to air and she fell briefly before landing in the net. "Thanks Murray," she said with a wry smile as she left the room.

Just along the corridor the chief guard watched the events unfold on the screen, knowing as he did so that he had to stop her somehow. If she stayed loose, she could - would - create havoc and chaos in her bid to get free, she could dissolve the entire building into nothing but dust on the air if she so chose. He reached across his desk and hit the alarm, before walking slowly and purposefully out into the corridor adjoining his office, the same corridor that the frantic discussions had been held when she had first spoken. He stood in the corridor and turned to face the girl as she emerged from her cell.

"And then you turn to dust..." she whispered; her tone cold.

He watched helplessly as his feet and legs slowly melted away, his body falling rapidly towards where they used to be. He went to scream, but, as he opened his mouth, he felt his throat suddenly go dry as it, too, turned to dust.

Angela knew she had to hurry. The Murrays would surely know she was free now, but before she could go any further, she really _had_ to do something about her clothes. However long she had been hanging there imprisoned hadn't done them very much good, they were hardly hanging together anymore and, despite her current situation, she couldn't help but feel a little self-conscious. Quickly grabbing some of the nearby air and weaving it in with what remained of her clothes, she transformed it from air to a soft fabric and the existing fabric to a softer, more comfortable, type. " _Much_ better!" she exclaimed, with a flash of a smile, before resuming her frantic run for freedom.

As she ran, she could hear the sound of a great number of feet echoing through the corridor behind her. They were obviously aware she had escaped and were, definitely, now in hot pursuit. She quickly turned a portion of air behind her into a solid concrete wall, 'That'll slow them down,' she thought. One she ran, becoming aware, as she did so, of just how stiff, sore and tired she was from being imprisoned. She knew couldn't keep manipulating matter like this without a rest, especially while her body was still so sore and she was so out of practice. She had learnt early on that her ability was like a muscle: the more it was used the easier, and stronger, it became. But she hadn't used it in so long and trying to keep changing things was tiring both physically and mentally.

She turned a sudden corner in the corridor and almost ran straight into a line of Murrays. She stumbled to a stop, waiting for them to make their move - so that she could make hers and escape; she knew she had to stop wasting energy on pointless matter manipulations. After a few moments the Murrays that had been pursuing her arrived, still somehow managing to keep that immaculately slicked back black hair despite the fact they must have crashed through the wall she stuck up... but wait... it _wasn't_ black. The ones in front of her had black hair, but these new comers had dark blonde hair. As she eyed them up, the voice of memory spoke inside her head "They take the traits of the dominant race..."

In a rash move, she decided to try and disintegrate the nearest of the blonde-haired Murrays. He started to turn to dust before her eyes, she couldn't help but start to smile as he did so. The smile suddenly fell from her face as the dust started to rebuild itself, turning back into feet, then shins. For a moment she watched in horror as the grey-suited man appeared to have sand pouring from his knees where her matter controlling ability and his own matter controlling ability hung in equilibrium, then, as her concentration wavered, the dust stopped pouring and the Murray stood, entirely complete and unharmed, before her.

"You see," said the blonde-haired Murray she had tried to disintegrate, "we are like you now. I suppose, in a way, we are your children."

"Wh-What," Angela stammered in reply.

"In a way, we are _you._ Your offspring, your species. _We_ are all that remains. There is you and now, from you, there is us. We are the last of races and species uncountable. We are your people now," the Murray elaborated, his voice full of triumph.

Angela seemed to find her voice again, drew herself to her full height and spat in the face of the Murray. "You are _not_ my people! You will _never_ be my people!"

Wiping the spittle from his face the Murray spoke again, in his usual cold, steely, voice with no sign of any emotion now, other than anger and hatred. "It is _most_ unfortunate that you think that, because, as you have just seen, we now have the happy ability of being able to destroy _you_. You _and_ that infernal annoyance that has plagued us for so long."

"Jake..." whispered Angela.

"Yes, I wonder what he will make of our new abilities. No more will he be able to slice us apart with that sword of his. He can try, but we shall merely turn it, then him to dust. You would like to see that wouldn't you? Yes. I think we shall make you watch that; make you watch as your saviour turns to dust and blows away on the breeze." The Murray paused for a moment, before barking orders at the other Murrays that were present, "Take her away and lock her up. She can still be used to help squeeze matter through the portals. When we defeat this annoyance, we shall need to regroup with the other strongholds across the universe and establish ourselves as the new order. And what better way than through a portal."

Angela was dragged away, kicking and screaming towards a narrow door that she had not noticed in the side of the passageway. Through the door she was hauled and then down a long, winding stair. The air grew wetter and colder until it was like standing outside in a cold winter rain as moisture dripped from the roof. As they approached the bottom of the stairs Angela saw water swirling around like a vast underground lake. Angela was dragged into the freezing water by the Murrays that escorted her. They travelled down a long passageway lit by burning torches until it came to an abrupt end against a grill made of steel.

One of the pair of Murrays, who were both of the new blonde variety, opened the grill by turning it into water then threw Angela into the small room that existed behind it. The other then used the water to fashion a new grill, before turning some more of the water into two stone blocks. One of the Murrays then stood atop each block, above the surface of the water, keeping guard over Angela. With two of these new matter-manipulating breed of Murray standing guard, Angela knew she could not escape. Or, rather, she couldn't escape _yet_.

As she stood in the knee deep, near freezing, water, Angela formed a plan. She was out of practice and it now seemed she had plenty of time to practice, so practice she would. She began by imitating what the Murray that stood outside her new prison had done, and fashioned herself a stone from the water on which she could sit and, if she tucked her legs up towards her body, lie down on - if she had been less tired she would have made the stone a lot larger.

As she sat on the stone surrounded by the constantly moving water, she thought about how the Murrays had acquired her ability and how that would affect things. She doubted whether the Murrays knew how to effectively use the ability as yet, she also doubted they knew it was like a muscle and had to be constantly used to avoid the ability becoming too tiresome to use. She smiled to herself as she lay down on the newly formed rock, 'I'll show them to mess with me,' she thought, closing her eyes and drifting into an uneasy sleep.

## Chapter 6

Jacob and William stood ready to resume their walking, William had asked why they didn't just drive, to which Jacob had informed him that the cars here only actually worked only above the especially designed roads and it was extremely likely there would be no roads to their final destination.

"And just what and where is our final destination?" William asked.

"It's about ten days walk, that way. All going well of course," replied Jacob pointing through the city. "Oh, I suppose we should add a couple of days since we have to go around the city."

"And how do you know this?"

"I just do."

This answer seemed to infuriate William, "Would you _stop_ with all this mysterious 'I just do' crap! Bloody hell! You're annoying! Honestly, I do not know _what_ she sees in you."

Jacob shook his head, wondering, not for the first time, why he was bothering to bring William along at all. He picked up his sword and shield, swung them onto his back and began walking, leaving William glaring after him, knowing it wouldn't take long for William to decide to catch him up. He counted off about two minutes before William gave up standing staring angrily after him and ran to catch up. Jacob had no intention of dawdling, nor did he have any intention of launching into a debate about how he did things. If pushed to far he would snap though, he had a fair bit of tolerance, but it _was_ limited.

As the pair walked, the air occasionally crackled with static and made one or the other, or sometimes both, jump nervously. "I still don't like it," Jacob said, eyeing the storm on the horizon, "and, to top it off, it still looks to be heading towards us."

Jacob watched as William turned to face the flicking maelstrom in the distance, as if he was trying to decide if it was getting closer or not. "If that storm is following us, when do you think it will arrive?" William asked.

"It isn't a storm, don't you listen? It's an energy sponge of some sort. But to answer your question I give it three days tops. We'll be just clear of the city I should think."

"Then what happens?"

"Then we... well I don't really know yet. Not until we can see what exactly it is that we're up against." Jacob was worried, he had been able to strongly feel the strange effects of the energy sponge when it was far more distant, yet now it seemed, oddly, to ignore him entirely. He was worried about what would happen at close range should it, whatever it was, attack him, or pay any interest in him at all, after what had happened on the hillside. It had had such an effect on him from a distance he knew at close range he probably wouldn't have a chance against it.

"Up against?" asked William, "You mean you intend to attack it? How do you attack a storm?" William paused for a moment, "Or a sponge for that matter?"

"It's not a _real_ sponge, it's just the best description I can give you. But as to how we attack it... I don't know," Jacob replied, sighing and running a hand through his shortish black hair, "I just don't know."

The pair continued to walk for over half the day, yet were only a fraction of the way around the city. The conversation, what there had been between the two reluctant companions, had trailed off to the point of being non-existent. Jacob had even stopped blabbering about this, that and the other, due, mainly, to the massive ache in his head. A thoughtful, yet tense, atmosphere had fallen on the pair and each left the other to their thoughts. Jacob saw a brief flash of movement on the horizon ahead of them, "Stop," he said, so quietly it was barely a whisper as he made held up a finger in a sort of 'Shh' gesture towards William.

"What is it?" asked William, careful to stay quiet.

"There. There on the horizon, do you see them? They are just along from that clump of trees there, I count no less than eight and no more than ten."

"Oh, yeah, I see them now. Are they people or more robots do you think?"

"Neither I am afraid, it's rare that I'd have such luck. Welcome to your first, well second I suppose, encounter with Murray," Jacob replied, turning to see Williams blank stare he added, "The grey-suited men."

"Angela!" yelled William and moved as if to run towards the men. Jacob grabbed the back of his shirt as he went past.

" _Quiet_!" he hissed. "We don't want to give away that we've seen them just yet. No, no that wouldn't be wise. We'll wait for them to come to us. Yes, we'll wait for them, it makes it seem like we hold the power then, even if it's just for our own benefit. I'd advise you ready yourself, it is _highly_ probable that there shall be a fight and I don't intend to lose," Jacob then sat on the ground, stretched his legs out before him and rummaged around in his bag. "Something to eat?" he asked, the tone of deathly seriousness gone from his voice.

William let out a snort of impatience but under Jacob's hard stare soon joined him in sitting on the ground. He loosened his sword at his left hip and swung the energy-gun around from his back and gently placed it on the ground. Jacob reached around behind him and loosened his own sword and his shield, but drew neither to his front.

Jacob watched William as he watched the approaching Murrays as they came closer and closer, wondering what he made of their odd movement. They seemed to move like nothing else in existence: at one moment they were in one spot, in another they simply appeared in a new spot. It was as if they had perfected the art of teleportation and didn't need to walk \- but could only manage short bursts at a time. William turned to Jacob and opened his mouth to speak, but Jacob said "Do not show them fear."

"I was just going to ask about the way they move."

"It's certainly strange, I'll admit I have no idea how they do it. Some seem to walk normally and others do that little trick. I suspect it's something they picked up from some race at some point, minor teleportation maybe?" Jacob fell into silence as the approaching band of Murrays drew within what would easily be ear-shot. He rose to his feet, motioning to William to do the same. Standing they waited, as the Murrays ceased their strange method of approach and walked normally the last few metres to stand in front of the duo.

"So," said the grey-suited man nearest to them, "you have arrived. _And_ you've brought a friend along," the Murray motioned towards William, "how nice."

William, at the gesture from Murray, took a step towards him but Jacob threw out his arm in front of him to stop him moving any closer.

"Give us Angela," said Jacob, "and we shall cause no trouble here."

"Trouble? What trouble? _You_ can no longer trouble us. A new generation has come and it will be your undoing, no more shall you chase us across the galaxies slowing us down and thwarting our plans. You will meet your end here and you will meet it _now_."

Out of the corner of his eye Jacob saw William roll his eyes, a look of mixed anger and exasperation on his face. "Give her back to me, or I swear I will kill every last one of you," he swung his energy-gun to face the nearest Murray to him.

"You know what? I don't think you will," replied the Murray that William had pointed his energy-gun at. "Have you ever killed a man before? I look into your eyes and I think not. It isn't as easy as it looks you know, you'll be causing a life to be extinguished, you will be forever marked as a murderer, you will -"

"ENOUGH!" roared Jacob suddenly. "You will not surrender then?"

"Not to you, not to anyone, not now, not ever."

"So, be it," replied Jacob and with a movement that seemed to defy all the laws of nature and physics he reached up grabbed his sword from over his shoulder and sliced the Murrays head clean off all in the space of the blink of an eye. Glancing to his right he saw William standing dumb-founded, now that the moment to fight was upon him he had seemed to have lost the anger he had shown just moments before, it had been replaced with something that wasn't quite fear, yet at the same time wasn't quite not-fear.

Jacob knew what was going on, from experience he knew William's mind would be split. One part would be calling for him to pull the trigger and obliterate the man standing before him, the other part questioning if he wanted to be a murderer. Jacob had faced this same decision numerous times, he still did every time he went into battle. As Jacob thought, he parried the remaining Murrays own sword strokes and even though he was fighting them six to one he slowly picked them off one by one as William continued to stand as if frozen. In front of William stood the Murray he had the gun trained on, "Go on boy," the Murray snarled, his face a hideous grin, "pull the trigger!" Jacob watched as William continued to dumbly stare, as the Murray reached around and started to swing a gun to point at William.

"SHOOT HIM!" yelled Jacob, realizing he couldn't get to the Murray in time, "FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! SHOOT HIM!"

William looked down at the gun in his hand, his expression hardened then after the tiniest of pauses he pulled the trigger. The man standing before William was struck by a ball of energy, he seemed to stand there for a moment like a man trying to walk into a fierce wind before he vanished into nothing. Suddenly, something that had been locked within William was unleashed, with a roar of rage he swung the gun around and vaporized another two Murrays within seconds of each other.

Jacob, on seeing William finally pull the trigger focused back on the fight and was soon locked in a tight duel with the last remaining Murray, they lunged at each other testing each other for weaknesses. The Murray spoke, his voice almost as oily as his hair appeared, "It doesn't matter if I die here today, because soon you are going to die. The Leech will eat you and if she doesn't, if she doesn't... something by far worse will," he smiled, the smile of someone who knows a secret.

"Leech?" asked Jacob, dodging a quick strike thrown by the Murray, even a fight to the death couldn't stopper his ceaseless curiosity. From the glimpses he got of William he knew that he was looking for a clear shot. Jacob could see a hunger in William's eyes and knew that he desperately wanted, almost needed, to make that shot.

"Yes, the Leech is coming. It will suck all the life from you and leave you as less than dust, lying in the dust of all the other things that thought they could stand in our way."

"The energy sponge?" said Jacob, swinging his sword towards the Murrays head.

"You could call it that. We found it lying in the ruins of a city. We did things to it; we did many things to it for a very long time until we coaxed from it a new giant-form that is just ideal for absorbing enery from everywhere and everything. It had always had that form, our scientists said it had merely repressed it," the Murray replied blocking the blow aimed at his head and throwing a volley of strikes at Jacob.

Blocking the strikes Jacob asked more questions, "So, it's a living thing? A creature?"

"Yes. Though we found it couldn't keep its immense size if we left it to its own energy gathering means, it would start to take its original form again. That's why we had to build the machine."

Jacob glanced across at William as he circled the pair, looking for his clean shot. Jacob was surprised he hadn't just fired off a shot, he didn't think William would care much if he accidently hit him in the process. Ordinairily he would push the Murray aside, letting William get his shot off, but this information being offered seemed vital, seemed important. "A shape-shifter?" Jacob asked suddenly, seeming to falter. "You have some sort of shape shifter?"

"So, you do know of the Leech! It really is a wonderful thing; soaking up energy from all around. It seems to require it to change form. But if you make it _think_ that it is changing form you can collect the energy and use it. It took our scientists years to figure it out. At first, we found it had to be in the giant-form in order to suck the energy in a way where we could extract the energy from it -" the Murray took advantage of Jacobs attention wavering from the fight and charged at him.

As the Murray was about to hit Jacob, Jacob threw up his leg and caught the grey-suited man in the stomach, the pair fell backwards as Jacob rolled the man over the top of him, leaving Jacob lying on his back as the Murray slid away. William saw his shot and took it and the suited-man, the Murray, was no more. Jacob continued to just lie on the ground, panting heavily and William slowly walked over to him.

"Give us a hand would you please?"

"Sure thing," replied William, holding out his hand and pulling Jacob to his feet.

As Jacob dusted himself off, he thought hard about what the Murray had told him, he didn't know why the Murrays liked to talk about their plans so openly; he assumed they were just always so confident of victory that they didn't mind revealing their plans. Or maybe they hoped one day to trick him by telling him something that wasn't actually their plan... but a shape-shifter! There was something he hadn't encountered in his travels for a very long time, even if this one seemed to have been frozen in one form, tricked into thinking it shape-shifting. For a moment he wondered what the 'second' of the Murray's points was going to be, he had only got the first out after all. Shaking his head a little, he turned to William asking him if he was unharmed, William replied that he was, although Jacob caught a look in his eye that he didn't like. "Don't let them get to you. If you do not kill them, they _will_ kill you. They will have no qualms about it, make sure you shoot first. Always."

William nodded, "Moving on, are we?" he asked, in an effort to end the conversation before it started.

"Of course," replied Jacob, with a small sigh as he swung his sword back around onto his back.

"Is the shield just for decoration? You don't seem to use it at all."

"Oh, I use it when the need arises, usually it slows me down too much so I don't bother."

Jacob began walking again, with more haste than at any time previously. He was worried, very worried. He didn't want the energy sponge to encounter them while they will still near the city: it was likely that there would be a large number of Murrays guarding the energy sponge, 'The Leech' as the Murray had called it, and Jacob didn't want to have to bear witness, again, to the slaughter of an entire cities worth of people - though he thought it unlikely the grey-suited army would leave the city untouched regardless of where or when he confronted them.

He wondered about William, whether he would last the distance. A distant look had appeared in Williams eyes, he knew that look, he had seen it many times before. William was in what he thought of as 'Kill-Shock', brought on from _having_ to kill someone, a person, for the first time and that first time was never easy. To make it worse, it seemed that some of what Murray had said had sunk into Williams head, he kept muttering the words, "Murderer. I'm a murderer." Jacob knew that eventually William would accept that if he hadn't pulled that trigger, he would be just as dead as the Murrays were now. Then, and only then, it would become easier, until then he just hoped that Williams mind didn't snap, for he knew nothing he could say would help.

The suns slowly appeared in the sky ahead of them, as Jol slipped down behind the horizon behind them. William stopped and Jacob weighed up whether they should make camp or continue onwards through the day, so as to be further away from the city by next nightfall. Carrying on would mean that the energy sponge would meet them perhaps a day or more from the outskirts of the city, a safe enough distance for its inhabitants Jacob hoped. Turning to William he said, "Today we'll carry on. At the next nightfall we'll rest, we need to cover more ground."

William, although looking highly displeased, said nothing about the matter of not stopping and instead asked Jacob for something to drink.

"You still have that flask of mine," Jacob replied. You'll find that it's always full. He watched as William felt about his pockets for the flask, found it and rapidly drank all that it contained. He stifled back a laugh when William went to slip the empty flask back into his pocket only to find that it was now full again.

"Another weird thing about this place," he said, his tone dark and his voice quiet.

They walked all day, though their progress had slowed considerably due to the heat of the day. They made the most of wading through a pair of streams they found that meandered into the city. The day was largely uneventful and as the bulk of Jol appeared over the distant horizon lightning flashed overhead. The storm had caught them up, the very edges of it now brushing against them. Jacob still estimated it at being about three quarters of a day away. "Far enough away for us to get some sleep, before we try and get some more distance between us and the city," he told William. They set up camp with the city only a few hundred metres behind them, the storm seemed to suck all the heat from the pair, so a roaring fire was lit, not that it seemed to be much use; the light from the flame was dull and the heat nearly non-existent.

## Chapter 7

Angela slowly woke up once more, glad that the endless dream of running through an alleyway was gone, but dreading its replacement: the hours of sitting awake in her new prison. Soon properly awake she settled into practicing her ability, turning some of the water into cold toast so that she could breakfast on it -down here she had no idea what time it was, but since she had just awoken, she decided it was breakfast time. Over the course of what could have been a day, or a week, a month, she had created herself a variety of objects, from tiny and delicate to large and strong, though the first thing on her agenda had been stopping the water from entering the chamber before adding a comfortable bed and chair.

She thought she must only have been here a day, but because of her frequent need to stop for sleep to recuperate she couldn't be sure. She hadn't seen the guards change, or been woken up by new guards sloshing their way towards her cell so she thought she could safely assume it was still the same day that she had been moved into this new prison cell, it was much drier and more comfortable than it had been though. There was, of course, the possibility that since they controlled matter the guards wouldn't need to slosh through water, but Angela thought that would be unlikely as, from what she had seen so far, the suited men, the Murrays, weren't even close to being masters of their newly acquired skills.

The more she created or changed in her cell the more confident she became and, naturally, the easier it became to continue creating and changing things. Soon she felt she had the skill to create living things, it was something she remembered doing when she was a little girl, when she was first trying to grasp complex objects. 'Butterflies' she thought as she held her hands with palms facing each other about a hands-width apart. She distinctly remembered living things as being ridiculously hard to create as compared to inanimate things, there was so much detail both inside and out. She closed her eyes and cleared her mind as the air between her hands began to dimly glow and as she focused harder it began to pull itself together into a little spinning ball. The ball of air spun faster and faster, slowly gathering colour and shape. After about thirty seconds she held in her hand a perfectly formed Monarch butterfly, however, something wasn't quite right.

It wasn't alive.

It didn't move.

It just sat there as if carved from stone.

Angela tried again and again and again until she had a collection of butterflies, of all different sizes, varieties and colours. But still she could get none of them to come to life, they all just sat there as if mocking her.

Angela got up from the floor where she sat and threw herself onto the bed, no matter how hard she thought about it she couldn't understand why they wouldn't come to life! She knew that when was little she had been able do it as she remembered chasing them around inside Jakes spaceship, while he grumbled about how they were getting into everything. She smiled as she thought of Jake, his grumblings had always made her laugh, she could tell he wasn't serious, even if others could not. There had been Tabitha Rose as well and Angela had laughed, even then, at the somewhat odd pairing of Jake and Tabitha. He was always often serious and logical, rarely letting emotions dictate to him what the right course of action was. Tabitha had been his opposite in nearly every way, though she seemed to share his sense of wonder at all things new and a strange, seemingly deep-seated, sadness.

Angela remembered Tabitha saying to Jake, whenever he questioned her on why she had done something that he didn't see the point in, "Because I felt like it!" This response seemed to constantly infuriate Jake who would nearly always ask "Why did you feel like it?" as a follow up, and Tabitha would grin and roll her eyes in response, never giving him his answer. Even to this day Angela wasn't sure if Jake and Tabitha had actually been a couple, or if they just travelled together. They had always _felt_ as if they were a couple, but she wasn't sure, she wondered if perhaps they themselves had never been sure. Tabitha had clearly adored Jake, but as to what Jake thought of Tabitha... Angela was sure he had felt the same, yet she couldn't be sure if he himself knew it.

It was thinking of Tabitha that made Angela suddenly realise why her butterflies weren't alive. "They just need a bit of a kick," floated a voice from her memory, "the _tiniest_ of electrical sparks will do it." Angela looked around the room, trying to remember how she had done it when she was a girl, for something electrical in which to give the butterflies a jolt.

It took a few moments before Angela remembered she didn't need something electrical; she could just make herself a battery! She sat down in front of the row of butterflies, fashioning herself a battery and then some wires. She held the wires to the battery with one hand and with the other placed the wire against the first butterfly. It sat there unmoving, Angela thought it hadn't worked when all of a sudden it flapped its wings. Once. Twice. Then it took off. Angela smiled and let out a laugh of pure delight, realizing as she did so that she had been holding her breath. She repeated the action on another butterfly, then another and another. Soon the room was full of their tiny flapping wings, she lay on the floor watching them flying this way and that and remembered why she hadn't been able to remember how to bring them to life: Tabitha had always done it - though try as she might Angela couldn't remember _how_ Tabitha had done it. All straining her memory seemed to do was increase the size of her headache.

As Angela lay on her back watching the butterflies dance around in the air above her, she realized that she felt happier than she had felt in a long time, since even before her capture back on earth. Her happiness didn't last long however, as she watched them flit and float the butterflies started to turn to dust or air, she watched stone faced as they disintegrated and fell from the sky, for a moment she thought something had gone wrong with her abilities before she became aware someone had removed the solid door she had created and was standing in the opening left by its vacancy. She turned to see one of the Murrays that guarded her was holding his hand out to each of the butterflies in turn, turning them to dust as he did so.

She yelled a profanity at him, to which he just smiled and said, in a condescending tone, "This isn't play time."

"Says who?" Angela challenged, as she stood up. She didn't like being talked down to and she _really_ didn't like being talked down to by a Murray.

"Says me, of course. Since you're in there and I'm out here, _I_ get to make the rules," said the Murray, smirking.

"What if I don't like your rules?" challenged Angela again.

"Then I will have to show you what happens if you break the rules." The Murray held up his hand and with a sweeping motion turned everything in the room back to water or air. The walls again oozed green slime from the brickwork, the water again sloshed around Angela's feet and the air itself regained its stale taste and smell.

Angela swore at the Murray again, but inside she was secretly glad. She would now have to remake everything and that was nothing but a bit more practice, a bit more re-honing of her ability. Re-plugging the water, again blocking the opening where the Murray had stood and creating herself a new bed didn't leave her as tired as the last time, though she still lay down. Soon the Murrays wouldn't stand a chance against her, then she would destroy every last one of them, even if it killed her. While it was true that they may be related in some hideous fashion to her, they _weren't_ her and they _weren't_ her people - she had no people, the Murrays had made sure of that. She told herself that they wouldn't yet understand all the intricacies of the ability, that it would take them a long time to master it, it had taken her years after all. What's more she was a native to the abilities unlike the suited-men, and she was positive that the time required to learn how to master matter as well as her would be their downfall.

Somewhere far above her a bell rang with a deafening clanging. It was then that she realized she must be in the base of some giant bell tower. It was indeed tall because try as she might she couldn't see the top to see the bell ringing. Oh, how the noise hurt her ears and made her headache roar! She closed her eyes and reached out with her matter-sight instead. There, right there at the top was the giant bell, at a guess she put it at some three hundred odd metres away. She wondered, as she watched it tolling, if she was strong enough to alter objects at such a large distance yet, and thought of no better way of testing it. Using all her strength of will she reached out and grabbed the clapper with her mind, squeezing her eyes tighter shut with the effort. As her abilities wrapped around it, the clapper swung up from the side of bell and as it did it slowly dissolved away. After a long, long while Angela felt the dust fall, like tiny snowflakes, onto her face and, again, she smiled. 'That's more like it,' she thought as she lay back on her bed and fell into a deep sleep, exhausted from the effort.

She woke with a splash as the bed beneath her vanished, coming to the conclusion as she did so that the water was back as well. She looked up to see the two Murrays that had been guarding her now standing inside the open gate laughing at her. Angela stood up and with a simple flick of the wrist dried herself off - quietly acknowledging one of many useful things about being able to manipulate matter.

"I see you are awake, how fortunate we didn't disturb your sleep," said one of the Murrays, a smirk on his face.

"Yeah, thanks. Now I assume you want something?" Angela was not even _slightly_ amused, nor was she one for beating about the bush, there was only one reason the Murrays would be inside the cell and risking themselves harm, risking their lives for that matter, and that reason, Angela correctly determined, would have to be that they wanted something from her.

"Yes... there is something we would like you to see. A band of our scouts has just signalled to inform us that they have found your protector and, it seems, a friend of his," the Murray said, the words seeming to ooze from his mouth.

"Is that right?" replied Angela, careful not to let anything on. Her protector would obviously be Jake - as the Murrays had always referred to him as such whenever they spoke to anyone about him. Who Jake was with was anyone's guess, but she really, _really_ , hoped it was Will.

"Come with us. Come and watch them die."

"Fine!" snapped Angela, while adding in her mind with a quiet internal laugh, 'Watch Jake die? That'll be the day!'

This time Angela received not two, but four, guards to escort her. Angela wondered at this turn of events, thinking it might have something to do with her rendering the bell useless. She felt a bit foolish at having revealed just how far her abilities could reach, but that noise had made her head want to explode with pain. They traipsed through the long, water filled, passage with is dripping ceiling, then up the long winding stair. Soon the burning torches were replaced by electrical lights, the grimy brick walls by tidy, smooth, ones painted, of course, in a light shade of grey. Angela was ushered into an elevator and one of her guards pressed the button simply labelled 'TOP'. After what seemed like an eternity trapped in that small, cramped space with four of her greatest enemies the elevator came to an abrupt stop which made the occupants bounce a little. A soft chime, seemingly misplaced in this horror of a fortress, sounded and the doors slid open revealing a long room, easily twenty times longer than it was wide. One of the two longest walls was entirely glass, looking out on a view across vast plains and mountains, which in other circumstances, would have been awe-inspiring. Along the other of the long walls was a vast array of different screens showing all sorts of different images.

"Ah, our most esteemed guest has arrived," said one of the Murrays already in the room, "do come in and join us: the show is about to start," he continued, gesturing for Angela to enter.

Holding her head high and walking as if she owned the place Angela left the elevator, her four guards continuing to surround her as she did so. She was ushered to a section of the wall made of screens, where eight screens showed, from slightly varying angles, the image of two people standing in the distance. "Telepathic link," said one of the Murrays by way of an explanation, "we can see what our scouts can see."

Quietly impressed by the technology, or whatever it was, Angela watched intently as the two figures in the distance suddenly sat down, paying little regard to what she assumed, by the number of screens, was the eight Murrays in the distance. She knew, by that simple gesture, that at least one of the two people was certainly Jake - nobody else had such disregard for the grey-suited men. The images all suddenly jumped, causing the sitting figures to appear closer. Angela knew what the Murrays were doing: it was their strange moving without walking motion. Jake was always very wary of that, as they could suddenly appear from some distance away right in front of where you stood, though they often did smaller jumps, perhaps to attempt to intimidate whoever they were approaching.

Another jump and she could make out the figures more clearly and she became certain that one was definitely Jake. She knew that it was him by the fact that, even sitting in the grass, he had an air of command over the area. With him, she was elated to see and making her heart soar, was Will. She almost said his name, but stopped herself just in time, thinking it best if the Murrays didn't know who Will was, how important to her he was, because who knew what they would do to him if they found out.

The sitting pair suddenly appeared closer again, much closer this time. She guessed that they were now close enough to hear what was being said, as she saw Jakes mouth stop moving.

"So, you have arrived," a voice boomed around the long room, echoing from the walls. Angela instantly recognized it as the voice of Murray, but, as none of the Murrays were speaking around her, she gathered that it, too, came from some sort of telepathic link and she was hearing what was being said to Jake and Will. "And you have brought a friend along. How nice," the voice went on.

Jake, of course, laid down an ultimatum to the Murrays. If there was one thing Angela had to pick Jake as being exceptionally good at, she would have picked that it was at laying down ultimatums. The booming echoing voice of Murray replied with some spiel about the 'end was come' then, to Angela's pleasure, Will spoke, making her heart ache with happiness to hear his voice across the, probably, vast distance that currently stood between him and her.

"Give her back to me, or I swear I will kill every last one of you," he said in a voice that boomed around the room. As he spoke there was a look in his eye that Angela saw on the screen that she had never seen before, a deep-seated anger, a hatred of the grey-suited man that stood before him. Angela turned away from the screen, she couldn't bear to look for to her it seemed as if all that anger was aimed at her. She instead looked at one of the other screens, all of which seemed to focus on Jake. Jakes expression was, as it always was in such situations, unreadable - he didn't seem to even blink.

Suddenly one of the screens went black as one of the Murrays standing guard around her swore loudly. Another flickered out and she quickly looked at the remaining active screens and in them saw Jake. His arm and sword were flying, he moved with the speed and skill of an experienced fighter, quickly dealing out blows to his opponents.

Looking at the screen which had held Will, she saw him standing there still. Standing as if frozen. He was slowly filling more and more of the screen and Angela knew the Murray must have been advancing on him. She felt so helpless, trapped here with the Murrays watching her best friend and the love of her life fight the Murray scouts. Jake was, of course, laying waste to the Murrays attacking him, but Will continued to just stand there as if turned to stone.

She heard Jakes voice screaming from the speakers in the room, "SHOOT HIM!" and starting willing with all her being for William to pull the trigger, 'Come on Will,' she thought, 'you can do it! Do it for me! _For me_!' She watched as Williams expression changed, going from distant and vacant looking to hard and serious in a heartbeat. Suddenly the screen glowed with a bright flash of white then went black. "YES!" Angela yelled, though none of the Murrays seemed to pay her any attention - they were still focused on the last remaining three screens, two of which went out in quick succession leaving only one with Jake in it. He was locked in a duel with what was obviously the last surviving Murray.

Around her voices boomed through the telepathic link, but she paid them little attention. Seeing that the Murrays attention was all focused on that one screen she moved one hand slowly behind her and began to slowly, carefully, deliberately twirl her fingers. Faster and faster she twirled them as a tiny, near silent cracking sound was heard coming up from the floor. None of the Murrays seemed to notice it at all, so fixed on the screen they were. Angela smiled quietly to herself, amazed she was getting away with this little trick, and it proved that the matter-controlling Murray's hadn't yet mastered their new abilities. The last screen suddenly went black and the Murrays all swore or groaned in the shared defeat, yet again, by their oldest adversary.

"So," said the nearest Murray to her, "your friends have escaped. But not for long, the Leech will have them soon. Let's see him defeat four thousand of us _and_ the Leech! He will not have the energy to fight one of us once the Leech is through with him! All he has done today is delay the inevitable!"

"When will you learn," replied Angela with a sly smile, "that you simply _cannot_ win?" The Murray sneered at her, but Angela continued speaking. "Well, I don't know about you, but I am quite sick of this place. So, well, if you don't mind, I'm leaving." She quickly turned around and threw herself towards the windowed side of the room, she passed through where the windows should have been and out into the air.

"SEIZE HER!" roared one of the Murrays, as they all tried to rush towards her at once. They didn't make it far, however, before they all started to slip and slide on the now ice-covered floor. One of the matter-manipulating Murrays soon changed the floor back into something less slippery and they all raced towards the windows. They looked down from the over three hundred metre height towards where Angela had jumped, but there was no sign of her, instead they peered into a thick cloud bank.

Angela was rapidly falling but as she did so she changed the air around her so it was more the consistency of water to slow her descent, as the effect began to work, she seemed to stop falling and begin to gently float. As she floated downwards, she had the ingenious idea to create clouds above her blocking the view from the towering Murray fortress. Landing gracefully on the ground, she let out a triumphant "HA!" as she looked up at the towering cloud cover.

Observing her new surroundings, she saw that she had to get out of there, get out of there fast. She had landed in the middle of some sort of roadway which seemed to be very well used, to her left was an area of a tall grass like plant. Looking at it closer she decided there was no way it could actually be grass, as it was taller than she was and seemed more blue than green. She ran towards it and carefully stepped into it, careful not to leave any visible sign at the edge of where she had entered, but once a good distance from the edge she began to run, not knowing which way she ran, or where she ran to.

Her head was spinning with pure delight: she had escaped from the Murrays! She, by herself with no help at all, had outwitted them and been able to escape! She ran on for a few hundred metres before she began to slow as the giddy happiness began to rapidly leave her, the realization dawning on her that she now had absolutely no idea where she was. Before she hadn't known her precise location but she had been able to say, 'I am being held by the Murrays.'

But, now, now she had no idea at all.

She was running, without direction, away from the Murrays, that she knew, but she also knew that unless she could find somewhere to hide - and soon - the Murrays would find her and take her back to their watery prison. Her mind flicked back to Will and Jake; they were coming to rescue her but how could they do that if even she didn't know where she was, maybe she could teleport herself to them, but she didn't know where they were...

She began to panic, why had she escaped from the Murrays?! While a great idea at the time the stupidity of it began to sink in, she was completely lost, utterly lost and all alone! She pushed slowly on as dawn slowly broke and she was able to see into the distance clearly. Not that there was much to see - just grass in all directions, except behind her where a scarily distinct trail stretched out. On seeing the trail Angela again broke into a run, if she could see the trail so easily from where she was the Murrays, from high above in their tower, would easily be able to see where she had gone. She cursed herself both silently and out loud for not fleeing down the road. All of a sudden, the tall grass stopped, and she stepped over a low fence to find herself in what she assumed must be a feild. That was good, for surely a feild meant that there were people nearby.

She started to run again, when it suddenly seemed to her as if a mirage was forming right in her intended path, she slowed to a stop eyeing the mysterious shimmer. She used her matter-sight and saw that the matter in the shimmer was doing all sorts of strange things. She opened her eyes again just in time to see a grey-suit snap into existence, it stood there for a second without anyone inside it before the Murray themselves snapped into existence with an audible popping sound.

"Thought you could run from us, did you?" the Murray asked, his oily voice thick and low. "You should know by now that there is never, _never_ , any escape from us," and quick as a flash he raised his hand, palm out, towards Angela and she felt the strangest of sensations, she felt as if she was becoming lighter than air. She instantly realized what was happening; she was being dissolved - just as she herself had dissolved the Murrays earlier. She threw her right hand, palm out, in front of her, mirroring the Murray who stood before her. With her left hand she spun the atoms that were being melted from her body back towards her, using them to re-assemble herself. Between the Murray and Angela, a ball of air began to twist and turn as the two matter controlling beings fought one another. The ball picked up dust and grass, growing quickly from the size of a golf ball to the size of a pumpkin, then onwards until neither could see the other through the raging, tornado like, maelstrom. Sensing that she was again her complete and whole self, Angela lifted her left-hand palm out towards the spinning ball of matter, now compromising of anything that it touched, be it dust, grass, air or water. Angela knew she couldn't hold on much longer, the amount of energy it took to maintain this amount of matter control was immense - but she was betting she would able to outlast the Murray.

On the other side of the ball the Murray stood with both his hands outstretched, as he staggered backwards a step, he hadn't anticipated it being so hard to fight the girl, the ball came closer. As he watched he saw the dust and grass start to disintegrate, and knew it was being turned into atoms, such was the power of the whirling wind before him - or perhaps the power of the girl who controlled it.

Angela saw the ball shift, ever so slightly, away from her. In a spur of the moment decision she stepped forward to close the gap between her and the whirling ball of atoms, now beginning to leave tiny streaks of light trailing behind them as they went faster and faster, almost tearing themselves apart. She took another step towards the ball, pushing it ahead of her with all her strength, and it moved further from her. She knew now that she was winning, a grim smile came to her face as the ball soared away from her suddenly. She heard a frantic yell and lowered her hands to watch as the ball vanished across the field and disappeared into nothingness. Frantically she looked for the Murray, but, of the Murray there was no sign.

Looking more carefully she saw something lightly smoking on the ground and walked towards it, picking it up. She juggled it from one hand to the other in an almost futile effort to cool it down enough to properly look at. Eventually she was able to hold it without burning herself and she peered intently at it, breaking into a grin. It was a piece of what was once highly polished leather, a bit of shoe. She had turned the Murray into nothing but atoms by blasting him with so much power he had been unable to withstand her fierce onslaught. She herself had barely managed to keep it up, but it proved to her that the Murrays didn't have full control of her abilities yet, they didn't know their limits. It proved that in a battle of pure strength she _did_ still have the upper hand.

Suddenly she swayed where she stood, "Whoa," she said, "that sure drained me." She collapsed into a heap on the ground, lying in a deep sleep as the sun traversed the sky and spoke no more.

As Jol began to rise over the distant horizon, there were three sharp pops and the grey-suited men picked her up, then with a loud crack they disappeared, as one, into the darkness.

## Chapter 8

Inside the spire-topped egg, perched high upon the moving electrical plant, a swirling ball of shadow slowly forced itself into existence. Twisting and turning like smoke, it soon took the vague shape of a person. The figure was barely discernable, almost ghost-like, in the bright light that emitted from every surface, a light so bright shadows could barely survive. Bright electrical bolts, somehow brighter than all the surrounds, soared down from the ceiling spires, into a massive collector that hung from the ceiling. From there it seemed to pass into cables into something that sat central in the room, then out of this strange thing and down into the floor. Only the smallest of details could be made out, where they either glinted their reflections of the all-powerful light or created a slightly darker region of lesser light that could almost have passed for a shadow. The shadowy figure stood, as if frozen, struggling to see in the harsh surroundings, struggling to maintain its very existence.

After a few moments the shadow-like man began to walk around the perimeter walkway, about halfway up the giant egg. He walked slowly and deliberately; the intense light was causing him tremendous pain; he couldn't draw strength from any natural shadows around him. Straining his eyes, he saw that both below and above him were more walkways, all barely distinguishable in the intensity of the light. He looked down towards where the cables from the ceiling collector ran, at the thing that was plugged into the cables down there. It moved ever so slightly as he watched, he was almost sure of it.

He stepped through the safety rail of the catwalk and gently fell down to where the cables stopped and walked, silently, across the metal-mesh floor. As he walked, he shaded his eyes in a vain attempt to block out some of the light and glare to better see the object towards which he walked. He stopped suddenly as he thought he heard a soft rattling breath.

"I... I knew you... you would come," a voice said slowly, as if the speaker was in great pain or hadn't spoken in a long time. The shadowy man thought it was probably a bit of both as he strained his senses trying to make out some sort of detail as to what, or who, was speaking to him. "I... have waited so... long," continued the voice, causing the mind of the shadowy man to race - the voice was familiar somehow, despite the aged and weary tones to it, like a ghost from the past was speaking. "I can... barely see you... can barely... sense you. But... I know it is you... it couldn't be anyone else..."

Two points of vivid green suddenly appeared before the shadowy man, as if eyes had opened and were watching him, and in his very mind itself a bright light suddenly flared into existence.

With a sudden sharp intake of breath, the shadowy man disappeared from within the giant egg-like energy collector.

William was woken suddenly by a loud booming noise. It was still dark and the strange lightning storm that raged above him was now far more ferocious than when he had gone to sleep. To his surprise he saw Jacob standing and staring at the approaching storm, he asked him what he was doing, but got no reply. "Fine," William said, rolling over and attempting to go back to sleep. As he lay there, the thought that something wasn't quite right kept nagging at his mind.

He rolled back over carefully eyed Jacob. Jacob was standing there, but he didn't seem to move at all, but, from where William lay, he could see Jacobs eyes rapidly moving while the rest of him was as still as it would be if he had died, perhaps even more so. William stood and walked over to Jacob before waving his hand in front of his rapidly moving eyes. Getting no reaction, he gave Jacob a hard shove, but it did nothing - he remained standing as if turned to stone on the spot.

"Great!" exclaimed William in frustration. "Just bloody great. Now you've gone and frozen on me like some sort of robot. How will we get Angela back now then huh?" William took the moment to hurl a couple of stones at the unmoving Jacob and then sat, heavily, back down and stared angrily at him. As he did so he muttered under his breath, rummaging around the ground and throwing another couple of stones before giving up and assuming Jacob would snap out of it sooner or later.

Suddenly Jacob did indeed snap out of it, he breathed in sharply and fell back a step. He swore, sat down, then swore again. William looked at him curiously, sensing that this time he wouldn't have to wait long for an explanation.

He was right.

"The Murrays! They kept calling it a Leech! You heard him! A shape-shifting energy Leech! I have never, in all my years, heard of such a thing. Before today I thought they had developed a machine, a mechanical energy sponge sucking the energy and the life out of the world. But it isn't a machine, it's alive! A living being is trapped inside that abomination! I didn't know that before, it hadn't even occurred to me before! But I thought I'd go and have a look at it and -"

"Have a look?" William interrupted, "What do you mean have a look?"

"Oh," Jacob looked up at William, his expression thoughtful. "How to explain this in a way you'll understand, no offence but it's complicated."

"What here isn't?" William murmured.

"Um, well I can sort of, um, teleport? Yes 'teleport' will suffice, my um... spirit? Soul? Mind? Let's go with spirit. I can sort of teleport my spirit out of my body and away to other locations -"

"Like," again interrupted William, "an out of body experience?"

"Sort of," Jacob laughed softly, "it's very hard to explain. Anyway, so I thought I'd go and look at what this 'Leech' thing was-"

"Can you show me?"

"Show you? Show you what exactly?"

"If you can step out of your body, I want to see you do it. Prove it to me," William demanded, seeing that Jacob was a little taken aback by this sudden request. He thought he had finally gotten the upper hand but, to his surprise, Jacob agreed to do it.

In the space between William and Jacob a strange ball of what looked like smoke began to appear, it soon grew and took the shape of a person. The smoke whirled and wisped as the shadowy-man moved towards him, before suddenly vanishing. There was no slowly fading away - it was just no more. Jacob spoke, "Satisfied?"

"Yes, definitely! But what are you?" replied William, who really was satisfied, but not in the way Jacob had meant. He was satisfied now that the strange figure that had appeared before him had vanished, it had been deeply unsettling to look at. It felt as if it had been sucking darkness from the night itself, as if it was able to look right through him and see all of his being, all of his secrets, all of his desires. The strange shadowy man had been able to see them all, William was sure of it.

"Where was I? Oh, yes, so I went to look at this 'Leech' creature," said Jacob, skipping right over the question William had asked, "and it spoke to me..." he paused for a moment, as if contemplating the words he had heard. "It told me it knew that I would come to save it, as if it knew me, somehow. I didn't dare speak back to it; in case it was some sort of trick. A clever trap devised by the Murrays. But then there were two points of green, bright green, like eyes. They were tired and sad, full of loss and despair, and familiar, _very_ familiar, somehow. But amongst all the sadness and despair there was a hardness and a hope, I think it was positive I was its salvation... but then there was a light, a blinding light inside my head and I had to leave..." Jacob trailed off, frowning. He was drumming his fingers across his thigh, pink to index, then index twice.

"So, this... Leech? This Leech is a living thing?" William asked.

Jacob frowned some more, "Yes... an intelligent one at that, or at least intelligent enough to speak. I do not think it is aware of what it is doing, what the Murrays are using it for. I also don't think that if it _was_ aware, it would have any control over its actions. It appeared, to me, to be being controlled by the Murrays. They had a vast array of gadgetry plugged into it," explained Jacob.

"So, what do we do? Kill it?"

"NO!" snapped Jacob, suddenly. "We do _not_ kill it! It doesn't know what it's doing. It's a completely innocent life-"

"An innocent life that will surely kill us, won't it? You said it was an energy sponge, sucking the life out of everything in its path," William countered, defiantly.

"But those eyes... that voice! There was something familiar about it all. It seemed to reach out to me... Oh, I've met too many people and lived far too long, and just between you and me," Jacob lowered his voice, "for a very long time now I've not quite been myself, a part of me has been missing..." He trailed off, his eyes glazed, and William assumed he was trying to place where the voice he had heard had belonged.

William sat in silence, thinking that he would not be killed by this Leech; he would kill it first and ask questions later. To hell with what Jacob thought, if he didn't kill that Leech it would suck all the life from him and then he'd never see Angela again. Never. To William there was no other option and killing the Leech had another benefit, alongside living. It would show Jacob that he was not someone to be messed around, show him that he was just as capable as Jacob was himself.

The horizon began to slowly lighten and Jacob instructed William to pack his gear up so they could start walking. "I want to get as much distance between us and that city," he gestured behind them at the city, "as possible before that energy sponge gets to us." William nodded in agreement, vaguely uncertain as to why he did, and the pair set off.

As they walked Jacob tried to impart as much information as he could about sword fighting to William, for some reason only Jacob understood, but William soon lost track. He had never fought with a sword before and he didn't know if he would ever be able handle being actually holding the weapon as it pierced another person's flesh, slowly killing them. The gun was fine, as with using the gun, he, in a way, felt less responsible for his actions. But if he was to use the sword that swung gently at his hip, he would truly be responsible for the death he brought then and he wasn't sure he could handle that responsibility. Not yet anyway. Maybe not ever.

The day never got much brighter than what it had got to just as dawn arrived, an eerie half twilight filling the sky. Overhead loomed vast towering black clouds, through which lightning flashed, cracked and boomed. Soon William could see the vast collection plant on the horizon, surrounded in little ant like dots. As the plant came steadily closer the dots became gradually bigger, until he could tell they were people. There must have been hundreds, maybe even thousands of them. He mentioned this to Jacob, who replied "Two thousand or so to one, that's our odds."

"T-Two thousand!" stammered William, "But that's a massive number! How the hell do you expect us to take on two thousand people?! We'll never manage to fight that many of them! Never!"

"I don't expect us to take on two thousand people, I said the odds were two thousand to one."

"So, what's your point?" asked William.

"So, that makes four thousand of them doesn't it? As there are two of us, so we get two thousand each. Saying four thousand to two would just have sounded utterly ridiculous." Jacob mumbled something that sounded a bit like 'idiot' at the end of his sentence, but William didn't hear it.

"Oh..." William replied, too shocked to say anything more. Four thousand people! He had to fight hard not to give up on hope right then, he didn't want to believe he might never ever see Angela again, but the odds were stacked so very high against him. He vowed, silently to himself, if he was going to die, he was going to take as many of those strange grey-suit wearing monsters with him.

They continued to walk, at an ever-increasing pace until they were at a jog, which soon progressed into a steady run: Jacob seemed determined to get as much distance between them and the city as possible. William, however, thought the idea was stupid, surely there were people in the city that could help in the inevitable fight to come - but Jacob didn't seem to care about that possibility. It seemed to William, as his legs began to ache from the constant running, that Jacob was intent on getting them both killed. He cursed his lack of knowledge about this place, knowing if he was leading that they would be heading towards the city. He was certain if he knew more he could, would and _should_ lead and to hell with Jacob, he could go do whatever we wanted as long as William didn't have to be involved.

He was still fuming with Jacobs inept leadership when Jacob suddenly stopped running, causing William to almost run right into him. As he turned to ask Jacob why they had stopped, he saw his answer looming up behind him. A wind seemed to suddenly pick up and the nearby trees swayed violently in the wind - before they seemed to turn to a bolt of electricity and soar through the sky striking one of the vast number of spires that jutted up from the top of the egg-like structure at the front of the massive, tracked, machine that he imagined contained the Leech. Everywhere he looked he saw grey-suited men, all with highly polished shoes and slicked back black hair, many carried energy guns, many carried swords and some carried both.

He turned to Jacob, in time to see him reach up and grab his sword from its sheath at his back, noting this time he swung his shield around as well. The grey-suited men soon surrounded them, standing at a distance of maybe twenty metres from the pair; packed in rows upon rows on all sides. With a whoosh the grass beneath William seemed to pull away, before it too turned into a bolt of electricity and struck one of the spires of the energy collection machine with a crack that echoed loudly throughout the countryside. In its place was left dust, a dust that didn't even have the consistency of normal dust, it was finer, lighter. It was harder to stand on, let alone walk on, than dry sand and the more William tried to move the more it seemed to pull at him. Overhead more of the strange lightning soared as the grey-suited men pressed in closer.

Jacob turned to face William hissing, "When I say so, give them everything."

William nodded his acknowledgement, looking down at the energy gun he held in his hands. For the first time he noticed a toggle switch on the side of it, it was currently set to 'Focused' but there was another option: 'Wide-Dispersal'. He thought he might try that out and see what happened, if it was what he imagined it to be it would soon lay waste to a whole lot of the grey-suited men. The thought occurred to him that maybe, if he was lucky, by using that setting he could attack that Leech before it attacked him. He became aware of a deep and loud rumbling noise only when it stopped suddenly, he looked and saw the giant energy collection plant on top of which the energy-Leech sat had come to a complete stand-still and in the absence of the monotonous drone the air seemed to press down on him heavily. The grey-suited men pressed in closer until they were almost a hair's breadth from the end of Jacobs sword tip. Nobody moved and nobody spoke, even the lightning seemed to cease its crackle although it still raced overhead to strike the spires.

"Surrender to us now," a voice said, shattering the silence.

"What do you think?" Jacob asked William, who was taken aback at being asked to offer an opinion.

"No. Not until we have Angela safe and sound," William managed to utter, through his surprise at even being asked.

"Well, you heard the man: the answer is a resounding no. Well a no anyway, two people can't really make a 'resounding' no. So, unless, of course, you feel like giving us what the man wants, at which point maybe he'll change his mind, but I wouldn't be certain," Jacob taunted the grey-suited man, the Murray, who had spoken to him, "it would seem the answer is no."

"Then we _will_ kill you," the Murray replied, without a moment's hesitation.

"You know what? I don't think you will," Jacob replied, shaking his head. "NOW WILLIAM!" he suddenly yelled.

William pulled the trigger and a hole, about ten men wide by about thirty men deep, appeared almost instantaneously in the surrounding crowd of Murrays. Almost too shocked to react William fired again and again, but no matter how many shots he let off there were always more and more grey-suited men filling the freshly created void. Behind him he could hear the clear, almost musical, ringing of steel hitting steel, along with the occasional quieter tearing, wet, sort of sound as Jacobs blade struck home.

As William glanced around to see Jacob, he saw this time there was no glamour, no fanfare, about Jacobs fighting style. This time he could tell Jacob meant business. He forgot himself for a moment as he watched Jacob taking unbelievable risks to put more and more of the Murrays to, in most instances, a brutal death. The steel of his sword flashed, his shield swung in wild arcs as he anticipated strikes the Murrays made against him, he seemed to use it as a battering ram on occasion charging the nearest group of grey-suited men, or using it to hit the suited men in order to slow their advance.

A bolt of lightning tore from the ground front of William, snapping him from the trance he was under, just in time to swing his energy rifle around and lay waste to a sword wielding Murray that had nearly been upon him. William couldn't believe that the pair were holding their ground, he fired shot after shot but still the grey-suited men came, on and on: a seemingly never-ending force. Without warning as William pulled the trigger once more a high-pitched beeping noise filled his ears, he ignored it and pulled the trigger again, before looking up in alarm as the gun wouldn't fire.

A bright red light flashed on the gun, lighting up the word 'Recharge'. William almost panicked as he held the now useless weapon before slinging it over his back and reaching to his left hip to unsheathe the, as yet unused, short sword he had carried with him since arriving. 'Here goes nothing,' he thought, charging, with his sword held high straight at the nearest Murray.

The Murray spun quickly on the spot, blocking William's attack with a sword of his own as he raised the gun he held in his other hand to Williams head. He was too slow. With a strike at a speed that surprised even himself, William sliced the gun holding hand clean off, then killed the Murray with a single blow to the head. William was immediately surprised at his own skill, realizing that some of what Jacob had been on about earlier must have actually sunk in.

More and more grey-suited men pressed in on the pair, now that William wasn't able to destroy large numbers at a time. Slowly they forced William to fight back to back with Jacob, circling one another and lunging at the suited men. With a sudden yell, William felt Jacob fall to his knees. Glancing over his shoulder he saw that a bright band of lightning seemed to pour from Jacob before soaring through the air and striking one of the spires. Despite this Jacob managed to block the attacks of the grey-suited men as they pressed in on him before, as suddenly as it had appeared, the energy ribbon vanished. William felt Jacob haul himself to his feet, just to be struck, again, by the strange lightening, causing him to, again, fall to his knees.

William instinctively knew what he had to do. He had to destroy the Leech, somehow. He fumbled around to swing his energy gun back to his front while fighting the Murrays off with his sword arm feeling Jacob, almost miraculously, standing up as the energy ribbon disappeared a second time.

"I'm going to shoot it!" William yelled in Jacob's direction, "Don't try and stop me!" He swung the gun around, glancing quickly to see if the recharge light was still lit, knowing, somehow, that it wouldn't be but, also knowing, that he'd only get one shot before it came back on. Changing the toggle to 'Focused' he carefully aimed the weapon at the giant egg-like object with the spires on top of it, "Well, here goes nothing," he whispered.

William pulled the trigger.

He watched the ball of energy hurtling through the sky and it seemed everyone stopped and was watching, waiting for the moment of impact. The sounds of the battle fell silent, even the tiny sounds of rustling as people moved seemed to cease as the ball struck the side of the egg. With a giant crackling roar the ball dispersed, washing in waves of energy over the egg before the silence fell once more. Nothing seemed to happen and a laugh slowly broke out among the grey-suited men, ringing in Williams ears as the sound of failure.

"Fool!" cried one of the Murrays, "How are you stupid enough to attack the Leech with energy? The Leech lives off energy, all you have done is made it stronger!" The Murray appeared to be about to continue talking when the air filled with a strange hissing noise as one after the other the Murrays all as seemed to sharply draw in their breath. A crack slowly appeared in the side of the egg and William cheered, turning to face Jacob. Instead of sharing in Williams joy, however, Jacobs face paled and he swayed where he now stood before suddenly collapsing in a heap. There was shouting from the Murrays and William thought they were about to attack, but, to his surprise, they were retreating from the pair. It seemed that whatever the Leech actually was, it was more of a threat to them now than it was to William and Jacob. Or perhaps, thought William, it'd just be safer if they all kept their distance while the Leech finished them off.

Watching the egg-shaped object William saw more of the grey-suited men running around a platform that surrounded it. It seemed they were trying to stop the crack from spreading by attempting to stick something over it, but it was no use: the crack continued to get larger and larger. Soon it stretched from the top all the way down to nearly the base of the egg-shaped structure. As he watched William knew it would soon burst open, allowing him to kill the Leech itself, and though he wasn't yet sure how he would kill whatever it was, he knew that he would find a way somehow.

He knelt beside Jacob, who was displaying all the signs of having passed out, or perhaps having died. He slapped Jacob, hard, across the face several times but got no response. He tried hard how to remember how to check for a pulse, but nothing came to him. He swore loudly at Jacob, blaming him for not finding more people to help them fight and now leaving him standing here with no idea of how to find Angela, all alone, and facing who-knows-what from inside the giant egg-shaped object.

A tremendous cracking noise caused the air around William to suddenly shake and struggling to his feet he looked towards the giant structure, now swarming with Murrays and saw that the egg-like thing had split open. He then collapsed to the ground, landing heavily on his knees beside Jacob, the terrifying scene before him rendering his legs useless...

From a hole in the side of the egg waved a long, thick, tentacle, then another and another. The egg burst suddenly apart and a creature that was easily over a hundred metres, two hundred metres, tall stood in its shattered remains. It had arms and legs and a head like a human, it even had a body like a human. But from its back sprouted tentacles all reaching, twisting, writhing in the air and from its head - where hair should be - were more tentacles, though somewhat smaller than the others. William was distinctly reminded of an image he had seen of some sort of mythical creature with snakes for hair, though he couldn't remember what it was called.

The tentacles reached out for the grey-suited Murrays now running frantically in every direction. As the tentacles came in contact with them, there was a flash of light and the Murray was instantly non-existent, the tentacles seemed to turn them to pure energy at their slightest touch.

William was transfixed by the what was happening in front of him. Here was a creature he had vowed to kill seemingly helping him by killing the grey-suited men in their hundreds. It didn't take long, however, before the giant creature's monstrous head turned and it seemed to see the pair, one lying and one kneeling, amongst a massive pile of dead grey-suited men and dust. As William stared at the giant things face, he thought for a moment that its expression flickered from one of intense anger, a fiery rage, to one of something else, something like sadness, but it happened so fast he couldn't be sure.

The Leech lifted one of its giant feet and swung it through the air, then, with a thud that shook the ground, it placed it, taking its first step towards the pair.

William tried frantically to wake Jacob up, surely Jacob would know what to do! If only he could wake him!

The ground shook again as the monstrously huge creature took another giant step towards where he knelt beside Jacob. Looking towards it, William watched as it crushed a handful of the grey-suited men with its giant foot, as it took another step towards him. The tentacles still spun around the creature wildly, turning the Murrays into flashes of light when they came in contact with one of them. William tried to get up and run, but found he couldn't. He had looked the creature in its eyes and felt as if he had turned to stone, as if there was no energy left within him.

## Chapter 9

The earth shook again as the Leech continued to advance on William and Jacob. Suddenly free of the trance that had taken him, William decided to do what he had vowed to do in the first place: kill the Leech. He checked his gun and saw that the recharge light had dimmed, but not quite gone out. He knew he had one, or maybe two, good shots before it came back on. He knew those shots were his only chance of survival, as he highly doubted that he had the sword skills to fight something of such size. He thought, strangely, that Jacob would probably have been able to take the vast thing on with a sword and probably even win, but he knew he could not.

The creature loomed before him, its head appearing to scrape the few low clouds that still hung in the air. Peering around the legs of the creature he saw the Murrays re-grouping, they were looking to attack, using the Leech as cover and protection, he was sure of it. His mind raced as he tried in vain to think of a plan that would get him out of there safely, he hoped that if he could kill the Leech he could give Jacob more time to wake up, or failing that at least give himself some space in which to start running. He knew if Jacob didn't wake up he'd just have to be left behind. There just weren't any alternatives.

William levelled his energy gun and peered through the sight, down along the barrel, aiming up the creatures massive, tentacle covered, head. Aimed squarely at the centre of its giant forehead.

He pulled the trigger once, twice, three times before the high-pitched beeping again sounded.

Throwing the gun to the ground he watched as the three balls of energy hurtled towards the giant head, he thought they were about to hit when three of the tentacles swung round from the back of its head and grabbed the energy balls from the sky. William could only watch as the energy was apparently absorbed by the creature. A giant foot crashed down only a couple of metres in front of him, then another crashed down beside it.

The creature bent over, placing its hands on its knees, looking down at the tiny figure that had shot at it and at the other one, who just lay there. The figure that had shot it now pricked it with a blade, but it barely registered inside the creature's brain. It was by far to occupied by the sight of Jacob lying on the ground, nothing else seemed to exist. It thought that Jacob may be dead, a thought that thought shook it to its core, and awoke something deep within its mind.

The creature seemed to slump, causing William to jump back in case it fell on him. Though he had stabbed it with the sword, yet he didn't think that is what had caused the reaction. He watched the creature as it suddenly seemed to be shrinking, he first thought it was an illusion but as he watched the tentacles on its back suddenly started getting shorter, before they vanished completely, disappearing into the things body. The head was now a lot closer to him and, as he watched, the tentacles on it seemed to split into two, then into two again. Over and over they split, until instead of tentacles there was long, fire-engine red, hair that blew gently in the wind. Soon the Leech had shrunk to human proportions: it was even shorter than William was now.

William picked up his sword and charged at the creature, stopping so suddenly he almost fell over when he saw the last of the giant traits disappear. No longer did a hideous monster stand before him, but a woman. As she looked at him, with bright green eyes, he saw that she was visibly upset. William wasn't prepared for this, so just stood there dumbfounded, feeling as if the world had suddenly been turned upside down.

The woman walked towards Jacob, "Oh, Jake I'm so sorry, so, so sorry" she kept repeating, as William watched on, still completely unsure as to what to do. She sat crossed legged at Jacobs head and lifted it onto her lap, running her hand across his face and through his hair, "I'm so sorry," she said again.

William suddenly remembered himself, "Uhh..." he began, unsure of what to say next. After a moment's thought he settled for, "Can I help you?"

"How many..." the woman stammered out, as if unused to talking, "How many times did they... it... I... how many times did I... get him?"

"The lightning?" William asked, still at a complete loss, but becoming aware of the grey-suited men, now re-grouped and running towards where he stood.

"Yes, lightning. How many times?"

"Twice."

" _Twice?!_ Are you sure?"

"As sure as I can be. Why? Is it important?"

"Oh, Jake, I am so, _so_ sorry! I didn't know, I couldn't know it was you, but then I did. I knew and it helped me, helped me break free of them," the strange woman said in response to Williams question. She lifted Jacobs head and gently placed it back on the ground. She stood up, bending over Jacobs limp body, holding a hand above both his forehead and his heart. William watched as tiny flickers of lightning seemed to come from her hands, striking at Jacob. She reached across Jacob and grabbed his sword which lay on the ground beside him. Seeing her reach for the weapon William raised his own sword at her.

"Don't worry," she said, "I just want to do this." She sliced a small lock of hair, one that kept falling across her face, from her head and tied it around the strap on Jacob's bag, that still - surprisingly - hung from his shoulder. Then placing the sword into Jacob's hand, she stood up and stepped back from Jacob and turned to face William, "He'll be okay I think... just give him a moment."

William looked from the woman to Jacob, who suddenly took a long deep inwards breath. He rubbed his head groggily and lifted himself into a sitting position. William stared, open-mouthed, at the sight, he had been sure Jacob was dead.

"So, did we win?" asked Jacob, still rubbing at his head. "I feel like I've been hit by a bus. Or maybe several buses. Or maybe several buses all at once from all sides. I am thinking the last option. I wonder if that's why my arm feels like it has gone to sleep..." he trailed off as he seemed to see Williams expression for the first time. "What's the shocked face for then? Some sort of big surprise? Is it my birthday?" He paused for a second and shook his head, "No, no, not my birthday."

"You... you're not dead?"

"Well I feel alive. So, it's either alive or it's that death actually feels like being hit by several buses all at once. Which I don't think it does, but I wouldn't know I've not been dead before." William watched on, somehow unsurprised at the amount Jacob was babbling. "Oh, and if I am dead, I suppose you must be as well as otherwise we couldn't have this conversation. Could we? No. I don't think we could, so, yeah, we'll go with no. No, no I'm not dead."

"There's a woman," William said turning to point at the new-comer. But where she had stood there was now nothing, it was as if she had blown away on the breeze. "There _was_ a woman."

"Speak sense would you. Is a woman or was a woman?"

"Was."

"So, I don't have to worry about it right now then? Good oh! Because, just between you and me," he motioned for William to come closer. "Just between you and me that group of Murrays _really_ doesn't look all that thrilled about you setting their Leech free. Speaking of the Leech, where is it anyway?" he slowly stood up and spun around on the spot, a strange look in his eye, looking for any sign of the Leech, to which there was, of course, none.

"The Leech was the woman..." William began, but was cut off by a roar of pure rage and hatred from the fast approaching Murrays.

"YOU! YOU SET THE LEECH FREE!" roared the entire crowd as one, still easily numbering some thousand or so by William's best guess.

"Is that gun of yours working?" asked Jacob, his voice much stronger now than it had been when he had first come back around.

"No..." replied William, as the high-pitched beeping continued to sound. "Can you not hear the beeping?"

"Beeping? No, no beeping. Are you sure you're not imagining it?" William was pretty sure he wasn't imagining it, then again, he may have been. Either way, the gun was still not recharged.

"You could be you know, you could just be imagining all of this, though that would be kind of odd. Why would you do that for? One way to fill in some time I suppose. Would you look at that though, you've gone and really made them quite angry by setting their Leech free. My just plain ol' ignoring them right now seems to be pressing a few buttons as well doesn't it?" Jacob concluded, with a wry smile.

Sure enough, when William turned back from Jacob the Murrays had closed in, they shook with rage and really didn't seem to like being ignored. Jacob turned to the Murrays, "Oh, hello there! I didn't quite see you on account of you all looking the same, maybe you should hire a fashion designer, or at least buy some clothes dye. How's your day going then? Mine's not going too well, sadly. Think I got hit by several buses all at once, least that's what it feels like. But wait, do you even know what a bus is? That's probably an earth thing, I am sure you know something similar... Ah well, what are you going to do, eh?"

William couldn't help it and had to quickly stifle a snort of laughter, the look on the faces of the Murrays had become so angry the expression had become funny.

"Stop taunting and prepare to die," said the nearest of the Murrays. It seemed to William that whenever they were in a group the nearest one was _always_ the one that spoke first, others may join in later, but the first words always went to the one that was closest.

"You know," began Jacob again, "you'd probably do better off by not telling me that. Because now, now you see, I am ready for you. So, all you have done is warn me that you're about to attack me leaving no element of surprise at all. So, I suppose, I should do this." With that he drove his sword through the Murray that had been talking, catching William completely off-guard; Jacobs light-hearted tone had the effect of making him forget he stood mere inches from death. "And that, gentlemen, is how you take someone by surprise," Jacob said to the other Murrays, who stood as if dumbstruck.

Suddenly there were Murrays crashing into William from all sides, he swung his sword around as hard as he could, making his arms and shoulders ache. Beside him Jacob fought like a man possessed, whatever the woman had done seemed to have given him more energy than ever before - it was almost as if he hadn't already fought hundreds of the grey-suited men. The glimpses William caught of Jacob, as he fought for his life, impressed William. He realized then that he wasn't afraid to admit it as they _were_ impressive. Jacobs fighting style seemed to have regained the fanfare he had witnessed on the first encounter with the Murrays, Jacob would throw his sword into the air and punch the grey-suited men in the face before catching his sword and running it through another of the grey-suited men. There were more loops and turns than William had seen earlier in the battle, but none of them were ever wasted. He watched as Jacob spun his sword tip in a circle around him which devastated six of the Murrays in one stroke. Most of the time his sword play was a blur of motion, invisible except for when it struck something.

William's own fighting style was a lot more rigid and fixed; he was focusing entirely on staying alive, on not having limbs chopped off from the rest of him. Soon he had to clamber over bodies in order to reach more of the grey-suited men, who taunted him as he did so, but the taunting just made him steadily angrier.

Soon he had forgotten all about Jacob, about the strange woman the Leech had turned into, even about Angela. All he wanted to do was kill the grey-suited men, but, to his dismay, the angrier he became the worse his fighting style became. As he realized this, he tried to calm himself down and as he did so he became aware that the beeping had changed. It now went in little bursts. Long-long-short, it went. Long-long-short. Something told him that it was signalling it had recharged completely at long last. In one fluid motion he swung it around from his back to his front, flicked the toggle to 'Wide-Dispersal' and fired a shot. It tore through the air and into a grouping of the grey-suited men. Some of them flew through the air like rag-dolls, others disintegrated and some had limbs blown away.

"The energy-sponge!" he heard Jacob calling, after the drone of the battle, "Destroy that plant in its entirety!"

William took a moment to puzzle together that Jacob meant, before it suddenly clicked. Jacob wanted him to destroy the Leech container thing, wanted him to destroy the entire structure, ensure it couldn't be used again. He took aim at the massive mobile structure and fired at it.

Over and over he fired, while Jacob seemed to dance around him keeping the grey-suited men at bay whilst somehow managing to not be hit by any of Williams shots. With a sudden hiss, roar and groan the structure cracked and broke. It fell, as if in slow motion, to the ground and was suddenly engulfed in fire as electrical sparks broke out everywhere, igniting almost everything. William looked around from the sight of the massive thing blowing up, for a Murray to fight, but instead found nobody but him and Jacob were left standing.

Jacob was slinging his sword and shield back onto his back, "That went well! Very well, better than I hoped even. The energy sponge is destroyed!"

"But... the Leech, it escaped. And you didn't want to attack it anyway."

"I like to change my mind on things _all_ the time, new information helps that along of course. _And_ it keeps everybody on their toes, including me. Never mind that right now though, I thought you were going to kill the Leech."

"I..." started William, thinking he had never actually told Jacob that. Then the memory of the shadowy man came back to him, those eyes that had seem to look right through him. He began to stammer an explanation before Jacob cut him off.

"Don't bother. We've all been there, some of us more than once. So, if you didn't kill it, where is it? Did the Murrays kill it? No, they said it was freed not that it was dead..." Jacob looked at William quizzically.

"It was a woman! The Leech thing, it came out from the egg thing all giant and hideous. But then it changed... it changed into a woman. She had bright green eyes..." All William could remember was those eyes, they had been so sad, yet seemed to contain something else William couldn't place.

"What else?" said Jacob, his voice suddenly losing its usual calmness and taking on a more urgent, hurried tone. "William? What else?"

"I don't... don't remember," he replied, no matter how hard he thought he couldn't remember any more. He could remember the monstrous Leech and what it had looked like, but of the woman only those eyes remained as if they burned in his memory and obliterated everything else about the woman.

"Her name? Did she tell you her name?" Jacob asking, becoming more and more frantic.

"I don't... she didn't say. She just kept saying she was sorry." William's brow furrowed as he watched Jacobs reaction, he had completely lost his calm composure now; he paced back and forward throwing looks that would have killed the grey-suited men, if they hadn't already been dead, at the lifeless bodies around him. William began to worry that this Leech-woman thing wasn't a good turn of events, that it might sidetrack the mission to save Angela.

"Where did she go?" asked Jacob, glancing in William's direction.

"I dunno, she was there... then suddenly she wasn't."

"And she didn't give her name?"

"No... but..." There was something else, something else she had done. William tried hard to remember, but all memory of her seemed to slip away whenever he tried to grasp it. It was as if she didn't want to be remembered, but William attributed it to the tiredness he felt from the battle.

"But what?" Jacob pressed, as he ran his hand down his bag-strap. "What's this?" he suddenly asked, looking down at what his thumb had snagged on. He saw, tied around the strap, a lock of hair. He turned to William, "The Leech? This is her hair?"

"Yes! She tied it around that bag strap... At least, I think she did. I can't seem to remember..." replied William.

Jacob stopped his pacing and held the lock of hair as it was tied around the bag-strap, he held it up and seemed to smell if before letting the strap fall back to his shoulder. As he did so a look flashed across his face, one of a mingled shock, happiness and a deep sadness that was terrible to behold. Something else was there as well, William thought it might have been disbelief. "She just disappeared?" Jacob asked quietly, turning again to William.

"Yes, she was there, standing behind you. Then, when you woke up, she wasn't there at all."

Jacob sighed. "Why?" he asked, "Why?"

"I don't know why..." replied William, becoming more and more unsettled at this strange turn of events. Jacob seemed to be rapidly losing his mind, right before William's eyes.

"Did she say anything else?"

"No, she just kept saying she was sorry. I think she meant about striking you with the lightning..." replied William.

Silence fell on the pair before Jacob spoke again, "It's not her that should be sorry... it's me."

"Why you?" asked William raising an eyebrow at Jacob.

"It doesn't matter right now... so! On we go then," Jacob said, his tone rapidly changing. The old confident and overly-cheerful Jacob seemed to have suddenly returned, replacing both the frantic and strangely sad moods that had possessed him just moments before. "To Angela we go. Come what may, nothing can stop us now!" He started walking, then stopped and turned to William who hadn't moved, "Coming?" he asked.

"Yes, of course," William replied, his mind racing to catch up with Jacobs sudden mood change.

"You were brilliant you know; did I tell you that? Absolutely brilliant! And when I say someone is brilliant, they really are. Though I think we need to work a bit on your sword skills. How about we do that? Tonight, before we sleep. Sound like a plan? Yes, yes it does. We'll do that tonight then."

William could only shake his head and sigh; he couldn't have got a word in edgewise.

In the distance there was a slight popping sound and the last remaining grey-suited man, with his slicked back hair vanished into nothing, having witnessed the entire battle he had to report back to the headquarters. Things hadn't gone well, not well at all.

## Chapter 10

Angela woke up and looked around, determining that she was back in the bell-tower shaft that she had been kept in before, its entranceway completely sealed. She used her matter-sight to find where the door should be, in order to gather her bearings in the circular room. With her it she saw the passageway leading to the doorway and no fewer than six Murrays standing guard. She tried to turn the stone over the entrance way to nothing, testing the responses of her guards, but her powers seemingly had no effect, it seemed they her negating her. Trying and trying again continually yielded no result and she sighed heavily, her current situation pressing down on her, though she refused to admit defeat. If she knew anything, had learnt anything, from Jake over the years, it was that there was _always_ a way to escape.

She fashioned herself a chair and sat down, she knew she had to think of something, some way to escape. When she attempted to manipulate the top of the bell tower into air from stone, merely for something to do than for any other reason, nothing happened. Using her matter-sight she saw that there, too, stood a host of grey-suited Murrays. The realization slowly dawned on her, as idea after idea proved useless, that she was well and truly trapped this time. As she sat, staring at the roof far above her a flicker of light seemed to dance across it, onto the massive bell, then back onto the roof. She watched it for a while wondering what it could be, before dismissing it as a reflection - possibly from the water that again filled the tower base, the strange shimmer did have that light reflected by water sort of quality to it.

Angela began to think up a plan of escape. She knew it was useless trying to break out, but perhaps she could make the Murrays come in to her cell and then she could... she didn't quite know what if she was honest.

Quite some time had passed since she had noted the glimmer of light near the top of the tower, yet when she glanced up again, she saw it was, strangely, still there and in exactly the same place. Looking at it thoughtfully she decided it must actually be _something_ up there, not a mere reflection as she had first assumed. She looked at it with her matter-sight but she could sense nothing physical there at all. There was the smooth and hard edge of the bell, then the gaseous air, then the steel iron work of the roof. There was simply nothing else there, yet still the light danced around, as if beckoning to her. 'It must be something outside shining in,' she thought, but wondered why she had not noticed it last time she was imprisoned in this very tower.

As the small amount of sunlight that came through the windows high on the tower faded away to darkness the strange spot of light suddenly flared so bright Angela could hardly look at it. It stretched out from the roof to the, now dry, floor in a near-tangible beam. Angela shielded her eyes from the light, staggering backwards. The light began to dim and Angela found she could look at the beam again now. It was widening as she watched then it seemed to fall from the ceiling, down and down it rapidly fell before stopping suddenly at about her own head height. Quickly using her matter-sight Angela saw that something solid was forming within the light beam and she prepared herself for the worst. A pair of bright green eyes suddenly looked out of the light at her, as a humanoid shape formed. Long, fire-engine, red hair sprouted from its head and fell past the figure's shoulders, a strand falling across the being's face. The light faded away completely and Angela stood face to face with a ghost of the past. "Tabitha Rose," she whispered, "but you're dead!"

The woman that she spoke to broke into a smile and laughed quietly, "Not quite," she said in a barely audible whisper, as if her voice had not been used in a long time. "But we must hurry, they'll know I am here by now, they'll be deciding what to do."

Angela took 'they' to be the grey-suited men, the Murrays, outside her door, standing at the top of the tower, surrounding her entirely. Glancing towards where the door should have been, she could see a fine dust emitting from the wall. "They're coming in," Angela said.

"A bit less time than I had hoped for then! Um... you have to create something for me. Something big - Not now!" Tabitha ended in a hiss. Angela stopped what she was doing, still far to shocked to fully comprehend what was going on. Standing there before her was someone that she had long thought dead. Even Jake thought she was dead. They had searched as thoroughly as they could for her before being forced to flee before the hordes of Murrays: but of Tabitha Rose there had been no sign, not even a strand of hair caught on something. Yet here she was, literally bright as day, standing right in front of Angela. There was something about her though, she looked older, a great deal older, than she had looked the last time she had seen her, but it had, Angela reminded herself, been thousands of years so perhaps she had always looked this way, or perhaps the time had aged her, both possibilities were equally valid.

When Jake had plucked Angela from the ruins of her own world, it had been Tabitha that had cared for her for the main part. As such Tabitha had always had a 'mother' like feel to her, though Angela had always considered her a friend first and foremost, or maybe an older sister. To see her again now, standing there making plans - much as Jake would do - made her happier than she had been since she had been brought here kicking and screaming by the Murrays, even happier than she had been on seeing that Will had come with Jake to rescue her.

"Can you make me a hollow glass sphere?" Tabitha was asking.

"Sure!" replied Angela, with one hand she flashed together a sphere of glass, whilst the other kept re-assembling the weakest parts of the wall. She wondered why the Murrays simply didn't vaporize it, as she knew they had the ability to do so. She finished the sphere and it glinted and sparkled in the low light like stars in the sky. "Here you are," she said, handing the sphere to Tabitha.

Tabitha held the sphere between her hands and closing her eyes took a deep breath in and then, while she slowly let her breath slowly out again, sparks of energy fired between her hands, through the glass. Back and forth they went until with a flash of light a ball made of energy spun, sparking and flaring inside the glass sphere. Tabitha handed the sphere to Angela, "Hide this, quick! You can use it later, make sure that it's inside whatever you create then dissolve the glass."

Nodding Angela quickly created a chest of drawers and placed the sphere, carefully, in the third one from the top. Turning back to Tabitha, Angela spoke again, "I can't believe it's really you, it has been so, so long! Have you seen Jake?"

"Him and another are on their way."

"Will."

"Who?"

"William. That is who is with Jake. Jake has brought him through from Earth."

"Earth? I'm missing a lot of this story. However -" Tabitha, blowing a strand of hair from her face, motioned towards where there was now a distinct hole in the wall with an eye peering through. "- I see we have company. I'll see you again real soon!" she ended as she changed, once again, into a beam of light that shone brightly from floor to ceiling before vanishing into the night.

The Murrays came crashing through the doorway, screaming the word 'Leech' at the top of their voices. It occurred, then, to Angela that they had been unsure what was within the tower with her and so had come through slowly and carefully. The caution was most unusual for any Murray to do, let alone a group - they were always a more of a do first, think later race. As the Murrays poured into her cell, she sat defiantly in her chair even though she was in a state of near shock: seeing someone she had long thought dead had really thrown her.

Presently the nearest of the Murrays turned to her and spoke, "What were you doing with the Leech?" he asked, his tone demanding.

"Talking," Angela replied quietly, thinking that honesty may be the best policy and not moving from where she now sat, though the Murray towered over her and others now closed in to encircle her.

"Talking!" scoffed the Murray, "More like plotting! Yes, plotting something no doubt! Although it is interesting that the Leech came to you, very interesting. Tell me, why did the Leech come here?"

Angela's mind raced, it appeared to her that the suited men, or at least these particular suited men, didn't actually know who or what Tabitha Rose was - to them she was this 'Leech' that they spoke of. She posed a question to the Murray, "What is the Leech?"

"What is the Leech?! What is the Leech, she asks as if she doesn't already know, yet here she was conversing with it! The Leech sucks the energy out of all things!" roared the Murray at Angela, "You already knew that, don't try and play ignorant!"

"Oh, so you call it a 'Leech' because it Leeches the energy out of things?" Angela asked curiously. It really did seem like they didn't know what - who - they had captured. If they had known _who_ the 'Leech' was they would undoubtedly have used her against Jake, they probably could have done some sort of deal with him in exchange for her release - especially in those earlier years. Now, of course, would be a different story. The loss of Tabitha had changed Jake, changed him in ways that were not for the better in most cases... but now it seemed she hadn't been lost at all.

"Yes! Because it Leeches the life out of anything and everything! We captured it on some remote planet far from here. You were there at the time as well according to our records. You and your protector fought on that planet, fought and lost. We found the Leech, at first it tried to attack us, but then after it had slaughtered thousands of us it fell to the ground."

"Bad energy," whispered Angela in shock as she realized what had happened. The trio had become separated, she couldn't remember how it happened now, but she and Jake had become separated from Tabitha in the depths of battle. Angela now saw that Tabitha, after the separation, must have launched her own offensive at the Murrays, possibly in a bid to stop them capturing her until Jake and Angela could find her again. However, it now seemed there had been too many of them for her to handle by herself, she had absorbed too much of the energy from them and it had rendered her... something like unconscious she assumed.

"After it fell," the Murray continued, "we captured it and put it to use for us! We have had many uses for it over the years and it seems to just keep on living. Now, since I have been so kind and answered your question, you will answer mine. Why did the Leech come here?"

Angela was expecting this, the 'I'll tell you something, if you tell me something' approach was a common tactic of the grey-suited men. Whilst their records may have shown how the Leech was captured, they clearly failed to show that this technique didn't work. "Because it felt like it," replied Angela, raising her tone at the end of the sentence making it more of a question that a statement. She didn't think it wise to admit to what the Leech had really been doing here and, of course, she did like to wind the Murrays up as much as she could, as often as she could, no matter what the situation or the consequences.

"LIES!" roared the entire group of Murrays at once. The nearest again spoke, "You will tell us! You will tell us now, or -"

"Or what?" interrupted Angela. "You will vaporize me? Turn me into atoms floating on the breeze? I don't think so. I am _real_ sure I'm still alive for a reason. You still need me. What you need me for I don't care, but it's probably one of two things. Either you need me for more experiments, more DNA and the like - or you need me to lure Jake here. Actually," she paused, "it's probably both. It _is_ both isn't it?" Then, with a sudden flick of her elbow she brought her right-hand palm forward, placing it on the nearest Murrays face. "You know what?" she said, "You're _really_ starting to annoy me now."

The Murray let out a muffled scream, but it was too late for him. Stretching out from Angela's fingers little cracks that soon became gaping fissures appeared in the Murrays head. Then, silently, the skull collapsed in on itself, turning to dust. The effect rippled down through the Murrays body, it was as if he was imploding, down it rippled until nothing was left of him but a slightly burnt smell on the air. Looking around Angela saw the remaining Murrays had fled, re-sealing the door behind them. "That's right!" she yelled at the area where the doorway should be, "Run you cowards! Run for your lives!"

Sometime later Angela woke up from a deep sleep, thinking that she still hadn't stretched her abilities, exercised them, enough, they were still too tiring to use extensively. Although the attack on the Murray had left her exhausted and light-headed, it did seem it taking a lot more use of her abilities before she tired, however, and of this fact she was glad. She got up and walked over to the chest of drawers, carefully she pulled out the third one from the top. From the drawer she pulled the glass sphere, watching the ball of energy spark, spiral, flash and twist within it. Sitting it on her chair, she stood and stared at it for a long while. "What do you want me to _do_ though?" she asked it, thinking of Tabitha and picking the sphere up again. Like Jake, Tabitha was often a little vague on details, preferring to let others figure them out.

She couldn't help but smile when she thought of the pair of them, in some ways so alike yet in other ways so different. She wondered how Jake would react when the pair met again, she hoped she could be there to see it, though she thought it would be extremely unlikely that she would be. "Inside whatever I create," she mused, turning the sphere slowly in her hands, "what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Suddenly, what it meant struck her in a flash of understanding and inspiration, "Inside whatever I create! Of course!" She placed the delicate glass sphere carefully on the ground and around it she started to twist and turn the air, the dust and even the ground itself into something huge, something incredible. The water began to spill back into the room now that she had removed the floor again, but it didn't worry her - she just used it to help fashion her creation. She stood against the wall of the circular tower and like a sculptor working with clay she teased the matter out, changing its shape and its form. Soon her creation was so large that she had to stand on top of it in order to continue crafting it.

Finally, she finished and half slid, half climbed down from the top of the creation. Once firmly on the ground again she stood and eyed it up and down. In front of her was giant, steel-clawed foot, that rose to a massive leg. From the back of her creation stuck spikes of hard steel, piercing through the tough rock the bulk of the creature was made of. A short, strong neck stubbornly supported the creatures head: a square, like a giant boulder, with eyes that glared as if frozen in time. "Looks good," Angela said, congratulating herself, though she wondered slightly where the Murrays that had been at the top of the tower had gone to, surely they would have seen her making this creature, it towered nearly half the way to the towers bell, high above her. She wondered if perhaps Tabitha's sudden appearance had caused a rethink in their guard strategy.

Angela had created a monster, a giant made of stone that was vaguely man-shaped and vaguely like some beast of legend - she reckoned she had even managed to find a way to enable it to spit a flaming lava. Using her matter-sight she looked into the beast's stomach, checking the delicate glass sphere. The energy, that little 'jolt' that living things needed to come to life, was contained within its delicate walls. Now all she had to do was somehow convince the Murrays to come inside, at which point she would shatter the glass and the colossal creature would come to life. In the confusion and chaos that ensued she was sure she would be able to escape and this time, this time, she wouldn't be found. But. before she enticed the Murrays into her cell she needed to rest. Perching herself precariously on the seat that was now squashed hard against the wall she curled herself up and went to sleep - just for a few moments she promised herself.

## Chapter 11

Angela awoke, startled from a strange dream where she had been able to see, but never quite reach, William. Little time had passed since she had decided to rest after making the giant, yet her body still resented her for the cramped position she had curled up and slept in. As she stretched out her aching muscles and clicked her sore joints, she eyed the behemoth she had created.

The idea suddenly struck her that this wasn't the time to release such a creature, not that she had any ideas about when the correct time would be, or even how she would know - all she did know was that right now wasn't the time. In a fit of sudden inspiration, she gingerly removed the floor turning it into mere atoms, that floated away on the slight breeze inside her prison. As she dug further and further into the ground, the giant creature slowly lowered behind her until it was entirely below the former ground level. Climbing up its rocky back and along its neck she soon stood at the highest point and carefully created half of a false floor. She pulled herself up onto it before creating the other half. She spent the next short while making tweaks to it; ensuring it was strong enough to support weight, and of course water, from above and yet still weak enough to shatter to pieces if struck from below.

With the giant beast hidden below her Angela unblocked the water, to check if her new false floor was water-tight, letting it again flow through the small grill at the bottom of her cell, the small grill she had to continually keep blocking to keep the cell from flooding.

As the water poured back in Angela heard a commotion outside, it was barely audible to her yet from the tones it sounded as if it was raised voices yelling and screaming at one another. As she wondered what could be causing such a fuss, an entire wall of her cell suddenly vanished, causing a wave of water to sweep through, picking up the scant possessions she had created for herself, tossing them up against the opposite wall, destroying them.

Several people burst through the opening, all, of course, wearing grey suits, one loudly barking instructions at the others. It seemed Angela was to come with this particular Murray immediately, the problem was the other Murrays did not seem to be aware that this was the case. Angela weighed up her chances of escape while the group bickered, but ruled it out - six of the men were in the cell with her but a further group of about ten stood outside the cell still, she assumed this group had come with the Murray issuing the instructions. Finally, the raised voices subsided, the group of Murrays that had been entrusted to guard her relented to the new comer.

"You will follow me, _now!_ " barked the Murray, clearly in no mood for any further nonsense.

Angela, however, was in no mood to be obedient, "No. I don't think I want to," she said.

"You will do it" stated the Murray matter-of-factly.

" _Will I_? You seem to be very certain of yourself. I suggest you lose some of that self-confidence as I have no intention of doing _anything_."

"You will do as I say," replied Murray, a vein twitching near his temple.

"Yeah... but, as I have said, I don't want to. Plus, you've been _very_ rude about it, you could at least say _please_ and then I might consider it," Angela responded, casually inspecting the ends of her hair, deliberately not looking at the Murray.

"You will follow me, now!" snapped the Murray again before adding a quiet, "Please."

"What was that? I didn't quite hear you there," Angela taunted, highly amused at the obvious frustration she was causing.

"I said... I said _please_."

"Thought so!" said Angela cheerfully, "Off we go then!" With that she walked towards the opening and out to stand before the group of Murrays still standing outside. The Murray that had been telling her what to do was caught out by this shift in circumstance and rushed to catch up with her.

"I said _you_ will follow _me_ ," he hissed angrily at her.

"Well in that case I suggest you keep up," taunted Angela again, adding with a wry smile, "So, far you're doing a pretty poor job of leading. Let me guess, back upstairs is it? Oh, I so love going upstairs to that room. You have quite a view from up there!" Angela was trying something that Jake seemed to do all the time, random babbling with quick changes in tone and mood. He always seemed to use it to great success in putting the Murrays off their game and she hoped that she would be as effective, or even half as effective.

"A view? Oh, no, where you're going there is no view. You surely don't believe we'd be so stupid as to take you back to where you nearly escaped from us last time do you?" replied the Murray, not taking Angela's bait.

"I dunno, you _do_ look pretty stupid. I've seen smarter looking rocks, though I think that is probably insulting to rocks," Angela said, just to irritate the Murray. This time he took the bait.

"You _will_ shut-up or I shall shut-you up, you got that girly?" he had grabbed Angela by the throat and was holding her up against the wall. "Do I make myself perfectly clear? I should, and I could, kill you where you stand, but unfortunately you're still needed," he let Angela go and she slid down the wall until her feet hit the ground.

Angela rubbed her neck where the Murray had grabbed it, this was an unexpected turn of events. It seemed that something quite major had happened, other than the loss of their 'Leech', something that had caused the Murrays to have even less patience than usual. While Angela did indeed stop talking \- she didn't want him to touch her again, his touch made her skin feel as if it was trying to crawl away - she did not resort to following the Murray as he so wished, she remained at least two-steps ahead of him at all times. Every time he sped up to try and get ahead of her, she, too, would speed up. Eventually the Murray gave in and let her lead. Although she had no idea where she was leading them all to, she just followed what was barked at her from the Murrays following along behind. Left. Right. Left again. Down through a veritable maze of corridors.

After what seemed like hours of seemingly aimless walking, at several points she had been sure they had back-tracked and gone down corridors that they had walked down before, probably to confuse her, they finally arrived in front of a door that wouldn't open for Angela when she pushed on it. Beside it was a little box, a keypad with each of the keys lit by a red light from behind.

When the Murray entered the correct code, the lights went orange then green as the door first unlocked then opened automatically. Angela stepped into a room, that was very akin to the one upstairs shape wise, but completely different in layout. Banks of computer screens faced away from a series of steel doors lit by a red light, so that the computer operator could see over the screen to the doors. As she watched the doors opened and a row of Murrays stepped forth, all with dark blonde hair.

It was then she knew she had come to their... breeding facility, she supposed it would be called. Why she had been brought here of all places was still anyone's guess. The row of newly created Murrays all turned to their left before walking out of a door that opened alongside the one Angela had just come in through, even though she had been certain there was no door beside the one she had walked through on the outside of the room, so assumed it must lead somewhere else within the, seemingly, city-sized building. Towards the far end of the room a Murray, that leant over the top of another of the Murrays who was staring intently at one of the screens, stood up and turned to face Angela.

"Bring her here," he commanded. The Murray that she had been supposed to follow went to grab her by the arm - no doubt it an attempt to show to his boss that he had led all the whole way. Angela, however, wasn't about to start being led around now. She yanked her arm out of the Murrays grasp, then quickly stepped in front of him leading him down the narrow aisle between a row of chairs and a row of desks to where the beckoning Murray awaited.

"Still full of fight I see. Good, good, very good," he said to her.

"What do you want?" she demanded of the Murray, in no mood for his little games.

"Ah, all full of fight _and_ straight to the point. Very well, it seems we have a little problem on our hands. As you may know, since I have heard that you talked with the Leech - who may have told you all about it for all I know or care, we recently had a little dispute with your protector and his little friend." Angela said nothing and glared at the Murray, who continued. "Now in the course of this minor confrontation our Leech was set free. How come it was able to destroy us?"

"You brought me here to ask me that?"

"Of course, for some of the men were your... offspring, shall we say, that were destroyed. How is that possible?"

Angela suddenly knew why she was alive, they hadn't really figured out her powers of matter manipulation yet and though the reason for their destruction was simple, she had no reason to tell it to the Murrays. The Leech, Tabitha, was able to go beyond the mere physical break-down of molecules and atoms. She could remove the energy from an atom, causing it to suddenly and without warning fly apart - almost like a miniature nuclear explosion. Though if they had been using her to harvest energy for as long as they claimed, for as long as Tabitha had been missing, Angela was amazed that they didn't know this already. "No idea, maybe you should have just not fallen to pieces over the Leech escaping."

"Oh, yes, _very_ witty. What a wonderful pun. Now tell me _why_!" the Murrays jovial tone departed, replaced with a snapping bark as he slapped Angela across the face.

"I said," Angela stated in an angry tone, "that I don't know!"

"Oh, I think you do know. Why don't you show us?" the Murray said, with a sudden smile.

"What do you mean show you?" Angela hesitantly asked.

"Well, you see, I have a theory that there is a way to stop being pulled apart by the Leech. I also have a theory that you know what it is."

"What? I have no idea!"

"Well, we shall see about that then, yes we shall see." He reached down and pressed a button on the console before him, a single one of the steel doors opened. From out of it squeezed a giant Murray, how he had managed to fit into that tiny space Angela did not know. Tentacles waved from its head and back, tiny sparks of electricity running up them.

"What... what is that?" Angela stammered, recoiling slightly from the hideous tentacled-man-create that emerged before her.

"A bit of the Leech," the Murray replied.

"You've somehow taken Ta- the Leech's abilities?" Angela caught herself just in time, she knew it was not wise to utter Tabitha's name to the Murrays.

"Oh, yes, we had it for thousands of years, why would we not? Though this is the first one that has managed to survive for more than a few moments, for some reason they always tend to explode. I am not sure why they all explode and I am not sure why suddenly we can create versions that don't explode, unless its because we can now do what you do? What I am sure of is that you will now, however, tell us what we want to know."

Angela recoiled from the tentacle-Murray as he walked towards her, knowing if he attacked it would indeed be death for her, knowing that without energy there is no life, nothing to hold the universe together. The Murrays seemed to think that there was a way to overcome this, but if there was Angela had yet to discover it. The tentacle-Murray came closer, Angela began to panic - there was no escape. If that thing even so much as brushed against her that was it, she was finished!

A ball of smoke seemed to materialize between the pair as they faced each other, Angela saw it first and her eyes widened as a small smile settled on her face. It twisted and grew until the shadowy-man stood before her. Like always he looked like a combination of smoke and shadow, you could see through him if you looked carefully, as if there was nothing solid about him. He turned to look at Angela and gave her a slight nod, as he did so the tentacle-Murray decided to attack. Its tentacles suddenly flew towards Angela, but the shadowy man held up his hand in the universal 'stop' gesture. The tentacles surged forward and seemed to hit something suddenly solid in front of the shadowy-man.

More tentacles lunged forward, but they couldn't seem to bypass the invisible barrier. Angela became aware of Murrays running around the room towards the far wall, she saw them grabbing weapons and trying to attack the shadowy man, but their sword strokes whistled through him and clanged into the ground, they tried to shoot him but the balls of energy went hurtling through him and struck their own equipment causing it to spark and near-explode in some cases. She became aware of a voice yelling, seemingly at her, "HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS?!" it roared. She was struck violently as one of the Murrays tackled her, she became aware it was the one that who was apparently in-charge down here, "Tell me, tell me how you are doing this!"

Angela looked him straight in the eye as he lay on top of her, "I'm not doing anything, and you know it," she replied, surprised with how calm she managed to sound. The Murray let roar an angry yell, then stood to face the shadowy-man. Angela sensed what he was doing, he was going to try and dematerialize the shadowy-man. Angela laughed, loudly, at the Murray, the shadowy-man was a shadow! There was nothing there _to_ dematerialize! The Murray swore loudly in anger as he became aware of this fact and on seeing Angela standing beside him laughing, he spun around, grabbing her roughly by the shoulders.

"What is this?" he demanded of her, "Tell me! What sort of trick is this!"

Angela was puzzled, "I would have thought you'd know by now, after all... It has been thousands of years, how stupid _are_ you? Or do you lot not pass information from one generation to the next?"

"The Leech? This is something to do with the Leech?"

Before Angela could answer there was a sudden crackling in the air, it sounded like an electrical storm. The Murray shoved Angela to the ground and barked an order at another of the Murrays for her to be held. Angela looked at the shadowy man, he continued to stand there hand held out in front of him while the Murrays continued to try and destroy him. Angela decided that she would like to have some fun too and promptly vaporized the Murrays rushing to hold her. Suddenly aware that Angela had joined the foray a dozen Murrays rushed her, they were the matter-manipulating kind and with so many of them she had no chance of fighting back and rapidly decided it was in her best interests to just watch and see what happened. The electrical crackling seemed to be coming from the tentacle-Murray that was now pushing with its entire body against the invisible shield. As it did so Angela could see flickers of energy dancing across its body, though they didn't seem to fade away. Instead they seemed to link together, like people joining hands.

She knew what was about to happen.

Soon the tentacle-Murray was encased in a cage of flickering energy, Angela thought she saw the shadowy man smile slightly as he raised his left-hand into the 'stop' like gesture and reached with his now free right hand around to his back. The tentacle-Murray appeared to be shattering, all that was holding him together was the cage of sparkling energy. There was a sudden ringing of steel as a sword was drawn. It seemed to magically appear from the shadow at the shadowy-mans back, and Angela could sense - with her matter sight - that it was in fact solid and real. The shadowy man swung it in an arc and struck the electrical cage that encompassed the Leech-Murray. There was a blinding flash of light and when Angela managed to open her eyes and make out things again neither the Leech-Murray nor the shadowy-man remained, only the smoking computers and damaged floor were left to indicate something had happened here.

The room around her was in confusion, she felt herself being hauled to her feet. The lead Murray again demanded she tell him what she did, but all she could say was a repeat of her earlier words - it wasn't her. As she protested, he marched forwards, sticking his hands on her temples. She was struck with a sudden searing pain deep within her head, it felt as if her very brain was exploding. She screwed her eyes shut with the pain, but what she saw didn't help. A pair of fiery eyes seemed to burn within her head, she saw flashes of her life then as suddenly as it had come the pain left. "So, you are telling the truth. It really wasn't you," said the Murray, slumping into a nearby chair after standing it back upright, looking all the world like a man defeated.

Angela immediately realized what had happened, the Murray had ventured into her mind somehow. She thought quickly about the flashes of her life that he had seen, was any of it important? Would any of it be of any real use to Murray? With those flashes could he stop Jake? After thinking for a moment, she realized that no, none of what he had seen would be able help him in anyway. He had been after only one thing: to know if it was her that created the shadowy figure that had suddenly appeared before them. As she looked at him sitting near exhausted in the chair, she thought that perhaps that was all he _could_ look for, he seemed to have had all the life drained out of him, and, again, wondered why they didn't seem to recognize the man of shadows.

"Take her away," he said waving his hand in the direction of the door.

The group of Murrays immediately followed his instruction and, almost before Angela could comprehend it, she had been lifted from the ground, undoubtedly to be carried back to her cold, dark cell. She thrashed around, kicking and screaming but the Murrays didn't release their grip, only tightened it.

It didn't take long before she noticed they weren't headed towards her usual cell that was located down towards the bottom of the structure, but they were still headed down. They seemed to be heading away from the outer wall where she had earlier made her bid for freedom, deeper into the building, though she couldn't be overly sure. As they travelled there was so many twists and turns that she had rapidly become disorientated as to her location within the structure. The passageways became darker and narrower and a definite chill began to fill the air. Angela imagined that she was being taken deep within the mountain range that had loomed behind the fortress like building. On and on she was carried, when she asked where she was being taken to, why she was being taken there, the Murrays responded with stony silence, a response she expected.

The air gradually became cold and still, it had a damp musty smell to it yet still they carried her onwards and downwards. After what seemed like an eternity of being carried the Murrays abruptly stopped, before them stood a vast steel door. One of the Murrays stepped towards it and bashed his fist against it six times. From far within Angela heard an alarm sound, then with a hiss the door started to slowly move away from them. The Murrays followed it, still carrying Angela, as it slowly recessed one metre, two metres, three. Soon the door had moved a good hundred metres along several tracks in the floor and ceiling, before, without warning, swinging to one side.

The group entered a vast cavern in the centre of which stood a circular pool of water, with an equally circular - but a lot less vast - concrete island in the middle. Around the outside of the pool stood so many Murrays that Angela couldn't count them all, but she thought she knew what was going on now. This was to be her new cell, she would be placed on that little island and the Murrays would guard her, not just to keep her in, but to keep the Leech out. The Leech and Will and, of course, Jake.

"So, this is where you'll be keeping me?" she asked of the nearest Murray to her head. She was, of course, still being carried after all.

"Yes. This will stop you conversing with that Leech if it should return. And if it _does_ return, we will be able to capture it with ease."

The lead Murray was changing the water into a flimsy floating bridge, over which the remainder of Angela's escort walked. They dropped Angela roughly on the floor of the island.

"Now, if you try anything at all we will see," said one of them to her as he turned his back and lead the group away, leaving her, feeling awfully exposed, sitting on the cold concrete island. Without a moment's hesitation she quickly used some of the water to fashion herself a wall around the island and although the Murrays allowed this, they didn't allow it to extend any higher than her head height. Whenever she stood on her tip toes she could see over the wall and they could see her. After fashioning herself a bed she lay slowly down, her heart heavy and her mood sombre.

Surely this was the worst situation to be in, though the glimmer of hope in the form of the vast rock-creature lurking under her old cell refused to die. She reached out with her matter-sight and could just see it, with all her will she looked harder, further, and there was the shimmering glass sphere. Opening her eyes, she smiled to herself, somehow still knowing that although this wasn't yet the time, and also knowing that when it was the time she would be able to control the glass enough to shatter it - sparking the rock-creature into life and setting it free.

She decided it was perhaps time for a rest, for what else was there to do, and closed her eyes as through her head the voice of Tabitha echoed, "Him and another are on their way...."

## Chapter 12

William and Jacob both awoke almost simultaneously from their sleep, disturbed by a strange sound that neither could now remember. Jacob rolled to face William and placing his finger over his lips hissed a quiet 'Shh' as he slowly raised himself into a kneeling position.

The two of them had slept in a hollow in the ground, surrounded by dense scrub and shrubbery, on the edge of another forested area. William copied Jacob, slowly raising himself to a kneeling position, though he still couldn't see much due to the height of the plants around them. Jacob threw a small stone at William to get his attention and when William looked his way, he motioned for William to head to the other side of the hollow and see if he could see anything. William did as he was instructed, moving slowly and carefully towards the other side of the hollow, breathing air so thick with tension it could almost be cut with a knife.

A sudden crashing caused them both to spin around as someone walked through the bushes and into their hollow, William reached for his gun but found he had left it lying beside where he had slept for the night, glancing towards it he also saw Jacobs sword. Turning to see who had intruded upon them and expecting the worst William instead let out a large sigh of relief, "Oh. It's you," he said.

"Indeed, it is me," the newcomer replied, "and _you_ must be William."

"Yes... I'm William," he replied noticing Jacob was yet to make any move from where he had spun around to see who had walked into their camp, it was as if he was frozen. "But, how do you know who I am? Who are _you_?"

"Angela told me about you," replied the newcomer flashing a smile at William, "hasn't Jake told you who I am?" She turned to face a still unmoving Jacob, "I don't know about you sometimes. I really don't! Fancy not telling him who _I_ am!" she said in mock-anger.

Jacob's face seemed to twitch for a moment before he stood up and faced the woman, he looked her up and down and up again then said only two words, William noted how they sounded strange and strangled coming from his mouth, missing entirely the tones of self-assuredness that his voice usually had. They were two, surprisingly simple, words, "You're dead."

"Clearly I am not," replied the woman, idly twisting a strand of her long red hair between her fingers.

"No," Jacob said to her. "No, no, no, no, _no_ ," he emphasized each 'no' by pointing his finger at the woman while William watched on in fascination. Jacob was clearly thrown right off his game by the arrival of this woman, leaving William wondering who she was to have such an effect on him.

"I searched. I did a full planetary scan from orbit. There was no trace! No spark! No little glimmer! I even searched that whole damn rock! On foot! And you! You are dead!" Jacob's voice began to crack, "I let you get split from us and then they killed you. You're dead and I'm just losing more of my freaking mind! That's what's happening, I have finally gone right off the deep end! Goodbye to the last remaining shreds of my sanity."

"Finished, are you?" the still nameless woman asked. "If I am so dead how come I can do this?" She suddenly lunged forward and grabbed Jacob by the shoulders. "Think Jacob!" she half whispered in a forceful tone, "if I'm not dead what does that mean?"

William almost blurted out that if someone wasn't dead, they were obviously alive, but better judgment told him to stay quiet. Instead he watched as Jacob pried the woman's hands from his shoulders and took several steps backwards away from her, "Don't touch!" he almost yelled at her. "You are dead! There is no way you can't be! No way!"

The woman suddenly rounded on William causing him to jump, almost afraid of what she might say or do. She was clearly causing Jacob a large amount of distress, which made him worry, in the short time the pair had been travelling together he had learnt that Jacob wasn't easily thrown off his game. "Do I look dead to you?" she asked kindly, her voice softer than a summer breeze.

"No. You look pretty alive to me," replied William, "but I am new at all this..." he trailed off as the woman turned away from him to face Jacob.

"He thinks I am alive. Why don't you Jake? Think! Use that brain of yours and stop being so damn pig-headed and stubborn." Again the woman turned to William, the tone of her voice changed again from the sharp and crisp bark she had just used on Jacob to the soft and light tones she had used to talk to William just moments before, "He's always been like this you know, right back when I first met him he was just like this. Once he has himself an idea in his head you're hard-pressed to change his mind. It's not one of his better trai-"

But she was cut off mid sentence, Jacob had started to speak. Slowly and carefully, as if each word was a potential enemy. "If it _is_ you, if it is _really_ you that would imply that you _didn't_ die..." He trailed off, William could almost see his brain digesting this new information, though William himself thought he had done nothing but stated the obvious.

"You!" Jacob suddenly shouted, "You were the Leech!"

"Well done, thanks for pointing that very obvious fact out," replied the woman, who stood directly in front of Jacob as if daring him to defy her existence.

"But... that would imply... Oh, Tabs, I'm _so_ sorry!" Jacob seemed to crumple then. He fell to his knees, letting his head fall forward onto his chest. He let out a yell of rage and furiously punched the ground. William was taken aback, neither the Jacob he had known on Earth nor the Jacob he was beginning to know here on this world had ever shown such blatant emotion. He'd always seemed to remain, well, not quite calm but something akin to it. Even when everything around him started to fall apart Jacob managed to keep his emotion in check. But now, before this strange woman Jacob seemed to crack. She walked closer to Jacob, crouched down in front of him, and gently grabbed him, again, by his shoulders and forced him to lift his head to face her.

"Don't be sorry Jake," she whispered, "you weren't to know."

Jacob looked her straight in the eyes and said, "But I should've known! When nothing at all came back on the scan! I should've known then that they hadn't killed you, but that they'd captured you somehow instead. It didn't feel right at the time, nor has it since! But I didn't know what happened when someone like you died, for all I knew you simply fell away into nothingness. I'm so, _so_ very sorry!"

As William watched, it seemed to him that Jacob was on the verge of a complete mental breakdown, his whole head now seemed to have developed a strange twitching motion and as he spoke his voice kept fading in and out.

"You weren't to know Jake," the woman kept repeating, "how could you know?"

"Because, Tabs, I _always_ know! You know that better than anyone, it's what I do. I _know_ things. And you, you're you, I should have known." Jacob's voice seemed to strengthen, become more of its usual self. He suddenly stood up, marched over to where his sword and bag lay, picked them up and slung them over his back. He turned to face the still-crouching woman and a very bewildered William.

"I'll be back," he said his voice calm and controlled, "wait for me here." With that he turned his back on the pair, pushed his way through the bushes and was soon gone from both sight and the range of hearing.

Turning towards William and sitting down the woman said, "Well. That went a lot better than I thought it would. I'm Tabitha Rose by the way, Tabitha if it's easier. Where're you from?"

" _That_ was _better_ than you thought it would be? Oh, and uh... Hi," replied William, at long last realizing who the woman was, though still wearing an expression of bewilderment. Further realizing he had been asked a question he stammered out that he was from Earth, in another dimension.

"So, he finally did it then? Trans-Dimensional transference, I am impressed. Especially without a major energy source." Seeing the look on Williams face Tabitha went on, "Don't worry, he'll be back. He just needs space for a little while, he often does, I doubt he's had a chance to be alone since he brought you here. So, you _are_ Will? Angela's Will?" As she spoke, she traced strange characters into the dirt floor of the hollow.

"Yes, I suppose I am," replied William and he was suddenly struck by something he had heard the woman say. "Have you seen her?" he asked eagerly.

"Oh, yes! She probably says 'hi' but we didn't really have time to chat with all those grey-suited men just outside the door. I didn't really want them catching me again, you see?" She seemed to catch a look on Williams face, "No. Before you ask there was no way for me to bring Angela out with me. Plus if I did that how would you be the hero for saving her?"

William could only stare at the woman, she seemed to have Jacob's knack of blathering on and on.

"Oh, come on!" she said, "I would've thought you'd have thought of that. Actually, I know you have. It's a real man thing, illusions of grandeur. They all want to be the hero, just by mentioning being the hero I bet that right now you're imagining yourself kicking in some door, rushing inside and whisking Angela away to safety."

William was caught off guard by this, that was _exactly_ what he was thinking. "How... how did you know I was thinking that?"

"Jake isn't the only one who knows things," Tabitha replied.

"You can read my mind?" asked a shocked William.

Tabitha laughed, "No such luck. I just happen to be _very_ good with people. It compensates for Jake a bit..."

The two of them then sat for quite some time in silence, the twin suns soon passing their mid-point but yet there was still no sign of Jacob returning. An idea suddenly occurred to William and he turned to Tabitha, who was still drawing strange characters and symbols in the ground in front of her. His first thought was put out of his mind by the complexities of the drawings in the dirt, they seemed more complicated than anything he'd ever seen.

"What are they?" he asked her.

"Oh! Sorry! I'm not feeling much like conversation, I wish Jake would come back... anyway this, good sir, is an energy diagram," she said this so matter-of-factly that William hesitated for more than a few seconds before asking his next question.

"And... what does it do?" he asked, very aware that he was sounding like an idiot, at least in his own mind.

"You're really not from this place, are you? I can tell, you know. You feel different from everything else, a different type of energy, you're something new... and something else too. I wonder..." William raised an eyebrow at this but Tabitha either didn't notice or didn't care and continued talking. "Anyway, I use these diagrams to find the largest source of energy nearby. However, they keep being, um, redirected I suppose is the best way of explaining it. By Jake, of course, but I don't know if he'd let me use him as my energy source right now so I'm trying to find another one."

William could only stare vacantly at the woman, none of what she said had made any sense. "Umm..." he said.

"Oh, yes! You're a foreigner! About as foreign as you can get really, out of this universe foreign! Okay, so I should probably explain to you a bit more, not too much for now, but enough to get you understanding a bit. Where to begin..." she blew a strand of hair from her face, "I am, to use that most hideous of terms - though it is probably the most explanatory - an energy Leech. In order to survive I don't need food and water like most other living things, but raw energy. Naturally my people lived on the surface of suns, where there is enough heat and light to feed off. However, as we are not on a sun, I have to find other means to recharge myself. With me so far?"

"I think so," William replied.

"Good. So, although this planet has two suns, I can't just use their heat and light to feed off, as they are by far too far away and with my current reserves travelling to them is out of the question. So, anyway, by the time the heat and light reach here they have lost the intensity. It'd be a bit like you eating, a... oh, I dunno... um... a solitary watery vegetable for all your meals for a week."

"Oh," replied William, who was beginning to vaguely understand.

"So, in order for me to survive I need to find myself another energy source. As you probably noticed I can in fact use the energy in atoms to feed off, but that tends to be very... destructive."

"I'd say," William interrupted, "you damn near killed Jacob. I thought for sure you had!"

"Yes... one more and I don't think have been able to revive him, not after so long apart and with us both being in drained states. Those two were a lot for him to take, just think yourself fortunate that I didn't strike you, one blast would have destroyed you, wiped you from existence itself, right down to the atomic level. Zap! Gone!" She paused for a moment, as if in thought. "Anyway, that's what this diagram does, it guides me towards something with plenty of energy. Usually, as I don't like to take the energy from living creatures, it's something like a plant about to put forth its new growth for the season or the like. Sweet, fresh, young energy."

"What was that you said about Jacob before? Feeding off him or something?"

"Yes, that's what I used to do. As an energy being, I can take practically any form. Years ago now, many years ago - much longer than I think you have been alive - I would feed off Jake."

"How?" enquired William, genuinely interested.

"Like this!" said the woman and she suddenly seemed to flash behind a bright white light into a cigar shaped object floating not far from the ground, the object then soared into a nearby tree and William watched as it weaved in and out in figures of eight around the tree from the top to the bottom. As it did so it became brighter and brighter until it hurt Williams eyes to look at it before it suddenly flew back towards him and with another blinding flash of light turned back into the strange red-headed woman.

"So," began William, "by doing that you are able to... feed off the energy in the tree?"

"That's right! You're learning fast!"

"But... why doesn't that kill Jacob? I thought he had died after those blasts when we fought all those grey-suited men. And didn't you just say you don't like to feed off living creatures?"

The woman looked at him and cocked her head to one side, "What exactly has he told you?" she asked.

"Told me? About what?" responded William.

"About the grey-suited men. About himself. What has he told you?"

"Um, nothing really. Just that they have Angela and we're going to get her back... somehow."

The woman sighed, "He always used to keep all his cards close to his chest, and it seems he still does. It's probably not that he doesn't _want_ to tell you, but more that he probably just doesn't know _how_ to tell you. I get the feeling that on your world you two would probably never really associate."

"You've got that right. I don't even like associating with him here! If I could get away from him I would."

The woman's bright green eyes seemed to pierce through into his mind, "Why?" she asked simply, raising an eyebrow.

"'Cause he's just so... so... irritating. I dunno! I can't stand him!"

"Yet here you are."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You could have left him ages ago, yet you're still follow him, doing what he says, when he says it."

"Yeah I do! Otherwise I'd never get Angela back, would I?" snapped William.

"Aha, so that's it. You worry he'll take her from you, he won't. I can see that you truly love Angela and I've only just met you, so he can see it as well trust me," Tabitha replied with a small smile.

William saw that smile and realised that there was something about those eyes, the red hair and, of course, that little smile that made William begin trusting her, completely and utterly, just like that.

"Did you know he raised her? Well, I raised her really. He plucked her from her home planet moments before it was destroyed. It'd be... highly disturbing for there to be anything other than friendship there."

William let out a little gasp of shock.

"Ah, so you didn't know. He really has told you nothing at all then, how very like him that is," she smiled softly and it seemed she wandered off into memory for a few moments before speaking again. "Well, since the cat is still away the mice shall play. I shall tell you a story." Tabitha stood up and walked to where the rug Jacob had slept on still lay - he hadn't put it into his bag when he had left in a rush before. She lay down on it and looked at the sky taking in a deep breath as she did so, a thoughtful look crossed her face and she closed her eyes and began to speak. She told William then of how Jacob had plucked Angela from the wreckage of her home-world, about how she and Jacob had raised her and, of course, why the grey-suited men wanted her now. Then, as there was still no sign of Jacob, she told William the story of about how she had herself had been captured by the grey-suited men.

"Nice story," said a voice, startling the pair.

William quickly scrambled to his feet, picking up his gun as he did so and swung it around.

"Yeah, not really called for is it?" said Jacob flashing a smile in William's direction. "Well not right now, soon though maybe. But right now, it's not called for."

"Why?" asked William, noting that Tabitha sat quietly observing, Jacob hadn't said anything to her yet, hadn't even acknowledged her, and William could see that she was trying to figure Jacob out, trying to see what he was thinking.

"Why? Well that's simple really. Why is because we're going to have a bit of a situation any moment now."

"Again, why?" asked William, as Tabitha continued to watch on in silence.

"They're coming, that's why," Jacob replied, making it clear with his voice that he was becoming irritated. "I've just seen them, they seem to have followed us from where we left the battle-field earlier. How so many of them managed to get there so quick I have no idea, but there is a fair number of them."

"So, we attack?"

"No! We run, we run and we don't look back, not even for a second!"

While he had been speaking Tabitha had stood up and now approached him, bringing with her the rug she had been lying and carefully folding it as she walked. She handed it to Jacob, "What did you see?" she asked. "I know there is more, tell me. Please Jake, talk to me."

For the first time since he had returned from wherever he had just been Jacob looked at Tabitha and for a moment William was sure his expression had softened but if it had it had been only fleeting.

"What do you want to know?" Jacob asked in reply, his voice with a slight cold, hard edge to it.

"What did you see? You've seen something else, I can tell. You _know_ me Jake, I can always tell," replied Tabitha, standing her ground beneath Jacob's glare.

Jacob's shoulders fell, "Angela," he said, finally.

"What about her?" William demanded, stepping beside Tabitha to stare Jacob in the face.

Jacob's whole attitude seemed to change, "Fine, I'll tell you. But I only know some basics, nothing more. And then we've really got to be leaving, since it's pretty clear we can't leave without my telling you, I know pig-headed stubbornness when I see it," he said as he slowly sat down.

William looked at Tabitha, about to ask if sitting down was wise considering there seemed to be a new mass of Murrays on the way, but all he saw was the top of her head rapidly descending to ground level as she, too, took a seat. William sighed in resignation and sat as well, half expecting a swarm of Murrays to come crashing through the undergrowth at any moment.

"As I was walking, I was struck by an odd feeling, a sense of urgency seemed to be upon me. I scanned the surroundings and on seeing nothing I knew it could only be one thing. So, I stopped and sat down in order to better-"

William butted in, "What one thing? What are you talking about?"

"You've really told him nothing at all have you," said Tabitha in mock surprise. "What he is talking about is probably best described, and this is about as close of a description as I can manage, as a telepathic sort of connection he can have with... well... last I knew it was with pretty much everything that could think. Is that still the case Jake?"

"Yes," replied Jake.

"Everything? But... that's like impossible! His head would be full of noise!" William snorted, "It's just insanity."

"One learns to filter it, nowadays I have it tuned into only certain people."

"So, you can read minds?" asked William.

"No, I just... know things. Anyway, you lot are distracting me from my point. Where was I? Oh, yes, I stopped and sat down in order to get a better idea this feeling was coming from, a better idea of where I should project my shadow-self. When I found the source, I was greeted by the sight of Angela standing in a room of computer terminals, an expression of fear mingled with panic on her face and her stare seemed to be looking behind me. When I turned around... there _it_ was. Seems they have been trying to mix themselves in with something else, some strange tentacled thing -" Jacob paused for a moment and William glanced at Tabitha, but she made no sign. "- but it wasn't holding together. The Tentacle-Murray came at me, but I - of course \- blocked it. They tried to attack me, the Tentacle -Murray and the others, but they couldn't. I am yet to meet anyone that can physically hurt a shadow. Of course, I had to know its strength as I can't go around not knowing these things..."

William was enthralled with the story and glancing across at Tabitha again he could see that she was as well, she wore a strangely excited expression. As if she was seeing Jacob again for the first time since she had appeared out of the giant-egg like thing.

"... so, using a trick Angela would have been proud of - since I was only projecting myself - I attacked it with my sword, this sword right here. Got to love Tiberlon steel, the energy that coursed through it would have melted normal steel."

William again interrupted Jacob's story, "A trick Angela would have been proud of?"

"More important things at stake here William, priorities, man, priorities," replied Jacob, blowing off Williams question. "Anyway, the creature exploded in a flash of energy so great it nearly knocked me back to my physical self. It didn't quite do so however and while everyone else was fumbling around I melted into the shadows - it's a handy thing being made of shadow," he said, "ridiculously easy to hide, but I digress. Then one of the grey suits demanded to know how Angela had conjured up the shadow, meaning me, but, of course, she had no response..." Jacob's voice trailed off.

"Then what happened?" asked William, but Jacob just sat in silence. "Tell me what happened!"

"Well... I think he looked into her mind. Or at least he tried to, but I wasn't going to stand for any of that sort of carry on, the mind is a delicate thing. As he stepped into her mind, I stepped into his. Directing him away from any information about anything at all that could be used against Angela - or against us. He learnt only that the shadow wasn't conjured by her, but then I fear he felt my presence. Though he probably doesn't know it was _me_ in particular, I am sure he knew someone else was there, someone that was a threat to him."

"You stepped into his mind?" asked William, "You possessed him?"

"Possessed? No, you can never take over a person's own free will. I merely didn't let him see anything important."

"But... how? _How_ can you do these things?" demanded William.

To Williams surprise Tabitha replied, she had sat so silently through most of Jacobs story that William had wondered if she was afraid to speak. "For every evil there is a good," she said.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" roared William, increasingly annoyed that everyone seemed to speak in riddles around him.

"You don't get to yell at her," Jacob said in a tone hard and cold that, despite being only spoken, caused William to reel back as if yelled at. He had been caught off-guard by Jacob suddenly coming to Tabitha's defence.

"It means what it says," replied Tabitha who turned towards Jacob and looked him square in the eyes, "for every great evil there is a great good."

"And you are quoting myths and legend at me Tabitha. Myths and legend have no bearing here, this is reality," Jacob said in response to Tabitha.

"What the hell are you two on about," William demanded.

"Do you not have myths or legends where you come from?" asked Tabitha.

"Yes, but-"

"Enough of this nonsense," Jacob cut in.

"It's _not_ nonsense Jacob," Tabitha retorted, using for only the second time Jacobs proper name, "they are about _you_."

"No, they are not!" Jacob snapped.

It sounded to William as if this was an age-old argument, which had been won and lost by both sides numerous times over the years.

"They are, and you know it."

"I am just an ordinary person, doing what any other ordinary person in my situation would do. Besides, if anything, they are about you and Angela."

"You know that's not true Jake. You stopped being ordinary a long, long time ago. But if you insist; I'll drop it."

"I _do_ insist," replied Jacob.

"Then consider it dropped. Now, I believe you said we were likely to be under attack soon?"

"Oh, hell I had forgotten!" Jacob half yelled, jumping to his feet. "Yes! We are, any moment now, any moment at all! Let's move!" He quickly lunged through the bushes, causing the others to quickly scramble to their feet behind him.

William turned to Tabitha, "What was that all about?" he asked.

"I'll explain later, if and when we get a chance. But for now, we must run, I can feel them coming now. They aren't very far away."

The pair ran after Jacob, who was barely visible as he stood and waited for them ahead. The trees and undergrowth provided near perfect camouflage, their shades of green and brown causing all other colours to be lost to the human eye. William could only see Jacob because he was beckoning to the pair in a frantic manner, as if the grey-suited men were right behind him and the woman he ran beside. Looking over his shoulder William saw nothing, but then he hadn't seen Jacob all that well either.

Perhaps the grey-suited men, the Murrays, _were_ right behind him.

## Chapter 13

There was a sudden crash and Tabitha found herself falling, down and down she fell and though she could not see it, she could somehow feel the ground rapidly approaching. With a sudden, sickening, thud she stopped falling and everything went black.

She could hear a voice in the distance, it seemed as if it was coming from far, far, away but it was definitely calling her name. She felt someone's fingers drift over her hand, then tighten around it, again she could hear the voice calling her name, with great difficulty she opened her eyes. For a moment she couldn't tell if she had opened them, so total was the darkness. She blinked a couple of times to be sure and found they were open and slowly a dim ambient light could be made out.

She found herself lying on the ground in the middle of what appeared to be a brick-walled passageway, yet before her was a dead-end. Jake was holding her hand, brushing her hair out of her face while his own face a picture of concern. Up against the wall closest to her head William was sitting, slowly massaging his ankle. Of the trio, it seemed that she had taken the worst hit. All of her limbs, her back, her ribs and her neck were in agony when she tried to move, causing her face to twist in pain.

"Don't try to move," Jake advised.

"Wasn't planning on it," she replied weakly. For the first time since her sudden reappearance Jake was showing her some of the attention, some of the care, he had used to show her all those years ago.

"How are your reserves? Can you heal yourself with them?"

Tabitha slowly and carefully shook her head, "Not enough," she said, "not enough at all. I've been having to work hard to keep this form..."

Jacob raised an eyebrow at the statement and put her hand down, getting up from where he had knelt beside her. He walked towards the dead-end wall, then turned and walked back to Tabitha. Over and over he did this, usually with his hands clasped behind his back but occasionally running one or both through his hair. Eventually he returned to Tabitha and knelt beside her, again holding her hand. "Use me," he said to her.

Painfully propping herself up a little, Tabitha looked hard into Jacobs eyes.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"I'm sure Tabs, I'm sure."

There was a sudden blinding flash in the darkness, causing both Jacob and William to hide their eyes behind the crook of an arm.

"Where'd she... oh. That's what she meant is it?" said William, as his eyes re-adjusted to the darkness. Before him stood Jacob, with his arms stretched out to each side from his shoulders. Through him, in figures of eight that were slowly getting faster and brighter, a cigar-shaped light soared. Soon it burnt so brightly that William again had to shield his eyes in the crook of his arm and when he lowered it Tabitha stood before him. William noticed how she now appeared to slightly glow in the dark of the tunnel and how she seemed to look quite substantially younger than she had before, much closer to his own age now he imagined. He watched as Jacob looked at her for a moment, an odd expression on his face. He muttered something in a strange language, maybe a name, before whispering "My Light in the dark places" and causing Tabitha to smile broadly at him.

"This is _much_ better. Much, much, _much,_ better than I have been in a _very_ long time actually," Tabitha said, stepping forward, arms slightly raised as if preparing to hug Jacob, who himself appeared to be younger and less careworn than before.

"Uh uh, you know the rules," he said.

Tabitha sighed sadly, "I know the rules. No touching."

"That's right," replied Jacob, flashing a quick smile at her. "Now, where in the whole wide universe of wonders do you think we are?"

"Somewhere underground clearly," said William, "but why build a dead-end under the ground?"

"Good question! A very good question indeed!" said Jacob, resuming the pacing from before.

"What about the-" started Tabitha, but she was cut off by Jacob.

"Someone out there would really, _really_ , have to hate us for them to manage to fall down that same hole we did. They'll keep going right on past and by the time they realize they've lost our trail they'll have eradicated it anyway by marching over it." Tabitha smiled, he may have changed: become harder and, if possible, even less people orientated but it was still her Jake pacing around in front of her.

"Like a mower through long grass?" suggested William.

"Exactly!" Jacob said, pointing at William. "Oh, you are getting good at this!" Tabitha shook her head, even after all these years it seemed Jacob _still_ hadn't learnt when he was inadvertently insulting someone, or hurting their feelings.

"So, what are the facts?" he spun on his heel to face Tabitha.

"The facts? We're underground."

"Yep, and?"

" _Annnd_ we're in a dead-end passageway."

"Yep and?"

"And there is no way we can go back that way, or we'll get caught" said Tabitha pointing at the tiny dot of light that was the hole that they had fallen down.

"So, therefore," Jake prompted.

Tabitha couldn't help but grin, this was the strange to and fro the pair had developed when they were much younger. To the observer it seemed as if Jake was almost babying her by prompting her to answer questions that he knew the answers too already, but to Tabitha it was one of her favourite games to play with him, it even worked the other way around on occasion with him providing the answers to her questions. " _Therefore,_ we go that way!" she replied, spinning on her own heel and pointing into the looming blackness that lurked opposite the dead-end wall.

"Exactly! Right then, off we go!"

It turned out that the passageway they were in soon lead into another, with many other passageways turning off it. They ventured down a couple of the side passages only to find that they, too, after a few ninety-degree turns, came to a dead-end. On returning, for the fourth time to the passageway they had repeatedly tried to leave Jake turned to the others and said one single word: "Labyrinth."

"What?" asked William.

"A maze. It's like a giant maze and, to top it off, we have no map and no idea of exactly how big it is. It's an old labyrinth though, why it was created who would know... probably a prison, only real reason for labyrinths to exist is to keep something, or someone, trapped."

The thought filled Tabitha with a sudden dread, she knew they could all end up trapped down here. She thought she would probably be able to use her abilities to transport herself out of the situation and onto the surface far above, but it would be risky. Very few of her people had learnt to teleport through the amount of solid matter currently above her, why would they need to? She imagined it would require a huge store of energy anyway and although Jake was here with her, she didn't fancy sucking all the life out of him just so she could escape. Which raised another point in itself - if she did escape the other two would undoubtedly remain trapped here to die slowly anyway.

After a handful more dead-ends Jake suggested that they go back to the first passage they had come to, the one they had fallen down into.

"How do we know which one it is?" asked William, gazing at the slightly glowing walls - it was them that gave the slightly blue ambient light.

"Easy," replied Jacob, leading the way. The trio passed several passages before Jacob turned down one and said, "This is it."

William choked back a laugh of incredulity as he saw that it indeed was the passageway - he had positive Jacob was just making it up.

"Still have your knack for finding your way around then, I see," Tabitha said.

"Oh, yes, can't go not having that. I'd be lost without it."

"Ha Ha. Very funny," she replied, though her smile belied her sarcastic tone.

"I know!" said Jake with a wink. "Now, if you two don't mind waiting I'm going to just go find a way out of this mess." Tabitha shook her head, she had no problem with it, and looked across at William who also slowly shook his. "Good!" said Jake, "'Cause I was going anyway!" He suddenly ceased all movement as a ball of a shadowy smoke like substance appeared in front of him. It twisted and turned into the shape of a person then vanished straight through the wall in front of where Jacob stood.

"Can he still hear us?" asked William of Tabitha.

"No, I don't believe so. Then again, I could be wrong. But when I knew him before he would snap back to himself if you moved him, gave him a solid push but not if you spoke near him. Handy if you ever want to get something off your chest..."

"So, we can speak freely?"

"I suppose so, yes. But what is there to speak about?"

"About what you said earlier, Jacob said it was a myth or something."

"Yes. Many legends, many myths. Does your universe have no legends of him, or maybe of us?"

"Not that I have heard," said William, though he wasn't very widely read - there may have been myths or legends about Jacob, about what he and his friends were, but he strongly doubted it.

Tabitha fell silent, she debated in her mind as to if William should know the full story. Finally, she settled that she would tell him, it may help him understand. The tension between William and Jake was able to be cut with a knife at times and though Tabitha had only just joined them, she had experienced enough of it to know it wasn't pleasant to be stuck between them.

"So... what's the deal with you two then?" asked William, interrupting her thoughts.

"Who, what sorry?" asked Tabitha, focusing her attention on William.

"You and Jacob. What's the deal there?"

"Oh," sighed Tabitha, "we're friends. Just friends."

"Really?" William enquired, "But the way you look at him, the way you get him to do things. The way he talked about you before you, um, returned? Then there is, of course, just before, when we fell down here. The way he looked at you as he sat holding your hand..." he trailed off.

How observant William was Tabitha thought, but out loud said "It's a common mistake that we're more, but we _are_ just friends." She stopped herself quickly before she could add 'but, I wish we weren't', though in her head she said it anyway.

Sensing the matter closed, William instead pushed for the full story about Jacob. "That is a long and windy tale that has been twisted and distorted by everyone that tells it. It changes from generation to generation, planet to planet, galaxy to galaxy. I can't tell you about what happened before I met him, only after. But what I tell you from that point on is hard, cold, fact. Because, after all, I was there," replied Tabitha. "So, here goes..."

The air-lock doors of the transport station opened with a hiss and a young man quickly slid sidewise through them, apparently in quite a rush.

He seemed nervous, as if anyone and everyone in the crowded reception area was a danger, a threat out to get him.

A woman bumped him to him, causing him to nearly jump out of his skin.

All the counters were full, causing the man to stand in line, fidgeting nervously, continually looking around as he waited, seeming to become more and more impatient. Looking up from a work station and seeing the man in obvious discomfort a girl got up and walked over to him.

"Hi," she said by way of introduction, as she stopped in front of him, the slight curls in her long, vivid, red hair still bouncing, "I'm Tabitha Rose. Can I help at all?"

The man looked at her sceptically, before finding his voice with some difficulty. "Jacob," he replied, "I need to arrange transport to Glybhok Six."

"That sounds easy enough, follow me," Tabitha replied, flashing him a smile.

With another quick glance around the room Jacob reluctantly followed the girl, wondering what on earth he'd done to deserve this 'special treatment' and why he couldn't have just continued to wait in line. It felt to him as if every eye in the building was following him as he trailed the girl through a door into one of the side offices. Closing the door behind him, the girl asked him to take a seat as she sidled around the desk to sit opposite him.

"Glybhok Six, that's certainly an odd request," she said, noticing that now the man was away from the crowded room he seemed to have both relaxed and suddenly become more confident. "That planet is off limits to all except research personnel."

"I know," Jacob replied, flashing her a card, "I _am_ research personnel."

"I'm afraid I'll need a better look than that..."

Jacob handed her the card and she placed it inside the analysis machine after carefully inspecting it herself. A mere second went by before a green light lit up on the machine and the card was released.

"Seems you check out," she said. "May I ask why you're going there?"

"You may, but I may not tell you."

Tabitha raised an eyebrow, "Perhaps then, I am happier not knowing."

"Perhaps you are, perhaps I would be too."

Tabitha raised an eyebrow as she rapidly typed into her keyboard, blowing a stray strand of hair from her face as she did so. "Your transport will be at bay thirty-six in ten minutes."

Jacob thanked the girl and then left the room, taking a deep breath before he stepped out the door. Tabitha watched him disappear into the crowd, walking with a purpose that belied his earlier nervousness, towards bay thirty-six. She wondered why anyone would want to go to Glybhok Six: the planet had once had a thriving population but had, literally, died. When the first people to reach the planet surface arrived there, in response to the planetary distress call that had been broadcast, they found nothing but ash, everything had burnt, even the very soil itself seemed to have burned. She found it odd that someone so young, even if his I.D. had put him at four years her senior, would take an interest in researching the planet that had died long before either of them had ever been thought of.

She saw him again and again over a period of weeks, that soon turned into months. Her curiosity had been roused and while she didn't _always_ help him arrange transport, she tried to do so as often as she could - usually by pulling him out of the queue in which he stood into one of the side rooms. He was always going to 'The Dead Worlds' as they were known, worlds where once life had thrived but where now there was nothing but ash or dust; many people over the years had investigated them, but found nothing. As time went on, she began to look forward to her meetings with Jacob, who would often tell of his visits to 'The Dead Worlds', or other worlds he had seen, with such wonder and fascination that she couldn't help but wish she was out there exploring as well. Her heart longed to explore but, being what she was, she could never stray any further from her birth star than she currently was. His stories made her feel as if she was imprisoned from birth, imprisoned by the act of being born. Tabitha tried hard to prise from Jacob exactly what it was he was doing when he visited these worlds, but all he would ever say was, "Just checking up on a few things," an answer which constantly annoyed her.

When the day finally came when Tabitha was to get an answer, she in no way expected to hear what he had to say.

And in no way did she expect that this was the day her life would begin to change.

"Tabs," asked Jacob, using a nickname for her that she allowed him, and _only_ him, to use \- she only agreed to most people calling her 'Tabitha' because 'Tabitha Rose' was too much of a mouthful when someone was in a hurry. "Can you get me back to Glybhok Six?"

"Sure Jake, can I ask why?" Tabitha had replied, expecting to hear the standard 'Just checking up on a few things' response.

"The timelines are all wrong," Jacob had replied, "they've always said that Glybhok happened first... but I think they are wrong. And if they are wrong..." his voice trailed off, a look of deep thought on his face.

"Huh," muttered Tabitha, taken aback at suddenly receiving actual information. She looked up and into his eyes noticing, not for the first time, how young they looked. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Glybhok Six didn't happen _first_. I have found one of the other planets happened first, far, far from here. I had to take another transport from Furae One -" he stopped, as if suddenly aware he was telling someone thoughts of which he had kept to himself.

"But," argued Tabitha, "Furae One is on the other side of the sector! Are you saying there are more 'Dead Worlds' than just the ones we know about?"

Jake paused for a moment, then motioned that they should leave the main desk of the transport centre and go into one of the side offices. Tabitha found an empty one and the pair stepped inside.

"Bring up the screen," Jake instructed. As Tabitha glided around the table, Jacob stole a quick glance at her - looking quickly away as she turned to face him. She hit a few keys on the keyboard control panel and a screen lowered from the ceiling. "Bring up 'The Dead Worlds'," he instructed again and, once more, Tabitha obliged. He turned to face her, "Now, for years everyone has believed that they died in this order." He walked over to the screen and touched a series of planets, spread across the sector. As he did so yellow coloured lines appeared linking the planets, crisscrossing each other across the vastness of space. "However, I think it was more like this." Again, he touched the planets, this time a blood red line linked them, and this time there was a distinguishable pattern to the lines. The planets linked together making a near perfect spiral, winding its way across the sector. "Then, if I link in the ones from outside this sector..." Jake again placed his hand on a new series of planets, another spiral was formed, the inner end falling right on Glybhok Six. "Now," he said, "can you make it 3 dimensional, none of this top view stuff. Stick it in... um... one-point perspective. Please." Tabitha hit a few more buttons and looked up. As she did so her mouth fell open. The two spirals weren't just spirals, they were funnels. "And now for the catch," said Jake. Leaving Tabitha unsure as to what to expect, scientists had for years tried to link 'The Dead Worlds' to one another but had been at a loss. Jake this time walked over to the keyboard, "May I?" he asked.

"Sure thing" replied Tabitha, stepping aside. Minutes passed as Jake punched more and more entries into the computer, causing more and more line-linked planets to appear. Soon Tabitha could see these strange spiralling cones all over the galaxy, let alone the sector. A handful of the planets highlighted were a starting or ending point for one of the spirals, as well as being one of the intermediate planets inside another of the spirals. Tabitha could only stare at the screen, "What does it mean?" she asked Jake.

"I am not sure, but as you can see... it's got a definite structure."

"Can you predict the next planet to... die?"

"I thought I could, but there's a catch. Along each of the spirals you will see that some planets have been left untouched. So, while one could warn all the planets along the spirals projected path, there is always a chance, quite a high chance actually, that the planet will escape unharmed. The current ratio seems to be about one out of every one hundred planets is, for lack of a better term, killed." Jacob was speaking with such a passion, that Tabitha had almost forgotten that each of these dead planets equated to billions of lives lost. "Then, of course, at any moment a new spiral could form from one of the planets that is 'killed' inside one of the current spirals, and it would spiral away in ever larger loops so I have no clear way of predicting the next link in the chain so to speak."

"So... you've been crisscrossing the galaxy trying to find... _what_ exactly?" asked Tabitha, curious as to what motivated Jake.

"Nothing really. I just wanted to know."

"You just wanted to know?"

"Yep, that's the one. Can't go around not knowing things."

"Why?" asked Tabitha, "Why do you need to know things?"

"Good question that one," Jake replied. "I'm not really sure why. I just want to know; I want to know _everything_. Now, about that transport to Glybhok Six..." he trailed off and Tabitha knew the topic was closed.

A week later Jake returned, looking grim. He motioned to Tabitha to join him when their eyes met across the foyer of the transport centre. "It is exactly as I thought," he said, "spirals throughout the Galaxy, leaving planets dead within its trail. Yet, I have discovered something else... it's not just planets. Star Stations, Cargo Depots, anything unnatural in the path is _always_ destroyed. The planets on the spiral that were not 'killed' still had all their inhabitant-made satellites destroyed at the very least, if they were indeed populated by intelligent life, but most of the surviving planets have many, many years of evolution to go if life exists on them before artificial satellites could be created." He paused for a moment, when he spoke his voice had lowered and become darker, "Something is coming Tabs, what it is I do not yet know. But it feels... it feels a lot like death." A strange involuntary shiver ran down Tabitha's spine as he said the words, there was something in the way he said it, the look in his eye, which left Tabitha in no doubt of what he said. Suddenly he reached over and grasped her hand, squeezing it briefly before heading for the airlock.

"Wait!" called Tabitha, running after him and just ducking through the airlock doors before they shut. She found herself standing inside a space-ship of quite a large size, perhaps one of the largest to ever berth at the space station. Its layout was confusing and new to her, which came as a surprise as she thought she had known every class of ship to ply the sector, it was her _job_ to know every class of ship that would call at the station. As she weaved through the passageways, heading hopefully towards the front of the ship, she wondered about why Jake needed transports to go across the sector, when he had a ship clearly large enough to manage the task, it was so large she wondered if perhaps it was capable of that rarity of spaceflight – intergalactic travel. After a short time, and in a strange fluke of luck, she managed to find her way to the front of the giant vessel and there, on the bridge, she found Jake.

"If you have a ship like this," she began causing Jake to jump and turn around to face her, "why do you need to take transports? This thing must surely be capable of inter-galactic travel! This intra-sector stuff you have been doing would have been easy for this thing."

"If I used this, it would be immediately obvious that a single party was investigating all 'The Dead Worlds' wouldn't it? Using transports is a quick and easy way to make it look as if it is a whole group of different un-related expeditions," Jake explained with a smile. "Don't you see?"

"Very clever," she replied smiling back, "but I still have one question. Who would be interested in someone visiting 'The Dead Worlds' anyway?"

"Whoever killed them of course. I doubt they'd be impressed with someone following up on them."

"I suppose not, but who is this mysterious 'they'?"

"No idea. One day I shall find out I am sure."

"So, you are just doing this as a... a what? A hobby?"

"Pretty much. I have myself an insatiable curiosity about all things, that's how I got this ship, but that's another story for another time. To tell the truth, you've piqued my curiosity a bit as well, it's why I always call in here to organise myself a transport. An energy being! My people were at war with your people a long time ago, and I was curious about you..." he trailed off, frowning slightly, an odd look in his eye.

"Oh..." replied Tabitha, suddenly feeling as if she had acquired herself a stalker, and a little panicked by Jake's revelation of what he was. "Well... I might go," she hurriedly ended.

She quickly turned and, after getting a little lost, managed to find the airlock and extract herself from the ship. In a way, she understood Jakes desire for knowledge, it was probably a bit like her desire to see the universe, something that couldn't be explained yet seemed to have been engrained since birth. She was suddenly saddened at the thought that she had been unnerved by him, he was nothing like what her people said the Shadow People were like, her people had drummed a fear into her despite the long peacetime. But, mostly, she was saddened that he was able to maintain his quest for knowledge while she was stuck here on this space station as far as she could get from her birth star. She was eight light-years from it, its warm glow barely reaching her, which, due to the nature of her species she needed to sustain her. And, of course, she required to return to her birth-star every year for about a month in order to 'recharge' for another stint away. So eight lights years was the safe cut off, to ensure she had a year round supply from her birth-star and to ensure, should anything unexpected happen, she could safely and easily return to it – saving her from a slow, painful aging and eventual death - some of her kind had taken that path, but the stories her people told of them were never pleasant.

Months passed and of Jake there was no sign. Tabitha began to regret that she had parted on such abrupt terms and also became slowly aware that she didn't just _miss_ Jake, she loved him. Even though they had probably spent in total no more than two weeks in each other's company, two weeks spread over several months. He was in no way like her and maybe that was where that love came from, she knew him to be slow decision maker who weighed all the options while she was liable to make spontaneous decisions based on what she felt. The pair seemed incompatible causing her co-workers to often remark to her - on seeing Jake and her together - that they couldn't understand how they got along. She was a 'people-person' while Jake seemed to shine in one-on-one environments and even more so when he was left alone. All the same, she _did_ love him and his odd little quirks. Just the little things like tapping his fingers while he was thinking hard or under stress. She thought that perhaps he might love her as well, but it was hard to tell - Jake kept his feelings close to his chest, she supposed, sadly, if he could reason himself into loving her, he would.

Time continued to pass steadily on, Tabitha had been to her birth star and had returned to the transport station before she saw Jake again. He rushed through the doors of the airlock and pushed and shoved his way through the busy reception area. Tabitha had noticed him as soon as he arrived but his unusual behaviour was what really caught her attention. Usually he avoided all contact with people, even she had rarely been allowed to touch him, yet here he was pushing people aside like rag dolls. He reached Tabitha's counter and leapt up onto it.

"Listen to me! LISTEN TO ME! HEY!" he roared, while people picked themselves up from where he had knocked them over. From the airlock side of the room two security guards calmly began to walk towards Jacob as he waved his arms and whistled to get everyone's attention. "You all have to get OUT! Get out NOW! Any way you can! Use the escape pods, use the ships! Just go! Get out! GET OUT N-" He was suddenly knocked from the counter by the security guards and carried into one of the side rooms. Tabitha, having witnessed this, slipped in behind the second of the guards. The guards scanned the room, but saw nobody.

"You will wait here," one of guards said to Jake as the pair left the room. Jake opened the door he found one of the guards still standing there blocking his escape.

"GET OUT NOW!" he yelled over the shoulder of the burly guard, who turned and ripped the door from Jake's grasp slamming it shut. Jake tried the door again, but it wouldn't budge and wondered if the guard was holding it shut. Suddenly, in a bright flash of light, a girl materialized on his right.

"'Lo Jake," she said with a smile.

Jacob jumped in surprise. "Tabs! That's a clever trick - but you have to get out of here!"

"Why?"

"They are coming!"

"Who?"

Jake went to answer but was cut off, by the sound of a very large spaceship docking. His face paled, "They're here," he whispered.

"Who? Who is here? Who is it Jake? Jake?"

Jake stood in silence for a moment before he whispered his reply, "The men in the grey suits, the men in the grey suits are here."

"What are you on about?"

The door suddenly burst open in it stood not the security guard, not the station manager, but a man with slicked back, black, hair who wore a grey suit. With the energy gun he carried he motioned for the pair to leave the room, in doing so they had to step over the still smoking body of the security guard. Tabitha let out a barely audible sob of fear as she stepped over the dead man and Jake reached across and grabbed her hand. Tabitha realized, as she gave his hand a squeeze, that holding onto him suddenly made everything seem better somehow.

The pair were ushered into the centre of the reception area, along with three quarters of those who had been in the room when Jake had demanded they all leave, only some seemed to have listened, others lay dead or dying on the ground. Everyone was being split into lines, two people wide by twenty people long. Each line was then ushered towards one of the airlocks, which all - excepting one - stood open. Through the airlock Tabitha could see the interior of a vast, space ship, or perhaps many ships, each at a different docking ring. The vessel, or vessels, seemed to ooze bad energy, she could feel it deep within her body, all her senses told her to flee, but she couldn't just go and leave Jake to whatever these strange men intended to do, not now that he was back again, his being gone and yet able to come back had been hard enough, being gone and never being able to come back was something unimaginable.

The rows of people were instructed to walk through the airlocks, a few people tried to escape but were obliterated by the guns of the grey-suited men. The remainder quietly followed the instructions and soon it was time for Jake and Tabitha to step through the airlock. As they stepped through, Tabitha let go of Jakes hand, choosing instead to link arms with him, she felt him turn his head towards her slightly, felt him kiss the top of it. The pair stepped into a vast stainless-steel star ship, all the surfaces polished to a mirror shine, even the floor reflected back at them. To their left and right they saw more people entering the room, ahead of them stood a vast array of steel doors connected to hydraulic arms. In each door was a small window, through which the faces of the people who had previously entered could be seen. The grey-suited men arranged those that had just entered, including Jake and Tabitha once they managed to prise them apart, in front of one of the doors each. Inside the capsules a sudden bright red light shone, then there was brief a flash of white before the capsule was plunged into darkness. Tabitha counted off the seconds. One, two, three...

"Run Tabs," a voice whispered, "run now while you can! I know your kind; I know you have a chance."

She shook her head in silent defiance, "So do you though, yet you are staying..." she whispered back. Then spoke loudly to the nearest grey-suited man. "What are you going to do with us?"

The grey-suited men approached her, slapped her face then walked away. To her left the voice whispered again, "I think they are turning us... into them." This time Tabitha turned to see Jakes face and saw no wry smile, no glint in his eye, he looked like a man already dead. Soon the truth of Jakes words shook Tabitha to her core, with a hiss the hydraulic arms lifted the doors out and up from the capsules. Out of each stepped a grey-suited man. Tabitha quickly counted them and found that there were twenty new grey-suited men and though each looked the same, each was slightly different. Here one was slightly taller, there one slightly thinner. The newly created grey-suited men stepped forward and grabbed the person standing in front of the capsule they had emerged from. Kicking and screaming Tabitha was thrust into one of the capsules, while alongside her she saw Jake also being placed into one of the capsules, though he offered no resistance. Instead he spoke, in a loud, clear, voice that seemed to contain a smile somehow, "Better hope there isn't a power spike."

The grey-suit placing him into the capsule spoke now, a voice that was smooth and oily, "Stupid last words," it said.

The doors shut on the capsules and Tabitha knew what she needed to do. A bright red light flashed, then very briefly a bright white one and in the fraction of a second before the capsule was plunged into darkness, Tabitha transformed herself into pure energy, up through the cables attached to her capsule she soared, then suddenly down into Jakes. The interior of his capsule was suddenly flooded with energy, first the glass then the entire door was blasted clear by the magnitude of what it was trying to contain.

Outside the capsule the grey-suited men ran to blockade the front of it as an alarm siren blared, the light within the capsule faded and the steam emanating from it cleared slowly. Inside the capsule stood a girl, her bright green eyes seemed to pierce the grey-suited men where they stood. They faltered before her gaze before they became aware of a movement behind her.

Jacob slowly got to his feet, he had been blasted to the floor of the capsule with such a force he had been surprised that nothing felt broken.

"Jake!" screamed Tabitha, "Now what do we do?"

But Jake didn't immediately answer, she turned to see him staring at his hands as if he had never seen them before. "Something is different," he slowly whispered, "something is very, _very_ , different." He grabbed Tabitha's hand, "My ship!" he hissed, "now!"

Without a moment's hesitation she focused her thoughts and found herself and, somehow, miraculously, Jake materializing inside his spaceship. He staggered towards the command console, punched a few buttons and Tabitha felt the throb of the engines engaging. There was a horrendous crashing tearing sound as the ship tore free from its moorings at the transport station and Jake collapsed heavily to the floor.

Tabitha had no idea what was going on, she had never been able to transport someone _with_ her before, as it involved turning them and her into pure energy, it was impossible as people just weren't designed to become pure energy and be reassembled, but maybe, because he was a Shadow? She knew that's what he was, the mention of the war between their people he had made confirmed it, but it didn't answer her questions. She went to Jakes side and shook him, but he wouldn't wake up, he didn't even groan a response. In a panic Tabitha slapped his face again and again, but still there was no response. She noticed, as she slapped Jake again, that she felt a bit strange. It was as if she had gone too long without returning to her birth star for a recharge - though she was not long back from doing so. She slapped his face again, this time he stirred. His eyes snapped open and he stared for what could have been hours, but was mere seconds, into Tabitha's eyes.

"Something very strange has happened," he said simply.

Tabitha nodded her agreement; she could feel it too. She asked Jake for some chalk or a pen, and to her amazement he reached across the command console to a bag that lay beside it on the floor and from the bag a produced a large piece of chalk. "Rule number twenty-one, always bring chalk," he said as he handed it to her.

Tabitha frowned at him briefly, then began to draw runes and figures, by instinct rather than conscious thought, on the ground in front of her, they would always point to her birth star - indicated as a star inside a triangle, the larger the triangle the closer the birth-star was to her location. Alongside the star and triangle would be several other triangles pointing to other energy sources while above each of the triangles were dots indicating the strength of the energy available at that source, energy she could use to bide her over until she could get to her birth-star. This time, however, all the runes and figures indicated that Jake was the nearest, largest, source of energy.

She drew a triangle, with a star in its centre, enclosed within a circle and a square, the triangle pointed directly at Jake. She shook her head, that couldn't be: the triangle _always_ pointed to her birth star that was its function. But no matter how often she scribbled it out and redrew it, it always indicated that Jake was now her 'birth star'. A bright flash of light interrupted her and she looked up to find Jake gone, then without warning he walked back into the room from behind her.

"I think," he said at length, his face thoughtful, "I have picked up some of you."

"And I think that I've picked up some of you," replied Tabitha, who indicated to the runes and figures. A quizzical expression appeared on Jacobs face, before a flash of understanding as she said what the drawings were, what they meant. "But the thing is, they tell me you're my primary energy source, my birth-star."

"Well... at least you'll be able to see the universe now," Jake said. "Maybe you could come with me? Together we can find out who these grey-suited men are, what they want," his thoughtful expression was suddenly punctured by a huge grin.

"I'd like that," Tabitha replied. "I think I'd like that a _lot_."

"So," said William thoughtfully, "What you're saying is... you two are part of each other, like two halves of a whole?"

"In a way, yes," Tabitha replied. "Just like we are both part of the grey-suited men. That machine did some weird things to us both when it overloaded, though it was far more pronounced with Jake. I only inherited what the grey-suits could do at that time - which was very, very little compared to what they are capable of now, but that is still a vast number of things. I still haven't learnt to control it all and get caught by surprise sometimes when things just seem to _happen_. But Jake... Jake has found that if he is around a species long enough, he somehow manages to absorb some of their traits - not full-blown versions, sort of like echoes of them, he can do a little of it, but not much."

"Is that what he meant when he said about the trick Angela would have been proud of?"

"I would imagine so, the effects are not permanent, however, they slowly fade away and become unusable."

"So... that thing he does, that he's doing right now. What's that?"

"Oh," said Tabitha glancing towards the statue-like Jake, "He's always been able to do that. I believe all of his people could, that and turning their entire selves to shadow, leaving nothing physical behind. They are all gone now of course, so it is a bit hard to confirm. He has outlived the lifespan of his entire species; he is the last of his kind."

"Everyone here seems to have suffered some sort of huge loss," William said, his voice thoughtful.

"Loss is the great motivator of the universe," Tabitha quietly replied, "loss and hope."

"I like that!" said William, "Loss and hope! We lost Angela and hope keeps us searching for her!"

Tabitha flashed him a quick smile, "That's true," she said, "very true."

"So, before, when you... recharged? Did that make you both look younger? Because you both _look_ younger."

Tabitha smiled, "Maybe..."

A few quiet moments passed between the pair before William asked another question, "There's something else I don't get..." Tabitha raised her eyes to look at him questioningly, nodding at him to continue. "Why does Jake fight them?"

Tabitha sat for a moment, "One of the reasons is that they remind him of what could have been, he could have become like them, become one of them, on that day on the space station. But there is another reason, probably the main reason. It's because nobody else _can_ fight them. Nobody else will. Legend calls him 'The Protector' for he will fight for you even when you can, or will, no longer fight for yourself. The grey-suited men both fear him and hunt him. They hunt him because they want to be able to do what he does, and, I think, they want to remove any trace of the fact that they can make mistakes. But they also fear him for he, by himself, is a match for entire armies of them. I imagine they've been pursuing him so relentlessly recently as he would have been highly weakened, Angela is the only person he has had contact with so that's the only 'trick', other than stepping outside of himself or turning his physical self to shadow that he has been able to do. Well, until now, cause now I am here again and recharging me recharges him, and without me he has only been half of that legend, but we're together again now. Look out universe, here we come! Speaking of which," she raised a finger and pointed at Jake, whose body seemed to suddenly relax.

"I've found the way out," he said, "but you're not going to like it."

## Chapter 14

Jacob glanced briefly at Tabitha as he returned to his physical self, still unsure of what to make of her sudden re-appearance. His mind was fraught with possibilities, each more absurd than the last, the most absurd of which was the idea that she wasn't really Tabitha, but was instead a grey-suited man in disguise. Mostly he worried about why he hadn't been able to 'sense' that she was still alive, especially still alive on the same planet as him. Ever since that fateful day that had changed his life, tying him to her forever, he had been able to feel her presence and yet despite that bond he hadn't known she was still alive, he hadn't even had the slightest inkling. William and Tabitha got to their feet, what they had been discussing little concerned Jacob - his priority was to get them out so that they could get to Angela.

Jacob led the group down the long passageway they had been in before, before taking a sudden right, then a left and then another right. The passageway gently echoed their footsteps back, making it sound as if someone was slowly creeping up on them. Combined with the strange pale blue glow of the tunnels that created strange optical illusions and the slight warm glow that emanated from Tabitha, the echoes made Jacob stop several times just to make sure that they _weren't_ being followed. After a few more turns the tunnel floor started to slope downwards, at first it was barely noticeable but soon enough it had become a steep incline.

"Glad we aren't trying to go the other way," muttered William, yet his voice still bounced around him causing Jacob to glare in his direction. "What?" William asked, "Nobody said we weren't allowed to talk."

Jacob rolled his eyes and continued to lead the group down the passageway, after a short while the sound of gently lapping water echoed up the tunnel, getting louder and louder as the group approached it. When at last they stood at its edge Jacob said to the other two, "This is the bit I said you wouldn't like... we have to go through this."

"Pfft!" said William, "It's just a bit of water, what's the problem?"

"You're sure?" asked Tabitha, a look of concern etched in her features.

"It's the only way," Jacob replied.

"Well I'm going in," William declared and stepped into the water. Immediately he withdrew his foot swearing loudly, "Hell that's cold!" he finally managed to say.

With a great deal of effort, Jacob managed to not roll his eyes yet again. "What'd you expect? Some sort of tropical spring? Or perhaps a relaxing hot bath? We _are_ deep underground remember." Tabitha gave a short cough, causing Jacob to look briefly at her.

"Yeah well, I'm still going in. This time I'm ready for it," replied William, who stepped with a splash first one foot, then the other into the freezing water. Soon he was up to his waist and a few metres from where the tunnel met the water. "I think the floor stays level here," he called out to Jacob and Tabitha, splashing around some more in the almost chest-deep water, "it doesn't seem to be getting any deeper anyway."

At the water's edge Tabitha spoke, in a barely audible whisper, "You shouldn't be so hard on him you know."

"He has to prove his worth."

"Prove his worth Jake? You can't protect her forever. You just can't. Eventually you are going to have to let her go and he loves her a lot, she could do worse..."

"You think I haven't noticed," Jake responded, trying to keep his voice calm and quiet, "I have noticed, I'm not that ignorant. I also know how much he means to her but..."

"Well he is still alive so far isn't he? So, he can't be that bad," Tabitha looked out to where William stood peering into the gloom ahead.

"I just worry... you know me," he flashed Tabitha a quick smile. "Anyway, enough of that, what about you, are you going to be okay with this? If you are walking on the bottom its going to be nearly up to your chin..."

"I think so" Tabitha dipped a foot into the water and shuddered, "Hell that really _is_ cold."

"Are you _sure_ it won't drain you? Cold water and darkness aren't exactly ideal for an energy being such as yourself..."

"You're right Jake," Tabitha said with a grin, "you _do_ worry too much. It's all still just energy isn't it?" She stepped lightly into the water and walked to join William, who had progressed another couple of metres to an intersection of passageways and was again peering into the surrounding gloom. Jacob watched her walking away, a small smile on his face as he slowly shook his head, before stepping into the water himself.

"Which way then?" asked William as Jacob caught him up.

"Straight on, left at the next one," Jacob replied.

William immediately set off, followed by Tabitha with Jacob bringing up the rear as the passageway narrowed suddenly so they could no longer walk abreast. As he waded along behind the others Jacobs head was filled with many thoughts, the most pressing was how he was going to get Angela out of where she was held - especially since he was currently remarkably powerless. It'd been a very long time indeed since he'd only been able to rely on his own abilities, though being one of those people the universe called 'Shadows' meant he had quite a few of those. He thought if he was around Tabitha for long enough before encountering the Murrays again, he should have picked up on some of her abilities once more. Unlike the Murrays, he had found he could use her energy abilities without exploding, but they were often hit-and-miss. He guessed the reason behind his not being torn apart was because he was, after all, a Shadow, the opposite of what Tabitha was and all that that entailed, and, he _was_ Tabitha's primary energy source. He wondered at the monster-like form she had been in when William had set her free from the prison she had been held in, the shape-shifting ability must have come from the Murrays right back at the beginning. Odd that he'd never encountered it before, but then, perhaps, she only did it accidently when in a particularly extreme situation, maybe it was a side effect of being forced to gather energy.

"Thinking about me?" Tabitha suddenly interrupted, turning her head to look at him over her shoulder.

"Me?" Jacob replied with a guilty smile, as if he'd just been caught red-handed doing something he shouldn't be. "Never."

"Whatever. I know that look," Tabitha said, returning his smile, turning back to face in front of her just in time to avoid walking into William.

"Which way now?" William asked.

"Right," Jacob replied. The tunnel widened out again now and he found himself wading along beside Tabitha as William led the way. Her face, he noticed, was starting to look drawn and he could see her shivering, the faint light that emanated from her seemed to be dimming and pulsing and he automatically knew that the cold, the wet and darkness were starting to affect her.

"Hang on a moment William," Jacob instructed, causing William to turn and give him a look of great impatience. Jacob ignored him and turned to Tabitha, "Come here," he said softly, as he bent over slightly, "jump up." Tabitha raised an eyebrow, but followed his instruction and had soon weaved herself around the sword, shield and bag slung on Jacobs back to assume a piggy-back position.

"Right then," he said turning to William, "onwards!"

William gave him a strange look before turning around and resuming to force his way through the water.

Down several more passages they twisted and turned - William leading the way with Jacob, still carrying Tabitha whose head now rested on his shoulder, issuing the odd instruction but otherwise following quietly.

"I've missed you Jake," Tabitha whispered, but not into his ear, directly into his mind, telepathically. "Did you miss me?"

"Of course," replied Jacob, matter-of-factly thinking to himself that it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You're not just saying that are you?"

Jacob turned his head slightly to better see Tabitha's face, replying out loud, "Of course not, for a long, long, time I was lost without you. Life just wasn't..." he paused for quite a while thinking of how best to sum up how he had felt, before finally finishing his thought. "Complete."

Tabitha half smiled in response, but said nothing as she again rested her head on Jacobs shoulder.

"Is it just me?" suddenly asked William, sounding a little panicked, "Or is the water getting... thicker?"

"Now that you mention it," replied Jacob, "this is starting to feel like wading through a thick soup." He stopped walking, cupped a hand and sunk it into the now knee-deep water, extracting his hand he watched as from it dripped a strange, almost glue-like liquid, that almost certainly wasn't water. It stretched out between his hand and the surface of what they had assumed to be water before finally pulling itself free from his skin and landing back in the water with a slapping sound. "I think," Jacob said at length, "that'd we'd better hasten our travel. Take the first right, then the second left, then the second left again and we _should_ be out of this mess."

"Should?" enquired William, looking sceptical.

"Well, I may have made a stuff up at some point-" Jacob began, his tone slightly sarcastic, but was quickly cut off by Tabitha.

"He has a brilliant sense of direction, so we'll be fine."

William seemed to accept this and again began wading, though with much greater haste now, through the muck, turning down the first right-hand passage he got to. Although Jacob and William were now putting all their effort into going faster, they seemed instead to get slower and slower, the strange thick substance through which they waded was pulling at them, slowing them down. The more they tried to strain against it, the harder it held them back.

"Thoughts?" asked Tabitha, again whispering into Jacobs ear.

"I don't like it," Jacob replied, "it _was_ all just water when I scouted it before."

"Grey-suits?"

"No... this isn't them I don't think. This is something else entirely, something older I feel," Jacob said, his tone leaving no question that this statement wasn't open to debate.

Tabitha had long ago learnt to trust Jake's instincts on such things and asked, "What do you think it is, could it be something left by the people that made these tunnels? A sort of defence mechanism, maybe to stop people getting in?"

"Perhaps... or perhaps it's the something to do with prisoner this Labyrinth was built to contain..." Jacob replied, trailing off into silence. He was walking alongside William now, both of them clawing at the walls in order to haul themselves through the muck. Suddenly they both had their feet swept out from under them as the substance suddenly lurched forward, throwing the pair onto their backs and into the gloopy liquid. Jacob quickly reached around to where Tabitha was, grabbing and hauling her around in front of him and out of the sticky muck, with a gasp she took a deep breath in. "Thanks," she managed to splutter as the trio hurtled around corners and down passageways, caught in the suddenly moving and suddenly near-solid substance.

Jacob counted off the passageways and corners as they hurtled through them, finding, to his surprise, that they were being moved to exactly where they needed to go. With a hard bump onto stone the trio found themselves out of the gelatinous substance and sprawled across the tunnel floor. Sitting up and turning around Jacob watched curiously as the substance now retreated from them, back into the gloom of the passageways. Getting up he took a few steps towards where it had vanished, he wanted to know where it had gone, what it had been. It was something new and new things always grabbed a tight hold on his mind, he had to _know_. He just had to. He took a few more steps before a voice called out.

"Jake, now is not the time for your insatiable curiosity, get us out of here. Now."

"But-"

"No buts Jake, this is _not_ the time." Jacob spun on his heel and frowned at Tabitha, who had, along with William, now pulled herself to her feet. "This isn't the time," she repeated under his glare, refusing to back down.

"Fine," Jacob replied, grudgingly. Then, with yet another of his rapid tone and mood changes, he smiled. "On we go then. Should be left, second left, third right and then we'll be out." The group traipsed up the passageway further heading towards the just visible junction. Jacob often glanced over his shoulder, wondering what the substance had been, becoming ever more curious as it seemed to follow along behind them. On more than one occasion he thought he saw a something standing in the goo, as if the strange stuff itself was pulling itself into the shape of a person, but on closer inspection there was never anything to see.

As they turned the first corner he looked back and saw nothing, he dismissed what he had earlier seen as imaginings, figments of his painfully tired mind. After turning to shadow and stepping out of himself twice for extended periods of time and letting Tabitha recharge herself from him the strain was starting to weigh on his body and mind, as soon as they were out of the tunnels he knew he would need to rest, possibly for longer than William would like.

Following Jacobs instructions William impatiently led the way, progressing at what was often a jog and rarely a fast walk. Jacob continued to bring up the rear, curiosity still causing him to look over his shoulder from time to time. While looking over his shoulder thinking he suddenly walked straight into Tabitha, who had stopped in front of him.

"It's a dead end," William said.

"So, it is. But it shouldn't be, that's the way out right there. There was a wide opening right here," Jacob replied, stepping around the pair and rubbing his hand against the bricks that blocked their passage.

"You've got us all lost!" snapped William, as Tabitha slumped heavily against a wall and slid to the ground.

Jacob glanced in her direction briefly before saying, "This is it. I am certain it is. Yes, it is. I can feel a breeze -"

"Well it pretty clearly _isn't_ the way out and I don't care what you say!" snapped William again, "Now we'll never get to... to..." he stammered to a stop, looking past Jacob.

Jacob spun around to find the gelatinous goo slowly sliding into the passage. In the middle of it stood a strange creature, whose body seemed to extend down into the muck, staring William down with its three eyes. William shaded his eyes and looked away, causing it to shift its attention instead to Jacob who was watching its approach with an almost child-like wonder.

"So, mortals," it spoke in a voice that boomed and echoed around the passageway yet, somehow, without moving what seemed to pass as its mouth, "few who enter have made it this far. I commend your efforts, alas that they are in vain."

"Who are you?" asked Jacob.

"I shall ask the questions, but you are forgiven for not knowing this fact. That being the case I shall tell you; I am _Hylakku-Ru_ and this is _my_ labyrinth."

" _Hylakku-Ru_ ," mused Jacob, "The Tormentor? An odd title to give, I would have leaned towards _Korhylak-Ru_ myself."

The creature seemed to frown at Jacob, as if it could tell that Jacob could sense more about it than it was willing to openly share. "Ah, so you admit that you do know me! As I doubt, despite the words that you say, that you know the tongue to be able to translate, nobody living knows it, nobody has known it for lifetimes!"

"Except, I am not nobody. I know the tongue and I know it well."

" _JEK LARG_!" the creature spat at Jacob, as William watched on fascinated by this strange exchange. Tabitha also watched with interest, a small smile on her face.

"No, I do not lie," Jacob replied, keeping his voice calm.

"Then tell me mortal, how do you know the tongue?"

"Few here are what you claim them to be, _Hylakku_ ," replied Jacob. "You are dealing with something far, far, beyond you. I know the tongue because I strive to know it, strive to know all things!" The creature hissed as Jacob stepped towards it, "And, of course, when I was young so many people spoke it - I was here before it, during it and now, now I am here after it." The creature recoiled slightly as shadows began to swirl around Jacob, "I think you know us now, don't you?" he asked of it.

" _Bygash-Ru!_ " cried the creature before turning to look at Tabitha, who was again glowing faintly, " _Fruukgal-Ru!_ The two of you I know, yet who is this other that you travel with?"

"He comes from another world, far, far from this place."

"And yet he walks with you, leading _Fruukgal-Ru_ and _Bygash-Ru_ as if he is superior to them." The creature suddenly collapsed downwards into the thick liquid at the bottom of its body before suddenly popping up again behind Jacob and in front of William. "Perhaps he should be taught his place, perhaps he should be left in these tunnels for me to pursue, for me to hunt, until my image comes to torment his every moment. Then perhaps he will learn to follow..." William swung his gun around from his back and aimed it at the creature, but the creature again collapsed into the thick liquid before again popping out of it, this time back in front of Jacob - strategically placing Jacob between it and the barrel of William's gun.

"No _Hylakku_ , he is here for a purpose. He is already far more than he was when he arrived here."

"I find that hard to believe," boomed the creature. "I know his sort; he is quick to anger and slow to patience."

"Yet, you must forgive him, for he knows little of this place and of its customs," stated Jacob, as calmly as if he was observing the weather. "Are you going to let us pass?"

The creature looked him up and down, then collapsed and reformed in front of where Tabitha sat and, like he had Jacob, eyed her up and down. "Prove to me that you are _Fruukgal-Ru_ and then we shall see about letting you pass," the creature whispered. Jacob gave a short nod as Tabitha glanced at him, then watched her suddenly flare into a bright white light before returning to herself. The creature turned to face Jacob, "It seems to us that you, and your companions, may pass," it said

The creature again collapsed into the goo and as it did so the bricks blocking the labyrinth exit tumbled to the ground revealing a view of Jol rising above the tree tops of a forest that they stood far above.In the clatter of the falling brick Jacob though he heard a voice hiss the words 'for now'. However, when he turned to look behind him, Jacob saw that the creature, _Hylakku-Ru_ in the old tongue, had vanished. He wondered to himself who or what had brought such a creature to this place, or if it had always been here. He wondered what its purpose had been, clearly it was incapable of leaving the tunnels, or it would have already; as for it to know the old tongue it was obviously millennia's in age. Something he sensed in it made him wonder if wasn't just one creature, but instead many. Many souls may have stumbled into those tunnels over time and who was to say that they ever managed to leave? Those souls could easily now make up _Hylakku-Ru_ _,_ The Tormentor or, perhaps as he had sensed, _Korhylak-Ru_ : The Tormented. Forever tormenting those who entered the tunnels by never letting them leave, alive or dead, making them part of itself, both tormentor and tormented. Perhaps the thing was a relic of a civilization long since passed, that threw the guilty into the labyrinth as punishment, or perhaps, if people had managed to successfully navigate the twisting corridors, they would be accepted as a leader, or an adult, or who knew what. Jacob shook his head to dismiss the thoughts, thoughts which felt strongly of the truth and extended a hand to Tabitha to pull her up. " _Fruukgal-Ru_ ," he said, "long has it been since I have heard you called that, yet, it seems it is how I always think of you."

"It seems lifetimes ago now, doesn't it?" she replied, "Yet, unbelievably, it is still the same life." A smile spread across her face as she grasped Jacobs hand.

"Fruk? Fruug? What?" asked William.

" _Fruuk. Gal. Ru_ ," said Tabitha, pronouncing the word slowly and clearly for William. "It means 'The Light.'"

"And the other one? _Bygash_ was it?"

" _Bygash-Ru_ : The Shadow" answered Jacob.

"What's that about?" William asked.

"Names from a time long since past," Jacob replied with a tone of finality, "I think we should rest here before going much further."

"Down into the trees first I reckon," said William.

"Good idea," Tabitha said, rubbing her upper arms, "I don't like this place. Too dark, too cold... and there is something else there too..."

"Ghosts of the lives that have long since left this place," Jacob said and Tabitha nodded her agreement.

Outnumbered by the others, Jacob resigned to setting up camp in the trees. He didn't even try and argue the point - he knew Tabitha would always win, just as he knew he would always let her, even when he knew she was wrong. The group slowly picked their way down the steep terrain to take shelter beneath the trees. Tabitha and William were soon asleep, but Jacob sat awake for a while. He gathered his bearings on Angela's direction and thought for a moment if he should attempt to make contact with her before thinking better of it. To himself he quietly said, "She'll be in high-security if Tabitha visited her... and especially after what I did..."

He sighed heavily and turned his gaze away from the trees in the direction that Angela was in, to instead look at Tabitha as she slept beneath the ferns, lying on the blanket Jacob himself had slept on in the hollow she had earlier stumbled into. "My Tabs," he whispered, taking her hand and causing her to glow, ever so slightly, brighter in the dark of the night. "How I have missed you."

## Chapter 15

Angela woke with a start, for a moment confused as to where she was, though a quick glance around soon reminded her. Standing on tip-toe she peered over the wall she had constructed around her new island prison, the Murrays still stood guarding her - though they did look as if they were in slightly different positions to earlier. 'Perhaps there's been a change of the guard,' she thought.

She stepped down from the wall and sat heavily on her bed, hating being imprisoned and unable to do anything. She had attempted earlier to amuse herself by making butterflies again, but the Murrays had sensed her altering matter and had immediately turned them to dust blowing in the air. It was when they had done this that she knew that she had no hope of escape, they could see anything she tried to create and counter it, destroy it, before anything could come of it. There was, of course, the stone-giant she had made when she was imprisoned in her old cell but the time _still_ didn't seem right for it to be released. She felt she had worked out that the time to release it would likely be when she heard the sounds of battle out in the building echo down the tunnels to her, when William, Jake and maybe even Tabitha, had arrived to rescue her - until then she could only wait.

To both keep herself occupied and to strengthen her abilities, Angela spent most of her time demolishing and rebuilding the wall she had fashioned around herself. Each time she atomized it and made it again, the wall became more complex and detailed than before. The Murray's seemed to have no problem with her doing this, though she could feel their eyes on her as they watched her intently. She wanted to scream in frustration at being able to do nothing, wanted to rage and strike out at the guards, though she refused to give them the satisfaction of such a reaction.

It was during the tenth rebuild of the wall that it suddenly vanished without warning; a narrow path from her island prison to the shore appeared and a Murray carrying a tattered brown briefcase strode up it, trailed by two Murrays, one carrying a sword and the other an energy weapon respectively. As the Murray with the briefcase came to a halt at the edge of the island, at the end of the narrow pathway, Angela rose from the floor to stand before him. Looking up at the face that was a good head higher than her own she demanded the Murray state his purpose, trying to impress to the Murray that she was the one in control here, despite what the circumstances might otherwise dictate.

"Now, now," the black-haired Murray scolded, placing his briefcase on the ground. "That's no way to speak is it. But you're in luck as I will let it slide for now because, I think, perhaps you can help me."

"Help you? Not bloody likely!" Angela angrily interrupted, however the Murray carried on speaking as if he hadn't heard her.

"You see we've found your little band of friends and the Leech is with them. I think you would like to tell us why the Leech is with them," the Murray purposefully didn't admit that the trio had managed to somehow disappear entirely, just when they were finally within their grasp.

"Do you just? Well I think that I don't think I would like you help you."

"Ah but don't you see? You don't have a choice in the matter," the Murray said, suddenly lunging forward and placing his hands on either side of Angela's head, his eyes glowing with an angry red light, as if a fire burnt inside them.

Inside Angela's mind the Murray suddenly appeared, at once he was more terrible and powerful than in reality. He rummaged through her thoughts and memories, discarding what he didn't think relevant and tossing it aside, as one might throw aside the uninteresting sections of a paper. No matter how hard Angela tried to fight him, she couldn't drive him out of her mind. As he opened memories images flashed before her mind's eye. First came Tabitha as she had appeared in her previous cell, then an image of the shadowy-man telling her to wake up, then memories of being captured "Call Jake!" her voice echoed throughout her head. Then came flashes of time spent with William: sitting beside him, holding him, being with him. Images from her childhood flashed briefly as memories she didn't know she still had were ripped open and thrown aside in the Murrays search for what he wanted to know, as the Murray tore through her life.

She could sense the Murray getting closer and closer to the truth about Tabitha, 'The Leech' as they called her - for some reason she thought it vitally important to keep this information from the Murrays. She pictured a vast wall in front of the Murray inside her head, to try and block him from digging any further. The Murray easily waved it aside and continued digging and digging. Suddenly there were images, once again, of Jake - and although he looked as he always did, she knew this was a much younger Jake - as he ran from a large explosion. There were visions of the interior of a vast space-ship. Though she fought hard to keep the Murray out of these memories she couldn't help but think of home and of being safe when she saw the images of the vast ship with Jake at the helm, standing before the giant view-screens as if he was the lord and master of the universe: daring anyone to try and challenge his title.

Deeper the Murray dug until finally, with an audible yell of triumph that echoed around the cavern in which Angela was imprisoned, he found what he sought. Before both his and Angela's minds a memory opened, a memory of butterflies filling the air as a young Angela ran, laughing, from a girl with bright green eyes whose slightly curled, fire-engine red, hair bounced over her shoulders. "Do you lot _mind,_ " an exasperated voice said as Jake wandered through the scene, battering his arms half-heartedly at the insects that flew around him.

"The Leech..." hissed the Murray inside Angela's head, "She is... Oh, but if only we had known..." Angela caught flashes of the Murrays thoughts, his realization that their precious Leech was in fact Tabitha. There, shining like a light, was his sudden realization that they could have lured Jake here millennia previously, yet they had failed to make the connection.

The Murray pushed onwards into her mind, throwing up some long-forgotten memories, until he found what he was looking for: information on her abilities. He wrenched it from the firm grip of Angela's mind and, with a sensation akin to whip-lash, the Murray retreated leaving Angela staggering backwards before falling to the floor as the Murray walked forward and stood over her. With a great deal of effort Angela slowly hauled herself to her feet to stand again before the Murray, her attitude of defiance still clear despite her drained state.

"Well," he said quietly, "now we have a level playing field. Now we, too, know the secrets of your little powers."

"So, what? Now you're going to kill me?"

"Oh, no, if we did that your protector would know wouldn't he? Don't say he wouldn't as I saw it in your head, he'd know, somehow, and then, if he knew you were dead, he wouldn't be lured here, here to where we wait for him. The trap is set, for when he arrives, we shall be ready to destroy him once and for all. No more shall he stick his nose into our business."

Angela laughed, before clutching at her head as it throbbed painfully. "You can't destroy him; you've tried and failed so many times before already! Why don't you just give up?"

"He is destroyable, and we _will_ destroy him! Especially now, now that we know all that he is - thanks you the thoughts in your head - and all that he can be, we shall crush him like the annoying insect he is. And then, if we weren't already legend enough, we shall be feared the universe wide. We shall be the Gods who destroyed the great Protector," the Murray said, in a voice full of cold hatred.

Angela looked at him curiously as for the first time since she had been captured the Murrays had laid out some clear intentions before her. She watched him turn and storm away, back down the connection between her island and the shore, the pathway vanishing behind him. As he walked away she mulled over what she had just learnt; for years they had thought that the Murrays hunted Jake not to kill him, but to capture him and take from him his own native ability - that of being able to become a shadow and walk freely through the world at will either by 'stepping out' of himself or by transforming his whole body to shadow, or some of the many other things being able to turn to shadow let you do. Yet, it now seemed that they had lost this intention at some point, seeking now only to destroy him, as if destroying Jake would somehow bring the whole universe to its knees to beg for mercy from the men in the suits.

Angela thought that, perhaps, this is what they really thought. They wanted to prove to the universe that they were the most powerful force there was in existence, that this was the way to have the whole universe bow beneath their trampling feet. She knew that without Jake, without Tabitha, and, hell, even without her, there was no real hope for any of the worlds out there.

It was not just that they could fight the Murrays, it was that their story had slowly spanned the universe.

Planets they had never visited knew their names, knew that when the grey-suited men came there was always hope, hope that they would survive and hope that a strange trio of demigods, as the story called them, powerful enough to stop the advancing evil that was slowly destroying the universe could come down from the vast emptiness of space and save them. The story never stated that they would, but that sometimes, if your planet was extremely lucky, they would appear to fight alongside you for your world. While most knew that it was foolish to place hope in a story, most also knew that was where hope lived: in words and stories and the things people told each other to make themselves and others feel better. It made people on those far flung worlds fight harder, for longer, in the hope that they were making a difference, in the hope that they were helping the legends of those stories in some way, in the hope, however vague, that the near-mythical beings themselves might appear and fight beside them.

Angela knew, as she sat on her island prison, rebuilding the wall once more, that worlds far distant were being seized, their people harvested and destroyed by other groups of the grey-suited men even as she sat imprisoned here. Sure, some would manage to fight them off, some might even manage to permanently fight them off, but most would not. Things out there in the universe would still be much like they always had been, even when Jake, Tabitha and herself had been travelling the stars, they could only attempt to save the planets closest to their location when the grey-suited men struck. But eons had passed by since Angela and Jake had landed on this far-flung world, and she was certain that the Murrays in their bland grey-suits had not sat idle for this whole time, she was sure that they had spread the story that the trio of legend had been destroyed, she was sure that the universe had lost hope, resigned itself to an inevitable destruction by grey-suited conquerors.

As she sat there, silently mulling over the fate of the universe, the reason they hadn't taken over this world, as they had so many others, despite having occupied it for so long sprang suddenly into her head. It came from what the Murray had said; the reason seemed to be to capture or destroy Jake. They knew as well as she did that if the world was lost, destroyed by their forces, he would find a way to get off it, in order to fight the fight again on another world orbiting another star, perhaps in another galaxy. But, by leaving the planet alive they had kept Jake here and now, finally, their plan was coming to fruition and they sought to move against him.

She clearly saw the carefully orchestrated plan now. The Murrays knew to keep the world alive so Jake wouldn't leave, they assumed that in order to destroy him they needed her abilities and they knew that to lure him to the trap, to his death, they needed Angela alive. But the Murrays grand scheme seemed to have suddenly hit a snag, a snag by the name of Tabitha Rose. If she was indeed, as the Murray had said, back with Jake - and Will, she hoped - then all of their plans, plans they had crafted for centuries, could rapidly come undone. Together Jake and Tabitha had been a formidable pair, each using the other for strength, using the other to enhance their own powers.

Angela remembered when she had fought alongside them, the three of them had been near unstoppable. With her ability to control matter meshed with Tabitha's ability to control energy and, of course, Jakes knowledge and intuition, rare was the occasion when the trio had admitted defeat - usually admitting it only when the entire planet was already lost; if there was only solitary person still standing, just one single soul, they would fight on.

She often wondered, when she had been younger, if being some sort of force of nature, a being able to control matter, to destroy as well as create, was why Jake had plucked her from the ruins of her home planet, but on speaking this idea to Tabitha one day, her mind was placed at ease.

Tabitha told her that when they had made planet-fall they had no idea of the abilities of her planets people. They had come, as they were wont to do, to help try and save the planet from the savage, ceaseless, advance of the grey-suited men. Jake had simply been at that very spot, at that very moment and had plucked her from the ruins. It wasn't until quite some time later that the pair had learnt of Angela's gift and that was only because Jake, due to him being able to slightly pick up abilities like hers, discovered he had developed the strange ability to manipulate matter. As Angela had been the only new element to the ship, the pair decided it was an ability locked within her.

Angela snapped back to the present as she completed the wall and with an effort lifted herself onto her bed. Her head was in agony, it felt as if her mind and been run through a blender, every bit of it chewed up and shredded, it compounded the headache she had been suffering from since she had returned to this universe and every part of her seemed to begin to ache in sympathy with her head. She slowly drifted into a fitful sleep, full of images from her past and haunted by men in grey suits.

Rudely she was awoken; heavy hands shook her and pulled her, roughly and with great force, to her feet. Struggling to wake up she became aware she was facing the same three Murrays that had earlier visited her. Realizing who the Murrays were she quickly placed her hands to the side of her head, so the Murray couldn't place his own there in another attempt to rummage through her mind. The Murray laughed and told her that reading her mind wasn't his purpose this time, this time he was to escort her to another test. At this Angela's groggy mind suddenly cleared, the last 'test' she had been too had involved them setting some sort of tentacle-Murray hybrid upon her. She immediately feared what may happen this time, especially since she still felt strained and unrested.

Angela was led back along the corridor she had been brought in through, though this time being allowed to walk for herself instead of carried along like a sack of rubbish. The massive door, strangely, followed them up the corridor before stopping with a tremendous metallic crash and locking into place at the end of the main entrance corridor to her prison. After what seemed like kilometres more walking, she was led, at last, into a large, warehouse like room.

She thought it was strange that such a vast space would be so empty, the only thing in it was an angry buzzing from the fluorescent lights that glowed high above her head. One wall was punctured at even intervals by a series of windows, through which she could see faces of a large number of Murrays peering, and high above near the ceiling, she could just make out more windows, looking down on the large open space. She thought there was probably Murrays there too. Her escort, she noticed, had not entered the vast space with her and as she turned around, she saw the door shut and heard it locking with a series of dull thuds. Turning to face into the room once more she watched a Murray step through a door at the other end, he was able to be covered by her thumb when she held it outstretched, so massive was the room into which she had been placed.

Around her the air began to dance, moving first one way then the other. It swirled and picked up dust, then stopped and swirled the other way. Angela closed her eyes and let her matter-sight do the seeing and watched as all around her the atoms flew about, becoming detached from one molecule and attaching themselves to another. She knew now what the test was, it was a test on whether or not the Murrays had managed to properly master her abilities or not. Though the Murrays said they didn't want her dead that probably wouldn't stop them from grievously injuring her, bringing her right to the edge of death... or killing her and bringing her back to life, over and over. She knew she had to stop the Murray before it got to that point, because, though she could regenerate herself, the agony of being partially vaporized was one she didn't want to suffer through.

Using her matter-sight she watched the Murray coming closer, one measured step at a time, manipulating the matter around her with each of his footfalls. She decided he was attempting to determine the range of the ability, knew that when he was able to affect her personally they would have an idea of the range of their ability. Exciting the air was one thing, as the particles and molecules floated freely, having an effect on a solid mass was something entirely different. She knew this small part of the test was largely to gauge how close they would need to be to Jake in order to affect him causing a small smile to flash across her face at the realization that, despite all their tough talk, they still feared him.

As the Murray approached, she slowly twirled her fingers and watched with her matter-sight as she caused several strands of his hair to disappear. He didn't seem to notice and Angela could tell that though she was able to affect him, he wasn't yet able to affect her. That gave her an advantage over the Murrays still, but she didn't want to let them know that. She decided her best plan of attack would be to wait until _after_ the Murray had been able to affect her, to make the Murrays believe that they had the greater skill, the greater range, the greater power. Then when the time came, when the Murrays least expected it, she could attack them from a distance outside of the range they 'knew' her ability to have.

Continuing to twirl her fingers, she now focused on herself. She wasn't about to allow the Murray to have too much leeway - they would be expecting her to at the very least repair herself as the Murray caused her harm. With a searing pain, she felt the skin of her cheek torn away, she raised her hand to her face and opening her eyes saw the Murray; smiling in an expression of what could only be described as pure glee. She repaired herself, just a quick fix for now - she would worry about a proper fix later, and let the Murray continue his slow advance. Again and again he attacked her, making hands disappear, making feet disappear, tearing holes through her body. She waited and waited until, at last, he had halved the distance between where he had been when he had first been able to harm her and, then, she began to fight back. Tactfully, she only did minor things until he had again halved the remaining distance, then she fought with vigour. She tore holes through his face, dissolving his eyes and ears leaving him blind and deaf. As he tried to heal himself, she atomized his leading leg which immediately caused him to stumble and fall to the ground.

His face rebuilt, he turned his attention to rebuilding his leg and slowly he pulled himself to his feet to stand before her, holding a fist out in front of him before opening his curled fingers to reveal his palm. As he did so the air around Angela swirled, she felt it become shards of metal, felt it ripping through her. Not to be outdone she changed the metal to water, then the water to steel darts and hurled them at the Murray who failed to anticipate such an attack and was struck by them, they tore through him knocking him back to the ground. As he fell, he raised his hand to the ceiling, which instantly collapsed above Angela. Holding her ground she turned the massive hunk of falling concrete to water, then by changing her flesh to steel stood her ground as it fell around her and flooded the room. The Murray clawed his way to his feet, fighting the surging water and with a yell of rage used both hands to scoop the water up, turning it to a scolding steam in the exact moment that Angela's steel body returned to flesh. She was badly burnt by the heat of it, but, with a hard determination, turned the steam to air and turned to face the Murray.

The pair stood, mere metres apart, in a stand-off, everything one tried to do was immediately countered by their opponent. They began to circle one another, in that age-old ritual of close-quarters battle. Angela knew to beat him, she would have to somehow outwit him, but how she was to do that she didn't know.

"So, girl," the Murray hissed, "are you prepared to suffer pain unimaginable?"

"I dunno," replied Angela, her voice calm and steady, "are you?"

"Idiot! You cannot beat me, not anymore!"

It was as the Murray finished his sentence that Angela smiled and removed the last layer of the tunnel she had been carefully constructing beneath the floor as the pair circled, she had timed it so that the Murray stood right over the opening as it appeared and with its sudden appearance he circled her no more.

Down he fell and as he did so he let out a terrible cry. Angela had filled the base of the tunnel with a mass of whirling blades, which tore the Murray to shreds as he hit them. Using her matter-sight she saw that he had been ripped into so many pieces by the machines that he couldn't regenerate, there were no pieces of him left larger than a coin, and regeneration required conscious thought – something that, it seemed, the pieces of the Murray didn't have. Of course, if he had been using his matter-sight effectively he would have seen her tunnelling and been able to stop it. But the grey-suited men _always_ paid little attention to their surroundings when they thought they had the upper hand, when they thought they were winning, when they thought they had won.

"Come on then! Come and take me!" Angela yelled at the windowed wall. The three Murrays from earlier came crashing into the room through the door, this time with no fewer than sixteen more blonde haired, matter controlling Murrays to guard her. They took no chances as they escorted Angela back to her island prison, deep under the ground. As they walked, she could feel the air buzzing around her and she knew if she so much as lifted a finger they were standing by to turn that finger to dust, then the dust to atoms floating on the breeze. She was escorted to her island prison whereby the Murrays turned and left, but it was not until they had reached the shore that she felt the excitation of the air around her cease.

Though she had proven that the Murrays still could not beat her, she worried about the repercussions, surely now they would try again, over and over, until they did beat her. She decided that next time she would have to let them win, even if it meant pain beyond reckoning, beyond even her wildest imaginings. She decided that she would endure the pain, for it would lull the Murrays into a _very_ false sense of security and that way when Will, Jake and Tabitha arrived the four of them would have the upper hand and, the always crucial, element of surprise.

Angela lay down on her bed and prepared to sleep the sleep of the exhausted, while her thoughts turned, as they often did, to Will. She hoped with every fibre of her being that he was safe and unharmed, that she would see him soon because nobody she had met in her life had ever meant so much to her. There was, of course, Jake and Tabitha but she had never loved them the way she loved Will. Jake, in his protectiveness of her, was like an older brother to her, even to the version of her that existed in this dimension. Tabitha was like an older sister or, perhaps, a mother in her caring, nurturing ways. While they both meant the world to her, as the only family she had ever known, it was Will she longed to see.

She drifted into sleep, this time dreaming peaceful dreams of Will, of friends and family re-united.

## Chapter 16

William was woken by the sound of voices, hushed though they were.

"... further away now than we were before we ended up in those tunnels," Jacob ended.

"What's going on?" William asked.

Jacob shook his head and sighed, "We're about three days further away from getting to Angela now than we were before we entered the tunnels."

For the first time, William noticed the slight hint of the sound of defeat in Jacobs's voice, turning to Tabitha he saw that she was sitting with eyes downcast slowly running a hand through her hair, an almost perfect imitation of Jacob, "How far away are we then?" she asked.

"Probably about two weeks and that's only if all goes well..." Jacob threw a stone he had picked up as he trailed off into silence.

"By that time..." Tabitha began slowly, looking first at Jacob then at William, "by that time, it _might_ be too late."

"Too late? Too late for what?!" William demanded, his anger flaring again. He was not at all impressed by the mood of melancholy that seemed to have struck his companions.

In a barely audible whisper Jacob replied, "There's no saying what they may have done to her by the time we get to her. They know that we are coming, so who knows what they might do. They are cruelty given life."

"What do you mean?" William asked, his voice bristling with anger. Jacob shook his head in response so William turned to Tabitha for his answers. "What is he trying to say?" he asked of her, softening his tone - but only slightly.

"While it's likely that she will be alive when we find her, there is no saying what the state of her mind may be," replied Tabitha, clearly working hard to keep her voice calm and controlled.

"You!" roared William, suddenly lunging at Jacob. "This is all _your_ fault. You're _always_ doing things to slow our progress down. We could have got to her _ages_ ago if it wasn't for _you_!" William punctuated each sentence by trying to land a blow on Jacob, who was quick to dodge out of the way. William was suddenly seized from behind by a set of, surprisingly strong, arms that pulled him away from Jacob as he replied to the outburst.

"Without me _you_ would be dead! No, actually without me you'd not even be here to have a _chance_ of saving her!"

Tabitha suddenly stood between the pair, having pulled William back from Jacob to create space for herself. Her entire being appeared to shimmer as tiny electrical sparks flicked from her, her hair seemed to lift off her shoulders and float slightly as she rounded on Jacob. "That is _enough_!" she told him, placing a pointed finger on his chest. " _Enough_ Jake." Then she turned to William and with the same finger as she had Jacob, jabbed her finger into his chest. " _And_ it is enough from you as well. I will _not_ tolerate it."

Tabitha stepped out from between the pair, leaving William staring furiously at Jacob. He thought that perhaps this was the time to part ways, leaving Jacob to his painfully slow rate of progress. He'd find his own way to Angela, being captured by the grey-suited men would probably be the easiest way then he would kill them all and save her.

"That'll never work," Tabitha said quietly, "they'd kill you before they'd capture you, they only capture people they want for something." Jacob seemed not to have heard and was busily picking up his gear and tidying their campsite up, William turned to Tabitha, unsure if she had even spoken.

"How did..." he began, just as quietly as she had spoken.

"It's written all over your face. The only way is with Jake -" William snorted his distaste. "No, listen to me," Tabitha went on. "I know you don't like him, even _I_ don't sometimes, but you don't _have_ to like him. He'll get us all to Angela, don't you worry. And he'll probably do it faster than what he's guessed at as well."

"But -" started William, before he was cut short by Tabitha.

"No, no buts. You'll either get there with him, _or_ you will not get there at all. Imagine how Angela would feel if you got killed just because you couldn't put up with the company for a while, I suspect she'd bring you back to life just to kill you all over again if she could."

William sighed, Tabitha's argument was a convincing one and he knew, when it all boiled down to it, that without Jacob he _still_ didn't really have a chance of ever finding where Angela, he couldn't even begin to guess where she was.

Jacob's voice suddenly cut into his thoughts, "Right then, this way," he said pointing to William's right, straight towards the rock-face they had climbed down the night before. To William's enquiring look he added, "We need to get back up there. Its either we climb that and get to Angela in _maybe_ a week and a half, or we go the long way and get there in a month in a half."

"Up the cliff it is then," William replied without a moment's hesitation.

"I thought you'd say that," Jacob replied, some of his earlier dejected tone seeming to vanish from his voice now that they were setting out again.

The trio scrambled through the undergrowth and along the rough path of flattened leaves that they had made the night before when they had come down from the rock-face. The plants seemed to have grown more resilient than they had been night before, tearing at the clothing and skin of the group. Jacob eventually resorting to unsheathing his sword and slashing at the plants, yet still they grabbed and pulled, even at the sword blade itself.

"It's like they don't want us to go back," William said.

"I wouldn't be even remotely surprised if there was a lot truth in that," Tabitha replied, frowning, "there is a strange energy here." She threw a glance at Jacob, who frowned back at her.

In time they all stood at the foot of the rock face and on looking up at it, William wondered how they had managed to get down it in the dark the night before. From the angle he looked at it now, it seemed it would be near impossible to climb back up. He wasn't the only one struggling with the task at hand: Jacob, too, eyed the rock face with trepidation.

"I hate climbing," Tabitha suddenly piped up.

"Then don't!" Jacob said, with a grin. "You can go check out what's happening at the top if you like. We won't hold it against you, will we?" he aimed his question at William, who raised an eyebrow and replied "Of course not?"

William wasn't prepared at all for what happened next, he had gathered that Tabitha could somehow teleport herself, but to see her actually do it was quite amazing. With a quick grin she suddenly glowed brighter and brighter until the glow became a light so bright that William could barely look at. As it became brighter it stretched out, touching the ground and reaching far into the sky, so high up it stretched that William couldn't see the top of it, the light seemed to drift outwards slightly from the beam, in tiny glowing particles before it suddenly vanished from sight entirely, leaving only its negative image burnt into his eyes from a few moments when he blinked.

A voice called down to him and Jacob from the top of the rock face, "How's the weather down there slow-coaches?" William could hear the laugh in her voice and couldn't help the smile that spread across his face - as bad as the situation was, Tabitha's near constant high-spirits were contagious. "Oh, it's not too bad," he called back, "probably better than up there!" He turned to Jacob, "So, just the two of us again," he said.

"Mmm yes, just the two of us... sorry. Sorry about before... I was... out of line, I think. I want her back as much as you do you know, even if it doesn't seem like it sometimes," Jacob said, his voice monotonous.

"Yeah, I know," William replied, taken aback by this sudden admittance of Jacobs that he had actually done something wrong. William had long since learnt Jacob wasn't one to admit to a mistake of judgment, yet here he was doing just that. He thought it must be because of Tabitha. Whoever she was to Jacob, she seemed to have the power to cause him to lose some of his hard edge, the power to make him understand there was more to the world than just him.

"Ah well, onwards and upwards! Quite literally," Jacob said, reaching up and grabbing a barely protruding ledge. "This should be fun..."

"Ha, yeah right," William replied, also reaching up and finding a ledge and hauling himself slowly up from the ground and scrabbling for a foothold. It was immediately apparent that this wasn't going to be an easy climb, nor would it be over any time soon. Glancing up again he saw quite a distance, possibly over a hundred metres, of near vertical rock towering above him. At the top Tabitha's face watched the pair for a moment before disappearing, no doubt to follow Jacobs instruction of having a look around. William struggled another short distance up the cliff face, trying to look neither down at how little progress he had made, nor up at the distance that remained, instead looking across he saw Jacob was making as little progress as he was himself.

"You know," William began, "it's as if this cliff doesn't want us to leave, wants us to stay down there on the ground... but that's stupid. Isn't it?" He looked across at Jacob, but Jacob made no reply. "Well? Isn't it?"

"Actually," replied Jacob hanging by only one foot and one hand from the rock-face, "you might be onto something. That shrubbery didn't seem to want us to leave either..." He looked up the cliff and called out to Tabitha, but got no reply. "That's funny," he said in a way that almost implied a question.

"Where is she?" William asked, slightly worried.

"Probably just looking around, she knows what she's doing," Jacob replied. On noticing Williams slight look of concern added, "She'll be fine. She can look after herself."

William shrugged, before slowly heaving himself up another half metre. Though the pair had struggled and toiled for what must easily be approaching half an hour, they were little more than double their own height from the ground. Another half hour passed by and the pair had again little more than doubled their previous height. The bulk of the cliff face still loomed up before them.

William was about to make a remark about them being on that cliff face for the rest of their lives when something rough and sharp suddenly wrapped itself around his ankle. His sentence suddenly changed into a yell of surprise as whatever had wrapped itself around his ankle pulled sharply, easily plucking him from the cliff face. A hand shot out and grabbed his arm as he almost flew away from the cliff face.

William suddenly found himself being pulled in one direction by whatever had wrapped its way around his ankle and in the other direction by Jacob who had latched onto his arm and was somehow still managing to cling to the rock-face.

"You! Have! To! Shoot! It!" Jacob hissed through clenched teeth, straining to keep hold of William and the rock-face. For the first time William looked at what had grabbed him and was surprised to find it appeared to be a tree branch. Carefully reaching behind him, so as to not accidently knock it to the ground, William grabbed for his gun. He took a careful aim at the branch, some distance from his foot, fired and... missed! He swore loudly, took a careful aim again and fired. This time he blew the branch in half and found himself suddenly swinging in Jacobs grip towards the rock-face. He stuck his one free hand out in front of him as he hit the rock with a sickening, slapping, crunching, sound. He swore again, but though he was in tremendous pain he didn't think that anything was broken. As Jacob still held onto him, he carefully swung his gun back onto his back before latching onto the rock as hard as his fingers and toes would let him.

"Well," said Jacob, "it would seem your assumption about things not wanting us to leave was actually, very, correct."

"What was that thing?!" asked William. "Was it a tree?"

"I think it _might_ have actually been a tree... interesting."

" _Interesting!_ How the _hell_ can a tree out to get us be interesting?"

"How can it not be?"

William had no answer to Jacob's question. It was something he couldn't understand about Jacob; _everything_ was interesting to him in some way. He had seen him stop, on numerous occasions, to inspect a strangely shaped tree or to watch a bird, whose species William didn't know - they had four wings, fly past. He had first thought about asking Jacob why he did this when they were doing something so important, to William _the_ most important thing he had ever done, but had decided against it fearing a strange response, a response much like the one he had just been given.

The pair resumed their climb and, though they had just made plenty of noise, there continued to be no sign of Tabitha's presence at the top of the cliff. When he asked Jacob about it again, he was told, again, not to worry. He wondered if Jacob was as unconcerned as he was making out, or if he was just masking his actual thoughts on the matter. William sighed and tried to push the thought from his mind, but try as he might it weighed heavily upon it.

The sun was low in the sky when the pair suddenly fell into the entrance to the tunnels they had stood inside the night before, before choosing to continue down to the trees. A cool breeze blew from the tunnel mouth towards them, seeming to whisper in a strange voice as it did so causing William to shudder as he thought of the strange creature that lived within.

"We're going to have to stay here the night," Jacob said, his earlier tone of despair now entirely gone and his usual tone of self-important authority taking its place. "We're about halfway up, so we'll do the other half in the morning. I don't want to risk that climb in the dark, not after today's one."

William silently agreed with him and sat, leaning, against one of the walls of the passageway. The pair sat in silence as the time crept slowly by, neither seemed ready to sleep and both were anxious to continue their journey. For the first time William sat and watched the strange night sky of the planetoid he found himself on, something he had done on maybe one or two occasions back home on Earth.

Dominating the skyscape was the vast ringed planet of Jol, behind it glowed a vast cloud of pink and green. Jacob, noticing William looking at the sky spoke. "You're looking at Jol, of course. Behind it is the Shell of Light Nebula." William looked at him, "Strange name, I know," Jacob went on, "In the old tongue it's _Fruukgal et Pol_. Once Jol moves on you'll see the Chance Cluster, _Lojin_ to the ancients..." he trailed off.

"You know all their names, don't you?" William asked.

"No, not all... but most of them, I do my best and I've been here a long while now, so I've had the time," Jacob replied. The pair again fell into silence as William turned to rest his face in his hands and Jacob stood at the tunnel entrance, watching the heavens slowly revolve. In time the horizon began to slowly glow as the first of the Suns slowly became visible. As it did the pair ventured from the opening out onto the ledge. Looking down at the trees they saw an easy path which they could have used to get back to the base of the cliff.

"That wasn't there yesterday was it?" William asked.

"No... no it certainly was not. Something strange is definitely going on here," Jacob replied, as he turned to inspect the way up from their current position. "And that, that is just even stranger."

William looked up as well and saw, to his horror, that instead of continuing up near vertically like it had done the day before the cliff face now jutted outwards above them. To climb it they would have to hang on to rock that was practically above them, as opposed to in front of them.

"That's just... just... unfair. That's what that is," Jacob said turning to William, "I don't care what you want to call it, but I call it unfair." William nodded his agreement. "I wonder..." Jacob trailed off, turning towards the tunnel opening.

William watched as Jacob went deeper and deeper inside, until he heard Jacob suddenly call, in a loud strong voice, that strange name from earlier, " _Korh_ _ylak! Hylakku-Ru!_ " William wondered what on earth Jacob wanted with the strange gel like creature that spoke but didn't seem to speak at all.

Several minutes passed by before a booming voice echoed from the depths of the tunnel, "Who dares call out to _Hylakku-Ru_?" it demanded of Jacob. William couldn't hear Jacobs response, he caught only the odd word as the strange wind from the tunnels brought it to him, but they seemed to be in that other language, and he understood none of it. As a sudden roar of rage, or perhaps incredible joy, echoed down the tunnel, the ground around William violently shook making him worry that he was being caught halfway up a cliff in an earthquake, but as he watched he saw the top half of the cliff-face retreating, leaving, as it did so, ledges at roughly even intervals, making it easy to climb.

Suddenly appearing at Williams shoulder Jacob spoke, "Well... he? It? They? Agreed to help. Or at least they did in the end. So! On we go then," his voice carried an implied warning of not to ask any questions, a warning William happily listened to. Jacob reached for the first ledge and pulled himself up, William followed suit.

In almost no time at all the pair stood at the top of the cliff, and found themselves looking over a vast plain. In the distance a green smudge could have been the trees where the trio had fallen into the tunnels. Across the plain ahead of them hills rolled gently down, but behind them towered massive peaks, glinting white with snow from around half their height upwards. Looking around, he suddenly realized that there wasn't any sign at all of Tabitha. Not a trace. Turning to Jacob he saw that he too had realized this fact, he was scanning the plain carefully hand raised above his eyes to shade them and muttering, "Where is she?" quietly under his breath.

"You really do care about her, don't you?" asked William, expecting not to get an answer.

"Oh," replied Jacob, "I suppose you could say that."

"Any idea where she might be?"

"None, though I can sense her still, or, rather, again. So, she isn't dead."

"But... you say know where Angela is. How come you don't know where Tabs is?"

"Oh, I wouldn't let her hear you call her that if I was you, she's _very_ particular about her name - there's a long story there she might explain to you one day, if you're lucky, she doesn't like to tell it. But, anyway, to answer your question, I know where Angela is because I _need_ to know where she is," Jacob replied.

"So, you don't need to know where Tabitha is?" William asked, careful to say 'Tabitha' instead of 'Tabs'.

"Not usually, no. Though as you can guess, that can be a bit of a pain at times. I, perhaps, could have found her again years ago if it worked like that, worked that easily. But it really doesn't work like that at all. I _could_ , of course, easily find her by stepping out of myself, _however_ that may not be wise, if she is captured it would put her in great danger. Though, I fear they may have already figured out who exactly she is."

"But... doesn't she need you as her energy source?" William asked.

"Oh, you two have had a little chat I see! Technically she doesn't. The Murrays have had her alive for millennia without me after all."

"But she said-"

Jacob cut him off, "I said _technically_. For her to fully recharge, meet her full potential, have the energy to teleport herself around and all of that sort of thing she needs me. Did you see how much younger she looks now compared to when she first joined us? Without me she will slowly, very slowly, age and die. But I think," his voice gained a note of excitement, "that might be her now."

William looked to where Jacob was pointing and saw a giant being loom into view. From its head and back tentacles writhed and twisted, sparks of energy that looked much like lightning flashing into them. "I wonder when she learnt to do that," Jacob said as if commenting on the weather. "Never before have I seen her look like that until we came here and you freed her from that ghastly device, but the Murrays implied she was like that when they caught her... interesting."

"Everything's interesting to you isn't it?" William asked, unable to help himself.

"'Fraid so, you'd think I'd be bored of the universe by now. But I never am, there's always something new, something exciting, something interesting just around the corner. Now, is it just me or does she appear to be in quite a rush?"

As William looked, he noted that the giant, tentacled, version of Tabitha did not walk, but sprinted across the plain, he felt as if he could almost feel, or perhaps hear, her giant footfalls. He turned to look at Jacob, but he stood deathly still, only his eyes moved before suddenly he breathed sharply in and William knew he had returned from being the strange shadowy projection of himself that he was able to become. He turned to face William, "Quickly," he said, "the Murrays are here!" Barely had the words escaped his mouth before he took off at a run, unsheathing his sword as he did so. William raced to catch up, loosening the sword at his hip while swinging his energy gun around and flicking the switches on it to set it to wide-dispersal and maximum power.

Inside him a hatred flared as he began to see the first of the grey-suited Murrays as they somehow managed to run ahead of Tabitha, directly towards both him and Jacob. He couldn't wait to lay into them, if he killed them all here and now it just meant less to stand before him when he saved Angela.

## Chapter 17

The air smelt like ozone as electrical energy surged through it, the sound of steel clashing against steel echoed and the whole commotion was punctuated with bright flashes of light immediately followed by a deep booming; all around him William could see, feel, hear and smell battle.

The vast bulk of the giant, tentacle covered, Tabitha ploughed into and crushed large portions of the horde of grey-suited men, while she sucked the energy from others. Jacob stood just a stone's throw away from where William stood, shield and sword flashing in a near-perfect harmony as William himself stood with both arms raised holding his energy gun and firing it at the grey-suited men, yet no matter how many of the men were cut down, more and more seemed to take their place.

With a searing pain William realized he'd been struck, by what he did not know but it almost caused him to drop his gun in both pain and fright, the adrenaline had kicked in however and he soon forgot all about the pain, as over and over he was hit.

In a brief moment of rare respite William looked across to Jacob to see him fighting a four-man strong group of the grey-suited men. Blood ran from above his left eye and down the side of his face and had drenched almost his entire top half, and for a moment inside the laceration William was sure all he could see was a swirl of smoke or shadow, nothing solid at all. The blood however, more than anything else, shocked William to his core. He had, seemingly, come to think of Jacob as practically invincible and to see that he wasn't unnerved him. Even as he watched he saw an energy gun blast graze Jacob's side, even as Jacob somehow predicted its arrival and tried to dodge it. Jacob winced, then with a violent yell pushed forward into the Murrays.

William was so enthralled that he didn't see the grey-suited man coming at him until the last possible moment. The Murray leaped into the air and landed on William, causing them both to fall to the ground, wrestling and straining against one another. William had dropped his gun when the Murray had suddenly lunged at him, so struggled to unsheathe his sword as he tossed and turned on his back, thrashing like a fish out of water. The Murray suddenly sat atop of his chest, raising a sword high above his head to plunge into William's heart, a smile blooming across his face, a smile that changed to an expression of shock when he found had waited a moment too long. William had finally loosened his own sword from its sheath at his hip and, as the Murray raised his arms, he ran his sword through him from his back to his front, before pulling it quickly free while shoving the Murray aside. As he scrambled again to his feet he scooped his gun from the ground, quickly firing off several shots to obliterate another group of approaching Murrays, becoming aware, as he did so, that they were forcing Jacob and himself back towards the cliff, he knew then that the Murrays would likely just drive them over the edge to their certain deaths rather than try and out-fight them.

A deafening blood curdling scream of pain mingled with rage left William's ears ringing, as he looked around her saw a Murray had managed to climb his way onto the massive being that was Tabitha and was now hacking at the tentacles that sprouted from her back. One of them lay twitching on the ground, before another managed to twist and wrap itself around the grey-suited man and throw him, hurtling end over end, through the air and over the cliff - suddenly a whole lot closer than William thought it had been.

Things were looking dire for the group as William yelled, "The cliff!" to Jacob, "We're going to go over the bloody cliff!" Jacob skewered the Murray he was currently engaged with as he hauled his sword out from inside the grey-suited man, looked over his shoulder and swore. He yelled suddenly to Tabitha, "Now Tabs! _NOW_!"

William watched in disbelief as Jacob held his sword up above his head, letting another band of Murrays close in on him, silently cursing him and wondering what the hell Jacob was trying to do, other than get himself killed. The monstrous bulk of Tabitha turned to face Jacob, the tentacles on her head spun together forming a point, pointing to the sky above her despite how she moved around. A glow of energy raised itself from her feet, gaining in brightness as it approached the tip of the pointed tentacles adorning her head, a sudden brilliant flash of light lit the world for as far William could see, burning his eyes as the energy left Tabitha and arced across to strike Jacobs the tip of Jacob's raised sword. Dropping his shield and grabbing the sword handle with both hands the energy coursed through the blade and down into him. William saw that the Murrays around them seemed to have frozen in wonder, carefully watching Jacob, just as he himself did, in an almost deathlike silence.

As the energy surged from Tabitha to Jacob she slowly began to diminish in size, shrinking and shrinking yet somehow glowing more and more brightly as she did so. Looking back to Jacob, William saw that he, too, had acquired the strange glow, the very same one he had begun to associate with Tabitha, the air around him seemed to shimmer and dance with heat and light. In an instant the Murrays broke out of their trance, charging at Jacob as he continued to stand there, without moving, holding the sword aloft. The Murray at the front of the charge hit the shimmering air around him and burst instantly into flame, a flame so hot William could feel the waves of heat from even where he stood.

An understanding came upon him, that Jacob was unable to be harmed now, had become something new, something lethal and unstoppable. Breaking free from the trance he himself had been caught in, he looked to Tabitha and was spurred into action - as she diminished in size, more and more of the Murrays climbed onto her, hacking at her with swords and long knives, some even bashed at her with the butts of their rifles, in an effort to subdue or kill her. He ran towards her, watching as the energy she was emitting faded away, hoping he could get to her in time to do something, anything, to save her. He was nearly upon the mass of writhing grey-suited men when a beam of light flashed high into the heavens above and the Murrays collapsed into a heap, struggling against one another, each trying to extract himself from the others. Seizing his sudden advantage William, checking his energy guns settings, fired two shots in rapid succession at the pile of scrambling bodies. The balls of energy flew into them, obliterating those it struck and maiming those it brushed against before hitting the ground and showering everyone in a rain of dust and dirt.

He turned once more to Jacob, who despite the Murrays circling around him was swinging his sword and shield on to his back, seeming to ignore the situation developing around him. Watching on as the Murrays closed slowly in on Jacob, it seemed as though they were testing for the invisible barrier when he suddenly raised his hand to face them, fingers curled in a closed fist, William was sure Jacob was saying something to the Murrays, he could see his mouth moving but try as he might he could not hear what was being said over the noise of the suited-med as they yelled and swore and tried to push Jacob back towards the cliff. The Murrays continued to close in on him, seeming now to encounter no invisible barrier.

Jacobs mouth stopped moving, though William was sure he had said the words 'suit yourself then' he couldn't be sure, still unable to hear anything clearly over the noise the suited men were making. Jacob opened his outstretched clench fist, and pointed his palm outwards towards the advancing horde, letting a wide blast of energy tear from it and through the approaching group, causing Jacob's hand, arm and then whole body to shake uncontrollably as the energy surged out of his open palm. His fingers curled towards his palm slightly as he focused the energy beam at specific groups of the suited men as they tried to run to save themselves, before finally targeting at specific individuals who had thought they would stand more of a chance on their own. Within mere seconds of Jacob opening his hand not one of the hundreds of Murrays were left standing, but Jacob wasn't finished, he clasped his hands in front of him as they shook violently, then he unclasped them. What appeared to be a rapidly expanding bubble appeared between them, the sun reflecting off its mirror surface as he threw his hands into the air causing the bubble to rapidly expand. It hurtled towards William making him dive to the ground before it could strike him and he watched as it passed him by and hurtled into the distance.

Dragging himself once more to his feet, he looked around at the strange sight that surrounded him: there was no sign at all of the grey-suited men. It seemed as though they had never been there, excepting the massive holes in the ground where it had been blasted by the vast array of energy weapons that had been in play. Looking at Jacob he asked a silent question of where they had all gone, where all the bodies had gone.

Jacob replied, "I didn't fancy leaving such a mess for someone else to clean up. So, I removed every trace of every last one of them from existence. More importantly though is now we've practically rung the doorbell, which I hadn't intended on doing just yet. More importantly again though is the matter of how they got here so fast. I would say that there -"

He stopped as a bright flash of light formed beside him and Tabitha re-appeared, once again in her human-like appearance, collapsing to hewr hands and knees on the ground as she did so, causing Jacob to bend down and whisper into her ear. Changing form again she turned into the cigar-shaped beam of light and rapidly spiralled herself through Jacob. To William it seemed that an eternity passed as she wove her way through their companion, but, in reality, only several minutes had passed by before she re-appeared as her human-like self. Jacob raised an eyebrow, "I've not seen that before," he stated.

"Seen what?" Tabitha asked him, a tone of playful innocence in her voice.

"The giant tentacle thing, not one of your natural abilities is it?"

William watched the exchange carefully, for a pair of people who had, apparently, known each other so long there still seemed to be a large number of secrets or unknowns between them. He wondered how it was even possible to have secrets from someone after so many years - if their claims of being not quite as old as the universe were true, of course.

"Yes, kinda, sort of. Some of its them, but some of it is me... some of it is what Lights of the past could do, a step or two backwards in evolution perhaps." Tabitha replied. "But, well, I just thought... it's not very... you know."

"Ah, no. No idea at all," Jacob replied, William noting that despite Jacobs serious tone, he was working hard to keep a straight face.

"You're going to make me say it aren't you?" Jacob just nodded. "Fine!" She half yelled, before lowering her voice again. "It's not very... flattering."

"See, that wasn't so hard after all, was it?" Jacob said with a grin, causing Tabitha to playfully hit his shoulder. "You know, I don't care about such things. Though it is nice that you are _still_ trying to impress me after all this time, though you should know, well, you _do_ know by now, that I'm not easily impressed. Not by you anyway."

Tabitha laughed as William again felt as if there was something more to their friendship than he had been told about, though why they should want to keep it from him he didn't know. It was then that he realized he didn't actually _need_ to know, if they didn't want to say anything more about it that wasn't his business, it was theirs and theirs alone.

"Any who," Jake went on to say, "as I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted by Lights falling from the sky, those Murrays managed to get here awfully quick."

"I think I gave us away," said Tabitha, "Not many other things cause a beam of light to stretch out into the heavens so I'm -"

"Don't say it, we're not worried are we William?" asked Jacob as he suddenly turned to face William.

"No, not at all worried because if they got here as fast as they did, we can get to Ange fast. That's right, isn't it?" William asked, noticing as he did so that while Jacob was still drenched in blood from his earlier wounds, the wounds themselves seemed to have vanished entirely, leaving not even a scar on him.

"Got it in one. Now how about we get ourselves tidied up; you aren't looking very flash there."

For the first time since the fight had been fought and won, William noticed that he himself was drenched in blood. He had thought it was the blood from the Murray he had run through with his sword as he sat upon his chest, but, now that the adrenaline that coursed through his veins was abating, his memory sparked and he remembered being hit numerous times. "I was hit," he said, his voice shaky.

"It's all right, you'll be fine," Tabitha said "They were a particularly vicious bunch though, I wonder at that..."

"Though nothing compared to what's to come," Jacob added solemnly causing Tabitha to glance towards him a look of mingled confusion and shock on her face as she slowly shook her head, seeming in disbelief.

William raised his eyebrows, "What's that supposed to mean then?"

"Nothing, nothing," Jacob replied, quietly.

William however was having none of it. "Tell me, damn you, you can't just go dragging me along with you like a pet not telling me anything! I deserve to know!"

Tabitha again shook her head, squeezing the bridge of her nose while screwing her eyes shut. "No, it _can't_ be," she whispered.

Jacob however turned to William, "You want to know? Have you been paying no attention _at_ _all?!_ Well? Anything to say?"

William said nothing.

"They take abilities from the races they conquer. They caught Angela. Stick it together already Sunshine," Jacob stopped and stared into Williams eyes, a hard frown on his face.

"So..." said William slowly, "that means they can... do what she does? Control matter? But it's only been ten years! They'd only be children! I'm not killing children!"

Tabitha sighed heavily. "They don't have children, not anymore anyway. They have an advanced spawning process, all mechanical, they have even moved on from just converting people like they tried to do to me, to us, all those years ago. They are 'born' adults when they step from the generation pods."

"So, why do you think they will be able to do what Angela does? We haven't encountered any like that so far."

Jacob replied again, "It usually takes them several cycles to perfect it, to test it. They have no qualms about creating a couple of hundred more of themselves just for research purposes and disposing of all of them if it doesn't work out. But if they have managed to perfect it, to create a stable version, they will be waiting for us as they wouldn't dare send them against us too soon, they will want to surprise us with them. They never learn, it's been so very, very, long and still they treat me like I'm ignorant. Mind you, we don't often let separate groups of them meet up to share information and 'acquired abilities' so maybe we can let them away with that, eh Tabs?"

"Maybe... then again maybe they're just _incredibly_ stupid."

"Always a possibility, I supppose. Anyway, _now_ do you understand William? If they have those matter control abilities sorted out, we are pretty much stuffed. With a flick of the wrist, a twitch of a finger, they could turn you into so many atoms floating away on the breeze..." Jacob trailed off.

William digested this information for a moment before asking, "Then how are we going to get Angela back? If they can turn us into dust how will we do it? _How_?"

"Honestly?" asked Jacob.

"Honestly."

"No idea. I'm just making this up as I go along," William began to interrupt but Jacob talked over him. "You do have to admit, though, I am _bloody_ good at it," he ended with a grin. "Now, let's get ourselves tidied up."

Having regenerated herself, Tabitha was in perfect health and so it was her that saw to Williams wounds. Her touch was warm and light as she spoke to him in a motherly fashion making him naturally allow her to take care of him, and although at first he tried to resist, it was as if her voice held some sort of calming power over him. While he was tended to, Jacob looked around muttering to himself.

"Does he _really_ make it all up as he goes?" William asked Tabitha quietly.

A look of confusion briefly flashed over Tabitha's face as she inspected him for wounds. "I'm afraid that yes, he really does just make it up as he goes along. But, and its important that you remember this, there is _very_ little he hasn't seen before. Rare is the occasion that he doesn't have something to compare it to."

"But if they can turn us to dust, to atoms..."

"Don't worry he'll have some sort of plan, plus he has a few interesting tricks up his sleeve. He has been preparing for this eventuality for longer than you can imagine."

Jacob suddenly sat down beside the pair, "They have a land-ship," he said, "if we can pilot it, I reckon we could get to Angela tomorrow, maybe sooner, but certainly tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" asked William, shocked.

"That's what I said. Tomorrow. Are you ready?"

"Oh, I am ready," William replied and he was, knowing it was not just the thought of finally seeing Angela again, finally being able to hold her in his arms again, smell her hair, hear her voice that made him say he was really, he actually felt ready. It felt as if everything so far had been a test, a test of his strength and of his character. He thought for a moment that perhaps this is what it may actually _have_ been, but he dismissed the thought. Who in their right mind would test someone by almost getting themselves and everyone else killed numerous times? He turned to find Jacob sitting with Tabitha, who sat with her head in his lap, as he ran his fingers through her hair. "I really am ready," he said to the pair.

"Good," Tabitha replied, her voice tinged with what William thought was sadness. "I hope you realize though, that chances are high that none of us will get out alive."

"Yes, but I am willing to take that risk. Because it'll be for Angela, she's the love of my life."

"You really do love her don't you," Jacob asked suddenly, after a couple of minutes of silence.

"Yes," replied William, "I really do."

## Chapter 18

A ball of smoke-like shadow spun frantically in the air not far from where Angela lay quietly watching it, forming itself into the shape of a man, who seemed to instinctively know to duck so as not to appear over the top of the wall. As the man steadily appeared Angela felt suddenly calm, calmer than she had in a long time, even as he walked, careful not to raised his head above the surrounding wall, to her and placed a shadowy hand on each of her temples.

Images flashed before her eyes, first came a view over the top of trees from what appeared to be a cave, Jol was rising in the background, next came flashes of William and, to her surprise, Tabitha with him. Then, in a series of rapid flashes of imagery, she saw a selection of distinctive landmarks, leading outwards away from her current prison. Jakes voice seemed to echo within her head, "At the end, if you choose to go back. This is the way. If you get lost you need only close your eyes and think about wanting to go, the light will guide you," before as suddenly as he had arrived the shadowy man disappeared, as if blown away on the wind.

Closing her eyes and thinking of leaving this dimension she could sense a light behind her and, as she turned around, she could 'see' a bright light steadily glowing. That was the direction, she knew, that she would have to travel to get back to the other dimension, if she decided that was where she wanted to be. She was glad, however, that Jake had passed this knowledge onto her. Remembering what Jake had told her about trans-dimensional travel, she recalled that certain parts of each world could be 'mapped' onto a world in a different dimension. To go back to the exact location that they had left Earth from, they would have to go back to Earth at that same location, attempting to travel back from a different location left too many unknowns. Jake had once explained if you knew where you were going to come out it helped, it helped a lot. Otherwise you could come out at the bottom of an ocean, the top of an atmosphere, on a moon, the surface of the sun, or even the depths of space – all possibilities of which wouldn't be of much use to anyone.

Angela again reached out towards the delicate glass sphere that resided in her time-locked stone-giant, letting her matter-controlling sense dance over it knowing that soon it would be time to crack that fragile glass and spark the great beast into life: getting directions from the shadowy-man was proof that the time was almost upon her. Jake had never gone into a major battle, at least not one that he had time to prepare for, without telling everyone what to do when all was done and dusted, in case there were no survivors other than just one, or perhaps just two of them – at least ever since he had lost Tabitha that's what he had done.

From what he had shown her it seemed that he wanted her to leave this dimension if the she made it out alive, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to leave, even if she was the sole survivor. He was just trying to keep her safe, she knew, but she liked the idea of staying here on this world, or if not on this world then in this dimension, it was, after all, her home. If the Murrays were defeated here she would be safe on this planet, she and Jake had done enough research to know that these were the last of the Murrays that knew of her existence, knew of what she could do, though there was a slim chance there were more out there somewhere, the odds were so far against it that worrying over them would have been pointless. Perhaps, if she and Will survived and if she could find some way to keep Will alive for many years to come, and, if it was safe from the Murrays, she would stay here. If Will, Tabitha and Jake were killed, or she couldn't find a way to keep Will alive, or if it wasn't safe to stay here, then she would leave and go back to Earth, deep within the other dimension.

But there were aspects of living back in the other dimension back on Earth that didn't sit well with Angela, aspects she didn't like - especially not know she had remembered who she was, what she was. Here she could live a life as long as she wanted, whereas on Earth people were always reminded of the fragile mortal existence that was life: death was all around, everywhere you looked. But it wasn't just her mortality that scared her, there was the connection she felt to this dimension, probably due to her abilities. Here she could reach out with her matter-sight and see the tiniest speak of dust floating on an updraft, watch the water in clouds slowly freeze and turn to snow and ice, actually _see_ the wind as it blew the air around her. Here, in this life, she felt part of something, part of the frabric of reality, unlike on Earth where she had always felt detached, as if she didn't quite belong, which she thought now was probably because she didn't. Going back now and being able to actually _remember_ this dimension wasn't a happy thought, she'd feel even more detached and lost than she had before.

A popping noise grabbed her attention, breaking her out of her thoughtful mood, as a Murray snapped into existence inside her walled cell and immediately began attacking her. He fought her hand-to-hand, which took Angela somewhat by surprise, though the thing that was more surprising to her was, that, although it had been what felt like an eternity since Tabitha and Jake had taught her, she remembered how to fight back.

Blocking the blows of the Murray as they rained down on her was easier than brushing away an annoying insect, though she realized as she was being occupied by this singular Murray, another had appeared out of the air and she could feel him begin to manipulate the matter around her. She knew that she had to put up a convincing fight, yet still manage to lose, knowing that if she did not make it seem as if she had tried her best and failed the Murrays would be back again in time, becoming more and more violent with each subsequent attack.

Ignoring the pain as parts of her were slowly stripped away by the Murray manipulating the matter, she forced herself to focus on the one physically attacking her.

The Murray frantically punched and kicked at her, slowly getting the upper hand as she became more and more incapacitated by the Murray that was slowly dissolving her. With precision timing she managed to grab the fist of the Murray as it swung towards her head and calling upon her matter-controlling abilities she focused all her strength of will on the hand that clasped the Murrays fist. For a moment nothing seemed to happen and the Murray began to smirk at her, in the very instant that his body exploded plastering everything, and everyone, with bits of bloody flesh. His head was launched into the air before falling to the ground, still wearing the last smirk it would ever make.

Stemming the pain in the worst affecting areas by crudely crafting areas of healed flesh, Angela was now able to focus on the Murray who was slowly destroying parts of her in a slow, deliberate, painful torture. She glared at him, the look in her eyes alone making him take a small step back.

"You will never win against us," the Murray stated.

"Do you wanna bet on that do you?" Angela replied, causing the Murrays arm to disintegrate. He, of course, immediately reformed it, laughing.

"We may have been a little set back by the sudden disappearance of your friends, but we have found them again. The Leech led us right to them!"

As Angela's expression changed to one of shock, wondering why would Tabitha lead the Murrays to Will and Jake, the Murray laughed manically.

"Oh, yes, the whole time you thought it was with you, on your side, but you were wrong! It gave away the position of your precious, insignificant, little friends and soon, soon they'll no longer be a nuisance to us ever again and we shall be the rulers of this universe and every other universe beyond!" The Murray pressed the advantage he had over Angela in her current shocked state, and she fell to the ground, scrabbling away backwards from him. She pushed herself up against the wall, trying, almost, to become part of it as she looked at the Murray and begged that he show her mercy. Laughing uncontrollably the Murray granted her request, adding that now she owed him her life.

"I owe you _nothing_ ," Angela spat at him.

"So, tough and yet, so, very, _weak_ ," the Murray hissed, before vanishing into thin air.

Angela let out a sigh of relief. Though she was disgusted in herself for begging for her life, she was immensely relieved to know that the Murray had bought her act of weakness. She smiled in the knowledge that the Murrays now believed that they had learnt to become stronger than she was, smiled knowing that when Will, Jake and Tabitha arrived she would show the Murrays that they had _nothing_ , nothing at all on her abilities.

She began tending her numerous wounds thinking, as she did so, of what the Murray had said. Could Tabitha _really_ have betrayed Will and Jake? For a moment she thought it could be possible, she had been held captive by the Murrays for a period of time so lengthy that anything was possible, she could have been brainwashed or she had heard of those cases where the person held captive had became attached to the captor. But no matter what argument her mind came up with to justify Tabitha turning on them, the idea refused to take hold of her mind. In her heart, as well as her head, Angela knew Tabitha wasn't a traitor, to any of them, and that she never could be for one simple reason: she loved Jake. Even though Angela had never heard her admit to it, she knew that Tabitha loved him more than anything else in the universe, he _was_ her universe. The bond the pair shared was stronger than the bond between most 'proper' couples Angela knew of and, over the years uncountable that the pair had been together, there had been nothing that had ever managed to bend or break that bond.

She dismissed the worries about a traitorous Tabitha from her mind, positive she would get the true series of events leading to the trios rediscovery soon enough, as opposed to the tainted version that the Murray had given her - one of their main tactics had always been to spread fear and uncertainty amongst those who stood against them. She had seen it happen countless times on innumerable worlds, the in-fighting within a planet's population helped the Murrays seize control - as nobody knew who they could trust, who they could turn to for help. As the distrust spread the Murrays began wiping out every living thing and taking prisoner any person, animal, or even plant, that had what they considered 'worthy' traits.

On this realisation that the Murrays were trying this tactic upon her, Angela steeled herself, knowing that they would undoubtedly return with more 'news' soon enough. The 'news' may be about Tabitha, or it may be about Jake. Hell, it might even be about Will. She was certain that they would try to make Angela herself destroy one of the party of her rescuers, meaning less of their own forces would be destroyed, as Angela knew one thing was for certain; whenever a battle was waged between Jake, Tabitha, herself and the Murrays it was the Murrays who always came out worst off. Sure, they may still manage to conquer the planet they had landed upon, but their numbers were always substantially less after each encounter. It was for this reason that, she knew, this was the last group of Murrays that were aware of her existence. The numbers of them that had been destroyed in each consecutive battle had resulted in fewer and fewer groups of the Murrays being able to branch out of this current conquering 'spiral' into new ones. It had taken almost an eternity to track down each group to ensure they didn't pass the knowledge of Angela's gift to other groups and to then to destroy the group before it could create a new sub-branch. If this group, this last stronghold here on this moon spinning endlessly around the planet Jol, could be destroyed, Angela knew she would at last be free of the Murrays, no longer would they plague her, hunt her, trying to take her abilities to make them their own.

In the room at the top of the building Angela had been taken to, before she had made her failed escape attempt, the Murray that had just fought her stood, facing the current grey-suited leader.

"She begged me, _begged me,_ to let her live," he said, repairing the parts of himself that Angela had been able to obliterate.

"So, we are stronger?"

"Yes," the Murray replied, full of confidence.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Nobody would willingly allow themselves to have _that_ much pain inflicted on them," the Murray replied. With a slow smile he added, "I enjoyed it _so_ much."

"That's all very well, but are you _sure_?"

"YES! I am positive!" the Murray snapped, "Nobody could put up with that much torment, nobody could tolerate that sort of pain willingly! She is not a threat anymore. We could destroy her now if we wished -"

"But we won't," the Murray-in-charge interrupted, "not yet anyway. We need to keep her protector interested, keep luring him here. Then, then we shall destroy them both! And that Leech while we're at it!"

"And what about the newcomer?"

"The newcomer... yes we will destroy him to I think, then, with them all obliterated, we shall be completely unstoppable. Then we shall destroy this tiny world and all its inhabitants, then move forth into the universe, stamping our mark, turning it into the universe we _deserve_ to have."

"I look forward to that glorious day!" replied the Murray that had tormented Angela. "Now, if I may be so bold, what news from the field?"

"As predicted, the Leech has led us back to the other two, how fortunate that someone just happened to spot that distinctive beam of light - it's quite hard to miss it despite it seeming like it should be obvious. It's almost going to be too easy, almost as if it is fated for us to kill them."

"Could it be a trap do you think?"

"No... If it was a trap he would have been waiting for us, but as you know he wasn't."

"Can we see it on the screens? I want to watch him suffer. I have a good feeling today is the day we will see him die and then, oh yes, then, I can finish that girl down there."

"Bring the screens on line," ordered the Murray-in-charge.

The wall behind the pair lit up as they turned from the window to face the vast array of screens. This time the entire wall showed slightly different angles, not just a mere selection of monitors, and all showed the Leech running towards two vaguely people shaped dots in the distance.

"Are there any of us out there?" enquired the Murray of his superior.

"No, no matter-changers. We are keeping that a surprise for if he manages to survive this confrontation to make it here, to us."

"Good thinking, he'll not be expecting us as he hasn't seen us yet."

"I wouldn't say he wouldn't expect us. Perhaps he won't expect us to be as... developed as we are. Don't underestimate him, we have made that mistake too many times and paid the price on each of those occasions."

The pair fell silent as the people shaped dots ceased being dots and started to truly look like people. As the people grew bigger the Murrays knew with certainty it was the pair that they sought; one was carrying a sword as he ran the other was lugging an energy gun. Several of the screens suddenly flashed with light before fading to black. A message that changed from 'SIGNAL LOST' to 'SEARCHING...' to 'NEW SIGNAL FOUND' appeared in strong white letters on the screen before the picture returned.

"The Leech..." muttered one of the Murrays watching the panels as several more screens flashed brightly then faded to black. Looking across the array of screens the Murrays could see a clear image of the Leech's many tentacles twisting and writhing as flares of energy found their way to them. All over the array of screens there were sudden flashes followed by brief moments of darkness before the system picked up on the signal from another of the Optical Telepathic Transmitters that was currently available, but not being actively displayed.

"And, so, it begins," said the Murray-in-charge, as Jacob and William suddenly filled several screens.

The Murrays watched as the battle raged, screens going to black before re-appearing with a different view. Above the screen a panel displayed in angry, red, letters 'Casualties: 563' the number steadily increasing, sometimes by a single digit, sometimes by ten or more as screens cut to black. The Murray-in-charge snapped his fingers, causing one of the other men that littered the room to jump to his feet and rush over to him carrying a communications device. "Don't worry about those two, attack the Leech! Bring it down!" the suited-man barked into the device, before crushing it in his hand, leaving the man that had brought him the device standing around uncertainly for a few moments, before being dismissed.

More than half of the array of screens were suddenly filled with images from different angles of the Leech, the room echoed with its roar of pain mingled with anger as one of the writhing tentacles was severed from its back. The Murrays watched as it fell crashing to the ground, one of them even cheered but his voice fell flat in the silent room.

Screens that weren't filled with various parts of the Leech's vast bulk showed that the two men had been forced back to the cliff edge. "Force them off!" roared the Murray-in-charge, as if he could talk his forces just by sheer willpower. The pair fighting clung to the cliff ledge, until, suddenly, a strange brightness washed out over half of the screens, those that managed to still show an image revealed heavily distorted view of a massive energy stream emitting from the Leech.

The Murray-in-charge could just make out that as the Leech discharged itself it was shrinking, he frantically screamed for a communicator so he could instruct Murrays on the battlefield to focus on the Leech, to destroy it now while they had the chance. As the screens steadily lost their washed-out imagery and the interference from the others vanished, the Murrays in the control room watched on as a beam of light stretched suddenly from the ground to the sky where the Leech had stood, leaving nothing at all except the dismembered tentacle, now still and lifeless, lying on the ground to show that the Leech had even been there.

The view on the screens changed as the surviving Murrays turned their attention to Jacob and Will. "KILL THEM!" the Murray-in-charge roared into his, freshly supplied, communicator. On the screens Jacob slowly swung his sword and shield onto his back. One of the screens showed a clear frontal view of him getting bigger and bigger as the Murray got closer, the control room watched as Jacob slowly raised a hand.

"What's he doing?" one of the suited men asked of their leader.

The Murray-in-charge, though, had no answer.

"Oh, Murray," a voice taunted throughout the room, "I'm coming for you Murray. There is nowhere to run now, nowhere you can hide. I'm coming for you Murray, so how about you give up now?" another voice responded to the first, uttering a simple "No." The first voice spoke again, "Suit yourself," it said. The Murrays watched transfixed as Jacobs hand opened and the screens rapidly changed to black.

The glowing red numbers above the array of screens suddenly burst into a rapid increase, the numbers changing too fast to be read. Within what seemed like a slow eternity, yet was mere seconds all the screens had gone black and the casualty counter displayed a new message: 'All Contacts Lost'.

The Murray-in-charge threw his communicator to the ground where it smashed into pieces.

Why had he not been informed of this ability that the girls protector had! It seemed that he was somehow able to kill huge numbers of his troops just by raising his hand in a stop-like gesture to them. It made no sense! No sense! In all their years of being pestered by this incredibly annoying, seemingly immortal _boy_ he had never heard of _any_ report that indicated he had that power! He thought perhaps those who had witnessed it in the past had been destroyed, which seemed to him to be the only logical conclusion as surely, otherwise, someone, anyone, would have been seen and it would have been reported, noted down _somewhere._ The file on him was incredibly large, the massive amount of powers he had exhibited over the years defied belief, though recent observations seemed to imply he had become powerless.

Yet now, out of nowhere, came a new power that somehow allowed him obliterate troops with the mere raising of a hand! The Murray-in-charge wasn't going to stand for this! He closed his eyes for a moment and with a small pair of pops vanished, with the first, from the control room and reappeared, with the second, inside Angela's cell.

Angela spun around at the sound of the popping noise, prepared to be attacked yet again by a Murray, though she turned rapidly it was still slightly too slow and the Murray grabbed her by the throat and lifted her into the air. Angela struggled for breath as the Murray's hand cut off her ability to breath.

"Tell me what you know!" the Murray roared at her, showering her face with spittle.

"About what?" Angela choked out.

"About this!" The Murray placed his free hand on her temple and a vision of Jake appeared in her head. He held out his hand towards her before darkness engulfed the vision.

"What?" Angela spluttered.

"Tell me! How did he manage to kill over three-hundred of us by merely raising his hand?! I know you know the answers! Tell me! TELL ME!"

Angela could feel the Murrays anger coursing through his body, his hand shook on her neck with rage. "I don't know!" Angela managed to splutter out, "I've never seen him do th-"

"YOU LIE!" the Murray said, roaring his interruption so loudly that it echoed around the chamber she was held in, bouncing off the walls seemingly forever.

"You can read my mind!" Angela screamed hoarsely, fighting to remain conscious, "Why would I lie to you?!"

Again, the Murray raised his hand to her temple, she saw flashes of her past this time everything that she knew about Jake flashed into her mind. The Murrays grip slowly relented.

"So, you really don't know," he said, less loudly but no less angrily, dropping Angela to the ground.

Managing, somehow, to stay on her feet Angela glared at the Murray, rubbing her neck and panting, "No I don't know!"

The Murray glared back at her, without saying a word, a strange expression written across his features.

"Ha!" said Angela. "You're _scared_! You're _scared_ that he will destroy you. And do you know what? _You should be_! He will! We all will! You will be crushed like a bug under a shoe. When we are through with you, _nothing_ will remain, not even the atoms of which you're made!" She flashed him a smile, cold and hard.

The Murray suddenly vanished with a slight popping noise and Angela collapsed heavily onto her bed, glad that the Murray had been so infuriated he hadn't bothered to look through her mind properly. If he had he would have seen exactly what had happened as Jake and Tabitha had pulled off a similar act a number of times before, usually when the situation put one, or both, of them in the position where death was almost certain. Angela was glad that the Murrays had no knowledge of this ability of Jakes, it could mean they had no knowledge of several other of Jakes abilities. It meant that she truly believed for the first time, that this would be the Murrays last stand, that this is where the line would be drawn and that she, Will, Tabitha and Jake would finally defeat the foul beings that had plagued her since she was an infant.

She wondered how Will was holding up, he must be finding it _so_ hard to put up with Jake: the pair had never really seen eye-to-eye. He had also found himself suddenly on a strange world where practically everything he thought he knew was somehow twisted, changed, different. She hoped that he would still be the same person that she loved when they were finally reunited - which Angela felt in the pit of her stomach would be sometime very soon.

Jakes appearance to advise her on how to flee this planet after the final battle had been a good sign, it meant that they were close, perhaps even too close for the Murrays to do any research on this 'new' ability of Jakes...

## Chapter 19

After a few minutes wandering around the strange craft that the Murrays used for transportation, Jacob finally found the way in. Pressing his hand against the panel beside the door, however, had no effect and he glanced at Tabitha who wordlessly placed her hand on the panel. The panel sparked and the door slid upwards, revealing a vast open area large enough to hold all of the Murrays, or maybe more, the trio had battled earlier.

"Thanks Tabs," Jacob said stepping through the doorway and beckoning the others to follow. The air smelt stale and stagnant causing all three to crinkle their noses in an automatic reaction to the stench. Jacob immediately set off to find the control room while Tabitha and William ducked back outside to the fresh air.

"Deary me," Jacob muttered to himself, as he weaved his way through coils of cables that wove themselves around each other and snaked across the floor at random intervals, "this place is an absolute shambles." After much searching Jacob found himself in the control room of the 'land-ship', so named because they only hovered at a max height of two metres over the ground and failed, often spectacularly, to work over water. He sat in what he hoped was the navigator's seat, it was, after all, directly in front of the large window that allowed for easy viewing of where the vehicle was being directed to.

He looked at the vast array of controls before him, hovering his hands just above the surface of the multitude of buttons and levers noting that the layout was non-standard, probably in an effort to stop people from doing exactly what he was doing now: hijacking the craft. He stopped thinking about the controls and let his instinct take over - no matter how hard people tried to vary control layouts, they were all generally similar: certain controls always had to be close to one another. With his right hand he reached as far as he could and flicked several switches from their down positions to their up positions. Immediately lights came on throughout the control room, soft in their effect so as not to cause undue reflection on the main window. To his far left he flicked several more switches, this time in the reverse - from up to down and then pressed and held down the large black button beside them. Far away he heard and then felt a deep rumbling noise as the black button slowly began to glow green and Jake knew that he had engine ignition. He pressed various buttons across the top of the console, carefully watching the screen that occupied the space in the panel directly in front of him, watched as each button press changed the image. He pressed it again and again until he saw one that displayed Tabitha and William, who were sitting just inside the hatch he had asked Tabitha to open, both looking extremely tired.

"Let's do this then Tabs," Jacob thought as he watched her. As he finished the thought Tabitha got up, ushering William further into the craft. Jacob smiled to himself, over the past day or so he and Tabitha had been reforging the telepathic link between them, he sent her the directions and after a few minutes both she and William joined him in the control room, each taking one of the empty seats.

Jacob spun his seat around to face them, resisting the temptation to keep spinning just for the hell of it, and spoke. "So... here we are then, the last step of the journey. Well, with some luck anyway. But, before we go any further, I'm offering you the chance, right now, to walk away."

"No way," William said immediately, Tabitha merely gave her head a slight shake, as Jacob glanced in her direction; she had heard these speeches from Jacob before.

"Chances are," Jacob continued, "that one, two, maybe even all of us will die in this bid to free Angela and once we get under way there is no going back. Now, since we last did this I have changed the game-plan a little, so Tabs, if you'd come here..."

Tabitha got up from her seat and walked over to Jacob who stood up and placed a hand on either side of her head. To her he imparted, as he had done to Angela, the information on how to find her way to the portal - in case he himself didn't survive to lead the group to that particular location while also letting her know where to find his - their - spacecraft that had served them both for so long, in case she wanted to return to the stars. Removing his hands from her head he looked into her eyes as if to try and convey to her all that he felt for her. She smiled slightly and returned to her seat.

"Right then, your turn," Jacob said, motioning towards William.

"What?" William asked.

"Come here."

"Why?"

"If you ever want out of this place again, you need to come here. I just finished saying we might not all survive and if I am the one that's dead you need to have the knowledge to get yourself out of this dimension," said Jacob, his tone matter-of-fact, despite the fact he had just spoken of his own potential death.

William refused to move however, so Jacob got up and went to him. Placing his hands on either side of Williams head, despite Williams protests, he again passed on his knowledge of how to return back to Earth.

When Jacob retracted his hands William snapped, "What the hell was that! Couldn't you have just _told_ me?"

Jacob ignored him. "Close your eyes and think of going back to Earth," he said. Williams mouth fell open slightly at the wonder of this new found gift, "Follow that light," Jacob instructed, "it will guide you home should you chose to go back there."

Jacob walked back to his seat, sat down and extracted from his bag a small coin-like object. "This," he said holding it up before them, "this is needed to open the portal. You just grab it by the edges and stretch it out in all directions until it's large enough to step through. If I die, it will find its way to you Tabitha and if you're also dead it'll go to you William -"

"Wait... how does it do that?" enquired William.

Tabitha replied before Jacob could, "Some sort of psychic link, I would imagine, so it'll find you, it's likely programmed to find people. I imagine you have reprogrammed it Jake so that it doesn't return to the grey-suited men?"

"Of course," replied Jacob. "Remember though, once you have gone through the portal will close and although those who used the portal will have it this little thing," he held the coin-like object up, "they themselves will unlikely be able to return as it will be drained and unable to recharge; I have a theory that it is dependant on a couple of things in this dimension, but it's a theory that I am still working on... Anyway, the long and short of it is if you stay here when the portal is opened you will be stuck here. If you go through you will be stuck there," Jacob paused for a moment to take a breath before continuing. "Now, are we all clear on what to do after the event? Make the decision on if you are staying or going and act on it, don't delay, not even for a second. If the Murrays survive, I advise you leave this world by any means possible and as soon as possible. William, if it comes to just you and Angela use the portal, she _cannot_ stay here if we do not kill them all."

"But... can't they just open another portal?" asked William. "Then come through and get her again?"

Tabitha again replied, "I think they need me to power any such device, so, no, they won't follow you is the answer to your question. I imagine since it's been unused since you returned to this dimension it has recharged itself... it's a one hit wonder if I am dead." Jacob noticed her voice was calm and controlled and knew that she was mentally preparing herself for the oncoming conflict, they caught each other's eye for a moment before both looked hurriedly away. This was just like the moments before every other battle: each wanted to say exactly how they felt about the other but neither could bring themself to do so, instead they avoided the issue and would often avoid each other entirely.

"Now, when we get in there the plan is simple. Attack. Attack, attack, attack", Jacob punctuated each 'attack' by hitting his fist on the armrest of the chair in which he again sat. "Angela is being held deep within the mountain behind their headquarters, the suited-men have carved themselves out a cavern inside the bedrock, or perhaps it was naturally formed. Either way, to get there you need to get to the bottom of their main building and then follow the tunnels, if you keep heading into the mountain, you're going the right way. She is held in a room filled with water, surrounded by a narrow walkway that is lined with grey-suited men. She herself sits in the middle of all the water on an island, surrounded by a low wall, probably a low wall she has constructed to herself."

"How do you know all this?" William asked.

Jacob, from the corner of his eye, saw Tabitha half smile and roll her eyes as he responded, "It's my job to know. Anyway, when you get to her she'll know that then, and only then, is when she is to enter the fray. She will likely face some strong opposition and it's our job to hold the suited-men back, they will do everything within their power to stop her escape - even if it means they have to kill her."

William's eyes widened at this statement and Jacob fell into silence. He spun his seat around to face the control console and heard Tabitha take a seat at the console she had stood alongside.

"Thrusters standing by," she said.

"Ta muchly, Tabs. Now let's get this show on the road, or above the non-road I suppose. In the air?" Jacob said, looking over his shoulder to flash a quick smile at William. "Next stop grey-suited-man H.Q." He reached across the console and pushed a series of levers to the top of their range simultaneously. The deep rumbling increased in volume and there was a sudden sensation akin to be in an upwards travelling elevator. The sensation ceased as the giant craft became, a little unsteadily, airborne. "Hell, it's been a long, _long_ time since I've done this," Jacob muttered.

"What was that?" asked William.

"Oh. Nothing, nothing at all, just talking to myself," replied Jacob.

"Main engine ratios holding steady," Tabitha informed Jacob, spinning in her chair to face him, "it's ready when you are."

Jacob raised his hand in her direction, as an indication of thanks, as he concentrated on the controls. He grasped a joy-stick like lever in each hand and pushed them forward causing the front of the craft to dip down and forwards motion to be established. "This thing drives like a tank!" he exclaimed with a, slightly manic, grin.

Behind him William turned to Tabitha his eyebrows raised. "Don't worry," she said, "he has been piloting all kinds of different craft since before even I knew him. I'm yet to see something he can't pilot. If it flies, he can fly it."

"Tabs," Jacob called, "can you find this crate's geo-positionary station and give me the readouts?" With a silent nod Tabitha got up from her seat and walked around the other consoles, until she found the one she was looking for. Sitting in the seat she looked intently at a screen before reading off a list of numbers.

"Ta, now can you see if they have pre-programmed flight paths? We don't want to go giving ourselves away."

Tabitha again looked at the screen before she read out some more data, "Three, Nine, Zero, Zero, Six," she said.

Jacob levelled the craft out slightly to decrease its speed before locking the joy-stick like controls into place, on his left he saw a number pad, and entered in the code he had just been given. There was an immediate groan from the engines and the right-hand side of the ship lifted up, causing it to slowly turn - though Jacob touched none of the controls. He stood up, "I advise we all get some rest, we have about twelve hours before this, literally stinking, machine brings us to our destination."

"But... doesn't someone have to... you know, drive?" William asked.

"Pre-programmed flight path, it'll take itself in."

"Won't they stop to check us out?"

"Why would they? We're in one of their own transports. They'll have hundreds of the things I imagine."

"Ok then..." William replied, his tone disbelieving. As Jacob and Tabitha walked out of the control room and into a small side room where there were several hard benches that served as seats, Jacob noticed it took William a few more moments to appear. He gathered that William was reluctant to be with the pair, or perhaps just with him.

"Benches," said Jacob, "I mean really. Where is the luxury? It's all functionality and practicality in here isn't it. Mind you, could be worse I suppose." With that he carefully lay on the nearest bench and stared up at the ceiling. William and Tabitha each grabbed a bench for themselves and Jacob listened to their breathing patterns slowly change as they drifted into sleep.

Once sure the others were soundly asleep, he got up from where he lay and returned to the control room, slipping quietly into the navigator's seat in front of the large window.

Though the rest of the interior of the craft was in near complete darkness, due to the lack of windows and the lights being dimmed to the point of practically being off, outside the sky glowed a bright orange as the twin suns set, lighting the control room in a fiery red glow. He looked across the console until he found the button he wanted and pressed it down, watching as a series of red lights began to flash at five second intervals across the top of the array of controls and a screen beneath the button he had pressed lit up.

The words 'ENTER TIME PERIOD' glowed in angry red letters on it and using the number pad Jacob carefully entered the numbers 86400 before pressing the button again. The words on the screen were replaced by new ones that read 'SELF DESTRUCT INITIATED'. Jacob leant back in his seat watching the scenery roll slowly by outside, then nearly jumped out of his skin as voice spoke behind him.

"So, a day is all we have then, no longer?" a pair of arms draped over his shoulders and a pair of hands clasped in front of his chest as a chin rested on his head with a heavy sigh, surrounding his face in long, fire-engine red, hair.

"If we can't do in it a day Tabs, we're never going to do it. And if I am going down, I'm taking a good number of them with me."

Tabitha sighed, "So, this is really it then?"

"We've both always known this day would come, this day when they could control matter like Angela" Jacob replied taking hold of Tabitha's hands in one of his own. "I am just glad I got to spend more time with you than I ever imagined possible."

"You're so sweet sometimes you know, but we're going to get out of this. Both of us. All of us."

"Tabitha -" Jake said before he was cut off by her.

"No Jake. We will all get out of this; I'm not going to believe otherwise."

"Tabs, they _are_ going to be able to control matter. We both know it."

"You've always been such a pessimist," Tabitha retorted, " _we_ are going to be fine. You know we are. I know you; you just like to downplay yourself so that when things go well you seem to have pulled off something miraculous."

Jacob laughed suddenly, "Oh, you know me well! Pessimist I may be, but I _do_ still enjoy myself. Though... it was a lot harder to do so without you at my side." As he spoke the last flickers of light in the sky faded and it changed to a deep, dark blue as the stars came out.

"Get some sleep Jake," said Tabitha as she herself left the room to return to the bench she had been sleeping on moments earlier, "you'll be regretting staying up soon."

"I will," replied Jacob, as he turned to watch her leave, his gaze lingering slightly longer than was necessary. Once she was out of sight, he spun his chair around and faced the console again, he placed his elbows upon it and rested his head in his hands, watching as the dark country-side slipped by and the mountain range in the distance grew steadily in size.

His mind jumped from thought to thought, planning out each step of the battle to come and any, all, possible alternatives. In time his thoughts turned, as they often did, to Tabitha and, surprisingly, to William. If there was a way to not bring them into the battle, he would use that way, even though they would undoubtedly protest. Then it struck him that even though he would prefer that they weren't there, he needed them to be... well, he needed Tabitha to be there and Angela would need William to be there. He decided then that if it was possible he'd arrange for William to be the one to burst through the door to where she was held first, for he saw, now, just how much William adored Angela, and if years of battle had taught him anything it was that people liked to be the hero if it was a loved one in danger.

Especially if it was a loved one.

He realized that perhaps, perhaps, it was time for him to step aside from his protective role now that there was someone else who could possibly fill the position, he decided to wait and see what happened in the upcoming battle before making his final decision. He smiled as he thought of what Angela would say if she knew he was thinking such things, "It's not up to you to decide these things," she would say and he knew that, truthfully, it wasn't up to him, but he couldn't help thinking about it just the same.

Soon he noted he could see minute lights glowing out from the front of a mountain, as the craft raced through a vast expanse of tall grass. "A perfect place to hide from those on the ground," Jacob said to himself, "but from up at those lights you would see anyone approaching right away, their tell-tale paths through the grass would give them away immediately."

Jacob slid forward in his seat as the ship slowed down on approach to the monstrously tall tower that was the head-quarters to the Murrays. Jacob wondered at how he had never stumbled on it before in all his years of searching for Angela, before the Murrays had re-united the two versions of her from the separate dimensions. He assumed that it was covered by some sort of cloaking field and by being inside one of their craft it had become visible to him somehow. Getting up from his seat he went over to the sensor station of the crafts control deck and ran a scan, which detected nothing out of the ordinary, leaving Jacob even more curious as to the towers seeming invisibility.

The craft slowed again and a few moments later Tabitha and William appeared through the doorway into the control room, awoken by the speed change the craft had made.

"This is it then," Jacob muttered, half under his breath.

The craft slowly passed through the massive gateway that sat beneath the towering building and followed a winding road up several floors before it came to a shuddering stop and the engines wound down as the vast craft settled onto the ground with a dull thud. Through the window at the front of the craft Jacob could see they were in some kind of parking area, several more of the craft were visible, though, thankfully, there was not a grey-suited man to be seen.

"Let's go!" Jacob said, heading for the control-room door. Through the winding passages he went with the others close behind, stopping when he came to the door that they had entered into the craft through. He pressed a button beside the door causing it to slide up with a hiss. With a brief glance over his shoulder and a quick smile to those who stood behind him, he stepped out of the craft and into the stronghold of the grey-suited Murrays.

## Chapter 20

William followed Jacob as he stepped out of the craft, with Tabitha following close behind. "So... now what?" William asked.

"Split up, I think. If you see one of them don't let them see you. If they do see you, you _have_ to kill them. _Immediately_. Don't let them get word out of our arrival," Jacob replied.

"Actually... I think it'd be better if we stayed together," William said, causing Jacob to raise an eyebrow in a silent question. "Well, we're never going to get Angela out without being seen, are we? And, well, they say there is safety in numbers."

"He has a point there Jake," added Tabitha.

Glancing briefly in Tabitha's direction he turned to William and said, "Together it is then and on your head be it. So, off we go. Can anyone see a way down? We need to get to the lowest level then find a way to where Angela is being held."

The group spread out around the apparent parking area, each searching for a way to get lower in the building, or even an exit from where they were. The 'road' that the land-ship had entered by had sealed shut after they had entered, leaving no way out, or down, via that route. With a short yell William let the others know he had come across what must be the main door out of the current area, it was wide enough for five or six people to walk abreast through and was made of a lightly polished metal that reflected William slightly as he stood before it. Beside it an electronic control, like the one on the exterior door of the land-ship, glowed slightly. William stuck his hand on it but, as with Jacob and the ship, nothing happened.

It took a few minutes for Tabitha and Jacob to arrive where William impatiently waited. "I think you should grab a quick recharge now while you can," Jacob was saying to Tabitha as they approached, "then we'll get you to open this here door for us."

Tabitha nodded a silent agreement before vanishing into a flare of light and as she had on at least two other occasions, that William had witnessed anyway, she transformed into a glowing almost cigar-shaped object and weaved her way through Jacob. This time she took very little time to do so, William thought it was probably because she hadn't used all the energy up from the last time she had 'recharged' herself in this manner.

"Good to go then?" Jacob asked her, she replied with a smile and a nod before placing her hand on the door control. There was a bright flash and a small cloud of smoke and the door slid, oddly, downwards to reveal an opening into a strangely dark concrete corridor with glossy, semi-reflective, pale-grey painted walls. Once his eyes had adjusted to the dim William saw the reason for the darkness was because the corridor was lit by a solitary lights, dimly glowing at what he guessed to be intervals of a couple of hundred metres.

The trio stepped through the doorway; William expected to hear the the door to revert to its closed state but, when he didn't, he quickly glanced back and saw it standing open still.

"Fried the circuitry entirely," said Tabitha, who seemed to have noticed him looking back, "always best to leave a way out." In an undertone, as if to herself, she added, "Though, maybe not the safest escape... could be a little too warm." William had slowly become accustomed to the way both Tabitha and Jacob seemed to talk largely to themselves a lot of the time, so paid her remark no attention.

The group continued to walk down the corridor and William began to wonder if it would ever end, on and on it seemed to go. He was greatly relieved when they at last came to a flight of stairs that led to both the higher levels and down to the sub-levels. William immediately turned right, leading the way, of course, down to the lower levels of the building. A strange hush fell over the group, the odd loud exhale of breath from any one of them causing the others to turn and glare as if they had yelled out their location for all to hear.

As they walked slowly down the zigzagging flights of stairs William noticed Jacob stopping every now and again, as if listening to something far away, or watching something only he could see. After stopping so many times William had lost count, Jacob suddenly ran up behind him and grabbing the back of both his and Tabitha's shirts, simultaneously stopping them and pulling them close, he hissed through his teeth that someone was coming. William spotted a doorway at the bottom of the next flight of stairs and the group, although sorely tempted to make a run for the door, instead paced themselves, so as to create as little noise as possible before they slipped through it and out of the stairwell.

The room they had entered appeared to be some sort of dining area it was full of tables and chairs and at the far end, barely visible, was a long counter stretched across the width of the room.

Jacob swore, "Hells teeth, this isn't a good place to be. Someone find us an exit. _Quickly_!"

The group split up, in a frantic search for an exit, but each door they opened revealed grey-suited men going about their duties. With a bang like a gunshot the door they had come through burst open and three grey-suited men walked in, glancing around the room briefly they carried on past the tables and disappeared into a door behind the counter.

Tabitha, Jacob and William extracted themselves from beneath the tables under which they had thrown themselves when the door burst open, meeting in the near centre of the room.

"Must be the cooks I suppose, do suited men have cooks? I guess with a dining room this size they eat something so I guess someone has to cook," Tabitha rambled, nervously.

"That means a meal must be being prepared and that can only mean more of them, and soon. We best hurry," Jacob replied his voice urging haste. The group again split up resuming their frantic search for an exit that didn't lead to a room full of grey-suited men, knowing the door behind the counter was definitely of no use to them now. A whistle pierced the air causing William to spin around, expecting to be caught. Instead he saw Jacob down near the counter waving frantically, glancing across the room he saw Tabitha running to join Jacob and he quickly followed suit. Standing before a doorway, Jacob ushered William and Tabitha through, before slipping quickly and quietly through himself.

William found himself inside another staircase and, as before, he headed to the right, the direction that went down to the lower levels, the caution of before was gone, all three of them took the stairs at a run. William had little time to think, or even to notice his surroundings, as doorways and levels flashed past him in his desperate bid to get to the lowest level in the building, before anyone found out they were there. The air grew colder as he descended and although he was hot from running down so many stairs, William still felt a chill on his skin.

As the air grew colder still something in his mind told him that they must be nearing the bottom of the stairwell and he smiled as he realised the grey-suits didn't even know they were here, right in the heart of their building, yet. Rounding yet another turn the stairs came to a sudden stop and William found himself standing in a long, dimly lit, corridor that seemed to stretch on forever to both his left and his right.

"Which way now?" William asked.

Nobody responded.

Again, William asked, a little more impatiently this time, "Which way now?" he spun around to face Tabitha and Jacob, who he had assumed were right behind him, to find that he was, in fact, standing alone at the base of the stairs.

He looked around in the dim light, in case they were standing there hidden in shadow, but couldn't see them, surely if they were there, he would see that slight glow of Tabitha's anyway – but, he saw nothing. He back-tracked up the stairs a couple of flights and, still, they were not there, although he was certain they had been right behind him the whole way down.

Questions started to form in his mind, if they weren't here now, where could they have gone? And, almost as importantly, when had they become split up?

Entirely alone for the first time since arriving on this strange world, where the impossible seemed to continually happen around him, William began to panic slightly. Sure, he had toyed with the idea of ditching Jacob and rescuing Angela on his own, but now that he was alone his confidence seemed to have vanished, to also have disappeared somewhere up the flight of stairs behind him.

Sitting on the last step, William waited for Jacob or Tabitha to reappear, for the sound of footfalls on the stairs stretching up and up, who knew how far above him. Yet nobody came. After a while he decided that his current complete and utter inaction was by far worse than _possibly_ getting lost in these tunnels. He felt that he _had_ to do _something_ , _anything_. Even if the decision to explore was partly stop his mind wandering to what might happen to him if he was suddenly confronted by one, or more, of the grey-suited Murrays.

William chose to go right, for no reason other than in the passage to his left the second light along appeared to flicker. At first, he walked, almost casuall, but soon he broke into a run. A feeling of being pursued had come over him, at any moment he expected to feel the hands of one of the grey-suited men clutching, grabbing, pulling at him. The faster he ran the more it felt that he was about to be caught, he _knew_ that any moment now they would catch him, torture him, kill him.

He came to a sudden stop as a deep booming noise seemed to echo through the very walls around him, the ground and the air shook slightly and all of the lighting in the tunnel flickered. Looking behind him, William could see nothing out of the ordinary; there was nobody reaching out about to grab him, nor could he see anything to cause the noise or tremor he had felt. He began to walk again, but, as soon as he did so, the feeling of being watched, of being hunted, returned and he soon broke into a terror-filled run once more. As he ran the booming noise, slight tremor and the flickering of the lights repeated itself, over and over again.

Suddenly, there was an especially loud booming noise, everything shook so much that dust and small flakes of painted concrete fell from the roof and walls of the corridor, the floor cracked slightly, the lights flickered then went out plunging the corridor into complete darkness. William almost immediately fell to the ground, unable to remain standing in the shaking, pitch black corridor.

Lying on the ground, he was unable to see anything, not a glimmer of light remained in the tunnel for his eyes to focus on.

The walls shook and he felt more flakes of concrete or paint raining down on him as the booming noises echoed through the structure once more and the shaking air seemed to fill with voices.

They whispered at William as he got to his feet in the complete and utter darkness, they whispered to him all of his doubts and insecurities. When they hissed at him that he wasn't worthy of Angela, William yelled at them to shut up. This, however, gave the voices a better, different, idea as they knew they had found the biggest of William's insecurities. They began to press at it more and more, harder and harder.

"You're not worthy, you know... You'll never be good enough for her... What would she want with a mere mortal like you? What about an alien? You're an alien to her, would you want an alien? She can _easily_ do so much better that you... You're pathetic and worthless and of no use to her..." On and on the voices went, beating Williams resolve down as if they held a baseball bat and were physically hitting him with it.

William unsheathed the sword from his hip and swung it wildly through the darkness, trying to strike at whatever, whoever, whispered at him. His efforts were futile, of course. All he managed to strike were the walls of the corridor, causing bright flashes of light and small showers of sparks as the cold steel met the hard concrete. The voices laughed manically at his feeble attempts to defy them, their never-ending whisperings becoming louder - almost to the point of normal speech. Careful not to turn himself around from the direction he had been travelling, William reached for the wall to his right and placed his hand upon it.

He began to walk once more, knowing he had to somehow get away from those wretched voices in the dark. The instant he took his first step the voices ceased, only to be replaced once more by the sensation of someone being right behind him, straining to reach him, grab him. He walked faster and felt something cold, wet and soft brush against his left leg, he lashed out with his sword, but struck nothing.

His breathing coming in short sharp breaths William continued to walk forward, faster and faster until he was almost running, trying in vain to escape whatever followed him. He was nearly in a sprint when he felt a hand grab his shoulder, another quickly covered his mouth and he was pulled, violently, from the corridor into a side passage.

"Shhh," said a voice quietly as William struggled, frantically, to escape the vice like grip he found himself held in. "Just watch and listen," the voice instructed him in a quiet murmur.

There was another incredible booming sound from above, the corridor again shook but this time the lights in the main corridor flickered back on. William watched in silent fright as half a dozen of the grey-suited men dashed along the corridor, knowing as he saw them that they had been the ones pursuing him, knowing that they were probably the owners of the whispering voices in the dark. He turned to see who had pulled him, just in time, from the corridor but William saw nothing but a blank concrete wall staring back at him. He stood and stared at the wall wondering if anyone had been there at all, yet sure there must have been _someone_ there, as he had heard them speak. Even if there hadn't been a voice, he knew he had _certainly_ been grabbed and pulled from the passage by someone... or, he shuddered, some _thing_.

William returned, quietly, to the corridor setting off in the same direction the group of Murrays had headed. The feeling of being followed was gone now and William noticed that the booming sounds, that had caused the very earth, the very air, to shake, had ceased. He began to run again, something inside him told him he was approaching his destination, it urged him on, faster and faster.

He slowed as he came to an intersection of passageways, uncertain as to which way to turn. He could continue on along the one he was currently in, or turn left and head along a new corridor. To his right was a flight of stairs, but he immediately ruled that out as one of his options; he knew Angela was somewhere down here, down here at the bottom of the massive building.

The left-hand corridor was veiled in an inky blackness, the one he was in continued to be dimly lit, stretching on as far as his eye could see. In his mind he silently tossed up which option to take, but his decision was made for him as steadily louder footfalls echoed down the stairwell. The only place to hide, quickly, was in the darkness of the left-hand corridor - he could see only a handful of metres into the gloom so, if he stood in there, he hoped he would be all but invisible. He leapt into the passageway and ran a hundred metres, he guessed, until he was absolutely certain that he stood in the complete darkness and no part of him would reflect even a sliver of light back at whoever came down the stairs.

Looking back through the near palpable darkness he watched the stairs as three of the grey-suited men appeared, each carrying an energy weapon and a sword - just as William himself did. The one in the centre motioned for each of the others to take the long passageway - one heading back the way William had come, the other heading onwards down the route William hadn't chosen.

The remaining suited man stepped into the same dark corridor in which William hid.

William broke into a cold sweat as the knowledge that he would, for the first time _have_ to take on this Murray by himself, with absolutely no help from anyone else, sunk in. He pressed himself up against the wall, half hoping it would suddenly open and swallow him up, half hoping the strange arms would grab him and pull him to safety once more. The silhouette of the grey-suited man grew larger and larger against the light in the distant corridor as he approached.

William stood dead still, not daring to move even a finger as the grey-suited man walked past him and continued down the corridor, seizing his chance William jumped onto his back, tackling the man to the ground. With as much strength as he could muster, he smashed the hilt of his sword into the man's neck, which broke with a satisfying snap before the Murray could even utter a cry and William pushed the lifeless body up against the wall, hoping that it wouldn't be found any time soon.

He made a snap decision to continue along the passageway he had chosen at such short notice, as, for some reason, it felt like the right thing to do. He moved rapidly into a run although all his muscles ached from the extreme exertion he had been punishing them with since entering the building. The dark end of the passage suddenly lit up, as a beam of light flashed briefly before dimming and vanishing, William looked curiously at it before pushing himself to increase his pace. As he ran, he watched as, slowly increasing in brightness, a faint glow could be seen where the bright beam of light had flashed moments before. As he neared, entering the warm light of the strange glow, William could make out the shapes of two people, both appearing to examine the metallic wall in front of them.

The pair spun around to face William as he approached, it seemed they had heard his footfalls. One drew a sword from its back, the other held its right-hand palm outwards towards him and William watched as a ball of sparkling energy appeared there. He knew, then, who stood at the end of the passageway. Somehow Jacob and Tabitha had found their way to this location as well, how they had done it William couldn't imagine, yet he was glad that they had.

The one holding the ball of energy suddenly lifted their arm back behind their head and threw the energy ball at William, it hurtled towards him at a speed his mind struggled to comprehend. He braced himself as he realized it was going to hit him, but then, a fraction of a second before impact, it exploded and lit the tunnel with a light as bright as that experienced when walking under the twin suns of the moons surface at midday. There was a sharp yell from the end of the tunnel and running footsteps as William rubbed at his eyes, near-blinded by the sudden brightness.

A hand grasped his sword wielding arm and he felt himself being pulled along, towards where the figures had stood. When his eyes finally adjusted to the dim light that bathed the tunnel-end again William saw he was being guided along by Tabitha, who was the reason for the slight glow; it seemed, as always, to emanate from her skin somehow.

Everything that strange, soft, light touched reflected it back. The walls, the massive steel wall \- that William now saw was a door - even he himself seemed to somehow reflect that strange glow. When he looked at Jacob, however, it was like looking into a deep dark abyss that seemed to suck in the all light from around it, no light reflected off his body at all - making it seem that it was as if he stood in the unlit part of the corridor. His eyes, however, glinted with the light that Tabitha issued, as if to let William know he was being looked at, being observed.

For the first time since meeting Jacob, the _real_ Jacob of this dimension - not the Jacob of the Earth - William got a sense of his power. It seemed to ooze from him and also, to Williams surprise, it seemed to ooze from Tabitha. "The Shadow and The Light," he whispered, surprising himself and causing Tabitha to smile at him.

"Now you can see it can't you?" she asked.

"I really can," William replied, glancing from one to the other. "Where did you two go? I could've sworn you were right behind me. But then... you weren't."

Jacob had turned his attention back to the vast steel door, saying nothing. Tabitha glanced briefly at him then seemed to decide that it was being left to her to answer William's questions as she saw fit.

"Don't mind him," she said, "he always goes quiet when something has him stumped. And this door has him _really_ stumped. So, anyway, you wanted to know what happened to us."

"Yes," replied William, caring little if Jacob talked to him or not.

"Well, we were right behind you. Then you just vanished. You were there and then... then you weren't. We had little time to puzzle over this though, because the instant you vanished a dozen or so of the grey-suited men appeared, right where you had been standing. I'm thinking they probably came from where you ended up, some sort of cross-over teleportation thing. Right, am I? Jake?"

Jacob nodded his head slightly as he continued to stare at the door, as if trying to burn holes into it with his eyes.

"But... I continued running down the stairs. I didn't notice anything," William told Tabitha.

"I think you probably changed stair wells, you wouldn't have even noticed: it would have been instantaneous, and as this whole place is much of a muchness I doubt there would have been anything to indicate you were in a place other than where you thought you were. Anyway, we were confronted by the grey-suited men and forced back into that dining area, where there quite a crowd had gathered. We had to fight them..." her voice trailed off.

William knew she didn't want to go into details, but he still needed, still wanted information about what he had experienced, and thought Tabitha and Jacob were probably a good part of that. "Those booming noises, were they you? They made the whole place shake! The lights down here went out."

"Yes... their building has a fair few new windows..."

"What was the noise?" William asked, when Tabitha fell silent. She glanced at Jacob who again nodded slightly before she answered him.

"That was a combination of me and Jake. The booming was caused by objects breaking the sound barrier as they were pulled from the building, I suspect the sound probably echoed through the passageways. The shaking and the vanishing light weren't part of that though, that was me. I was drawing the energy from all around to cause some top-notch chaos," she said with a grin, "it's been a long time since Jake and I have been able to work together, properly, like that."

"Uh... So, what _did_ you do exactly?"

"Energy vortices," Tabitha replied, her tone, in an echo of how Jacob would have sounded William thought, implied it was the most obvious thing in the world. "They require tremendous amounts of energy to make and a whole lot of skill from a certain chap standing over there eyeing the door to contain and to maintain. They suck things in and tear them apart, the very energy of their atoms gets ripped from them in a series of nuclear-like explosions. Kind of like a black hole I guess, but without the complicated quantum physics and event horizons."

"How?" asked William, startled by this revelation of just how powerful Tabitha and Jacob seemed to be and also a little wary of the excited tone that had entered Tabitha's voice as she spoke.

Tabitha smiled at him, "Not even I know how he does that."

The pair sat in silence watching as Jacob continued to stare at the door. "Aha!" he said suddenly and walked through it as if it wasn't there, or as if he was a ghost.

William looked at Tabitha, eyes wide. "Oh, that's right," Tabitha said, "you probably don't know that he does that, do you?" William shook his head and Tabitha continued. "He has three different... states-of-being I suppose you could call them. It's a bit like how I can change shape-" she waved her arms, tentacle-like, in the air, "-and also be pure energy, like I am when I teleport. Jake can do things like that. He has his normal old self which you've seen plenty of, then he can step outside of himself, which you saw him do in the labyrinth when he went to find a way out - though I believe you have witnessed that before then, as there was something about the way you reacted when he changed down there." William nodded his agreement, "and then he has this state. All he is right now is shadow, nothing solid to him at all."

"But his eyes were reflecting -" William began before being cut off by Tabitha.

"Yes, _they_ would have been solid. It's awkward to talk to him when you can't see where he is looking. So, I told him, if he is going to go about being all non-existent all the time that I want to be able to know when he's paying attention to me. Hence, he does the thing with the eyes... And yes, I know, it's a bit creepy really."

"This is hard to understand... So, he is solid, but he isn't?"

"That's the one. He controls what bits and how much of himself are solid. It's quite a trick, the non-solid bits aren't even dust, or smoke, or anything like you're probably imagining. They're shadow. Darkness itself. It just _looks_ like smoke or dust, in reality there is nothing there, it's like he doesn't even exist."

Before William could ask any more questions there was a rattling banging sound and the vast steel door began to slide slowly away from where he and Tabitha stood waiting for Jacob to reappear. A foot appeared through the door before Jacob stepped entirely through, at once making himself into a solid being again. "Damn that's hard to keep going, so very out of practice, I just haven't had the energy to do it for years," he said, glancing at Tabitha with a strange expression. "Which is kind of odd when you think about it, as its not like that's something that I learnt to do, it's a natural trait. Anyway, it turns out you had to open this giant door from the other side. You can all, of course, thank me later."

The door slowly rolled along its tracks receding into the tunnel behind it and the strange group of three followed steadily along behind, in the soft light Tabitha emitted.

"So, how'd you end up here?" asked William.

"Oh, I knew where to go. Problem was we had to get you here as well, otherwise we could and would have just teleported ourselves right to the door, could have teleported ourselves right to where Angela is now even. Well, Tabitha could have brought me along with her," Jacob frowned, "Though I _can_ do it, it's not at all easy... That didn't end up being a problem though as it turned out that you found your own way here, without our help."

"You weren't even looking for me though," said William.

"We knew you'd be dead or you'd turn up here," replied Jacob who received a scathing look from Tabitha. "To put it bluntly I mean."

"How'd you know I would find the place?"

"She's calling for you," Jacob said, as if this explained anything.

"What Jake _means_ ," said Tabitha, rolling her eyes, "is that you were always going to find your way here, if you weren't killed, because Angela wanted you to find your way here, she knows you're here. And because of who, and what, she is, she can alter the passageways so as to lead you right to her if she so desires."

"Really?" asked William.

"Shhh," said Jacob, waving his hand in William and Tabitha's direction, as the giant metal door began to swing to the side revealing a vast cavern above a lake of dark water. Around the edge of the water stood a group of Murrays all with dark blonde hair and in the centre of the pool was an island on which Angela stood, watching as the tunnel swung aside and the entrance was revealed.

There was a startled yell from one of the Murrays and William felt the air around him begin to move as a pathway appeared over the water, as if floating up from deep under the surface, attaching the isolated island to the shore \- William could see Angela her hands working frantically.

"Go to her," Jacob said with the hint of a smile, giving William a push and turning to shadow as he did so, "we'll hold them off!"

Beside Jacob there was a blinding flash of light as Tabitha teleported herself to the other side of the cavern. William watched as she re-appeared, rapidly growing in size, grabbing the nearest of the Murrays with massive tentacles and tearing him into pieces. He watched as Angela spun on the spot, trying to counteract the attacks the Murrays were making on Tabitha as well as trying to stop them attacking William and destroying the bridge over which he was now running.

From the corner of his eye William could see a shadow flicking from here to there. It would appear behind one of the grey-suited men and swing its sword into them. He saw the Murrays fall as if dead, then somehow pull themselves back together again without a scratch.

William began running.

Angela grew closer and closer until at last he stood before her, suddenly unsure of what to do, of what to say.

## Chapter 21

Angela's head throbbed, and, at first, she thought the sound she could hear as just her own pulse inside her skull. But as it continued, she stood up and listened more carefully to the distant booming sound. It seemed to echo through her prison chamber and she soon heard another, then another, each seeming to be followed, some time later, or perhaps preceded some time before, by a distinct shaking of the building. Reducing the wall that surrounded her island prison to dust she looked towards the entry tunnel that the massive steel door retracted along: it was from there that the noise seemed to be coming from. Around her she saw the Murrays fidgeting nervously, suddenly restless within the vast cavern in which they had all waited so calmly, noted that they all now also watched the entry way, as if they expected something, or some _one_ to come through at any moment.

She knew as she watched them that her time in this prison was finally at an end; knew that help had finally arrived. She just hoped that none of her friends, her family, were killed in their attempt to free her. The booming noises died off and came to a stop and she felt the tension that had filled the air diminish. She knew the Murrays thought they were safe, but Angela refused to share that train of thought with them instead she hastily, and crudely, re-erected her wall of privacy.

She sat in the direct centre of her island prison and closed her eyes, reaching out with her matter-sight. She sensed someone who wasn't a Murray walking through a passageway while behind the walker, who kept breaking into a panicked run, were several others who she could immediately see _were_ Murrays. Summoning up a huge strength of will, the passageway was quite distant, she altered the corridor they walked in, creating an alcove to the side of it and as the person walked past she re-arranged the atoms of the air to form a ghostly physical being that lunged from the alcove and pulled the person from the passageway. The person struggled and fought to escape her grasp, 'Shh' she thought, 'just watch and listen'. The person stopped struggling almost immediately but the ghostly being of air held them still until the Murrays had gone past, releasing its grip as the person it held turned to face whatever had held them, a being that they couldn't see. Angela could see the person with her matter-sight however, and she saw that this newcomer was Will.

She almost yelled in delight but managed to stifle the cry before it passed her lips, the Murrays would hear her and they would know, somehow, that Will was on his way, she was sure they would figure it out. She scanned around the rest of the building with her matter-sight and found that upstairs something highly unusual was taking place, entire rooms worth of matter seemed to be being pulled apart, seemed to race towards a fixed point that nothing could escape from. She watched as atoms ripped themselves apart, the energy between them suddenly disappearing, 'Jake and Tabitha must be here as well then,' she thought, although, no matter how hard she searched the building with her matter-sight, she could see no trace of either Jake or Tabitha. A few moments of confusion passed Angela by before she remembered that not _all_ of their multiple forms actually had any matter, anything solid, anything tangible, to them; Tabitha could turn into pure light and Jake into pure shadow. As she remembered this fact, the strange destruction of matter upstairs suddenly ceased, leaving a strange calm on the upper floors of the building.

Knowing that Jake and Tabitha would be on their way to her, she focused her attention on the passageway and door leading to her cell. On the other side of the door a pair of orbs seemed to float unsuspended in the air, looking at their delicate make-up she knew them to be eyes, eyes that were somehow just floating in the air. Some distance behind them she sensed movement and focused her matter-sight on it. She saw a person walking slowly and carefully towards the eyeballs before they suddenly began to rub at their own eyes as their motion changed to one of walking to one of being dragged along - though Angela saw nothing to physically _to_ pull them along.

The eyes swivelled to see the person being dragged along arrive, then returned to looking at the wall, occasionally bobbing up and down as if attached to an invisible nodding head. She watched as the eyes suddenly vanished into thin air and the figure that had been pulled down the passageway by nothing at all sat heavily down. They seemed to talk to something, or someone, she couldn't see with her matter sight and realization dawned upon her.

A sudden urge to turn around washed over her and she turned just in time to see a human figure appear from a ball of swirling smoke-like shadow. "We're here," Jakes voice quietly said, "get ready." The shadowy-man returned to the ball-like cloud of smoke-like shadow and vanished from her sight. Spinning back around to face the door, just as suddenly as she had spun around moments before, she turned the wall around her island prison to water and watched it slosh over the islands edge as a grinding clanking noise began to sound and the vast steel door slowly began to open.

Angela quickly glanced around at her guards, expecting them to be preparing for battle. To her surprise none of the Murrays seemed to have made any reaction, and she began to suspect that they thought one of their superiors, or perhaps a messenger, was coming to advise them of what the cause of all the commotion higher up in the building had been.

She moved to position herself in the centre of her island prison, which also happened to be the exact centre of the vast cavern she was held in, noticing as she did so that a couple of the Murrays looked briefly in her direction, but they took no action against her, seemed to just write her actions off as nothing to worry themselves over. She knew that they thought she was just preparing to face whoever it was of their men that came through that door, when it finally retracted the length of the tunnel and swung to the side.

Angela mentally prepared herself as best she could, for what happened next would be unlike any battle she had ever been in before; she worried, despite trying desperately not to, that they may all die here.

Because, now, this time, the enemy could do what she could do.

She may be better at it, but what they lacked in skill they made up for in numbers. Using her matter-sight again she watched as the massive door rolled steadily closer and closer before swinging slowly open to reveal the open passageway beyond.

There was a short yell from one of the Murrays as he spotted that it wasn't one of their own coming through the door, but instead their most despised enemy, an enemy that had defied them for countless years, countless centuries, millennia even. Angela's matter-sight saw them start trying to pull the group that had emerged from the tunnel to shreds, yet only one of the group was solid and able to be touched, working hard to counteract the Murray's efforts she quickly created a crude walkway across the water so that the trio could come to her, or she could go to them if she was able. There was a bright flash of light and Angela saw Tabitha disappear as she heard a voice barking orders to the only physically solid member of the trio. It was a voice she knew well, a voice with a tone of confident command, a tone you instinctively knew not to argue with.

A shadow flitted through the Murrays, appearing suddenly behind one of them and swinging a sword, which seemed to her to suddenly snap into existence, down on them. A vast tentacled creature picked Murrays up from the ground and tore them in half as bright beams of energy poured from their dying bodies and into one of the many writhing tentacles.

Across the bridge she saw William running towards her and it was him that she focused her attention on, as she stood in the centre of the battle slowly revolving on the spot. She knew the other two could fend for themselves, it was only Will that could be harmed by these matter-controlling Murrays. As she turned to survey the scene, her hands worked furiously as she tried to counteract the forces of the huge number of Murrays that stood around the cavern, who were attempting to turn the very air into dust in their efforts to stop the attempted rescue.

No longer did she have her eyes shut as, for the first time since returning to being her 'proper' self in this dimension, her normal sight and her matter sight combined as they had always used to do. This allowed her to both visually see the battle, as well as sense the matter involved in each and every part of it. She could see the Murrays physically pulling their bodies back together after being struck by Jake, as well as watch the atoms themselves glue back to one another to form molecules to hold the sliced bodies together.

All around her time seemed to slow, slow to the point where she could see the tiny flakes of dust float up as Will ran towards her across the crude bridge.

The Murrays seemed to have realized they couldn't fight Jake's shadow form, so had instead decided to focus on Tabitha and Will. Tabitha's giant tentacle covered body, however, was able to withstand quite a punishment it seemed, and Jake, apparently realising that the Murrays were focusing on Tabitha, soon appeared at her side slashing at the Murrays that attempted to climb onto her.

Turning her attention back to Will, Angela used her power to destroy a pair of the Murrays that were focusing entirely on him; she was determined that she was not going to let him die. Not now. Not now that he was so close. As he, at last, reached the end of the crude bridge and ran onto the island time seemed to slow so completely that it stopped, there was suddenly nothing and nobody else in the world except for Angela and William.

They each looked at the other, each waiting on the other to make the first move. There were so many things to be said, so many emotions to be conveyed and then, as if of one mind, each of the pair reached out for the other and pulled them into a tight embrace. The battle around them seemed to melt away, it was as if they stood in the middle of a quiet field in the middle of nowhere, far from the horror, the bloodshed and the battle that raged on all sides around them. Just as they began to kiss there was a blinding flash of light beside them, bringing them both, and time, back to reality.

"Run!" Tabitha screamed her voice full of a manic urgency. "Run for your very lives!"

Angela felt her hand being grabbed and was soon being hauled, with Will, across the crude bridge linking the island to the shore. A ball of smoke appeared in front of them, rapidly turning itself into a human like figure, it stood with a shield, held before it in one arm, and a sword outstretched behind it in the other. Although Angela could sense that the figure was mere shadow she still braced for a hard collision as the group ran straight through figure.

Angela glanced over her shoulder as she ran, to try and see what had Tabitha so panicked, on seeing what lay behind her she faltered, just a little, before managing, somehow, to run even faster. The Murrays had managed to combine themselves into one giant, grotesque, figure. It had a set of three monstrous legs, each larger than a bus, and waved an impossible number of tree trunk like arms that grabbed at the ceiling and walls before throwing massive chunks of rock and concrete at the fleeing trio. But worse than every other aspect of this new gargantuan Murray was its hideous head, graced with an even more hideous face that sat, neckless, on its shoulders. Its three mouths, one on the usual orientation the other two vertical slits, opened in a roar of rage exposing rows and rows of sharp, pointed teeth. Four gaping holes in the centre of the head took the place of its nose and instead of a pair of eyes it wore two glistening clusters of hundreds, each eye capable of moving individually to see in any and every direction at once.

As pieces of rock the size of small to medium houses rained down, thrown by the massive Murray, Angela worked to rapidly dissolve any that seemed likely to land on the fleeing group. One of giant hunks of stone crashed through the bridge ahead of the fleeing group, causing them all to have to suddenly leap into the air to avoid falling into the cold, murky, water and with a thud they all landed on the other side of the bridge, crashing into a heap of tangled bodies. Untangling herself from the other two Angela saw that as they had landed, they had managed to roll from the bridge she had quickly and crudely constructed and onto the far more solid shore, right in front of the tunnel that the giant steel door usually sealed.

A strange wind seemed to slowly whistle down the tunnel and Angela watched as darkness and shadow itself seemed to race around them, caught in the wind like leaves on a breeze. It was then that she noticed that Jake wasn't with them, she had seen him appear before them, they had run right through him and she had assumed he had followed along behind them. She dragged herself to her feet, looking to see if she could see where he had gone.

On the shattered remains of the bridge a figure stood facing the monstrous Murray-creature, around the figure swirled a cloud of shadow and darkness, being pulled from wherever it hid by the strange wind, irresistibly drawn to where the shadowy-man stood. The giant, grotesque, Murray seemed to have forgotten all about Angela and the others and using her matter sight she saw that it was trying to wipe the shadowy-man, Jake, from existence. Atoms around the shadowy-man tore themselves from other atoms which were then hauled away, leaving the figure standing in a near perfect vacuum, but still the strange wind blew sucking in darkness and shadow from all around. As Angela watched the swirling cloud of shadow suddenly stopped swirling and hung momentarily in the air before pouring into Jake from all sides.

Angela watched, awestruck, as Jake rapidly increased in size, bigger and bigger he grew as he absorbed more and more of the shadow and darkness that had swirled around him. Soon he was as tall as the giant Murray, who continued, despite there being no affect on Jake, to attempt to wipe the shadow from existence. On Angela's right somebody sniffed and she turned to see Tabitha watching the scene with a strange mix of fear, sadness, awe and, what appeared to be, incredible joy on her face.

Angela stepped closer to Will, who wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. She could feel the tension in him as he, too, watched the scene unfolding before them, vast chunks of ceiling continued to rain down splashing heavily into the underground lake but they were no longer being thrown by the Murray but, instead, fell due to the weakening of the roof when the Murray had pulled parts of it away.

As she watched the two giants sizing each other up, her matter sight told her that Jakes sword and shield, somehow - impossibly - also now giant-sized, had become solid as, suddenly, the giant shadow lunged at the Murray, who created his own sword from the water that he stood knee-deep in. There was a tremendous clash of steel that caused the very air to shake and hum, leaving Angela's ears ringing. The Murray let out a roar of incoherent rage as Jakes sword again turned to shadow causing the Murray's next, massive, swing to knock him off balance. Jake's solid-again sword smashed into the side of the Murrays chest, but it was grabbed by half a dozen giant, swollen, hands that seemed to be attached to no arm at all and were instead just protruding from the bulk of the giant things body. The Murray spun his body sharply and the sword was pulled from Jakes hand, before he could turn it to shadow again, the hands dropped the sword and it fell, tumbling, with a splash into the water behind the giant being.

Jake staggered back from the Murray, whose laugh echoed throughout the cavern and down the passageway so loud that Angela had to cover her ears. "Fool!" roared the grotesque figure. "You think you can beat me! I am the _god_ of my kind, god of the entire _universe!_ You are _nothing_ to me, you are _pathetic_ and weak and I will crush you like the annoying insect you are!" The giant Murray advanced on the giant shadowy Jake as he slowly backed away, the pair soon engaging in that age-old dance of circling the enemy. The Murray continued to attempt to taunt Jake, declaring himself to be god again and again.

"Whilst I don't strictly believe in gods," Jake said, and despite that fact he said it in his usual off-handed manner, his voice suddenly filled the chamber, magnified in power as well as volume by his immense size. Angela watched, unsurprised, as it caused the Murray to flinch and cower ever so slightly. "I mostly don't believe in false, self-proclaimed gods." As he finished his sentence Angela sensed his right arm become solid and watched as it hurtled towards the Murrays giant, hideous, head, striking it with such force that the Murrays head spun almost completely around to face the other direction before its body caught up.

The Murray laughed, "I control _matter,_ the very fabric of existence now! Nothing you can do can harm me in any way!"

Angela saw with her matter sight that the Murray was rebuilding itself as it spoke, she attempted to stop it from being able to do so but was unsuccessful - the power of the combined Murrays was just too much for her, especially since she was already tired both from fighting the Murrays as William had run to her, and from her continued imprisonment. "Ah, the sand-fly attempts to take on God! Your powers are useless here little girl!" the giant Murray roared at her from across the cavern.

Jakes head spun around to face her and she thought she could make out a smile on the features of his pitch black, shadowed face.

"!Fruukgal-Ru" Jake called, "!Gysh ty jekap werlg"

"What is this?!" the Murray roared from his three mouths, causing the rows of teeth to glint once more, "you dare to speak that gibberish in front of me?! Me! God of the universe! Master of matter itself?!"

"Oh, I dare," Jake's loud, yet calm, voice replied as Tabitha suddenly grasped Angela's hand.

"Focus on me," she said, "try to force all your energy down through your arm, into your hand and then out into me. We can help, but we have to work together. All of us," she ended, looking at William and grabbing his hand as well. "Concentrate, feel the energy travelling through you, into your arm, down into your hand and into mine..."

"Why? What did he say?" William asked.

"The Light, give me your energy. Well that's it, I think. it's been a while..." Angela replied, as William looked shocked that she could translate the language Jacob had spoken. "What?" she asked, with a small smile, "I've travelled with these two for quite some time you know."

"Focus!" Tabitha hissed, harshly, at the pair.

Angela watched as Jake distracted the giant Murray while she focused as hard as she could on transferring her energy to Tabitha, not that she knew exactly how to do that. She knew Tabitha could just use her own ability to suck the energy from them, but the power of energy freely given was always greater than that of energy forcibly taken, something Tabitha had taught her when she had been a lot younger. She felt her hand grow warmer and warmer inside Tabitha's grasp and watched as Tabitha's whole body began to slowly glow brighter and brighter.

The Murray suddenly seemed to notice the group, "What are you doing?!" he roared swinging one of his many arms through the air, forming a giant rock that glowed with an intense heat and launching it through the air at the group. Pulling her hand from Tabitha's grip Angela threw both of her hands into the air in front of her. The giant glowing boulder continued to fly towards them as Angela fought it, but as it did so its leading edge turned to a trail of dust that flew out behind it, by the time it reached the group it was nothing more than a hot pebble, which fell, smoking harmlessly, at Angela's feet.

"Wow," William said, exhaling through his teeth, having witnessed for the first time the power of Angela's ability in action.

"!Bygash-Ru" Tabitha yelled, making the giant figure of Jake spin in her direction. "!Ty ulk puhut."

Jakes giant head bobbed down slightly in a giant nod of acknowledgement. "Now Murray," he said, "you shall feel a pain like nothing you have ever felt before. But first, I must ask, will you surrender to me?"

"Foolish idiot! I will _never_ surrender to you! I! AM! GOD!" the Murray roared, the last words so loud more rubble fell from the ceiling of the massive chamber.

Beside Angela, Tabitha grew into the giant tentacle creature she had shaped herself as earlier and walked to the water's edge. Angela watches as she spiralled all of the tentacles together, along her arm. Placing her hand on the water Angela watched as she discharged energy into it, she watched as the water glowed and bubbled, watched as Tabitha shrank in size rapidly returning to her human sized and shaped self, watched as she lay limply at the edge of the water, an arm and a leg floating lifelessly in it. She rushed to her side, pulling her away from the edge in case she fell in and held onto her, surprisingly cold, body. She looked at Will for support and he came and sat with her, placing his arm around her waist.

"I think she might be dead," whispered Angela, burying her face into William's chest. "I mean, I know she doesn't handle water very well, especially cold, dark water, but it's more than that..."

"Can she actually die?" William asked.

There was no time for Angela to respond however, as the still bubbling, glowing, water surged away from the lakes edge, racing towards Jake, who plunged an arm into the water and pulled out his sword. As he lifted it, it seemed to pull the water up with it, like iron filaments to a magnet. The sword glowed with energy and Jake charged at the Murray, this time the sword pierced the giant things chest. For a moment nothing happened, as the two giant beings stared into each other's face, noses mere centimetres from each other. Then, all of a sudden, the Murray began to scream, a horrible, ear shattering sound that made Angela want to curl up and die, a sound that caused more of the cavern to collapse; giant cracks appearing in the walls and ceiling.

Using her matter-sight Angela could see that the Murray was rapidly dissolving from the inside out and now she saw, and understood, what Tabitha had done: she had taken energy from William and herself, probably from the room all around them, combined it with Angela's own matter-controlling powers somehow and fed it into Jakes sword, via the water. Now the potent mix of energy and matter control ripped and tore at the inside of the Murray, Angela watched as a light seemed to shine from under his skin, bursting burst forth from his mouths, his nose-holes and ears, his eyes seemed to suddenly explode into a shower of glistening sparks that rained down onto the lake. Angela watched on as the atoms of his body were being ripped from one another, watched as the energy that held the atoms themselves together was transformed into the light that burst forth from him.

The massive Murray continued to scream in agony, staggering wildly about as Jake pulled his sword from it and struck at it again, severing its head which continued to scream as it fell into the remaining water with a bubbling hiss. The giant body staggered before beginning to sway and fall, exploding as it did so into billions of tiny fragments of glowing light, each smaller than a grain of sand. The giant shadowy figure of Jake turned and walked towards where William sat holding Angela as she held Tabitha. As he approached a cloud of darkness and shadow formed above him, as he diminished in size. Soon he sat down beside the huddled group, becoming entirely real and solid for the first time since entering the chamber, a look of sheer exhaustion drawn across his face.

"I think..." Angela began, "I think she might be... dead."

Jake placed a hand on Tabitha's still and seemingly lifeless body, he seemed to sense something in her that Angela could not. "Not yet she isn't, but she almost is."

He placed a hand on her forehead, "Tabs," he called, "Tabs!" He frowned at her unresponsiveness and moved his hand to her temple, placing his other hand on her opposite temple before leaning in close to her. He seemed to become a statue, only his eyes moving.

"He's stepped out of himself," William said, "but I don't see him at all. Where is he?"

"In her mind I think," Angela replied, watching intently.

"How is that even possible?" William asked.

"No idea..."

Suddenly Tabitha stirred slightly, there was a flash of light and Angela found herself holding a cigar-shaped, almost weightless object, like a roughly polished black stone, it feebly glinted in the light of the chamber. Jake seemed to jump a little and Angela knew he had returned to himself and with great care he took the cigar shaped object from Angela and held it up to his mouth where he gently blew on it, causing it to flare brightly, before carefully stuffing it down his shirt and holding it in front of his chest.

Seeing the look on Jakes face Angela spoke, "She'll be fine Jake, I know she will be."

Jake half smiled at her, then sighed. "I hope so. I can't go through it again Ange, I just can't..."

Angela placed a hand on his shoulder, which he attempted half-heartedly to shrug off, "I know," she said, her voice a quiet whisper, "I know."

The trio sat by the water as it slowly calmed from the torment it had been stirred into, William holding Angela in a strong and warm embrace, Jacob sitting slightly apart cradling the object that was Tabitha near his chest. Angela lost track of time, her mind was torn in two with the weight of the emotions passing through her - on one hand she was ecstatic that she was able to sit with Will again, to hold him and to feel him holding her, while on the other hand she was saddened by the sight before her, as she watched Jake cradling the cigar-like object that was one of her oldest friends, muttering to it quietly in the same ancient tongue he had asked her to transfer the energy to him in.

"What's he saying to her?" William whispered to her, barely audible over the sound of the water lapping at the underground lakes edge.

"That's not for us to know," Angela whispered back. "I'm glad you got here, I'm even _more_ glad you survived."

"I'm glad I could find you and that..." he trailed off.

"And that?" Angela prompted.

"Well... this is stupid, but... that you still want me, even though you are this... this all-powerful being of some sort."

"Of course I still want you! I _need_ you; you make life worth living. You're... A breath of fresh air."

William smiled at her and Angela knew that she had put his mind at ease.

For the moment anyway.

Time continued to slowly pass by, William slowly stroking Angela's hair as she half lay on him with her eyes closed, wondering how much longer they would stay here as her matter-sight told her that the building at the end of the tunnel still swarmed with Murrays, Murrays that knew their prisoner had broken free from her island. They were lining the passageway out of this place, preparing to fight them to the death, for that was the only option for any of them now. Both for the Murrays and for her little group, fight 'til you were dead. She could sense that there were still a few matter-controlling Murrays alive down there with the masses of more normal ones, though not as many as had been in this chamber guarding her. She could see the air seeming to dance around them as they waited, in an agitated state, for their enemy to appear.

Her thoughts and the silence were suddenly shattered by, oddly, laughter.

She opened her eyes in time to see Jake spring to his feet before them. "It's not over yet!" he yelled, "Not for us and not for them!"

Angela looked at him momentarily puzzled, then joined in with his laughter as she understood. Through Jake weaved the cigar shaped object, glowing brighter and brighter as it performed faster and faster figures of eight through him, his tired and haggard appearance seeming to change to a refreshed and revitalised one before her eyes. Angela looked at William and grinned, he smiled back at her and pulled her even closer to him in a massive hug.

There was a flash of bright white light as a glowing being appeared, long slightly-curled red hair sprouted from its head and fell about its shoulders, where it bounced for slightly longer than it seemed it should. The light dimmed and Tabitha stood, once again, before the group.

"Hello boys," she said with a sly grin, before hastily adding, "and, of course, Angela! Did you miss me?" She grabbed Jakes hand and pulled him towards her, "Thank-you, for finding me," she said, kissing him lightly, briefly, on the cheek.

Angela watched as Jake blushed slightly, "Awww," she said.

Jake spun to face her, a look of exaggerated anger on his refreshed, yet still somehow exhausted looking face. "Don't you 'awww' me, girl," he said, his façade of anger cracking as he broke into a grin. "So, onwards we go. I believe we should expect quite the welcoming party after all of this commotion!" Jake announced, in his usual cheerful, laughing in the face of danger, demeanour. "So, if anyone has a trick they'd like to pull out of the bag," he looked intently at Angela, "now is the time to whip it out." He paused for a moment, "That actually sounds a little dodgy doesn't it. I meant whip out any tricks. From their bags," he shook his head as Tabitha laughed, almost hysterically, at him.

"The giant!" said Angela, suddenly remembering her creation from earlier.

"The what?" asked William, as the pair walked hand-in-hand behind Jake and Tabitha down the passageway out of the vast cavern with its island prison.

"The stone-giant..." Angela said, trailing off into thought.

## Chapter 22

Tabitha fell into step beside Jake, walking close enough to brush shoulders, as they lead the group, heading into the tunnel that lead away from the cavern in which Angela had been held prisoner,

"What's the matter?" she asked him, quietly so the others wouldn't hear.

Jacob glanced at her but said nothing, continuing to walk along the passageway.

"Jake?" Tabitha tentatively asked again.

"I don't think we're going to survive this," Jakes voice said, echoing inside her head. "We're almost out of cards to pay, I'm utterly exhausted. It's been far too long since I've had to do anything like this. I've not had to fight them like this for so long and..." he paused, "and with you, you know how much recharging you takes from me."

Tabitha replied to Jake, this time via the telepathic link they shared. "I know Jake, I know."

"Don't get me wrong, Tabs, I don't mind doing it, I'd do anything for you, it's just that last one, I was already so drained from fighting, the effort it takes to bring together so much shadow..."

Tabitha laughed in her head, knowing Jake would hear her. "I said I know Jake. You worry too much. Anyway, I still remember the rules..."

"We may have to invoke one of them. So, if I tell you to go, I want you to gather the others and go."

"But -"

"No Tabs, no buts," he suddenly stopped walking, Tabitha heard Angela and William also stop behind them, as he placed his hands on her shoulders and looked her hard in the eye. "You know the rule," he said aloud, "if I tell you to leave, you leave. Do not argue. Just do it," he flashed a quick smile at her and resumed walking.

The group then walked in silence, whatever Angela and William had been quietly discussing, a few paces behind Jake and Tabitha, were seemingly put to an end by Jake's interruption. Tabitha's mind raced, for Jake to actually _state_ one of his rules was rare, obviously he _really_ didn't rate their chances of them all surviving even slightly. Usually Jake would just expect you to know his rules and follow them, but as he had actually _stated_ the rule Tabitha was worried, very worried. She had grown to like William in the short time she had known him and she loved both Angela and Jake so much, that she could barely stand the thought that slowly seeped, unwelcomed, into her mind; the thought that she might soon lose one, if not all, of them.

Light had become apparent at the end of the tunnel, slowly casting a dim light over the group of walkers as they approached it; Tabitha's own glow had faded slowly away as they had walked, in a futile effort to hide mask approach. Tabitha knew that the host of grey-suits waiting at the end of the passage could see them now, knew if there were any able to control matter with them that they had seen them coming down the corridor long ago, knew it wouldn't be long before they launched an attack. That was, of course, unless they were going to wait until the group got closer so as to press their advantage of numbers, 'That's more likely,' Tabitha thought, 'they'll definitely want to press their advantage after what happened back there.'

"Hang on a minute," Angela's voice suddenly instructed from behind her. Tabitha turned around to see Angela holding her hands up in front of her, carefully she worked her fingers around in the air. "Carry on," she said, causing Jake to look at her questioningly. "You'll see," she laughed.

Tabitha smiled at Angela, knowing exactly what she was doing. Not telling Jake things was a game the two of them regularly played, since Jake _had_ to know _everything_. Tabitha suspected what Angela had been doing may have something to do with the glass ball of energy she had left her with earlier, though what Angela had crafted around it she didn't know, but she guessed it was something to do with a giant, Angela had mentioned a giant before they all left the prison chamber after all.

As the group approached the waiting grey-suited men, Tabitha began to be able to distinguish individuals from the mob. There were hundreds, if not thousands of them crammed into the narrow passageway. The mob filled the entire passage back to the intersection of tunnels, where she guessed they probably split off into the various corridors and stairwells, each waiting for the crowd to move forward so that they could join the fray. She turned to Angela, "Can you tunnel us out of here?"

"Maybe I could," Angela replied, "but it'd take a while. We're quite some way down," she ended, looking up at rock above her as she walked.

"If we get to a spot you think you can get us through, let me know and then do it. Outside inwards, so they don't suspect, not right until the last moment. If we're providing enough of a distraction, they hopefully won't be able to sense you tunnelling us out of here."

Angela nodded, "You're the boss."

William looked perplexed, "I thought he was the boss," he said, pointing at Jakes back.

"Oh, he _thinks_ he is," said Tabitha with a smile, "but it's me that runs the show, isn't that right Jake?"

"Huh? What? Yes, yes. No. Wait, what?" Jake replied, as if being woken from a deep sleep and being forced to answer a question.

"See?" Tabitha said, with a wink and a smile in Jakes direction. She heard Angela explaining to William in a whisper as they trudged along behind her and Jake, "If anyone is 'The Boss', it'd be Jake. But him and Tabitha have a sort of psychic link thing going on and as Jake sometimes, well always, has issues explaining what he wants, she does it for him quite often, with her own spin on it, of course. Or something like that anyway, sometimes I think they are one person in two bodies..."

"Oh..." Tabitha heard William reply.

The whispered conversation behind her was suddenly interrupted as the closest of the grey-suited men began to speak to the approaching group.

"Surrender to us," he half-yelled down the corridor, "there is no escape from here. Surrender to us and become part of something bigger, much bigger and much better, than yourselves."

Jake raised a hand, signalling to the group to stop walking. "Have you not learnt how this works _yet_? The answer _is_ no. The answer always _has_ been no. The answer always _will_ be no," Jakes voice, a little strained and tired though at no more than talking volume, echoed back down the corridor towards the grey-suited men. "You will step aside now and let us pass, freely, from this place."

"If you do not -" the grey-suited man began, before being interrupted by Jake.

"Save your breath. Your threats are empty and old. I have heard them all before, and, yet, I stand before you so that you can again make them. I will, however, give _you_ a choice."

Tabitha looked across at Jake, realizing, in that moment, that though he had become a lot harder and seemed more emotionally detached than he had been before her capture, he was _definitely_ still the Jake she loved: his giving the suited-men a choice, despite all they had done proved it.

"You can walk free from this place, as long as you never again slaughter another race of people just to somehow improve yourselves. And know, if you _do_ leave and you _do_ attack again, that I _will_ find you and you _will_ pay for your actions."

"So, far you have not offered us a choice. You have offered us only an ultimatum, what is the other option?"

"What is the other option?" Jacob asked, his voice mocking. "Why, that's simple. You all die. Here and now. Those are your options, your _only_ options. Make your choice, choose wisely," Jake said staring down the corridor at the grey-suited man. Tabitha could feel the air around Jake buzzing with energy, she took a deep breath, breathing it all in, letting it fill her lungs, letting it seep into every fibre of her being. Over the years she had come to find that in moments of extreme emotion, Jake released an energy that was so pure she could live off it alone if she needed to, without having to recharge in her usual fashion. She exhaled slowly, savouring the feeling of that pure energy that coursed through her, bringing a soft smile to her face.

"You lecture us on our threats, yet you make your own? Have we not also heard _your_ threats before? Your own hollow threats? We still stand before you, like you before us, and no matter how hard you try you will not, you cannot, defeat us," the grey-suited man said at length, interrupting Tabitha's wandering thoughts.

"Yes," Jake replied, "yet, unlike you, I still let you have a choice."

"And what, tell me, gives you the right to force us to choose. Why can you not just let us live as we want to live?"

Tabitha thought for a moment that they had trapped Jake with this question, for he stood silent for a few moments, she knew he liked to let life take its natural path where he could. Yet, just as she decided that he had no answer, he responded.

"Because what you _want_ and what you _need_ are not the same thing. You have _chosen_ to destroy race after race in your greed, in your desire for power, for control. You will not rest until you have destroyed every race in the universe, leaving you and only you. You do not _need_ to do this; you _want_ to do this. A right! You demand that _I_ explain what right _I_ have to force this decision on you? What right do _you_ have? What right do you have to slaughter so many innocent people?" Tabitha watched as Jakes whole body shook with anger, his voice finally raised; now he was yelling.

The grey-suited man smirked back at Jake and the others, "You didn't answer the question. What gives you the right to force us to live by _your_ rules, _your_ view of the universe? What gave _you_ the right to make us choose?"

"What gives _me_ the right? _You do._ You give me that right." The grey-suited man went to interrupt, but Jake talked over the top of him, "You give me that right with _every_ single planet you destroy, _every_ single race you obliterate, _every_ single soul you crush and kill. Someone has to hold you accountable and that someone is me."

"Why? Why _you_?"

"Why me?" Jake laughed now, a hard, bitter laugh. "Because you made me, all those years ago now, you made me this," Jake paused for a second then continued, "and because someone had to make a stand against you... and I didn't see anyone else volunteering," Jake replied.

Tabitha knew, however, that this wasn't the whole truth. It wasn't that nobody else volunteered, many had and many had perished in their attempts. No, the truth was that the pair of them had long ago worked out that, because of the side effects of their first escape from the grey-suited men, they were the only ones _able_ to stop them - like Jake had said, the suited men had made him, had made her. Others, like Angela, could try to fight but in the end their attempts would be futile: the grey-suited men would eventually find a way to harness that races powers, strengths or abilities and spread it through their gene pool. They would destroy the race they had taken the ability from, if not through skill then through their sheer numbers.

"So, you put your hand up to be the universe's saviour, its protector. How very _noble_ of you."

"Yes. I did. However, I don't do it for any noble reason like you seem to think. I do it to save myself, to save my friends," Jake replied, glancing at Tabitha.

"Then you are a fool! You cannot defeat us! If you destroy us there is _always_ more!"

Tabitha had, of course, heard Jake and the grey-suits hammer out various takes on this argument on uncountable previous occasions: it was like they were all stuck in a ridiculous loop, cursed to be repeating the same things over and over again for all of eternity. While the grey-suited men presented a good point on never being able to eradicate them, as these, uncountable, back-and-forth exchanges had proved, Jake was following a well-established plan: these arguments were more than mere wastes of time. Jake used the arguments to gather information from the grey-suited men. He truly believed that with enough information he could one day defeat them once and for all. "Knowledge is power Tabs," he had said, "one day I will have the knowledge, therefore the power, to defeat them."

"You, Murray, are the fool for thinking that the universe will let you get away with wiping out every species you come across," Jake replied to the grey-suited man, interrupting Tabitha's thoughts again.

"So, far 'the universe' hasn't put up much of a fight."

"Has it not? Then why am I still alive? Why is Tabitha Rose still here? Why are any of us here to stand against you? And you haven't given me your answer yet, what do you choose?"

The grey-suited man laughed and as the sound echoed through the corridor it increased in volume as more and more of the crowd joined him. "You should walk away, boy, we have you vastly outnumbered, hugely out-skilled and incredibly out-witted. Walk away while you can."

Tabitha was incredibly surprised at Jakes reply when he gave it, it was one he had never uttered before. "Would you promise to never attack me, or any of my companions here, ever again?"

The grey-suited man also seemed taken aback by this response, for he said nothing for a few moments, leaving the corridor eerily silent after the enormous noise from the laughter just seconds earlier. A shiver of cold ran down Tabitha's spine and she instinctively moved closer to Jake, closer to that warm energy that was his presence. When this was finally over, she would tell him about how the thought of him was what had kept her going over the long, long years she had been imprisoned. Perhaps she would tell him she loved him, though she knew that _he_ already knew that she loved him - just like she knew he loved her, without either of them having to tell the other. It was there, disguised as a glimmer in Jakes eye whenever he looked at her, the way he would often soften his voice to talk to her... They had always remained 'just friends', peculiar in its intimacy that their relationship was, and, in this moment - but not for the first time, she hoped that maybe they might finally be able to move past that and onto something more. Suddenly realizing that she had zoned out of the conversation taking place in the echoing corridor she quickly tuned back in.

"You know what, I don't believe you," Jake was saying. "The thought of us running around freely would eat at you. Eat at you and eat at you until, eventually, one day, a long time from now, or maybe next week, maybe tomorrow, you'd come after us. You may have destroyed the whole of civilization in the universe by then, but you'd still know about us: you'd know we hadn't been converted. And then in the darkness of a universe with you as its only life, then, yes, then you would come for us."

"I think that's what you _want_ to believe," the grey-suited man replied. The man had slowly been closing the distance between himself and the quartet and Tabitha saw with a jolt that he was only a handful of metres away from where she stood now. "My people tried to strike this same deal with you eons ago and you blatantly walked all over them. If anything, _boy_ , we shouldn't trust _you_!" The grey-suited man spat out the last sentence, as one would spit something unpleasant tasting to the ground.

"You took something, someone that I... I... Someone that..." Jake looked in Tabitha's direction, she felt her heart race then seem to plummet as Jake continued, "Someone that's very important to me. What was I supposed to do? Roll over and let you continue to trample the universe?" His shoulders seemed to slump a little, Tabitha knowing that what he had finally uttered was little substitute for what he had intended to say, she reached for his hand and squeezed it. "When I went to meet with your people, to meet to make that deal I didn't know. I didn't know she was missing, I thought she would catch me up within hours. But she didn't catch up with me and then I knew. Oh, yes, I knew what you had done."

"We had the Leech _before_ any attempt at making a deal was made."

"You failed to tell me, when I _specifically_ asked if you had captured anything from that planet that we stood on, you failed to tell me you had. You lied to my face in your efforts to make a deal."

"We didn't know the Leech meant so much to you, we thought it was just a thing, many of the worlds we have captured have had strange creatures roaming in the wilds that the inhabitants knew nothing of. We thought -"

"I asked if you had captured _anything!_ _Anything_ _at_ _all_ from that world and you lied! Your whole deal was founded on a _lie_! You said you hadn't captured _anything_ and you _had!_ And you _knew_ you had; you _knew_ it was a lie!" Jakes voice shook, again, with anger - more than anger, with a rage Tabitha hadn't seen from him before.

The air was filled with an almost palpable tension when a voice spoke up from behind Jake and Tabitha, causing them to both spin around to face it.

"If I may say something," said William, to everyone's surprise, a little shakily. He walked around Tabitha and stood in front of the grey-suited man. "I think that you, and the filth that is your kind, should go and rot in whatever passes for hell in this universe."

"Ah," said the grey-suited man, in feign surprise. "The little boy from the other dimension has finally plucked up the courage to say something. Well done little boy, bravo! Now shut up about what you don't understand. The people with intelligence are talking."

Angela pushed her way past Tabitha to stand at Williams side, "Shut up!" she barked at the grey-suited man. "All we've heard from you is smooth-talking lies and pointless, endless, drivel. Make your choice! Walk away or fight us, fight us here and now!"

Tabitha looked around and caught Jakes eye, he was looking as surprised as she felt, this was a sudden twist of events neither had seen coming.

"Yeah! What she said!" William added, his voice strong and without a hint of the uncertainty of just moments before.

"And why should I listen to you pathetic weaklings?" asked the grey-suited man. "Your leader there was about to do us all a peace deal."

Tabitha watched as Angela spun on Jake, her voice loud, almost to the point of shouting. "Someone once said that it doesn't matter what you do with life, as long as what you do with it is what is right. _How_ is doing a deal with these vermin, this scum of the universe, right? Tell me, how is a deal with them _right_? How is it _right_ Jake?" She lowered her voice, almost to a whisper, "Do you remember who said it Jake? Do you? It was a long time ago, a long way from here, but it was you. You said it Jake."

Jakes expression answered her questions for him, he closed his eyes and lowered his head - unable to face the glare from Angela.

"That's what I thought," she said.

"Make your choice Murray!" William said, his tone surprisingly commanding, taking a step towards the grey-suited man.

"So, you are saying it is _right_ to take thousands of lives? To slaughter thousands of _our_ people? You are saying that that is _right_?" The grey-suited man asked, turning to Angela.

"Yes. I am. I have seen your world; I have been stuck in it for a decade and I know what it is, what it _all_ is. It's hatred. Pure hatred. All that you do is hate. You hate everything that isn't the same as you and you will do anything and everything in your power to eradicate individuality, to make everything the same. You take what makes people, races, entire galaxies unique and you make it part of you so that in the end there will be nothing, nothing left but you. You have wiped out entire planets for no reason at all, not even with the pathetic excuse of taking their traits, because you deemed that planets traits 'unworthy' of adding to your collective, because you didn't like the way they did things, their uniqueness. You wiped them out because they weren't the same as you. That you even _exist_ makes me sick."

The grey-suited man seemed to ignore William and Angela's presence once more and spoke directly to Jake, "So, boy, what's it going to be? Your little group here wants me to choose, but I think that _you_ should choose. Just think, you could have peace, you could finally be safe from being attacked and live out your days in painless, worry-free bliss with not a care, or a threat, in the universe."

Tabitha watched Jake intently; she could almost see his mind arguing with itself - she knew he was tired of fighting and here, at last, was a chance to get away from it. Yet she knew Jake was also a very black and white, right and wrong, sort of person. She knew what Angela had said to him would have struck a chord. She could almost hear his brain working as he weighed up freedom from fighting against doing what he thought was right. No, not what he _thought_ was right - what _was_ right. At last he looked up and, staring into the grey-suited mans eyes, spoke.

"My choice is made Murray and as it always has been, so it always will be. So, you make your choice now: leave this place and promise to never attack anyone again or fight us right here, right now. And die."

Tabitha smiled, she knew Jake would always side on the side of what was right as opposed to what he, personally, wanted. Needs, he often said, outweighed wants - and the universe, and all of its peoples, needed him to fight. It was a truth he would never admit, he'd just say that it would be wrong to let them all die just so he could be spared having to fight and so it was _right_ to fight the grey-suited men. "You heard him, what do you choose?" Tabitha asked the grey-suited man, speaking to him for the first time and noticing as she uttered the words, the feeling of a bond of unity amongst the four of them, it felt as if when they stood together nothing could defeat them.

"We choose," the grey-suited man said at length, "to kill you now!"

A hailstorm of energy-gun fire suddenly raced through the corridor towards where the group stood. Tabitha threw a hand up in front of her and the balls of energy came to an instant stop before hurtling back the way they had come, killing several grey-suited men as they crashed into them. A roaring sound echoed from the distance, far down the corridor, followed by a shout, "Giant! Giant!"

Beside her Angela laughed, "Let's see how they handle that!"

There was a ringing of steel and a whooshing sound and Tabitha turned to see a shadow fleet past her, up onto the roof and down along the corridor. It raced along for about half the length of the passage before it solidified and Jake fell from the air onto a group of the grey-suited men, his sword a flash of glinting light as he hacked his way through them, hacked through them as if they were matchsticks.

There was a yell beside her and she watched as William lunged at the grey-suited man, the 'Murray' they had been calling him, that had been speaking to them. He grabbed the man around the throat, hissed something indistinct through his teeth at the man and snapped his neck with his bare hands, before arming his energy gun and attacking the forward-charging group of grey-suited men with it. Flashes of light filled the corridor as he blasted through them, sending bodies and limbs hurtling through the air.

"Tabitha," Angela said to her quietly, "if we can get to about where Jake is, we should be able to get out. I started the tunnel while they were distracted talking to Jake, but there are Murrays here that can do what I can do and they keep counteracting me so I will have to kill them first."

"Want a hand?" Tabitha asked.

"I hoped you'd say that!" Angela replied, flashing Tabitha a grim smile.

The pair ran forwards into the fray, passing William who had abandoned his energy gun and was fighting now either hand to hand or with his sword as the opportunity presented itself. Tabitha had no problem finding those capable of controlling matter like Angela could: they had a very unique energy about them. She forced herself through the other, non-matter-controlling grey-suited men - the other Murrays - grabbing their chests and sucking the energy from them through her hand until they were too weak to stand, which is when Angela would obliterate them from existence.

"Don't let that lot that can do what you do group together," Tabitha warned. "Jake won't be able to pull off a trick like that one back there again for a while." Angela nodded in reply, pushing through the crowd to where she had spotted the first of the matter-controlling grey-suited men. Nothing seemed to touch Angela as she charged through the hordes of grey-suited men like a miniature tornado and Tabitha knew, as she glanced at Angela's hands and saw them and her fingers working furiously, that it was due to her turning the air around her into a type of everything-proof bubble.

Tabitha closed her eyes and in a flash of light vanished, before re-appearing at Angela's side as she began to grapple with the first of the matter-controlling Murrays. Another roar echoed along the corridor, much louder this time: the giant was closing in on them slaughtering grey-suited men left and right as it came - it was seemingly indestructible. Tabitha glanced at Angela, "It can regenerate itself at a remarkable speed," Angela said, "one of my best ideas ever!"

Tabitha and Angela fought the matter-controlling Murrays in the same way as they had fought the others, Tabitha drained the energy from them until they were so weakened that they couldn't control their ability anymore, which is when Angela moved in for the kill. Half a dozen or more them were turned to nothing before Angela looked at Tabitha, nodded a response to Tabitha's unasked question, and began to work her hands to create a tunnel above them in which they could escape into.

Tabitha patrolled around Angela, jumping from location to location by turning into a beam of light and appearing in front of grey-suited men as they closed in. When she appeared, she either drained all the energy from them, including the energy holding their very atoms together, or blasted them with balls of energy that she summoned up from within herself and fired from her hands. Her job became steadily easier as, at first, William and then Jake fought their way to where she and Angela stood, aiding her efforts to hold back the hordes of grey-suited men pressing in upon them. The giant crashed down the narrow corridor, stomping and smashing its way along, trampling their enemies as it came. Suddenly, with a tremendous roar, it spewed forth lava from its mouth, setting ablaze the grey-suited men as if they were made of straw.

"Magnificent creature. It's been so long since I've seen one of those creations of yours," she heard Jake say as light suddenly poured in from the ceiling above them.

## Chapter 23

William squeezed his eyes shut, dazed by the bright light pouring in from above his head. Opening his them again he watched as a stone stairway seemed to form itself, bursting up from the rough floor of the tunnel and before he could begin to understand what was happening, he was being forced up the stairs by Jacob.

Behind him he watched as Angela and then Tabitha appeared at the foot of the stair, Angela seeming to be either supporting or dragging Tabitha, who seemed to be completely lifeless. William had no idea what had happened in the seconds he had spent scrambling up the stairs into the tunnel itself, but rushed back down the few stairs he had climbed to help Angela. Grabbing Tabitha's feet, he and Angela carried her into the tunnel, before William asked what had happened.

"I dunno," said Angela frantically, "one second Jake was ushering us towards the stairs, the next both of them collapsed-"

" _Both_ of them?"

"Yes, _both_ of them. Anyway, Jake managed to tell me to get Tabitha out, so I got her out." She looked down the stairs and William followed her gaze and saw Jacobs body lying there. "But we have to go. we have to go now!" she said, her voice harried and worn, as she reached underneath Tabitha's arms and began dragging her up the tunnel while William continued to stand, as if rooted to the spot, looking back down the stairs as more and more of the Murrays appeared, surrounding Jacob. "Will!" Angela yelled at him. "We have to go! NOW!"

The words had barely passed her lips when Jacob's body suddenly seemed to collapse in upon itself, turning to shadow as it did so.

"Get rid of those stairs, _quick_ ly!" A voice commanded from up the tunnel and William spun around to see Jacob standing there, his mind reeling in confusion as Tabitha suddenly regained consciousness and stood, leaning heavily against the wall.

"The stairs Angela, the stairs!" Jacob yelled at Angela, who jumped as if startled from a dream, she quickly destroyed the crude stairs and sealed the tunnel, blocking Williams view of the Murrays scrambling to reach them. "We have to go! We have to go now!" Jake yelled again, racing down the tunnel and hoisting Tabitha onto his back, piggy-back style, though he himself was rather unstable on his feet. He grabbed Angela's hand and ordered William to lead the way. As William squeezed past Angela, he took her hand as well, half dragging her for the first few steps before she began to follow him up the tunnel, glancing back he saw Jacob let go of Angela and hold onto Tabitha with each of his hands.

"I don't understand," he called back down the tunnel as he tried to run up the steep slope the tunnel had been cut in, "what happened?"

"Energy..." Jacob panted from behind Angela, William waited for him to say more but he didn't.

"What -" he began, but was cut off by Angela.

"Leave it for the moment Will, let's just get out of here."

"Ange," came Jacob's strained voice, "can you fill the tunnel in behind us as we go? We don't want them breaking the seal and pouring in here after us. I couldn't handle it..."

"Sure can," she replied.

William focused his attention on climbing up the steeply stepped floor of the tunnel, the light had dimmed now making the need to focus on the uneven steeps even more apparent. The twin suns had been directly at the end of the tunnel when it first opened up above him, but they had moved steadily away leaving only a feeble glow to light the passageway.

From behind him William heard words being whispered in a language he did not understand, then Jacobs voice replying loudly and clearly, but again in the strange language. "Ki celgk et werlg..." Jacob's voice trailed off.

"What was that?" William asked, a little impatiently, sick of being the only one unable to understand what was being said.

Angela replied, "An Energy being," she said.

"Yes," Jacob said, his voice floating up the tunnel, "Energy being is what I said. Nothing else could have... could have done what it did."

"You mean knocked the two of you unconscious like that?" asked William over his shoulder as he continued to climb, albeit now at a snail's pace.

"Yes," Jacob replied, leaving his answer at that.

After what seemed like hours, William's tired legs felt the steepness of the stairs change, its steps became wider and then levelled off as he emerged from the tunnel into a small, tussock filled, valley. Ahead of him, sparkling in the setting sun, ran a river, undoubtedly the river that had over the years carved out this valley. A strange bird let out a screech at his sudden appearance and took flight, soon vanishing in the distance.

Behind him Angela, followed by Jacob, still carrying Tabitha on his back, emerged from the tunnel, William watched as Angela wiped all trace of the tunnel from existence as Jacob placed Tabitha gently down, then collapsed to the ground beside her.

"Now, we rest. For a little bit. While we can," he said.

"Shouldn't we get as far from here as possible?" asked William, annoyed at Jacob for wanting to sit around when he thought their best move should be to flee, to put as much distance between this place and themselves as they could.

"We rest, while we can," Jacob repeated, his tone one of finality.

William began to argue but Angela grasped his hand, "Let's sit down," she said quietly and William, to his surprise, found himself sitting down. He placed his arm around Angela as she nestled into his side, the depth of his feeling for her washing over him.

"So," he said, "what was that you were on about before? An energy being?"

Tabitha, who now sat back to back with Jacob, leaning heavily against him to keep herself upright, turned to look at William mumbling something, seemingly in that other language, before finally managing to form coherent words he could understand. "I'm an energy being," she said. "As you know I was caught by these grey-suited men, Murrays you call them, many, _many_ , years ago. They held me prisoner for ages, until my escape - for which I cannot thank you enough for assisting with. Over that time, they tried and tried to replicate what I can do within their own kind, as that is their way, it is what they do - sometimes I wonder if they know anything else. Anyway, time and time again they failed, usually in some sort of massive explosion - usually nuclear explosions, vaporising their entire facilities. They couldn't control the energy; their atoms tore themselves apart..." her voice trailed off and she took a few moments to gather herself. "Anyway, they seem to have somehow got around that problem. They seem to have targeted Jake, tried to pull the energy, the life from him." As she spoke, she looked away from William and reaching around behind herself she grabbed Jacobs hand - he seemed to be sleeping, his breathing was slow and deep and his eyes were shut. "I, of course noticed the energy drain, so tried to feed some of mine back into Jake. He won't admit it, but after that battle with that hideous creature in Angela's prison, he was exhausted, exhausted to the point of near death. So, I had to transfer energy back to him, but they must have sensed me do it, because as I tried to pour energy back into him, they increased their draw on Jake. He must have died for a second there I think, for me to pass out like that..." she paused again, as if trying to find the right words to say.

William watched her intently as she told her story, lightly stroking Angela's shoulder as he did so. "Because the two of you are linked together?"

"Yes. I can survive without him, I'd just slowly get older like I had been doing before you freed me from that dreadful machine, but the moment of disconnection _can_ \- not always I don't think, but this is a first so maybe always - cause me to pass out. Then due to my energy-depleted state, because of feeding it back into Jake, the effects were a lot longer lasting than they would ordinarily be..."

"They have some kind of energy-Murray then?" Angela asked, quietly.

"I would say so," Tabitha replied, "possibly with a few of _your_ traits thrown in. Probably more than possibly, how else would they suddenly by able to hold themselves physically together..."

This revelation didn't bother William, but he felt Angela tense beside him, "What's up?" he asked her.

"The opposite of down," came a tired voice, "but only when you're inside a localized gravitational field, otherwise all directions are both up _and_ down."

Tabitha snorted, stifling a laugh, "I can't believe you still say that," she said, pushing back against Jacob.

"Yeah well, people continue to ask that question so they keep needing to be told," he replied.

"That's not what they mean though and you know it."

"I do know it, but it won't stop me saying it."

Pretending he hadn't been interrupted at all, William nudged Angela. "Well?"

"Don't you see?" she asked him. "It means that there is a Murray out there that can control energy _and_ matter. They could, potentially, destroy the entire universe. By themselves. They wouldn't need any help what-so-ever. It's probably why, as far as I know anyway, no such being exists naturally in the universe."

"Oh," William simply said, as he could think of nothing else to say. He sat for a few moments before he spoke again. "But... they can be stopped though, can't they?" He looked towards Jacob for an answer, but saw that both he and Tabitha appeared to have fallen asleep, still propped up against each other. "Poss," he asked Angela, calling her by her nickname, "they can be stopped, can't they?"

She turned so she could look into his face, "I dunno Will, I really don't. I mean, you saw what it did to Jake and Tabitha and I don't even think it was in the same room as them. I think it was in a whole different part of the building as I didn't see any new Murrays there, not even at the atomic level."

"So, we have no chance?"

"We can leave this dimension..." her voice trailed off as an expression of sadness filled her face.

"But that leaves everyone else in this universe to die, horribly, doesn't it?"

"Precisely," she replied.

"So... our only options are; we save ourselves and leave everyone to die, or we probably die in an effort to save everyone, everyone who will probably all get killed eventually anyway?" William asked.

"It would seem that way."

"Well that's just... just... unfair!" William responded, surprising himself by how upset the unfairness of it all made him. He had thought, hoped, once he had Angela safe that they would be able to live peacefully for the rest of their lives and yet now, _now_ , it seemed an entire universe's fate rested on a decision that the strange group, a group he found himself a part of, had to make. He was just a man - and in this universe apparently an exceptionally ordinary one at that - and he felt that it just shouldn't be up to him, or any of them, to take part in making any such decision, the consequences of either option were unbearable.

After leaving a few moments for William to think Angela asked him, "So, what do you think? Do we leave, or do you think we need to stay and fight?"

William paused in thought for a moment or two, "To be honest, I don't know. I don't know how effective we'd be in a fight to the death against this... this God-like Murray and of course any regular ones that might show up. But... it's actually quite hard to just say 'stuff it' and leave everyone else that lives in this universe. Not that I have ever really met any of them, to die."

Angela looked at him oddly, "You're a lot like him you know."

"Who? The grey-suits? I am not!"

"No... not Murray. Jake. Not always though, just sometimes. Like just now as that is almost _exactly_ what he would have said, certainly the sentiment he would have expressed anyway."

"Oh," William replied, unsure as to whether he was pleased about being likened to Jacob or not.

"Don't take it as an insult," Angela said, "'cause it's not. I know how you feel about him."

William brushed his hair from back from his face as he looked down into Angela's eyes before quietly saying, "You know, he isn't _that_ bad. Now that I understand better..." he trailed off as Jacob stirred, but seeing that he continued to sleep he carried on. "I mean. I still don't _like_ him, but I can see why you do, I think I can almost tolerate him now."

Angela smiled at him, "I'm glad about that," she said, shuffling around she lay on the ground in order to place her head in his lap, "now I suggest we copy those two and get some sleep as well."

"But, won't this 'Super-Murray' know where we are? Won't he attack us while we're sleeping?"

"Oh, I suppose he already _does_ know where we are, but who is to say when we'll next get a chance to sleep? One thing you need to get used to is sleeping whenever you can, it's a bit of a rule really."

"Fair enough," William replied with a sigh.

He watched Angela as she fell asleep, but try as he might he just couldn't follow suit. It just seemed, to him, to be completely idiotic to not have someone on guard, especially since tonight was such a dark night - only the stars lit the sky, there was no sign of the giant ringed planet of Jol.

An age seemed to pass slowly and silently by before Jacob stirred again, this time waking up. He shuffled and fidgeted before leaning his head back and resting it on Tabitha's shoulder, so that he was positioned to look up at the sky while still allowing her to remain propped up against him. William sat deadly still, unsure if Jacob was aware that he was awake and even less sure whether or not he wanted Jacob to know he was awake. He could hear Jacob quietly whispering to himself, this time not in some strange tongue but in plain English.

"If we go, we're all safe, but everyone will die. If we stay, we're likely to die _as well_ as everyone else. I should, we should, go... but..." his voice trailed off and he sighed.

His whispering and fidgeting seemed to have woken Tabitha up, for she spoke in a half-asleep fashion to Jacob. "It's not _just_ up to you Jake, we'll have to vote."

"I know," Jacob quietly replied.

"They're calling to you again, aren't they?" she asked him after several moments silence had passed between the pair.

William got the impression he wasn't supposed to be hearing the conversation and worked hard to try and block out what he could hear, though it was in vain.

"Yeah, they are, louder than ever before. I've been stuck down here for _so_ long now. Many, many, lives of men have passed. When I first arrived here the native inhabitants had only just discovered fire, now they whizz about in flying vehicles..."

"So, you haven't been back up since arriving here? What about in the other dimension?"

"No," Jacob sighed, "the planet I was on in the other dimension hasn't progressed to space flights for everybody yet and, as for here, well, here it wasn't long after our arrival that I figured out the trans-dimensional 'hibernation'. Then they came and they took Ange from me when I wasn't here to stop them... I've not been able to go back, not without her. That and the ship ran out of energy long ago without you to help recharge and repair it and, as you know, since it was grounded when it ran out of energy I couldn't even sun-mine the energy to recharge it either. So, I have been grounded down here, so far away from them, but still able to see them..." Jacob's voice trailed off.

"When this is all over, we'll go back. The both of us together, you and me. Just like the old times."

William heard her moving and, carefully looking in their direction, saw her move around to sit beside Jacob, who still sat staring at the sky. She put an hand on his shoulder and pushed him to the ground, lying beside him while the starlight reflected in their eyes.

"When it's over..."

"Yes, we'll go back up there, we'll go home. Maybe then they will stop calling to you."

"And then, maybe, just maybe I will feel young again. I feel so _old_ Tabs. Ever since I got stuck here with no way of travelling up to them... It makes me think sometimes that maybe I've lived too long. Far, far, too long Tabs... It feels like I'm a relic of a past best forgotten."

There were a few moments of silence before Tabitha spoke again, "I feel that too Jake; the universe has changed so much since we first took to the stars. But, there always is, still, something new, something different to see. Something to make us feel like we did when we first stepped out into the darkness, when at every turn there was something new, something mysterious. The universe is old, but it is almost infinite. There is much still to see..." Her voice trailed off and soon was replaced with a steady, slow and deep breathing.

"When it's over..." Jake murmured, slowly and gently stroking Tabitha's hair.

William watched the pair, Tabitha now lying half-draped across Jacob as she slept, wondering, again, why they had never actually become a couple. They seemed to know each other so well, seemed to have an understanding beyond his comprehension, probably beyond anyone's comprehension. He glanced back at them and noted that while he had been thinking Jacob had joined Tabitha in a deep sleep, as if the pair hadn't just been awake and talking.

"They both asleep again?" Angela asked, causing William to nearly jump out of his skin in fright.

"I think so," he said, "they look like they are anyway. How long have you been awake?"

"How long have _you_ been awake. I told you to get some sleep."

"Bit rich coming from you isn't it?"

"Fair enough," Angela replied. "I wish I knew what to do... I used to just look to Jake, he always had all the answers. But it seems he is at as much of a loss as we are."

"What was that stuff about things calling to him?" William asked, unsure if Angela would tell him, or even know the answer _to_ tell him.

"The stars call to him, he explained it once to me, in his usual round-about fashion. He said it was a bit like how the ocean calls to sailors and even, in the end, to those who have never sailed, but suddenly find themselves wanting to live by the sea as they grow older."

"So... there are no actual words?"

Angela laughed slightly, "No, no words - not that he has told me anyway. It's more of a feeling I think."

"Weird," William replied, "that's what that guy is. _And_ he just keeps getting weirder the more I find out more about him." William and Angela fell into silence, a safe and familiar silence that only the closest of people can share.

William jerked awake, aware that he must have finally fallen asleep, to find a clear blue sky above him, though he could tell by the slight chill in the air that it was still very, very early in the morning. Carefully sitting up, so as not to wake Angela who lay half over him, he looked around and saw no sign of Jacob or Tabitha anywhere. He nudged Angela slightly, then again harder, to wake her up.

"Wha's th' ma'er?" she asked groggily.

"They're not here," William said, watching what he had said slowly sink into Angela's still half-asleep mind before she began to look carefully around.

"Odd," she said, sounding a lot more awake, "and they didn't tell you where they were going?"

"No."

"Odder," she said as she stood up, "I wonder where they could be."

"You don't think they could've... you know," William pointed at the sky.

Angela looked at him for a moment, before realization dawned across her face. "No, the ship is a long way from here and would take a good while to fix, for anyone that isn't me of course, after all this time. They're probably just getting the lay of the land or something, nothing to worry over anyway I'm sure."

The first of the systems twin suns crested the hill on the other side of the valley as she spoke, instantly filling the air with warmth. William watched as Angela seemed to glow in the light, which seemed to shine onto her alone, making her appear as if she was an angel, sent from the heavens to guide him, though the illusion soon passed as the sun rose a fraction higher and the light began to fill the entire valley.

William got to his feet beside her, "Should we look for them do you think?"

"Nah, we'll give them a moment or two."

The words had barely left her lips when a beam of light seemed to stretch down from the sky before filling out into the form of Tabitha.

"Good morning!" she said cheerfully, "Jake should be along in just a moment. You're awake sooner than we expected..."

As if on cue, a ball of smoke-like shadow appeared at her side, taking on the form of Jacob as William watched. "Right," he said, "we best not go that way," he waved to his right, "as there is a small gathering of Murrays that can only be described as a large army. So, that leaves us with one option, up the valley. We'll follow the river."

"Up into the mountains?" William asked.

"That's the plan, as just between you and me," Jacob lent forward towards William, "I'm absolutely knackered still. If there is going to be a fight with _anyone_ I need, hell, we _all_ need, some time to recuperate or we'll be dead before we even get started."

"I take it there is an 'and' to this?" asked Angela.

"Of course there is! You know me so well! _And_... walking is good for you. Clears the mind and cleanses the soul. Something like that anyway." he ended with a child-like grin. "Off we go then!"

William fell into step beside Angela as the group walked down the gently sloped hillside towards the river so as to follow it on its course up into the mountains that loomed high beyond the valley. "So, when do you think we get to vote?" he asked.

"No idea," she replied, "though it will be soon. Jake doesn't like having no definite course of action."

"Nor do I," said William, "before we were coming to save you, now we're just.... drifting."

Angela smiled at him, holding out her hand which he took. "I'm very glad you came and saved me," she said.

## Chapter 24

The sweeping hills of the valley steadily became jagged and rough at the edges where they rubbed shoulders with the river, slowly but surely rising up to form harsh cliffs alongside the riverbed the group walked in. Angela watched as Jake sized them up, almost positive he was thinking what she was: if they were attacked here, there would be no way to escape. They could be boxed in from each end of the gorge and that would be it, game over.

Leading the way Tabitha turned to face the others, "Time for a break I think," she said as she sat on a large boulder beside the water that slowly slipped by; she looked at the water warily, as if afraid it might jump up suddenly and bite her. The rest of the group came to a stop, each finding somewhere comfortable to sit on the warm rocks that surrounded them in the river bed and for a while they sat in silence, taking in the sounds of the slowly flowing water, the slight rustle of unseen trees and the strange songs of birds.

"So, when do we decide what to do?" William asked, causing Angela to look at him, surprised that it was he that brought topic up.

"A vote," said Jake, who was rummaging around inside the bag he always carried. He produced a sheet of paper, which he tore into four pieces, and a pen. "It'll be a secret ballot of course. The options are, as I'm sure everyone here is well aware of," Angela had a strange feeling that Jacob knew everything that she and Will had discussed the night before, "are to 'A' stay and fight, possibly to our own deaths in an effort to save this universe from almost certain destruction. Or 'B' to make a clean break, open up a T.D.G. and leave this universe to whatever its fate may be." He wrote on a piece of the paper and dropped it into the bag before handing the pen and the pieces of paper to Tabitha. After a few moments of deliberation, where she tapped the end of the pen on her chin, she made her choice and also dropped the paper into the bag. William followed suit, taking even longer than Tabitha had to make up his mind, before passing the last piece of paper and the pen to Angela.

Angela's mind had been racing while everyone made their own decisions, yet she still hadn't been able to come to hers. After what seemed an eternity, though she was sure she had taken no longer than Will to decide, she wrote her decision down and dropped the piece of paper into the bag along with the rest. Jake shook the bag around, making Angela wonder if he was trying to lose the tiny scraps of paper in amongst everything else he had in there, before pulling out the pieces of paper and spreading them out on a large flat rock for each of them see.

The group crowded around as Jake announced that they would be staying, to try and do their bit to stop the destruction of the universe, to save countless lives. Angela walked over to the votes and saw all four of them had written the letter 'A' on their pieces of paper. She smiled to herself, knowing it was always going to be better if everyone picked the same thing than if one had picked something different. She knew if one of them had picked something different that one person would resent them all for taking the opposite course of action, despite it being a vote. The mass-decision to stay put her mind at ease and she went to sit with Will.

"I can't believe you opted to stay," she said.

"Don't worry," Will replied with a smile, "I hardly believe it either and I wrote it with my own hand."

"Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why did you choose to stay?"

"I don't really know. I don't know anybody from this universe, except you three of course, but I couldn't let them all die. I just... dunno," he let out a small laugh. "Maybe I'm just crazy. But then, if I am, so are you. Why did you choose to stay?"

Angela thought for a moment, trying to figure out how best to phrase what she wanted to say. "I chose to stay because this is my home, I belong here, I'm part of this world, this universe. Don't get me wrong, I mean, I have a home on Earth as well, but here everything is more vivid, more alive. I'm more... Part of this place. On Earth I never had a feeling of belonging, whereas here, here I belong. Do you see what I mean...?" She looked up, as she had been talking to her feet, to find William nodding.

"I think so... Would you believe me if I said I felt the same?"

Angela looked at him curiously, "Really?"

"Yes... it's strange. Ever since I arrived here it's like... I feel... It's hard to explain. It's as if I am a part of something bigger than I have ever known before," Will laughed. "Or something like that," he added.

Angela continued to look at him curiously, Will had never been one for being expressive, or deep, yet here he was being both of those things. She hugged him saying, "You know what? You really do surprise me sometimes."

Jake soon stood up from where he had been perched on one of the many large rocks that sat in the river bed, "Time we got going," he said. "But the question that remains is one of where exactly we are going to. Are we continuing up this river until they come to us, or are we going back down and taking the fight to them?" He caught Angela's eye suddenly, "What do you say?" he asked her.

Angela was momentarily confused into silence, it wasn't like Jake to share leadership, but recently he had seemed to be making a habit of it. "I say," she said after a moment's consideration, "that we keep going the way we're going."

"Keep going it is then, you two can lead the way if you like," he replied, indicating towards both her and Will.

Angela fell into step beside Will and glancing over her shoulder she saw that Tabitha and Jake were following, not too far behind, their body language seemed to indicate that they were in deep conversation, yet neither of their mouths moved nor could she hear any sound from them. It took her a moment, then she clicked.

Telepathy.

Straining her mind she could hear their voices quietly talking in her head, but since it was such an effort to hear she assumed they wanted to have a private chat. For them to want to talk privately was fair enough, after all it wasn't every day someone you had thought was dead for a large portion of your life turned out not to be dead and, from what she had gathered from Will's tale of how they came to rescue her, the pair had not really had the time to catch-up with one another.

As they walked the surrounding landscape seemed to strangely decay. Here and there the odd completely dead tree stood in the stones of the riverbed, their stark white bark seeming to defy the life bringing water that ran right past. Strange, dead, shrubs stuck out of the rock-strewn riverbed and, when she looked upwards towards the cliff-tops, Angela could no longer see a trim of green grass: instead it stuck rigidly up, dry and lifelessly pointing at the sky. The soil on the cliff-faces became dry and loose, falling away when touched in miniature dusty avalanches.

"I don't like this place," drifted Tabitha's voice from behind Angela, "it's cold and lifeless." Her words seemed to fall flat, as if the air sucked the life from the very sounds around them as they walked.

The air suddenly chilled as shadows sprung up and swallowed the gorge through which they walked, the suns dipping below the distant horizon. The change was near instant where they stood, it was as if someone had flicked a switch and it had changed from day to night in mere milliseconds. "Odd," she heard Jake murmur behind her, as a cold wind began to blow down the gorge. It whistled around the stones and boulders of the river bed, creaking and rustling its way through the dead foliage.

Stronger and stronger it blew, whipping up dust and small stones until the group could no longer walk against it, choosing instead to shelter behind a very, very large rock that Angela created by attaching smaller stones and some of the hurtling dust together. The rock became a wall shaped like a 'U' with the rounded end pointed into the strange wind, leaving the two straight sides to divert the wind around and away from the group that sat in its centre. The wind was so cold that Angela began to see condensation forming on the inner edge of the stone wall near where they sat, then as she watched she saw it slowly turn to ice.

"A fire I think," said Jake, producing a box of matches while the others gathered all the dead bits of wood that could be found inside their shelter. Jacob struck a match and then another and another until the fire roared into life and the group shuffled forward to huddle around its warm glow, while ice blew across above them like rain in the wind.

"This is some weather," Will said to Angela.

"I don't think it _is_ weather," she said in response. "What do you guys think?" She looked across the fire to where Tabitha and Jake huddled.

"I very much doubt that it is," said Jake, "everything is dead here for a reason. That and we're not high enough up for this sort of weather at this time of the year and even up there it rarely changes as suddenly as this."

The wind suddenly began to blow stronger, seeming to whisper with a voice through the dead gorge as it did so. Angela watched as Jake tilted his head slightly, before slowly raising himself up above the height of the wall. He staggered back as the wind blasted at him, Tabitha grabbed one of his hands and, rushing around the fire, Angela grabbed the other to help anchor him to where he stood. Angela strained hard to hold onto him before he suddenly sat back down.

"Well?" she asked him, "What is it then?".

"We shouldn't be here," he said, "this little storm is a warning."

"A warning? Who from?" queried Will.

"From the guardians of this place. They want us to know that we are not welcome here."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Will demanded.

"It means exactly what I just said, the guardians of this place do not want us here," Jake snapped.

"Grey-suits?" asked Tabitha.

"No," replied Jake his tone immediately softening as he spoke to her, "not them, it's something else, something _older_..." he trailed off, his expression one of deep thought.

William went to ask him something else but Angela cut him off with a quick 'Shh', she knew when Jake wasn't to be disturbed.

The group resumed huddling around the feeble fire that had burnt through most of its wood and was now giving out little in the way of heat or light.

"So, gang... oh... gang. There is something I never wanted to say and hopefully I never say it again. Let's start over, shall we? Yes. So... everyone, what do you want to do?" Jake asked at last. "Do we continue onwards towards the guardians of this particular place, or do we turn back?"

"Are these 'guardians' a threat to us? You said they didn't want us here," replied William, before anyone else could utter even a mumble of thought.

"Perhaps they could help us?" said Tabitha, "They have managed to conjure up one incredible storm just to try and stop us coming closer."

"But wouldn't that make it incredibly dangerous to go even closer still?" William asked.

Angela sat quietly while the others debated before she spoke up, "I think we need all the allies we can get -" William went to interject but she carried on speaking, "So, I say we continue on. We won't know what they think until we can ask them."

Jake nodded his approval and Angela knew they would be continuing; Tabitha was unlikely to disagree with Jake and Will probably wouldn't dare disagree with her. She looked towards Will, who gave a slight nod of his head. "So, it is settled then, we'll go on." The moment the words left her mouth the wind ceased, leaving only a creaking as the dead trees resumed their natural standing positions. "Now that, _that_ was uncanny!" she proclaimed.

"I don't like it," muttered William, "it's like they now _want_ us to come closer."

"I should think they do," said Jake, a little mysteriously, as he stood up and walked out of the shelter they had all huddled within. Angela followed him out and the pair led the others further up the gorge.

"I thought I was going to lose you," Jakes said, quietly to her.

"Never," Angela replied, "I'm invicible!" She flashed him a smile.

"I don't rate our chances you know. But... someone has to make a stand, it's more important now than it has been ever before."

"I know Jake, I know. I think Will has some serious doubts about this course of action. Though, when I spoke to him, he said he felt connected to this place somehow and that he should help save it. And... just between us, there's something different about him, but I cannot quite place it."

"So, you've noticed it too, I'm working on a theory..."

"When aren't you? Ready to share?"

"Not yet," Jake replied with a smile, Angela watched as it slowly slipped from his face and turned into a frown. "It's not a revenge crusade, you know. They have to be stopped before they destroy any more people. Out there," he slyly pointed upwards so that Will and Tabitha following along behind wouldn't see, "there could be other bands that have become just as powerful and they'll have to be stopped as well, if matter control, energy control evolved on one planet, one sun, it'd could certainly occur somewhere else out there in the universe."

"Why would it be a revenge crusade, she's come back. You have her back now Jake."

"It's not that and you know it's not."

Angela thought for a few moments, trying to remember what Jake was hinting at. As she thought, she noticed again the constant throbbing in her head, banging like a drum, though she was able to tune it out a bit it never went away. "My mind feels fuzzy and it's been feeling like that since I got back here now that I think about it. There's a throbbing, a banging like a drum... I don't feel... in sync with myself. Does that make sense to you?"

Jake stopped walking and looked at her, "Why didn't you tell me! If you'd allow me..." he said aloud, placing his hands on each side of her head and staring into her eyes.

"Oi!" Will yelled clearly thinking the worst, but Angela waved him off. Then followed a strange sensation, she suddenly felt as if she was floating up off the ground.

"Any moment now," said Jake, his tone reassuring. A few moments passed by then Angela felt as if she was hurtling towards the ground. She breathed in sharply as Jake removed his hands, "Better?"

"You were there," Angela said in a rush as her mind cleared, "right at the beginning. I remember you telling me. Yours was one of the first worlds they destroyed. _You_ were the one they captured to try and take from you your abilities but... you escaped."

Jake smiled at her, "Never try to catch a shadow, it really _is_ impossible! Well not entirely impossible it turns out, so instead they destroyed the planet before anyone could flee..."

"You've been the only one that could stop them," she continued, "because they couldn't touch you. But now, now, they can get to you just like everyone else; 'cause you may not be solid, but there is a lot of energy involved with what you are, what you do."

Jake nodded, "But that doesn't mean we should give up the fight does it?"

Angela looked at him for a long moment, "No, never. Between the four of us we are still ahead, can still do things he cannot."

"Exactly."

Behind them Will muttered something under his breath, while Tabitha looked pointedly at the cliffs around them. "Ah," said Angela, "I take it you hadn't told him your back-story yet?"

"Hadn't come up," Jake replied in his usual nonchalant manner.

A silence pressed itself upon the group, weighing them all down until at last Tabitha broke it by saying, "Well, this isn't getting us anywhere." She stepped past Jake and Angela and began to lead the group further up the gorge as it began to glow with faint light from the rising suns.

"Warmer already," Angela said, basking in a spot of sunlight. She felt much better now, the beating drum inside her mind was gone, as was the slight headache she had been suffering from ever since the Murrays had merged her two halves from the different dimensions together. She knew Jake had managed to fuse the two parts of her mind together again, she wasn't quite sure how he had done it, probably the same way he had called Tabitha to her body on edge of her lake surrounded prison. But this time, it had been done properly - instead of the crude way it had been done when the Murrays brought her through the gateway.

In the distance ahead of them a figure suddenly appeared, as if they had popped out of the ground. They were tall and thin, like a spindly tree and more than three times the height of Jake, who was the tallest of the group. Their arms were folded across a large dark green cloak that was furred around the collar and cuffs and stopped just short of sitting on the ground around their heels. Their skin was a dark blue, perhaps indigo, and textured, very finely, like tree-bark.

"Halt!" said the being, its voice somewhat musical even in the one word they had spoken. "Who dares to enter our realm?"

"I told you this was a bad idea," Will muttered into Angela's ear.

"We dare to enter," Angela said her voice loud and clear, "we come not in malice, or hate."

The tall being looked in her direction, stooping down to view her properly before doing the same to each of the others. "An odder party we have never seen!" said the being, seemingly referring to itself in the multiple. "Three of you bear the signs of having traversed from this universe to another and two of you are almost older, if not _actually_ older, than I." Angela noted it had used the term 'I' instead of 'us' as the being drew itself to its full height. As it did so Angela suddenly became aware that she was uncertain as to its gender; moments ago, she had thought it to be male, yet now she was certain it was female.

"Do you have anywhere where we might sit and talk?" Jake asked of the creature.

The being seemed to turn to stone as it thought this proposal over, it ceased all movement, even blinking, before speaking again at length. "We have decided amongst ourselves that we would indeed like to talk to such strange travellers." As the being finished the last syllable it vanished, as if it had never existed at all.

"Well -" Angela began, stopping as the ground began to shake. A large hole opened in the ground right beneath her feet and she found herself suddenly falling. Looking around she saw the others falling as well though, to her surprise, no rocks, stones, dirt or even sand managed to fall down into the sudden opening with them. Her fall was quickly plunged into darkness as the hole above her closed itself off. She fell and fell for who knew how far, for she had been unable to see the bottom before the light was cut off.

Using her matter-sight she saw the ground racing towards her at unbelievable speed, before the air began to thicken somehow. Her rate of descent slowed and she landed with a soft bump on the ground that had moments ago been racing towards her so fast it would surely have killed her had she hit it.

She peered around in the dark before a series of globes lit brightly up, causing her to shield her eyes. They were floating unsuspended in the air around the group, who stood in a vast underground cavern. Looking up Angela could see no tunnel that they could have fallen through, just a roof of stone no more than ten metres above her.

"Curious," Jake said who, Angela saw, was also looking at the roof.

The tall being, or another one like it, entered the room. "You will follow us now if you please," they said, before turning and leaving the cavern-like room. Angela walked beside William and grasped his hand as the pair fell in behind Jake and ahead of Tabitha to follow the tall creature.

"A strange turn of events," she said to Will.

"Very, was it what you were expecting?"

"No, not at all," she replied.

"What were you expecting?"

"Actually... That's a good point. You'd have thought I would have learnt to expect the unexpected, but it seems that I haven't..." she trailed off as they found themselves arriving in a vast chamber, lit with light from stained-glass windows high in its walls. In the centre of the chamber was a long wooden table, adorned with a veritable mountain of food.

"We do not entertain often, we hope this will suffice," the tall being said. "We will be with you shortly, please eat your fill." With that the creature left the room, everyone in the group watching it go.

There was a sudden crunching sound causing Angela to spin around.

"What?" said Will, spitting bits of, what appeared to be something quite akin to an apple he had bitten into everywhere, "I'm hungry!"

Angela laughed slightly and slid into a seat alongside the table, gathering what she wanted to eat from the many dishes of wide and varied foods and placing it on the plate before her.

## Chapter 25

William continued to gorge himself on food for quite some time, he hadn't realized until he saw the food and started eating just how hungry he was. He tried to remember the last time he had eaten, but couldn't quite put his finger on it. Out of the entire group he took the longest to finish eating, making sure he tried a sample of _everything_ that was on offer, ending with a sigh of content he pushed his plate away, "That was _excellent,_ " he said.

"You're a pig," Angela told him, the hint of a smile on her face.

Before he could respond several of the tall beings entered the room to clear the table, once this was done seven different beings entered the room, and, as the last of the others left, took their seats at the table opposite William and his companions.

For what seemed like an eternity nobody said anything, instead each side of the table cautiously eyed the other side up. William noticed that each of the beings had a different skin colour, one was green, another blue. There seemed to be a skin colour for each of the main colours in a rainbow, from red to violet, making William wonder if these seven were chosen to be present due to this very fact. He wondered if the colours represented anything, like rank or knowledge, or maybe even race, he knew very little about aliens, in fact, he thought, these were the first 'proper' aliens he had seen since he arrived on this world – everyone else was boringly human in appearance. William wished he could know what was going through Angela's head, she, after all, had a much greater understanding of this place than he did and might be able to shed some light on both what was happening and why these beings were different colours.

Looking at her he saw that she was staring at the beings opposite them, a thoughtful expression on her face. It was an expression shared by Tabitha, but oddly, or maybe not so oddly, not by Jacob who seemed to just be waiting for something. He appeared very impatient in his waiting, fidgeting around and occasionally drumming his fingers across the table top. William wondered why he didn't just say something, but then he thought that perhaps it was a custom to let the host speak first or something - who would know in this screwy universe where nothing seemed to be as it appeared at all.

"Yours is a most interesting party," said the green being, who sat central in the row of the tall beings, at last. "Before we get to business we ask if we could have names to call you by?"

"Of course," Tabitha replied. "To my left is Jacob, I am Tabitha Rose - you can call me Tabitha if you so wish. To my right is Angela and then to her right is William." William was surprised that it was Tabitha who answered; he had been expecting Jacob to be the one who spoke with the beings. "How can we address you?" she asked.

"We are the ancients of this place and so names are not of any importance to us. We are each other; we are one. You can refer to us as 'The Ancients' if you must," replied the green being, remaining the only one to have spoken.

William had the feeling of sitting in the principal's office, a feeling of suddenly being very small and unimportant, catching Angela's eye he thought that perhaps she was feeling the same.

After a brief pause the being continued to speak, "We will all speak through me. You will have no need to address any of the others." As the alien spoke it looked directly at Jacob before suddenly saying, "You." They then turned to face Tabitha and spoke again. "And you. Who are you? What species? We have not encountered the likes of you before, you feel to us like mortals, yet we can tell you have both outlived, many times over, the life-spans of your own species, we suspect you are both the lasts of your kind."

"We are the last," Tabitha replied with a brief nod, seeming to ignore the rest of the creature had said.

"In fact, you," the being turned towards Angela, "are also the last of your kind." The being tilted its head onto its side when it looked at William. "You, however, are something different, something new. You are the first of your kind to enter this realm..." it trailed off, almost as if it had intended to say something more.

"I'm from another dimension," William said.

"We know," replied the being, turning its attention back to Tabitha. "You have failed to answer the question we gave to you. What is your species?"

"As we are the representatives of the lasts of our species and as we have changed, so much, since our individual, original, species became extinct," began Tabitha indicating to herself and Jacob, "we feel we no longer have a species. We are each a species unto ourselves and, yet, each of us is the same as the other."

The creature paused in thought, or perhaps in communication with the others of its kind. "A strange response," it said at last, "but a fitting one we feel. Now, tell us, how do two mortals come to be two immortals?"

William was taken a little aback by Tabitha and Jacob suddenly being referred to as immortal. "Immortal?" he whispered to Angela.

"Yes," she replied to him in an equally hushed voice, "much like me. Haven't you been paying attention?"

William felt even more small and insignificant that he had just moments earlier, a feat he hadn't thought possible. He felt he had no place here - at a table where immortals sat - he had only ever thought of someone who was immortal as being a god or something like that, yet here there were seemingly ordinary, well ordinary for this universe, people that were apparently immortal. He wondered if that made those he sat with gods in their own right.

"As I indicated before, events that occurred in our pasts have led us to this altered state of being. However, it's important for you to know that we did not choose to be such, we did not ask to be and we did not try to be. Immortality was a by-product, a freak accident in a series of events far outside of our control and it is not true immortality, as I am sure you are aware. Of our party only Angela is truly immortal, being able to regenerate herself fully, without aid from an outside source," Tabitha said.

All of the beings turned to look at Angela, before the central being spoke again. "You are a matter-changer, we have had encounters with your kind before, in times long past. It is... pleasant to see that you have survived, that your kind lives on." Angela gave a curt nod, though William couldn't help but think that they way the being had paused before saying 'pleasant' was a little strange. "However, we were not aware, until seeing you in this moment, that you were the last. An evil unimaginable must have come to conquer such a powerful race, or did you destroy yourselves?" the being asked.

"Another race destroyed us," Angela quietly replied, looking to Tabitha for guidance.

"That same race is now on this planet, seeking to destroy anything and anyone that stands against it, that stands in its path," Tabitha told the colourful, tall, beings.

The beings however seemed not to hear and on looking up to see why they had not replied William found them all to be looking at him. "Yes?" he asked cautiously.

"What is the name of the planet you hail from?" the being asked him.

"Earth," replied William, looking to Angela who gave the tiniest of encouraging nods.

"Interesting," said the being before asking a question that really took William off guard. "Are all Earth-people naturally immortal?"

"No," replied William.

"That is even _more_ interesting. You have the air of immortality about you. Tell us, have you suffered any..." the being paused as if searching for the right word, " _wounds_ since arriving in this dimension?"

"Yes, I have been attacked and -"

The being spoke over the top of him, its voice filled with a strange urgency, "Where? You must show me the scars."

Angela gave him yet another slight nod when he looked towards her and William saw that both Tabitha and Jacob were now, also, looking in his direction, their expressions unreadable. William rolled up his sleeves but found no sign anywhere that he had been grievously harmed in the battle at the cliff-top against the Murrays. "I... I can't find any..." William proclaimed, feeling extremely confused.

"You did not regenerate him?" asked the being of Angela.

"No," she replied, her voice seeming to crack a little.

"It would seem that your Earth-person," said the being talking now in Tabitha's direction again, "is also immortal. Perhaps a side effect of having travelled from another dimension. Or perhaps something else, we think -"

For the first time in the meeting Jacob spoke, oddly interrupting the being as it spoke. "It is possible he is tied to the other dimension still and that dimension requires him to be as he was when he left, so therefore he can suffer no harm. Yes, he can be injured and what-have-you but it'll heal rapidly, Tabitha had noticed it earlier when she was checking him over after the attack he mentioned. It's a situation that is highly, _highly_ , improbable, however, it is the situation that would seem to offer the best possible reason for his state here – at this time."

The beings turned to face Jacob who said nothing more. He just shook his head slightly, a look of deep thought on his face. 'At this time?' William mouthed at Angela, who shrugged in response.

Tabitha resumed speaking on behalf of the group, "You would now seem to know who _we_ are, now who, what, are you? We could also be seen as being ancient, yet we do not recognise you, so, I ask again, who, what, are you?" William barely heard her, his mind was reeling at the sudden revelation he could, apparently, not be injured while in this dimension, he wondered if that meant he couldn't die... He decided that we would _have_ to talk with Angela about it as soon as he could. He looked towards her and saw she wore a look of surprise at the revelation that he was immortal, though it was mixed with something else, that looked like it may have been an expression of understanding. Once more he wondered what was going through her head.

"We are The Ancients," the central being said, repeating the name from earlier. "We always have been and always will be The Ancients."

"So, you have told us," replied Tabitha her tone remarkably patient, "but you know as well as I do that that was not what I was asking of you."

William looked between Tabitha and the beings who sat opposite, a tension had suddenly filled the air. It felt to him that these beings, these Ancients, were extremely unused to people not going along with exactly what they had said.

"We have existed since not long after the birth of this realm," said the being at last, "at first we were active participants and had a population numbering into the hundreds of billions across thousands of worlds. But, as time went on, we longed for a simpler life and as our population decreased, we withdrew to smaller communities, in order to be better connected with the universe: we had drifted far from it and it caused us to turn on ourselves, and on others. So, we decided, in order to become close to the universe again, in order to bring peace to our people, we needed to give up our technology and live, once again, off the land, off the physical manifestations of the universe itself."

William was slightly confused by this answer and on looking to Angela and the others saw that she was looking how he felt: perplexed. Tabitha was frowning slightly, and before screwing up her nose and Jacob was again showing signs of impatience, or perhaps anger, drumming his fingers on the table and fidgeting.

"An interesting history," Tabitha said after taking a few moments to seemingly think on what she had just been told, "now that we know each other perhaps we can move on?"

"Agreed," said the green tinted being, "we believe you said something about an alien race out to destroy this planet we call home. Tell us more about these people."

The group around the table sat in silence as Tabitha relayed nearly all she knew about the grey-suited men and their quest to conquer the universe. So, quiet was the group that William could hear each of them breathing, alongside the sound of his own heart beating every time Tabitha paused in her story to take a breath. At last Tabitha arrived at the tale of what had recently happened, about the new grey-suit who could control energy and matter and, as she drew to a close, she looked each of them in the eye. "You would seem to us," William noted she used 'us' instead of 'I' now when she spoke, "to be powerful beings, remnants of the universe from when it was young," she paused for a moment. "Yes, Jacob and I know your kind." The multi-coloured aliens didn't react, except for maybe blinking slightly faster. "Will you help us to stop them? If you don't the whole universe could be destroyed, especially if more grey-suits of this nature are created."

The central being immediately answered, "We must converse and decide what to do. Please, make yourselves comfortable." As soon as the words were spoken the group stood as one and filed out of the room through the door which they had earlier entered.

As the last one left Tabitha let out large sigh, stood up and ushered Jacob quickly away to the far corner of the room, William watched them walking away, wondering what they were discussing. His thoughts were interrupted by a sharp poke in the ribs, "Oi!" said Angela with a smile. "I would imagine you have something to ask me, perhaps a _lot_ of something's to ask me?"

William put his arm around her shoulders, "You're right, and you've never been more right!"

"I know I'm right, I _always_ am."

William paused for a while, gathering his thoughts. "Did they just say I was immortal?"

"It would certainly seem that way. The lack of any sign of injury while you've been here would certainly imply you are able to regenerate yourself somehow."

"So, I can't die?"

"Immortal, not invincible - there is a difference. If, say, someone or something were to chop off your head, or run something through your heart you would most certainly die, even a deep cut that led to you bleeding out would kill you if you ran dry of blood before you could heal. What immortality means is that you won't age, nor will you suffer from any long-term harm. For instance, if you were to scratch yourself on something it would heal over so perfectly so as to appear to never have happened and it would happen a lot quicker than it would naturally as well, as evidenced by your lack of any visible wounds, though you must have got one or two cuts, scratches or bruises, at the very least, in the tunnel of that stronghold before we got out of there."

William pondered this for a while, it was a strange sensation trying to come to grips with the fact that he could in fact he could apparently live on and on until the end of the time itself. "What was that stuff about 'true immortals' or whatever they said?"

Angela smiled, "I knew you'd ask that. _I_ am a true immortal; I don't require any outside force in order to heal or regenerate myself - all I need is to be alive. Technically speaking you are _not_ a true immortal, as you seem to be relying on that connection to the other dimension that Jake talked about. However, that being said, at the same time you _are_ a true immortal as that connection can never be broken - not unless the other dimension, where Earth is, is somehow destroyed."

William again took a few moments to digest the information before he asked his next question, "So, if you're a 'true immortal', what are they?" he waved his hand vaguely at Jacob and Tabitha who were sitting looking at each other, but seemed to not be uttering a word, but with body language, once again, suggesting a type of communication he wasn't aware of.

"They aren't true immortals because they require an external force in order to heal themselves, in order for them to continue living. Tabitha can regenerate after turning herself to pure energy, but afterwards she needs to recharge with energy from her 'birth star' - which is her most powerful energy source, but, as you know, in her case her 'birth star' became Jake that day they escaped the grey-suits on that space station. Without him she would no longer be able to recharge herself properly and would slowly age and die. It would take many life times of normal races but it'd still happen." She stopped there, looking thoughtful. "I imagine when you first saw her, she looked a lot older than she does now as she wouldn't have been able to recharge from Jake."

"She did look older actually. I thought maybe I had just imagined it, there had been a massive battled and I couldn't quite remember her clearly. So, if that's why Tabitha isn't a 'True Immortal', what about him? What about Jacob?" asked William, suddenly hungry for knowledge.

"You must have seen the change in him since he got Tabitha back," Angela said.

William shrugged his shoulders and shook his head, "Not really."

Angela sighed, "He is a lot harder to explain. When we lost Tabitha on that fateful day nothing seemed to change, he continued on he had always done. But things started to slip, ever so slightly and ever so slowly. His decisions became less decisive, the way he explained things, though it had always been a little vague, became even more so. At first, I thought it was just from the grief of losing one of his closest, best, friends. But he never seemed to get over it. He began to second guess himself, though he learnt to hide it, he started to change, personality wise, it was as if he was suddenly becoming... An old person. An old person with something like Alzheimer's, all his vast number of years seemed to be rapidly catching up on him, leaving him often confused and disorientated"

"So... His mind was going?" William asked.

"Yes," Angela replied. "It was a side effect of course, of the main problem."

"Which was?"

"Like Tabitha, he was aging, but it was in fits and starts, this bit of his mind, that bit of his mind. This side of one arm, that side of the other. You know he supplies her with energy, which let's her regenerate. But the process of her using that energy of his also heals and restores him somehow, it's a very tricky thing to put into words. We found a way to slow down the mental aging of course, he just had to keep his mind busy, the splitting of the consciousnesses helped immensely, it seemed to almost stop it entirely. But it didn't allow him to repair his body, look at him now. When you met him here, in this world, in his world, I bet he looked older, battered and a lot more care-worn that he does now."

"Now that you mention it," said William, "he used to have a lot of scars, especially on his arms, but there are none there now. And he _does_ look younger, especially around the face, he looks like he did on Earth - not how he looked when we arrived here." William paused for a moment, a thoughtful expression on his face. "But I never noticed any moments of doubt or uncertainty in him before I freed Tabitha from her prison..." he trailed off.

"As I said, he learnt to manage it and to hide it. But it was there, I assure you. Now that I think about it, perhaps the part of his mind that was confused was what went to the other dimension."

"Oh?"

"Well, think of him how he was there, on Earth."

William thought back, it seemed to be a lifetime ago but in truth was little over a month in this dimension and he wondered, briefly, if it had only been a day or something silly like that back on Earth since he had left. The Jacob he had known on Earth didn't seem anywhere near as confident as the Jacob he knew now, though he had been able to appear confident when the need arose. The Jacob of Earth had been quiet and withdrawn, had often been the target, when they had been at school, of taunting and bullying. William couldn't imagine any of those people trying anything of that sort on with the Jacob he knew now, he thought they would probably turn tail and run away at the mere sight of him.

A sharp, short whistle echoed through the vast room and, on looking up, William saw Jacob beckoning him and Angela over to where he and Tabitha sat. William got up from his seat and taking Angela's hand walked towards where the other two sat.

"Do you understand now?" Angela asked him, as they walked.

"I think so... but it is a _weird_ feeling knowing you can live forever."

"Only if you choose to," Angela said.

"Choose?"

"If you decide that you have had enough, you will slowly drift away. That's how it works."

"Oh..." said William thoughtfully. "Well, if I got to spend eternity with you, I'd be happy."

Angela smiled, "You do still occasionally manage to surprise me Will."

"I trust that Angela has explained the... recent revelations to you?" Jacob asked, looking at William as he approached.

"Yeah," William replied, "she has."

"I'll admit that I had my suspicions about that, but it was still a bit unexpected," Jacob replied, glancing at Tabitha who gave a short shake of her head, "and there isn't much I don't expect."

William could only nod. He wasn't sure what Jacob thought of the whole situation, he was a very hard person to read, nor was he sure of what to make of that brief shake of Tabitha's head, he wondered if Jacob had been going to say something more. Before he could wonder any further, however, Jacob resumed talking. "It presents, though, an interesting option for when all this is over, but we won't worry about that just now I don't think - what we _do_ want to worry about is these beings. Tabitha tells me that she senses a powerful energy about them, and how they described themselves has us both a little concerned."

"Oh?" Angela asked.

Tabitha replied, her face frowning, "They said they live off the physical manifestations of the universe itself..."

William saw Tabitha looking at both himself and Angela expectantly, but Angela's expression was unreadable and he didn't know what to make of how the so-called Ancients had described themselves.

Jacob, after a few moments, continued. "No matter what they are, _if_ they choose to fight with us we could stand a chance, if they choose against us - especially if their description of how they live is accurate - and decide to side with the Murrays in which case we are as good as dead already. There is also the option that they could, of course, choose to do nothing - in which case we'd be no better or worse off than we are now," he paused for a breath, before flashing a brief smile at William and saying, "though slightly better fed."

"What do you think they'll do?" Angela asked him.

"I am not sure, they seem to have detached themselves from the real world some time ago, choosing instead to live in their own little world where, I imagine, everything is always just how they say it is. I wouldn't be surprised if they came back out and told us we were making the whole thing up... Especially as their description of themselves doesn't seem to tally up. Tabitha and I were around when the universe was a lot younger as well and we have never heard of these creatures... Creatures that match how they describe themselves, maybe, but not these creatures. Though, I guess it could be," he glanced at Tabitha who tilted her head, in an almost exact mirror of Jacob, "evolution? A universe's life time is a long time..."

William wondered why Jacob had trailed off, and what he was getting at, but his thoughts were interrupted as the group of tall beings re-entered the room and took their places at the table. William joined his party in also returning to the table, where everyone again sat in silence.

The central being of the group spoke, the same green-coloured one as before. "We have made our decision," it said.

## Chapter 26

Sitting in the same position as before, between Tabitha and Will, Angela impatiently waited for the beings to give their answer. She was almost certain that throughout the previous exchange Tabitha and Jake had been silently communicating with each other and in the silence that now enveloped the room she thought she could just about hear them doing so again \- it was as if, in the far corner of a room, a fly was buzzing. That was the thing with telepathic communication, it was never quite private - you could get close, Jake and Tabitha were masters of that, but you could never make it _entirely_ private from people determined to listen in.

"These grey-suited men that you speak of," began the creature that had been doing all the speaking, Angela was still uncertain as to its gender, "would not seem to pose a threat to us directly." Sighing quietly, Angela knew they weren't going to help. "However, if it is true that they have the acquired the ability to destroy the universe, perhaps even the fabric of reality itself, we may assist you."

"I am sensing some sort of conditional clause here," Tabitha said.

"Indeed, there is one. Before we act, we need to see these men, these 'destroyers' for ourselves. A small party of them has recently entered our territory and so we will bring them here."

Angela jabbed Will hard in the side to stop him from saying anything, she had seen his mouth begin to open from the corner of her eye. She knew negotiations were delicate things, one wrong word, one emotional outburst, and the whole lot could collapse making the, seemingly, little progress they had made futile.

"Very well," Tabitha replied, "will you be wanting us be present, or will you prefer to view these men without us?"

"We think that without you would be best. It would be better not to cause them undue agitation by having you, who are obvious enemies of theirs from what you have told us, in the room with them while we speak with them."

"I agree," replied Tabitha, "can we wait here for your final decision?"

"You may do that." The tall beings sat for another moment before they got up, again as one, from their seats and filed once more out of the room.

Jake let out a heavy sigh, "This probably isn't going to go well."

"Why the hell would they want to bring them _here_?!" asked Will, outraged. "Did they not hear _anything_ Tabs said about them?"

"You _do_ _not_ get to call me that! Don't _ever_ call me that!" Tabitha snapped, glowing briefly brighter, as she pointed at Will, causing him to stagger backwards a step. Her tone was remarkably angry for a slip up as mild as getting her name wrong.

"That _is_ a very good point you raise William... I suspect they may want to hear the other side of the story," Jake said, his voice slightly louder than usual, to Will, ignoring Tabitha's outburst. Will went to say something more but Jake cut across him, "You would want to hear it if you were in their position though, I can guarantee it. The only reason you don't want to hear the other side of the story is because you side with Ange - which, of course, means you side against them. These people have no reason to believe what we have said about the grey-suited men, none at all."

"You can't argue with that," Angela said, "you can try, but you'd never win; it's a very solid argument," she flashed a smile at Will, as Tabitha and Jake again walked off to sit in a corner. She could tell by their body language that they were deep in conversation and though she couldn't hear them speaking it was clear that Jake was working his best to smooth over Will's slip-up of calling her Tabs, and to calm her down.

"What the _hell_ is wrong with her?" Will asked quietly, sounding shocked that Tabitha had snapped at him like that.

"No idea, I have a few suspicions, but that is all they are. Whatever it is, it will be a long story. What I can tell you though, is that she has _always_ been like that about her name being shortened any more than 'Tabitha' from 'Tabitha Rose'. I've had that same reaction a few times myself when I have slipped up."

"But Jacob calls her that all the time -" Will started to say.

"Yes, he does. But look at those two," she indicated them sitting, for some reason, on the floor crossed-legged facing each other, "you know as well as I do, he could call her whatever he felt like and she'd not have a problem with it."

Will let out a small laugh, "I'm sure he could. Any idea why they don't just... you know."

"No, not really. They have their reasons though; of that I am sure. Reasons that wouldn't make sense to the either of us, but do make sense to them for whatever reason." She nudged up against Will as they continued to sit at the vast table. "What about you though, what will _you_ do now that you can live forever? Which isn't something that you get to ask anybody all that often," she said with a grin.

"No idea, I was thinking -" But Will didn't get to finish his sentence, somewhere a large bell tolled once, twice, thrice.

Angela instinctively knew what the tolling bell meant. "They're here," she whispered as she closed her eyes and let her matter sight take over. "There are three of them, none of them are the energy-matter controllers, though one _is_ a matter controller. They'll know we're here..." she trailed off, opening her eyes and looking into Wills. "Brace yourself," she said, "this is about to get very ugly."

Across the room Tabitha and Jake stood up, Angela watched as Jake first slung his sword, shield and bag back onto his back, scooping them all up from the floor beside where he had been sitting and then loosened the clasp that held his sword in its sheath. He motioned for Angela and Will to join him and Tabitha at the doorway into the vast room as he ran towards it.

"Can you see what's happening?" Jake asked as Angela took her place on the opposite side of the doorway to him.

"Just a sec..." she replied. She closed her eyes and let her matter-sight take over once more, closing her eyes allowed her to properly see through the doors and walls that obscured her normal vision, she could make out the shapes of the various people. "They're just standing around, talking by the movement of the air in front of their faces. I am absolutely positive they can sense us being here, but they are not showing any sign of doing so."

"Can we hear what they're saying at all?" Will asked, looking at each of the members of the group in turn.

"Yes," Tabitha replied, looking at Jake, her expression hard. "I'll go," she said before disappearing into a beam of light.

"I don't understand -" Will began, before his voice was drowned out by the sound of Tabitha's inside Angela's head. She could tell by the reaction that Will gave that he, too, could hear her as if she was standing right next to them.

"Telepathy," said Angela to him, grasping his hand, "just relax. It gets easier."

"... appear to be having much the same discussion as we had with these being that call themselves 'The Ancients'. The grey-suits are restless, one of them appears to be broadcasting some sort of signal... it seems to be electronic." Tabitha's voice trailed off for a few moments, "It was a locator beacon. I am jamming the signal but I suspect it'll be too late. They'll be coming and they'll be coming in force."

Jake swore loudly, making Angela jump.

"Can't... can't they hear her as well?" Will asked.

Jake turned to him, "Doubtful, as she is currently just a cloud of energy floating around near them somewhere. What you can hear isn't true telepathy it's an energy connection, she's connected directly to each of us right now as we speak. But, more important than any of that, is how the hell do we get out of here? Angela are we underground or what? Those windows seem too high to be in a normal structure and there was all that falling. But if we're underground why have windows at all..."

Angela looked up at the high vaulted ceiling above them. Barely glowing patches of various shades of colour indicated the windows, obviously of stained glass, far above them. The lack of light seemed to indicate night had fallen, or was soon about to. "The top, where the windows are, is out in the open, but, as you can see, it is a fair way down to here where we're standing. Odd..."

"What's Odd?"

"We don't seem to be anywhere near where we were when we fell into this place."

"Curious," Jake replied, before continuing, "can you get us up, higher, closer to the level of the ground outside?"

"Maybe, maybe not. It'll take time and then who is to say the building won't be surrounded."

"If we can get out of here we should," Will said, interrupting the back and forth between Jake and Angela.

Jake looked at him, "Really? I mean, I know a wide-open space seems appealing, but small closed-in spaces can only hold so many people at a time..." he trailed off.

"What do _you_ think?" Will asked Angela. She could tell that he wanted her to say that she wanted to go outside, but she could see the sense in what Jake was saying. Fortunately, her thoughts, and her answer, were interrupted by Tabitha who suddenly appeared again at Jakes side.

"The beings are coming back this way. They heard the grey-suits story and said they wanted to think about it," she said, blowing a strand of her from her face.

A bell clanged, just once, and echoed through the large rooms of the massive half-underground building. As the echo abated Jake told everyone to head to the table, to take their seats again and to make sure they didn't let on that they knew anything more than they had known when the beings had first left the room. Just as they all fell into their places the first of the beings walked into the room, this time there was no sitting around waiting - the being began to talk as soon as they had all entered the room, choosing not to sit down at the vast table.

"We have heard what the 'grey-suits' as you have named them have had to say. We were convinced by their story to side with them -" Angela felt both Will and Tabitha stiffen at her sides as they said this and subconsciously, she stiffened as well. "- however, we have just learned that a vast force, many thousands in number and of varying degrees of power have entered our lands. They are laying them to waste and ruin as they come, setting fires and destroying what they have no business destroying."

"So, your decision is to side against them, side with us?" asked Tabitha tentatively.

"We think that would be our best option. It would seem we have sat on the sidelines of the universe far too long, allowing these beings to acquire such a power that they can now threaten the universe itself is a mistake that should not have been made." Angela relaxed, here at last, was an ally to fight with them in their time of need - though she wondered at why Tabitha remained tense beside her. "We expect you will want to lead your own forces, make decisions amongst your group that allows you each to play to your strengths. This is acceptable to us, however in return we ask that we are left to lead our own forces as we see fit, working together with you as needed. Are these terms acceptable to you?"

Angela thought it was a bit risky, best to have everyone under a single solid command. However, she knew what Tabitha would say, she hadn't sat in with her and Jake on countless negotiations to not know when a deal had been made.

"That will be acceptable to us," Tabitha replied - just as Angela knew she would.

"Very well," the green-tinted being who stood in the centre of the line of beings said. "To battle it is then, may we dine together in peace soon." As soon as the being finished talking, all seven of the creatures turned and left the room, exhibiting more haste than they had shown at any time earlier.

"Righto then," said Jake, "you heard the... being? Creature? Tall man? 'Being' will do, I suppose. We're going to hold this room, come what may. Got it?" Everyone sounded their acknowledgement, as the entire building seemed to rattle and shake. "Ange, what's going on outside? Can you see?" Jake asked.

Closing her eyes, yet again, Angela could see a huge number of Murrays outside the building. They were surrounding the vaulted ceiling, any moment now they would crash through the windows. She could sense the air around her changing, becoming excited by an invisible force and she knew what was about to happen. "They're here," she said, "any moment now they'll be in this room."

Hearing three distinct sounds, she opened her eyes. The first was of metal ringing against metal as Jake unsheathed his sword, another was the shattering of glass and, the last, a series of popping noises. Spinning on her heel she saw a large group of the Murrays had appeared, from nowhere, in the middle of the room as yet more jumped down from the roof.

Those on the floor seemed to slow the descent of those jumping in through the high windows somehow, she couldn't sense them altering the make-up of the air to slow them and so assumed they must have been doing something with the gravity - if that was even possible. She focused her attention on those that were slowing the others falls, picking them off one by one, turning them to dust. She found she couldn't attack more than one at a time, something or someone fought back against her if she attempted it.

At her side there was a flash of light as Tabitha transported herself to the other end of the room before appearing once more, glowing brightly and wielding a sword - when she had obtained it, or where she had obtained it from, Angela didn't know. She could hear Jake talking, but couldn't make out what he was saying due to the yells of rage and the sounds of battle that were steadily building up, echoing around the room. She turned her head slightly and could see Jake was talking to Will.

"... you know the plan, it's the same as before. Make sure they follow it, force them to follow it if you must," Jake was saying before he seemed to suddenly collapse in upon himself, like an imploding skyscraper. Shadow spread out from where he had stood, sweeping across the floor like a cloud of smoke, pulling more and more shadow to itself as it did so. There was a rushing sound as the shadows pulled themselves together and a much taller Jake, though not quite of the same massive proportions of the Jake that had fought in the cavern beneath the Murray's stronghold, appeared.

A tremendous crash shook the structure and glancing up Angela saw the roof vanishing as the walls, parts of them falling with a crash to the ground. She felt a slight bump as Will ran to her side, "Let's give this immortality thing a whirl," he said with a manic grin, swinging the energy gun he carried and aiming it at the nearest of the grey-suited men and blasting them to pieces.

Angela's attention swung back what her own part in the developing battle should be, as the group of Murrays in the room began to grow in number to a far more substantial force. She decided her best option was to pick off those now coming through the wide open space that had once been the ceiling of the building; many of the Murrays were still jumping down, relying on their comrades within the building already to slow their fall, letting them land safely on their feet, while others used ropes to clamber their way down the walls. Angela, her expression grim, used her power to dissolve the ropes of those climbing down, while trying to cause as much harm to the ones jumping in as she could. She discovered, in this process, that the dampening effect of her abilities seemed to be in place only from a height of what she guessed was about ten or fifteen metres above her head down to the ground, above that she seemed able to do exactly as she pleased with no resistance.

The first few Murrays fell through the area she focused her power on with little effect, the next few suffered minor injuries. However, a small smile came to Angela's face as she furiously worked her hands and fingers to enhance the matter changing field she was creating. Soon, as the Murrays either fell or climbed down the ropes they began to dissolve, becoming nothing but a few flakes of dust, drifting like snow, before they could reach the 'safety-net' that was being generated by the Murrays on the ground.

Allowing her attention to wander briefly, she scanned the room to see how everyone else was faring. Sudden flashes of light marked where Will was firing his energy gun at the seething horde of grey-suited men, while even brighter flashes showed where Tabitha was teleporting from location to location. She had given up on the sword and was now in the strange, apparently new, form she was able to take, using tentacles to drain the energy from the Murrays as she grabbed them, throwing their lifeless, broken, bodies behind her as she charged forwards. 'Seems to be going well,' she thought, before realizing Jake was nowhere to be seen.

There was a tremendous roar, hunks of stone and concrete flew through the air, like confetti in a breeze, as the wall to her right suddenly exploded. A massive fireball followed the blast, throwing living and dead like rag-dolls through the air, scorching and burning everyone and everything in its path. Angela felt her flesh burning, felt it melting and, writhing in agony, she fell to the ground, screaming in pain as skin, clothing and hair ignited across her right-hand side. Her matter dissolving barrier collapsed as she fell to the ground, but, the Murrays that either fell or climbed down from above were incinerated by the extreme heat as they fell.

As quick as it had appeared, the fireball vanished, up into the atmosphere taking on the distinct mushroom-cloud shape of a massive, high temperature, explosion. Dust filled the air along with small chunks of stone that fell like rain from the heavens as Angela tried, in vain, to heal the burnt flesh along her right side - she kept losing focus because of the intense pain.

"I've got you; I've got you," a muffled voice was saying through the ringing in her ears and she felt herself being picked up, "look at me Angela! I've got you!"

Angela's head lolled around, molten hair and skin sliding from her face. She barely had the strength of will to remain conscious, let alone to find the strength to hold her head up to look at whoever it was that carried her.

"Come on Poss, you stay with me." Angela felt herself being placed on the ground and leant against a wall, knowing now who it was that had picked her up, "I haven't come all this way to lose you now," William's voice murmured through her ringing airs, cracking slightly. "Come on Ange. Come on!" He grabbed her hand, "Come on Ange! Heal yourself! Do it! You have to do it _now_!"

Somehow, in a way she couldn't understand, his concern and his touch brought her the strength of mind to start regenerating herself. She felt the pain subsiding as the process took hold, felt her mind begin to clear, as the ringing in her ears subsided and her vision came back into focus.

Before her she saw Will crouching down, around him small stones continued to rained down, mixed with ash and dust. "Hello you," she said with a small smile, her voice dry and weak.

"Welcome back, can you get us the hell out of here?" Will asked her, with a gentle urgency.

Angela looked around the room spotting a gaping hole in the wall opposite the one she leant against. Through the opening she could see several of the beings, 'The Ancients', locked in battle with what she sensed to be matter controlling Murrays, how the strange beings weren't being obliterated she didn't know. Flashes of light pulsed through the battle and Angela saw glimpses of giant tentacles, while at the centre of it all a cloud of shadow seemed to swallow the light flashes and anything else that tried to pass through it. As she watched two of the beings suddenly fell to the ground, instantly turning to dust. She watched as all of the remaining Murrays, the ones that had survived the explosion, raced through the hole in the wall towards the the room where she and William sat, currently sidelined from the battle that raged on. "Out? Why out? We have to help them! We have to help them fight!"

"But -"

"No Will! This is not the time!"

"But -"

"I said no!" Angela pulled herself shakily up from the ground where she sat. "Look, I'm fine, just fine. Now we have to help them, they will all be slaughtered if we don't!" She grabbed Wills arm and spun him around, " _Look!_ " she hissed.

As they watched another of the beings fell to the ground and vanished into nothing. The beings, Tabitha and Jake were outnumbered by a huge amount now. "You and me Will, we can do this. Just as long as we don't get killed, we'll be fine. But they won't be, look at them! Look at them! They're dying!" Even as she spoke another of the beings fell, turning to dust as it did so, while several more of the beings rushed from yet another room into the chamber where the battle was being fought.

Will seemed to steel himself, squaring his shoulders, "Still immortal?"

"Look at you, all this commotion, a massive fireball that almost killed me and not a scratch on you, yeah you're still immortal," Angela replied with a smile.

"Let's do this then," he took off at a run unsheathing the sword from his waist as he did so, he no longer carried the energy weapon, Angela assumed he had lost it in the explosion.

"Here goes," she said, sprinting after Will towards the battle that raged in the room on the other side of the hole in the wall.

## Chapter 27

Shadows seemed to change from two-dimensional to three-dimensional as they surged from the walls, floor and ceiling to grab at the grey-suited men who walked near them. They pulled the men in until they disappeared from sight into the shadow, before the shadows retreated from being seemingly three-dimensional back to being flat and two-dimensional things again, leaving no trace of the suited men, the Murrays, it had consumed.

Through the shadows the hugely tall, almost skeletal, Ancients roamed, blasting at the grey-suited men with balls of sparking energy and light, while above each of them, what could only be described as storm clouds, brewed, twisting and turning like an approaching thunderstorm. Every now and then one of the beings would seem to freeze up, before falling to the ground and being turned to nothing but dust in the air by the matter-controlling Murrays.

Around the legs of the giant Ancients swarmed the hordes of matter-controlling and regular Murrays and through them ran Angela and William. They stuck to each other as if held together by glue, Angela providing protection for William from the matter-controlling Murrays, shielding him from any of their advances and while she shielded him, he attacked, with a sword, any that dared come to close, the pair ran here and there, rushing through the battle causing as much harm to their opponents as they could.

Through the shadows and the Ancients, in amongst William, Angela and the suited men as they darted around, a beam of light danced. Flashing brightly before assuming the shape of a tentacle covered creature that grabbed at the grey-suited men, sucking the life from them and throwing them aside. Another flash of bright light would follow and the creature would disappear, only to appear in another location with yet another flash of light. Tabitha's ability to control energy allowed her to see every detail of the battle, no matter where she was at any point in time, it was as if she could view the entire battle from above, like a chess player would view a chessboard. She knew every move as it was made, planning her own next moves in advance - changing her strategy to suit every time one of the other 'pieces' made an unexpected move.

So far things were going reasonably well, there had been no sign of the grey-suited man they had encountered earlier, the one with the ability to control energy as well as matter. Flashing with light and vanishing from her current location, Tabitha reappeared across the chamber and quickly seized the nearest grey-suited man, sucking the life-giving energy from them, feeling their body crumple. The more of the grey-suited men she caught, however, the slower her reactions became; she could feel their energy seeping into her, making her momentarily dazed and confused; energy came in many types and theirs was unlike almost anything else in the universe, it was almost like a poison to her. She knew she had to be careful or that energy would take her over, just like it had done when she had been captured all those years ago.

The continuous moving from location to location was helping keep the spread of the poisonous energy through her in check, a lot of the energy was emitted as light as she teleported around. She knew that this wasn't going to be enough though, knew she would need to do a discharge in the next few minutes or she'd collapse into a heap on the ground unable to control her own body anymore. The thought of what might happen then terrified her more than death itself; the suited-men had no morals, no qualms about doing unspeakable evils to any and all they captured. They could hack at her leaving her to bleed slowly to death, they could capture her or, by far the worst option of all, they could bring her back to consciousness, fill her with their energy and turn her against those who she fought alongside, those she loved, just as they had done before.

In her head she yelled, sending a telepathic message as broadly as she could, for everyone to jump when she said so, she needed them all off the ground when she discharged or they would all instantly ignite from the heat and power of the energy discharge. She knew the telepathic command to the others of her group and to 'The Ancients' had worked as more than a couple of heads turned to look questionably in her direction and as a group of grey-suited men began to close in on her, she screamed "JUMP NOW!" in her head. Around her she saw Angela and William jump into the air, the tall Ancients did so as well.

In the confusion caused by everyone leaping into the air the grey-suited men failed to notice that everyone seemed to be staying airborne for a remarkably long time. They also failed to notice Tabitha slowly begin to glow with a strange flickering consistency, dimly at first then brighter and brighter as she floated high into the air. She flashed so bright that the whole room became pure white - not a single shadow was left to exist anywhere. Clearing and focusing her mind she expelled the energy from within her, down her body it travelled sparking and flashing before escaping into the floor with a thunder-like clap that shook the very planet itself.

She could hear the agonized screams from the grey-suited men as those nearest to her were caught in the sudden blast of energy. It came up from the floor they stood on, through their feet and into their flesh, causing it and, then, their very bones to catch alight. Outwards from Tabitha the energy raced, through the brightly lit room, causing anything touching the floor to burst into flames, even chunks of stone from the earlier explosions glowed brightly as flames flickered across their surface and they melted, slowly, into puddles on the floor.

The light steadily dimmed as Tabitha fell, as if in slow motion, towards the floor. As she did so The Ancients, Angela and William all fell to the floor, looking around dumbfounded at the small piles of ash that smouldered and smoked, marking the locations where over three quarters of the grey-suited men had been standing. Looking equally dumbfounded where the remaining grey-suited men, the ones lucky enough to have been airborne at the moment of the discharge, though their confusion didn't last long and with a synchronized cry of rage they surged at the nearest of their opponents.

The battle wasn't over yet.

Tabitha was picking up speed as she fell, plummeting towards the ground - in the course of the discharge she had taken her human-like form again and had been left floating high in the air, she wondered how long it would take to hit the ground, how fast she would be going, how much it would hurt. A slight 'whoosh' sounded beside her and a hand grabbed the back of her top, stopping her descent an instant before she hit the ground.

"Impressive," Jake said, "but you _really_ shouldn't drain yourself _entirely_ you know."

She felt the energy from his touch alone pouring through her, letting her stand on her own two feet.

"You need to recharge, right now," Jake told her, his tone leaving no room for discussion.

Tabitha nodded in agreement, dissolving into energy. Her mind was foggy and dazed as she let her instinct guide her, she hurtled towards Jake then straight through him. Then back towards him and through him again. Each time she passed through him she could feel her mind clearing, feel her strength returning. There was no other energy source in the whole of the universe that had such a revitalizing, rejuvenating effect on her, not even her original, proper, birth star had such an effect. The bond she shared with Jake, because of this, was like nothing else she, or, she imagined, any of her people, had ever experienced. It was more than physical, more than emotional it was... _life._ Life in all of its entirety, all of its glory, all of its facets: physical, emotional, spiritual and, of course, energetic.

Materializing into herself again she stood beside Jake who smiled, crookedly, at her, "Back to it then," he said, collapsing in on himself and turning to shadow.

Tabitha smiled vaguely, before entering back into the fray, certain now that they would be victorious. Her massive discharge of energy had tilted the playing field in the favour of those she fought alongside, the grey-suits did not have much more time, much more fight left in them, before they were all destroyed.

The remainder of the grey-suits fell swiftly at the hands of those that fought against them, leaving the group of Ancients and Tabitha's own party standing quietly inside the devastated rooms of the once impressive subterranean building, each lost in their own thoughts. The Ancients surveyed the room, seeming to note all the opposition casualties while working out how many of their own had been lost to the grey-suited army. The air was filled with a thick, heavy dust and Tabitha knew she was breathing in the last remnants of the once tall, graceful, surprisingly powerful, Ancients and grey-suits alike, the thought making her feel sick to her stomach. Tabitha looked around the room, taking in the sights for herself watching as William and Angela sat heavily on the ground, both breathing heavily from the exertion of the battle.

One of the tall Ancients walked towards her, their movement smooth and gentle, as if they floated instead of walked. "We thank you for your assistance. We would have suffered far greater losses if it hadn't been for you and your party."

Tabitha smiled grimly, "Sadly, you need not thank us. It's become what we do, _who_ we are. How many did you lose?" she asked, hoping she wasn't being to forward.

"Twelve, they were brave souls. Ancient and wise, we will mourn them for a long, long time. We, in turn, we are sorry for your loss."

"Loss?" Tabitha asked, confused.

"Your party numbers only three now, where is the man of shadows? We sensed he had a knowledge and wisdom that spanned the universe, such knowledge that we ourselves once had."

"Jake..." Tabitha whispered, noticing that she hadn't spotted him anywhere since the battle had ended. "Jake!" she yelled, causing several of the other Ancients to turn to look in her direction and making Angela and William jump to their feet and rush to her side. "I can still feel him," she said to Angela's questioning face, "he's not gone, not dead... he just isn't here."

The tall creature peered down at Tabitha curiously, "It is unusual for you to be able to sense the life of another across a distance, sensing another's life force is incredibly difficult. It is a trait that is rarely found in the universe."

"I did tell you I was my own species now..." she said trailing off. She didn't feel like explaining to these strange creatures her bond with Jake, it was something she had _never_ explained to anyone in full, only vaguely. She never told anyone how much it meant to her, it was why she had never given up hope while she had been held prisoner by the grey-suited men - she had been able to feel Jake's presence, even across the vast distances of space that had surely separated them at one time, so she had known he would come for her eventually.

The Ancient continued to look at her curiously, before seeming to realize it was not going to get any more of an answer. "Will he be along shortly then?" it asked of her instead.

"Very," came a voice from behind where Tabitha stood. She spun around and saw Jake standing there, his expression grim, "They're coming. They're _all_ coming. We need to get out of here. We need to get out of here _now_." He turned to the Ancient being that had been speaking with Tabitha, "Do you have a star ship, you spoke of exploring the universe once, do you still have ships? You're going to need to get off this planet, everyone is."

"We have a handful of inter-stellar ships," said the Ancient, "and even a pair of inter-galactic vessels -though it has been long since we had to use them. We do not understand, why must we leave?"

"The Murrays, the grey-suits, they have created a second creature, a second of them that can control energy and matter. The only option is to flee, to stay here is to be defeated, crushed and destroyed."

"But there must be some -" the Ancient went to argue, but was cut-off by Jake.

"There is _nothing_. A planet-wide evacuation _must_ take place and it must take place _now_. The people of this world have their own fleets of vessels; they have to be advised to evacuate the planet, they won't have enough ships on their own, other ships will probably be needed to get everyone to safety, you will probably have to see if you can take some of their people as well, but you need to get off this world, everyone _needs_ to get off this world!" Jakes voice and expression were bordering on manic as he turned to face Tabitha. "We have to get to our ship, luckily we're not far from it now. This place is far, far from where we were before we fell and were brought here to these rooms." As he ended his sentence bolts of lightning could be seen surging through the night sky, high above the shattered ceiling above them. "They're almost here! Let's go!"

He turned and started running and Tabitha fell in behind him instinctively, thinking how rare it was that Jake seemed so panicked, she had only seen him this distraught perhaps once or twice in her life. She glanced over her shoulder and saw William and Angela following her, as well as all of the Ancients that had survived the battle. She wasn't sure how Jake knew where they were going, but she suddenly found herself standing in a pitch-black room, though she could sense it was a wide-open space She heard the Ancients entering the room and globes of unsuspended light lit up, revealing a hangar of massive spaceships.

"Wow," she heard William whisper.

Jake turned, "Thanks for your help back there, but now you really must go," he said to the Ancients, as the entire underground building seemed to shake. "Broadcast a signal for planetary evacuation as you go, hopefully the other people who live here will listen, hopefully we can all make it out of here, after all... you still owe me a meal," he said, flashing the Ancients a smile. "And if you have transporters, teleporting devices, get as many of the planets residents aboard your ships as you can.

"We have decided that you are being truthful and we shall flee. However, will you not come with us?"

Tabitha saw William and Angela looking back and forth between the Ancients and Jake, she could almost feel William urging Jake to say he would go with the Ancients. "No," Jake replied. "Although some members of my party may wish to," Jake looked around at the group, all silently shook their heads. "Seems not."

The Ancient that had been doing the talking stepped forward towards Jake and bent over, Tabitha thought it was the same green-coloured one that had sat central in the table during their negotiations, negotiations that now seemed so long ago. "I hope that we get to meet again you and I, we would have much to discuss I imagine," the being placed its hand on Jakes shoulder, then straightened itself up. "Until we meet again," it said, walking away. The rest of the group of beings followed, before splitting into smaller groups and boarding the spaceships. Small stones began to fall from the roof, as it slowly opened up revealing a crystal-clear night sky, that flashed with the occasional cloud-less lightning bolt.

"Shouldn't we... get out of here?" asked William.

"Why?" asked Jake.

"You know, so we don't get killed by their rockets when they take off?"

Tabitha couldn't help but let out a small laugh as she replied, "Space travel must be very primitive on your world! These ships run on a gravity drive, no rockets to be seen."

"Oh... well... I've never seen a real spaceship before," Will replied, as Angela whispered something in his ear.

There was a loud thud followed by another, then another as the various ships' gravity drives engaged, lifting them up off the ground, before they silently glided out of the open ceiling towards the heavens above.

"Soon..." she heard Jake whisper very quietly, "soon..."

She looked at him and saw the sky reflecting in his eyes as he watched the ships vanish into the darkness, she stepped towards him and linked her arm through his.

"They're still calling?" she whispered to him, knowing what his answer what would be.

"They'll never stop calling, not until I have seen every last one," he quietly replied, "and then, then I think I shall like to see them all again," he added, turning to smile at her. He unlinked his arm from hers and turned to face Angela and William. "We have about a day's worth of travel ahead of us and we _will_ be very hotly pursued. Let's go."

He turned and began to walk towards the far wall and Tabitha, again, fell into step with him. They walked briskly until they came to a stop at the wall, its solidity seeming to defy them.

Without a word having to be spoken Angela stepped forward and placed her hands against the rocky surface of the wall. A slight rumbling sound could be heard before a hole suddenly opened in the wall before where the group stood. "Easy as falling off a log," Angela said with a grin, though Tabitha noticed she looked worn and tired from the battle still.

"You never get sick of that do you?" asked Tabitha.

"No, no I don't, it's great!" Angela replied, a slight laugh on her voice, as she stepped into the tunnel she had created.

"You know what," said William, suddenly as he, too, stepped into the tunnel, "I think I am finally getting used to this place." He linked arms with Angela and the pair began to walk down the tunnel, arm in arm, gently pushing against one another.

"She's all grown up," Tabitha quietly said to Jake. "Remember when you brought her back that day? She was so tiny, so fragile. Now look at her, she's turned out better than we could ever have hoped for, considering the childhood she had." Jake gave no response, but Tabitha had known him long enough to just know what was on his mind, "She'll still need you Jake, she'll always need you."

"Really?" he asked, turning to look at her.

"Of course."

He half smiled, before stepping into the tunnel as well. "Come on then," he said, striding ahead. Tabitha watched him walking away, wondering if now was the time to tell him how she felt... it felt like the time to tell him. She ran to catch up to him and fell into a walk beside him.

"Jake..." she said.

"Yeah?"

"I just wanted to say... That I... That... You know..." Now that she had begun speaking her resolve rapidly deserted her. She seemed to be unable to turn what she wanted to say, about how much he meant to her and about what she wanted, into words.

"Uhh... Okay then," Jake replied shaking his head in bewilderment, "it amazes me how after all this time you still get all tongue tied with me. Out with it already, before I die of old age. Which would be _quite_ a feat indeed, considering how old I already am."

"Never mind," Tabitha said with a sigh, "it can wait."

"Well, alright then, but, don't put off things 'til tomorrow that you should do today," he smiled at her.

Tabitha snorted with a suppressed laugh, "Oh yeah sure, real useful advice. Do you actually follow _any_ of your own advice?"

"Sometimes, depends what it's about. I can think of many things I fully intend to put off until tomorrow though I should be doing them today..." he was looking at her strangely as he trailed off as he stepped from the end of the tunnel out into the open. Tabitha found herself standing beside him halfway up the side of an immense mountain.

All around them more mountains shouldered each other, vying for space, their tops draped in snow and their bases covered by a thick dense forest, at their feet the ground was strewn with hard and rough stone. The view was impressive: the mountain tops seeming to wear crowns of stars, one of the peaks, for a moment, created the illusion of having the great ringed sphere of Jol balanced on its tip. Lightning flashed across the cloudless sky every few moments and following the energy's path Tabitha could sense the rough location of the matter and energy controlling grey-suited men

"Which way," William asked, turning to Jake.

"That way," Jake replied pointing towards the first mountain to their left, "got to go over that one, then over two more then we'll be there. Well, around them would probably be easier I imagine, would beat climbing all the way up just to climb all the way down again."

As the group departed for the spaceship, Tabitha wondered what sort of condition it would be in; if the energy reserves had run out, the auto repair functionality would have shut down. 'Good thing Angela's with us,' she thought, 'she'll be able to set the ship right again while I recharge the energy cells...'

Her thoughts trailed off as she found herself, as she always did, walking beside Jake. For a moment, various thoughts wrestled one another in her mind before, finally, she linked arms with him and rested her head on his shoulder as they walked, hoping, as she did so, that he would understand what she had been trying to tell him earlier.

## Chapter 28

"Oh, wow," said William as the group climbed high upon the first of the mountains, which stood at over double the height of the one they had emerged on. He was looking out towards the open plains of the planetoid, the lights of a massive city stood twinkling in the distance and bright flares of light shot up from it, growing dimmer as they headed higher into the atmosphere before vanishing entirely.

"Impressive isn't it?" Jacob said. "Until you realize each of those lights shooting upwards is another ship, another load of people fleeing this planet, their home. What's worse is they don't even know why..." he trailed off into silence.

"Well... I don't care, it's still impressive," William replied. "I've never seen anything like it! Are they using rockets? They look like they are rockets."

"Looks like they are probably rockets to me," Jacob replied.

"Best be carrying on," said Angela, poking William in his side, "otherwise we won't be making an escape."

William continued to walk around the side of the mountain, his mind buzzing with thoughts. The thought that kept returning to him was more of a question: why were they fleeing? From what he had seen of Jacob and Tabitha, even his own Angela, they weren't ones to flee from a fight. He had sensed from Jacobs tone that he was more resigned to the fact that he _had_ to flee rather than he _wanted_ to flee. William didn't know what to make of it, those three had so much power yet they seemed to not want to test it against these 'Super-Murrays', as he liked to think of them as. He wondered why they, but especially why Jacob, talked like they wanted to save the universe, yet they wouldn't fight - perhaps they were too concerned with saving themselves. He thought it rather hypocritical of them to claim to want to want to save everyone, but then not actually carry through, instead choosing to save themselves.

"What are you thinking about?" Angela asked suddenly. "It must be something big as you've got that look of deep concentration going on."

"Nothing... nothing..."

"Will..." Angela's glance seemed to pierce right through him.

"Oh, alright, fine. I was just wondering _why_ we are leaving, why don't you - we - stay and fight?"

"I was hoping it wasn't that..." she said, with a heavy sigh. "The truth of the matter is there is no way we can win. We'll fight them again, to be sure, but we need time to formulate a plan, time to gather the resources we need to fight them and come out victorious. There's no point just charging in all hot headed, that'd just lead to a certain death."

"It just... seems wrong. All these people having to give up their homes, their very planet," he said, waving towards where yet more ships could be seen launching from the city.

"I know. Don't think we're giving up though. 'Cause if I know Jake, which I do - probably better than anyone, except Tabitha of course - he's already working on a plan. The most telltale sign is the lack of chatter coming from his direction."

"I thought he'd been rather quiet."

"Make the most of it, it's rarity," Angela replied with a laugh.

Tabitha interrupted the discussion, "Having fun? What's the topic? Jakes not saying much right now, lost in his own little world..."

Angela laughed again, "That _is_ the topic."

"He _is_ very quiet, isn't he? Not really a good sign."

"Why?" asked William. "Why is that not a good sign?"

"It means the plan he's working on is very risky, otherwise he bounces ideas off us. His theory is if he doesn't involve us, if something goes wrong, we can all point the finger at him and say it was his fault, his stupid idea and that he is to blame for it all." Angela replied, before looking to Tabitha. "That sums it up doesn't it?"

"It does indeed, I'd still be explaining it."

"So, we get no say on what happens? No say at all?" William inquired.

"Nope, 'fraid not," Tabitha replied.

"But that's hardly fair!" protested William. "It's our lives he is playing with. We _should_ get a say."

"That's not the rule," Tabitha replied, enigmatically.

"Rule?"

"He would have told you the rules," Angela said, "it would be _very_ odd if he didn't. Well, the most basic rules anyway."

William thought for a moment, "He said something about not giving away our position and... to always do what he says, when he says it."

"Those are the ones," Tabitha responded, "there are more, of course. But he doesn't tell you those ones, the rest are for you to discover. I think I'm up to well over a couple of hundred rules now..." she trailed off.

"Yeah," Angela said, "that'd seem about right. What's worse is there is probably more we don't know about because we haven't had the situation for their discovery arise."

"So, you two just do what he says? When he says it? Like... _slaves_?" asked William.

Tabitha let out a loud snort of anger and fell back to walk with the silent Jake.

" _What_ is her problem _this time_?" asked William, exasperated.

Angela sighed, "You saw what the Murrays were using her for, they were using her to 'harvest' energy and they were doing it against her will. Way back, before their extinction, it was common for children of her kind to be captured by other species and used for such things, usually until they died from beingt away from their birth star for so long. You couldn't ever capture an adult, look at how powerful Tabitha is, but I am fairly certain those powers are something her kind grows into, as they get older. Anyway, I get the feeling sometimes that she herself was enslaved in her childhood before somehow getting free. So, slavery is _not_ something you want to mention around her."

"So, she has rules as well? No calling her 'Tabs', no talking about slavery..."

"Everybody has rules. I have rules, _you_ even have rules."

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do, think about it for a bit. Anyway, we're not slaves to Jake, if we don't like what he says we don't _have_ to do it."

"But the rule was do what he says -"

"Exactly, always do what he says. There is another rule though and its something like if what he says goes against what you want to do, or against what you believe, or whatever, then don't do what he says. Just say 'No', he won't argue about it, though he _will_ ask you to explain _why_ you disagree with him, so always be prepared to back your defiance up with a good, solid, rational reason."

"And if you can't back it up? What then?"

"Then he'll consider you a waste of space. If you are unwilling to explain your actions, unwilling to stand up for what _you_ believe and what _you_ want then he considers you to be a waste of time and he will _always_ consider you as such."

"Really? Just like that?"

"Wouldn't you? If you had a plan or something, and someone said 'No, I won't do it,' then just said they said 'no' because 'they felt like it', how would you feel? Especially if it was as complex as any of the plans he usually has to come up with to get us out of things alive."

"Pissed off," stated William.

"Exactly. And I'm like him, I don't tolerate people who are unwilling to fight for what they think, what they believe in. And _that_ is why we're not slaves, in his own way he actually encourages us to do our own thing, to think for ourselves, not to blindly follow what we get told."

William was quietly thoughtful for a few moments, as he tried to figure out what his 'rules' were, as well as digesting what Angela had told him. After a while he spoke, "So... what do _you_ think my rules are?"

Angela laughed, "That's not how it works. They're _your_ rules, you have to figure them out."

He tried a different tack, "Ever since I arrived here, I haven't been able to do whatever I want, I've only done what Jacob has told me to do."

"That may be true, but you're not the same Will I left behind on Earth. You've grown, you've changed, you're... something more, maybe even something better than what you were."

"And you're saying Jacob had something to do with that?" William scoffed.

"He encourages people to reach their potential. Look at you now, wanting to save the world - a world you don't even know."

"That's because I'm immortal -"

Angela interrupted him before he could say any more, "Don't give me that Will, you voted to stay and fight _before_ you knew you were immortal."

This pushed William into another thoughtful silence. Was he really different to how he had been? Was it _really_ because of Jacob? His mind was full of questions without answers. "So, what is this 'ship' we're going to?" he asked Angela, mainly to take his mind off the other things that buzzed through it.

"A spaceship of course," Angela replied, a little sarcastically.

"Yeah, but what's it like?"

Angela said nothing for a moment or two, just long enough to make William think she wasn't going to reply. "It's like..." she said at last, "home. It _is_ home. The only home I've ever known."

"We're here," Jacob suddenly said from behind them.

"I don't see anything," William protested, "how big _is_ this ship?"

"Six hundred and fifty metres bow to stern," Jacob replied. William looked around everywhere but couldn't see any sign of anything that big. All he could see was rocks, rocks and more rocks. As the suns began to rise over the horizon William found that he could still only see rocks, endless rocks that seemed to fill the whole area between the mountain ranges, as if once the mountains had been ten times higher but had all come crashing down.

"And now Ange, if you'd work your magic and undo what you did..." William heard Jacob saying, and turned to see both Jacob and Tabitha scrabbling back up the mountain side a bit, so as not be standing on the sea of rocks.

"I don't think you want to keep standing there," Tabitha called down to him. He slowly walked up to where Jacob and Tabitha stood, "You're going to love this bit," she told him.

He turned to watch as Angela strode off onto the sea of rocks, getting smaller and smaller as she walked further and further distant from them before coming to a stop. She slowly raised her arms, until she held them at shoulder height out from her sides. William noticed the air seemed to shimmer, it looked like Angela now stood inside a mirage even though he knew it was nowhere near warm enough for a mirage to form this early in the morning: the suns hadn't yet risen, although the sky had begun to lighten. As he watched Angela seemed to slowly sink into the rocks, as if caught in quicksand. William went to run out onto the rocks to her, but a light, firm hand on his shoulder stopped him and he turned to see Tabitha holding him back.

"But she's sinking into the rocks!"

"Exactly," Jacob said, "keep watching."

William watched in near horror as Angela sank further and further into the rocks. Soon nothing but her head could be seen, before it too disappeared. For a few moments nothing happened then a rumbling filled the air and the ground began to shake, William turned around, anticipating a rock slide to be coming down on him, so great was the rumbling noise. There was, however, no rock slide and despite his best efforts William couldn't see where the vibration and noise came from.

With a strange creaking, groaning noise the rocks in front of where they stood suddenly bulged upwards, as if something far below was pushing them upwards, as they moved slowly skyward, they seemed to melt, to turn into nothing. The rocks got bigger and bigger as those from further down were pushed to the surface to dissolve. William realized that the rocks had filled a vast chasm in the mountains, he looked quizzically at Tabitha.

"I assume it was a natural valley, or maybe a fault line. I wasn't here when they parked it," she looking to Jacob for confirmation.

"Yes, a natural valley, I had Angela bury us. Unfortunately, the Murrays still managed to find the location, they teleported themselves inside and took her..." he trailed off, as the last of the rocks melted away revealing a somewhat dusty, but remarkably undamaged, metal object.

William stood in awe as he looked down towards the metal shape that sat in the cleft in the earth, a shape that slowly began to increase in size, as it moved upwards out from the bottom of the trench in which it lay. William assumed Angela was using her abilities to raise the ground underneath the ship. From above it looked triangular and flat, however once it had reached the level that the stones had previously filled to, he saw that it wasn't flat at all.

The ship arced gracefully upwards from the centre, tapering in thickness until it reached the points of the triangle, which looked, to William, sharp enough to cut paper. The ship finally stopped moving and William had to crane his neck to look at it, raised from its grave and perched on three massive legs. Looking at the ship side on William figured the 'top' of the triangle, when seen from above, was nose of the craft. It sat ahead of the steel that gracefully arced upwards to the other corners of the triangle, its shape seeming to defy the eye so that from the rear the ship was shaped like a shallow angled 'U' but from the side it looked like a gently arced line.

Jacob brushed past him, walking towards the vast craft. William estimated that it would have easily reached some thirty stories high, maybe three or four less without the legs adding to the height though.

"Come on then," Tabitha said, as she also brushed past him.

William could see Angela, looking smaller than a child standing beside one of the crafts legs, so aimed for her, noticing as he did so that Jacob and Tabitha also seemed to have the same idea.

"Hello old girl," Jacob said as he stood beside the ship, placing a hand on one of the vast legs. A grin came to his face, "Welcome home everyone! Now, if nobody has any objections, me and Tabitha need to pop inside and unlock the door," as he finished talking, not waiting for anyone to object should they want to, he turned to shadow and disappeared. Tabitha flashed William and Angela a smile, then, with a flash of light, also vanished.

"Where've they gone?" William asked Angela.

"To open the door for us, like they said."

"So, they are inside the ship?"

"Yeah, the power cells ran down; that's how the Murrays were able to get in. I suspect Tabitha will immediately head to recharge one of them. We just need to get enough power to let us get inside for now, then we can worry about getting a charging loop established to charge them all properly and then get them generating anti-matter for us."

"Why not recharge them properly right away? Whats anti-matter got to do with it?"

"First question, it'll take a good few hours, which we may or may not have. Second question, anti-matter when it meets normal matter releases vast amounts of energy – which is whats needed to power the ship. Especially the Fruig-Drive." Angela replied.

William's head reeled a bit with all the information. He puzzled over her first statement. If they didn't have that much time then that would mean must have been discovered by the Murrays. Surely the ship couldn't withstand their attacks though, as they could control matter and energy. Then again, he didn't know anything about this ship: maybe it _could_ resist their attacks.

"I know what you're thinking," Angela said, "with me and Tabitha inside we may be able to hold the ship together to stop them being able to kill us. But I dunno -"

She was interrupted by a cloud of dust that rained down from above them. A hole had appeared in the ship's hull, inside William could see nothing but darkness.

"You guys are going to have to find your own way up," Tabitha's voice called down to Angela and William, "Jake says he has a red light on just about every system that's come online. Well... a red light would mean they aren't online, so it's a whole lot of lights saying nothing is happening when we tried to turn them on," she continued, sounding to William remarkably like Jacob. "Oh, you know what I mean."

William looked at Angela curiously, but she offered no explanation, instead she materialized a long, tall, ladder that reached up the immense height to the open hatch. William eyed it up warily; he didn't fancy climbing three of four stories on a ladder.

"Don't worry," Angela said soothingly, "it's as solid as a rock. Watch!" she sprang up the ladder as easily as if she was walking up stairs. The ladder didn't even wobble as she did so, though this didn't ease Williams apprehension in the slightest. He stepped onto the bottom of the ladder, then tightly clenching the rungs with his hands he slowly made his way up. Some twenty minutes later he pulled himself into the dark hole in the belly of the ship and Angela dissolved the ladder.

"I didn't know you were such a chicken," she said with a laugh.

There was a grating noise behind him as he stood up and he turned to see the door sliding slowly up from the floor as it closed, Angela knelt beside it winding a handle around and around to make it work. "Powers off again," she explained, "once Jake sorts the system it'll seal itself up properly, air-tight and everything."

The door finally closed with a dull clang leaving the pair standing in complete darkness. A glimmer of light came from where Angela had been standing. William looked towards her and saw that she held what appeared to be a glass ball containing a brightly burning spark of light inside it. "Handy things those energy beings," she said, the ball of light illuminating the grin on her face, "come with me!"

William followed her down a long corridor, then up what seemed like several floors worth of ladders. Angela told him that usually they could take the lift but, "No power means, of course, no lifts!"

At last they walked down a corridor and William started to see the faint glow of light ahead. They rounded a corner and William slapped his hands to his eyes and massaged them, the sudden brightness after the near darkness caused him physical pain as his eyes tried to re-adjust. Forcing his eyes open, he squinted at the oval shaped room he now stood in. A large black rectangle flanked by two black squares occupied the wall across the room from where he stood. The wall behind him was bare except for the door through which he and Angela had just walked. To his left and right, however, the walls were lined with screens, below which panels of buttons were arranged, each with a seat before them, totalling three seats per side.

At the rear of the oval, just in front of where he stood, was a chair, each of its armrests was covered in a vast array of buttons and a screen was held at what would be about the seated person's eye height on each side, though they were not directly in front of the chair, they had the appearance of being able to be moved there if need be. In front of this chair was another one: this one sat lower than the first, which sat on a raised part of deck that circled the room.

The middle chair sat before a large consol of controls and screens, none of which protruded far from the height of the console panel so as not to obstruct the forward view of the person who sat in that chair, or the view of the person who sat in the raised chair behind. The console was covered in brightly glowing red lights, what Tabitha had said before about having a 'red light on just about every system' came back to him. William could see both Tabitha and Jacobs feet sticking out from under this console and he assumed they were trying to figure out the problem.

He hung back near the door, unsure of what he could do. He admired the glowing balls of floating light that were illuminating the room, something Tabitha had done he was sure. Angela grabbed his hand, pulling him to one of the side consoles.

"This is where I usually sit!" she said excitedly, brushing the dust from the, apparently leather, seat and sitting down. "On a couple of occasions I got to sit at that front console there, but that's always been Jakes seat unless he is feeling particularly generous."

"I thought he'd sit in the high one at the back. That looks like the sort of seat the guy in charge would sit in to me."

"Yeah, I don't think he's ever sat in it. He prefers to be controlling the ship himself from the front. Tabitha usually sat at the console on the other side, but sometimes she'd sit in that... 'Captain's seat' I suppose you'd call it, that's probably what it was before Jake took ownership anyway."

William could only nod, he felt oddly alone at that moment. The three other people in the ship had all these past, shared, experiences here and he had none of that. Angela seemed to sense his unease, "Don't worry Will, you'll fit in just fine," she said, stroking the hand she held lightly.

There was a bang and a shower of electrical sparks burst from under the console where Jacob and Tabitha were working. The shower of sparks was followed by a shower of coarse language aimed at the "Stupid antiquated systems on this ship!" William, however, noticed one of the lights that had once been red was now a solid yellow.

"Uh, you guys have a yellow light up here," he said.

"Oh? What on?" Jacob's muffled voice said from under the console.

William walked over to the console, at looked carefully at the light. There was no label near it to indicate what it was. Embarrassed by his lack of knowledge he said, "I've no idea."

"Well move the switch under it to the upwards position," came Jacob's voice again.

William just looked at the console, until Angela came over to him. "Do what he says, that's the rule," she grinned at him, "besides, you _will_ have to learn what all of this does eventually. Best start now."

William flicked the switch. For a moment nothing happened and then the black shapes on the wall on front of the console slowly began to move, sliding upwards. Daylight streamed in from the opening that appeared, until Tabitha's glowing lights of energy were no longer required and seemed to slowly fade into nothing.

"It was the..." he struggled for the right word, "visor-thing, we can see outside now," William said as he walked forward and placed his hand on the cold glass that had previously been covered by the black steel.

"Well, that's not quite what I was after, but it's a start," came Jacobs voice from under the console again. "Won't be much of a view just yet, you just wait until we're up there though..." Jacob's voice trailed off as another shower of electrical sparks burst from under the console. This time William heard Tabitha muttering profanities.

He smiled a little to himself as he realized with shock that he was on a _spaceship_ , something he had never dreamed to be possible. He'd never even considered it being able to happen to him and yet here he was standing on what he supposed they called the 'bridge' of a spaceship, a spaceship that was far superior to anything he knew of back on Earth.

## Chapter 29

Jacob hauled himself out from under the console, muttering grumpily under his breath.

"Angela," he said, "can you go down to E-deck and check that the system has started charging? Should be a level one charge, Tabs re-energized a couple of the secondary fuel containment pods. Probably best to take him along with you," he waved at William, "show him the ropes."

Angela nodded slightly then left the room with William following along behind as Jacob sat and watched them vanish into the darkness of the unlit corridor. When he could hear them no longer, he turned to Tabitha. "Other than the odd _unintended_ insult towards you, he's really grown on me you know. He is a lot more than I thought he was."

"Now, that _is_ saying something. You've never been one for changing your opinions on things - e _specially_ your opinions on people. Now, tell me, why the hell you re-booted the computer core when you still had this mess of wiring in place?" asked Tabitha, emerging from under the console, covered in loops of various coloured electrical wires.

"Well, you see, with our already less than ideal amount of crew losing you only left us with two, which was bordering on the ridiculous, a situation I haven't had to deal with on this old boat in years. I had to rewire your console into this one and well... I had forgotten that I had done it actually. Now of course the system's reverted to its defaults and all we have is working visors!" he flicked the switch below the now green light, which changed to yellow again as the visors closed.

"What's on your mind Jake?" Tabitha asked suddenly, Jacob said nothing, opting to remain silent. " _Jake_ ," Tabitha insisted, "I know you better than that, tell me."

Jacob remained silent as he walked away from the console to stand in front of the now blackened windows. He was lit by an eerie light as Tabitha's balls of energy began to glow, once more, around the room again. He turned to watch her creating them, holding them in her hands before releasing them as someone would release a bird into flight. They floated up from her hands to sit around the perimeter of the room, slowly forming a steady light that lost its shades of eeriness as it strengthened. Letting out a heavy sigh he spoke at last, "Things don't look good here Tabs. They don't look good at all. It looks to me that it is becoming more and more likely that this will not end well for us."

Tabitha shook her head, untangling herself from the wiring and sat on the edge of the console to look at Jake. "By us, you mean you, don't you?"

Jacob slowly nodded, "Our options are too limited, it's going to be the only way."

A few minutes silence passed between the pair before Tabitha spoke again, Jacob noticed how her voice at first seemed sort of strangled before it recovered its usual tones. "We should never have made that decision. All it has done, really, has stopped it being 'official'. If," Tabitha caught sight of the expression Jacob was throwing at her, "yes _if_ , it comes to that it's not going to be any less hard on me. Was it any less hard on you?"

"No, not at all," replied Jacob quietly.

"So, why do we maintain this pointless charade? You can see it, I can see it, _everyone_ can see it."

Jacob said nothing, his head was full of other thoughts, this was not a conversation he wanted to be having right now. For years and years, he had yearned to change the conditions of his relationship with Tabitha, but for all those years he had been bound by the agreement they had made. Keeping promises that had been made was rule number one - why make them if you weren't going to keep them? The rule applied not just to him, but to others he encountered – all those that had ever known him knew he would lose faith in anyone who said they would do something but then didn't. The only promise he had ever broken was the one he had made to Tabitha, the one where he said he would keep her safe and never let her be captured, or even harmed, by the grey-suit wearing men. He had broken that promise and it had tormented him for years, he thought it had played a large part in accelerating his minds deterioration after she had been torn from his life.

Yet this was different, this time the person with which he had made the agreement, the person who he had made the promise to, was the person wanting to change the terms. It wouldn't be an outside force changing the terms for them, it would be a decision they could make together. "You want to end our agreement?" he asked her slowly, as if tasting each of the words as they passed from his mouth.

"Yes, Jake, I do," Tabitha replied. "It was stupid of us to think that if we weren't a couple and one of us was killed it wouldn't affect the other as much. Sheer _stupidity_. You and me, we're two sides of the one coin, we are part of each other. You mean everything to me, _everything!_ After what they did to us, you are literally life itself!"

"Ah the naivety of youth," Jacob said with a sigh, slowly shaking his head from side to side. "But then, I don't think either of us thought we'd still be here, still fighting this fight, after all this time. The battle should have been won long ago."

"Or we should have died," Tabitha said simply.

"Yep. And yet... here we are."

"Yes, Jake. Here we are. So, what do you want to do? You know my feelings on the matter."

"Well, naturally, I want to change the agreement... but -"

"I knew there'd be one of those," Tabitha said with a smile, "I know you, remember? What is it? Do you want time to think about it? We haven't got any more time and you know it. Or is this you being all... pig-headed."

"The latter I think, as I've had plenty of time to think about it over the years. I just don't think we should start anything that could be, probably will be, finished by the end of the day. If we survive this place, when we're both free and clear, then, _then_ , we can terminate our agreement."

"You make it sound so callous and cold."

"Just the way I like it then," replied Jacob with a grin. "It's just... I don't want you to finally _have_ me, only to _lose_ me in the same day. That would be cruelty beyond belief."

Tabitha raised an eyebrow, "There's no budging you on this is there? Even though it seems like I have persuaded you to change the terms already."

Jacob laughed, "No there isn't. _And_ if you try to make me budge, _then_ I'll play the 'I-need-time-to-think-about-it card'."

Tabitha laughed, but the smile soon slid from her face. "What do you intend to do?" she asked.

Again, Jacob said nothing, his mind racing with the thought that at last, at long last, he'd be able to call Tabs his own. He wondered how hard it would be for them to make the transition from friends to partners, he suspected it shouldn't be too hard considering they were, already, essentially a couple; it was like she said, they were two sides of the one coin. "Sorry? What?" he asked, realizing he had been spoken to, giving his head a quick shake to snap himself out of it.

"I asked what you intend to do. Now that you're out of your own little world you might like to give me an answer."

"I'm going to stay here," Jacob replied, his tone matter-of-fact. He waited a moment for Tabitha to object, but she did not. "I will keep them here as long as I can, in order for you to escape. And then... then I will catch you up."

"How?"

Jacob grinned, "My dear Tabitha Rose, when has darkness required at atmosphere?"

"Ha ha very funny wise guy, but I meant how will you know where we are?"

" _There_ is a point. See, this is why I keep you on and don't employ someone better."

"You meant to say, that this is why you _need_ me."

"That too," Jacob replied, tilting his head to the side. "Do you know the Quelt system?"

"Two sets of binary stars, locked in orbit around each other? In the Fuuron Galaxy?"

"That's the one, I'll meet you there. You just aim for it and if I haven't shown up after say a week after your arrival there..." Jacob trailed off.

Tabitha nodded as a voice crackled, suddenly, from the speaker in the centre of the console on which she sat. "We've made it to E-deck. Charging cycle seems to be working fine, the readout is reporting twenty five percent green, anti-matter generation has begun successfully."

" _And_ the comm-system would appear to be working," Jacob replied, reaching over the console and holding down the button under the speaker. "Strange that," he began, mid thought, speaking into the device, "as it has a red light up here. Change to a level four charging cycle. Then you may as well head back up." He released the button and turned to face Tabitha, "Don't you go telling them Tabs, they don't need to know, not yet. _Now_ , do you think we've got the systems into a state where we can reboot that computer core again?"

"I think so," Tabitha replied.

"Then let's go reboot the computer again, see if we can get the old girl back off the ground." He walked towards the door at the rear of the bridge, "Coming?" he asked Tabitha.

"No, I'll stay here. Debug any problems that crop up after the reboot."

"Good idea," Jacob replied, stepping through the door and beginning to walk along the dark corridor. He turned left at the first intersection of corridors and continued along the corridor that curved ever so slightly towards the back of the ship for quite some time, running his hand against the wall so as not to walk into it in the darkness, even though he didn't think would, he knew this ship better than he knew the back of his hand – but, it had been a long time since he had walked these corridors.

In time he came to the end of the corridor at another intersection, this time he turned right and walked straight along, an arm outstretched before him. His outstretched arm came into contact with cold steel and he felt his way across it to the wall on its right. Groping in the darkness near the floor he found the manual release box, lifted the lid and turned the handle inside. With a grinding noise the doors slowly slid apart as he turned the handle, until they were wide enough open for him to slide through sideways into the room beyond.

Jacob stepped onto a metal catwalk, his steps echoing up and down through the vast chamber. A slight draft could be felt blowing down from the cooling fan at the top of computer core, currently running at the low power setting it changed to when a person entered the core room. The fan pulled air in from the rest of the ship to help cool the computer core, the hot air from the bottom of the tower was then extracted and used for heating the ship.

Ahead of him he could see a dimly lit panel, he approached it and waved his hand over it. As his hand glided over the panel it 'woke-up' becoming immediately brighter and displaying the details for the computer core. Jacob selected the 'System' option and then selected 'Restart' from the vast list of options. A message box appeared to which he selected 'Yes' then he waited.

From far below came the first in a series of loud clicks that slowly worked their way up the computer core, the draft stopped as the fan shut down, and the panel went black as it too turned off. A few seconds of dead silence passed by before Jacob again felt the slight draft blowing down on him. The clicks began again, this time from the top of the core and working their way down. The panel re-illuminated and displayed the words 'Restart Complete: Engage ship functions?' below which two options were presented, 'Yes' or 'No'. Jacob pressed his finger on the 'Yes' option and was immediately blinded as powerful lights lit up the once dark computer core.

"Systems are coming back online, I have a yellow light on everything," Tabitha's voice filled his head - she had never liked using the comm-system unless she absolutely had to.

"Thanks Tabs," Jacob replied, opening his eyes slowly so they could adjust to the new lighting conditions. He walked back towards the door that he had entered through, that was still sitting half open. He slid through the narrow opening again and closed the manual release box's lid. There was a quiet hiss and the doors slid shut, now working being controlled by the computer instead of relying on the manual controls.

As Jacob walked along the corridor heading back to the bridge, he both felt and heard a series of thuds echoing through the ship, making it vibrate slightly. He smiled to himself, feeling at long last like he was home. He knew the sound was the engines coming online, just the gravity drive for now, enabling them to escape the planet's atmosphere. Once in space the main drive would kick in, allowing them to cruise at up to ten times the speed light or enabling them to engage the Fruig Drive, a type of drive that relied on dropping the ship into the a thin slice of reality between dimensions and meant even the space between galaxies could be traversed in short periods of time.

The deck on which Jacob was walking suddenly wobbled a little from side to side, this soon ceased and was followed by a singular loud thud as Jacob emerged onto the bridge. "The old girl still flies then," he said, noting as he did so the 'Landing Gear' light was displaying yellow for 'retracted'.

"Yes, yes she does," came Tabitha's voice from the chair right in front of him. "Are you going to take us out?"

Just as she finished speaking Angela and William burst into the room, "They're here! I can feel them changing everything around us to stop our escape! We have to go! We have to go now!" Angela was yelling as she rushed past Jacob to sit in her usual seat.

Jacob caught Tabitha's gaze and shook his head slightly, "I'll head to engineering and keep an eye on things while we launch, it's been a very long time since anything's been used after all. Tabs, you have the controls."

Tabitha gave him a brief nod before standing from the raised-central chair and moving to the one at the main console.

"William," Jacob said, "you can have this seat, watch what Tabitha does, learn the ropes," he indicated to the seat Tabitha had just vacated. He turned and left the room, walking silently towards the number one lift that could take him to the engineering, or E-deck.

Tabitha's voice suddenly filled his head again, "You don't have to do this. _Please_ don't do this Jake."

"If I don't there is no way any of us will survive, no way at all," Jacob replied, casting the words to her with his mind.

"Without you, I don't _want_ to survive. I did that for so long before, I don't want to do it again. Knowing you were out there was _all_ that kept me going, knowing you aren't out there at all will kill me."

"Tabs... you know I have to do this. You know I don't _want_ to do this, but I _have_ to. If I don't there will be no escaping. They can't kill me. I am a Shadow, a darkness in the light. It _has_ to be me; they can do what you and Angela can do. It _has_ to be me."

"I'm just... just... scared. That's all."

Jacob stopped walking, he turned momentarily to face the bridge again a pained expression crossing his face.

"Jake?"

"Me too Tabs," he said aloud to her, "me too."

Tabitha fell silent as Jacob entered the lift and hurtled towards the engineering deck. He stepped off the lift and casually glanced at the displays scrolling up the screens on the control panel immediately in-front of the lift doors. He'd never been one for having to navigate through a maze of corridors to get vital readings so had moved the panel to be right alongside the lift. He reached for the comm-system control and held down the button, "All systems standing by, we're clear for launch."

"Copy," came Angela's voice over, crackling from the speaker. No matter what Jacob had tried those speakers always crackled, he assumed it was due to some sort of interference from the various components of the ship.

The dull throbbing suddenly gained in pitch and volume as the gravity drive powered up for lift off, and, as it did so, Jacob seemed to collapse in on himself, vanishing from the ship.

Opening his eyes Jacob found himself standing on the planetoids surface again, a rapidly shrinking shadow on the ground around him let him know that the ship was gaining height. From the valley-edge where they had stood waiting for Angela to bring the ship to the surface soared a bolt of energy, it hurtled upwards towards the ship and again Jacob collapsed in on himself, this time appearing, as if created from smoke, in the location that the energy bolt had come from.

A Murray stood there, tentacles writhing, searching, around him for another high-energy source in which to blast the ship with. The Murray noticed Jacob and the tentacles hurtled towards him, went straight through him. Jacob focused his will and solidified the sword at his back. He reached for the sword and swung it, flashing and glinting in the light of the suns, forwards down onto the tentacles, severing them from the rest of the Murray. It let out a hideous cry that reverberated around the surrounding land and Jacob watched in horror as they slowly pulled themselves back towards the Murray they had been severed from, silently re-attaching themselves to him.

As the echoes of the screeching cry faded away a plethora of loud popping noises sounded and Murrays by the hundreds, then thousands appeared in the area as Jacob vanished from where he stood, pulling the shadows from all around to him as he did so. The racing shadows seem to kick up the finest of dust and create a slight breeze as they were pulled, urgently, to him. He appeared again amongst the Murrays that had recently sprung into existence, now some ten times his previous size. He turned to face a group of the grey-suited Murrays and swept his shadowy sword through him. As it tore through each of the Murrays they fell to the ground as if in slow motion, each falling into two parts as they did so. Jacob had long mastered the art of making things solid only when it was required, and was making the sword into a solid object as it hit and penetrated the Murrays, but not a moment before or a moment after. At points one side of the blade would be solid and inside the Murray, whereas the other side would still be made of shadow, solidifying as it needed to, while it tore through the flesh of the suited men before turning to shadow as it exited.

He felt, suddenly, as if Tabitha was recharging herself from him and he spun around to see the two tentacle covered Murrays aiming themselves at him. To his surprise he saw that from him a stream of glowing energy was flowing, though how that was possible he did not know. Perhaps it was because they had combined the matter and energy controlling abilities, but for them to drain energy from while he wasn't a solid being was a skill that, as far as he knew, not even Tabitha possessed. One of the Murrays began to laugh as Jacob walked slowly towards them, like smoke in the wind.

"You can't hurt us; we have become Gods!"

"You aren't Gods, and I _will_ stop you," Jacob replied and with massive strength of will managed to stop the energy pouring from him.

"We will kill you, boy, you are nothing to our power!" the pair of matter-energy Murrays said in unison.

Jacobs voice was hard and cold. "There are no boys here," he replied before he laughed suddenly, swinging his sword as he did so and slaughtering another handful of Murrays as they swarmed around him. "Come on then!" he taunted. "Do it! Kill me! I _dare_ you. Hell, I bet you can't even scratch me."

The Murrays lunged towards him, but he vanished and reappeared behind them. "So, you really _are_ going to try and kill me? So be it, because if _I_ die, _you_ die with me," he said.

The Murrays looked at him for a moment, "Brave words," they said again in unison, "but empty words. You cannot harm us!" They lunged at him again, causing him to, once again, vanish in a cloud of smoke like shadow.

Jacob, however, knew the truth of what he spoke. He knew that like Tabitha, the Murrays would need him alive as, technically, they could be called offspring of Tabitha and so they would inherit her birth star; and he just happened to be her birth-star. He knew that if he was to die, they would perish, it may not be an immediate death, but they would certainly not be able to continue living for long, the instability of the energy-type Murrays was proof to this. Jacob was certain the only reason these two hadn't exploded apart already was because of their matter-control abilities being able to hold them together.

The horde of grey-suits around him grew and grew, they pressed in on him and he found that any time he made any part of himself solid, so that he could attack, it was quickly attacked by the matter-controlling Murrays, or those that controlled both matter and energy.

Again, he felt like energy was being drawn from him and, again, he saw the two energy-matter Murrays pulling the energy from him. He knew then, that they were beating him down. If he kept losing energy at this speed, he would soon become entirely solid and then, then he would surely die. 'But... so, will they,' he thought grimly, 'so will they.'

His vast size began to diminish as the Murrays sucked the energy, the very life, from him, leaving him he feeling weaker and weaker. He and Tabitha had sorted out their system, she knew the limits of what she could use at any one time so she never left him this weakened. He fell to his shadowy knees, trying hopelessly to stay shadow, to not let himself become solid, but it was to no avail. He felt parts of him begin to be torn from his body as they flashed between solid and shadow and he fell, at last, to his side, lying on the cold, hard, stone of the mountain. As the Murrays closed in around him, he attempted to vanish, to appear somewhere else, but he no longer had the strength of mind, nor the strength of body to do so.

His vision began to blur as the matter-controlling Murrays slowly began to pick his eyes slowly apart, atom by atom, clearly savouring the moment, savouring the moment that they finally defeated the Shadow, that had plagued them across generations of their kind.

Jacob's remaining vision was suddenly washed out by a bright light and he thought he could see the Murrays stagger backwards, he thought he saw them fall to the ground.

## Chapter 30

The ship shook as it gained in speed and began to penetrate the planetoids atmosphere. Angela watched as the view through the forward windows slowly faded from a blue sky to a velvety blackness. She reached across her console and held down a button, "Gravity drive shut-down, standing by to engage Fruig Drive systems," she said, her voice calm and steady, feeling at last safe in the only home she had ever known, ever loved to be at. Her thoughts were interrupted by the silence from the comm-system, "Jake?" she asked, the speaker crackled back at her, but there was no response.

"He won't answer," came Tabitha's quiet voice, barely audible over the drone of the Fruig Drive system coming online.

Angela spun her seat around to face Tabitha, asking "Why not?" as she did so.

"He's not here," Tabitha replied, even quieter than before.

"Where the hell is he then?" Will demanded from where he sat, but Angela shushed him by quickly placing her finger over her lips and giving him a meaningful look.

"Tabitha," said Angela her tone soothing and quiet, "where's Jake?"

Continuing to operate the ships controls, undoubtedly setting the course for their destination, Tabitha replied in a voice as expressionless as her face, "He's back down there."

Angela's immediate reaction was to tell Tabitha to stop plotting the ships course and take them back down, but she managed to refrain from saying anything. Never before had she seen Tabitha act like she was now acting, her spark, her zest, her love for life, all seemed to have fled her entirely giving her the appearance to be someone just carrying out the motions of life. "Why is he down there Tabitha?" Angela asked, keeping her voice quiet and soothing.

"Because had to be, so that we could escape. He said he would catch us up later."

"I am sensing a 'but' here."

"Yes, you're right, there is one. It goes like this: but he doesn't intend to catch us up later. We need to keep going or it'll all be in vain, it's better if we escape..." Tabitha trailed off.

Angela saw a strange expression flash across Will's face, it seemed to be a strange mix of happiness and sorrow, an expression that was rapidly replaced with a look of confusion. Keeping her voice calm she pressed Tabitha for more information, "Why won't he catch us up? What will be in vain?" she asked.

"He has gone to try and destroy them, even if it means he has to blow up the whole planet, he didn't say it in as many words, but it _is_ the truth. We both know it. Even William there probably knows it. He just said it was so we could escape, to try and make it easier." Tabitha's voice cracked a little and for a fleeting moment Angela saw in her face all of the numerous years Tabitha had lived and a cold shudder ran through her.

"So, he intends to bring them all down? By himself?" Will asked. "What an idiot."

Angela watched as anger flashed across Tabitha's face briefly, before vanishing as fast as it had arrived. "He's worked it out, what them being energy-beings means and if not wanting to ask us to risk our lives in a battle we are almost certain to lose makes him an idiot, then an idiot he must be." Tabitha spun her chair, suddenly, around to face Will, "Would _you_ have asked? Asked us all to kill ourselves?"

Will offered no response.

"I thought as much," Tabitha said.

Angela ran her hands through her hair, thinking as she did that it that she was doing a very good impersonation of Jake under stress. She almost laughed, but managed to control herself, "So... life without Jake, or pretty much certain death."

"They're the options," Tabitha replied, swinging her seat around to continue plotting the course on the vast console before her, pulling up star charts on one of the screens.

"Stop," Angela instructed. Tabitha turned to look at her, brushing a strand of hair from her face. "This is stupid. We're going back."

"But -" Will began to protest.

"No. We are going back, if that was you down there, he'd go back for you. So, we're going back for him." Angela said, talking over Will's objection. For a few moments there was silence until Will spoke.

"So... you'd rather die for him than live with me?"

"Would you _stop_ being so... so... pig-headed and ridiculous! Jake is family, _my_ _family_! I am _not_ leaving my family behind," snapped Angela at him.

"So, he -" William began again.

"Yes! He is my family and I just can't leave him down there. I won't! I'm not going to. We're going back," she looked at Tabitha, "all of us."

Tabitha's expression seemed to harden, "You're right of course. He's family. You're family. Even you, Will, are family now."

Angela saw an expression of shock cross Wills face; she knew that he had thought - even if he hadn't actually said it - that he would always be treated as an outsider by Tabitha and Jake.

"So, we're really doing this?" he asked.

"We're really doing it," Angela answered.

"We can't take the ship, it'd give us away," Tabitha said, seeming to instantly cast off her shell of despair as an almost manic glint appeared in her eye as she turned to Angela. "Do you think you could take him down?"

"Only one way to find out," Angela replied turning to Will. "Grab my hand," Angela instructed as she walked over to him. Once she felt his grasp, she screwed her face up in concentration.

A sharp crack filled the air and Angela turned to see very dazed looking William appear. "Sorry. It was the only way," she said to him, "you'll probably never get used to it"

"What... happened?" asked William, looking around dazedly, looking as if he might throw up at any moment.

"Well I used my powers and... transported, I suppose you'd call it, you here with me. Sit down though please, I don't think you were designed for transporting."

A very ill looking William spoke, "So, you... so, you... what _did_ you do?"

"Essentially I destroyed the existing you, hauled it through space and created a new you here."

"And where is here?" he asked looking around.

"Just along from where we took off."

"I really don't feel too great," Will said, his voice sounding thick and heavy, "I think I'm gonna be -"

"Shh!" Angela said over the top of him, scrambling up the mountain side. "Look!"

William crept slowly up to sit beside her and the pair looked out over the ridge on which they lay. Below them they could see a horde of Murrays, slowly seeming to be bringing a giant-like Jake to the ground.

"Hmm... they're trying to pull him apart, but I dare not try too hard to stop them or they'll know we're here..." she trailed off thoughtfully.

"I really think I'm gonna throw up," William said in response.

Angela turned to face Will, "Well don't get it on me if you do," she said, her tone matter-of-fact. "Come on Tabitha..." she whispered as she saw Jake fall first to his knees and then to his side.

"So... Jake's like family to you?" William asked, holding his stomach.

"No, not _like_ family. He _is_ family, I don't know why you keep thinking he is something else. He's always been like a brother to me, almost as long as I can remember, even when I was little. Tabitha's always been a weird cross between older sister and mother, so it's strange really that Jake never seemed like a father. But I suppose that's just the way he is." She burst into a sudden grin and let out a short yelp of laughter, "You really should learn to get along with my 'parents', you've really been putting your foot in it the last couple of days."

William managed a laugh, but soon stopped clutching at his stomach.

"Where are you Tabitha?" Angela said, just as a sudden bright light washed out the scene below. Angela watched as Murrays hurtled into the air blown backwards by the beam of energy.

"Now Will!" she yelled, standing up and running down the opposite side of the ridge, towards the Murrays. She heard Will scramble to his feet and rush after her, watched as he passed her and watched as he swung an energy gun around from where it hung on his back and began firing at the horde of Murrays. His queasiness from moments before seemed to have departed, undoubtedly due to the adrenaline rush of suddenly running down a mountain at an enemy that far outmanned and outgunned him.

The beam of energy slowly began to take on the shape of Tabitha, she was crouching beside the motionless Jake with one hand on his head. Angela decided to use her powers to keep as many Murrays as possible from closing in on the pair, Jake was obviously in a bad way and Tabitha would need time to finish whatever it was she was doing. "Go to Jake!" Angela yelled to Will, who was blasting at Murrays and trying to dodge their retaliations, Will's head spun, briefly, in her direction before he began to veer towards where Tabitha crouched over Jake as he ran.

As he ran Angela shielded him from both projectiles and from the Murrays themselves as they tried to take him out, she could do little for the blasts of energy fired his way, but Will seemed to have developed a knack for avoiding them somehow. She watched as he approached the others, before she began to make her own way towards them, walking slowly and deliberately, moving a 'matter-shield' around her as she walked, as well as providing one for the others. A Murray ran towards her before hitting the shield and falling away into a cloud of dust.

She could feel the shield being interfered with, 'Some of the matter-controlling Murrays that Tabitha blasted out of the way must be coming back around' she thought, increasing her pace. Looking to where the others were, she saw Jake shakily getting to his feet, he leaned heavily on Tabitha to keep himself upright. Angela soon stepped into the matter-shield in which the others stood, an act which allowed her to double the strength of it.

"Did you _really_ think we'd just leave you here?" she demanded of Jake, her voice shaking in anger.

"So, much for pleasantries then," he replied, "it was my intention... 'cause now we have a problem." He feebly raised his arm and pointed to a pair of Murrays that walked towards them, tentacles that sprouted from their backs and heads waving through the air, pulling energy to them from all around. "Tabitha knows what needs to be done about them, that's why she let me stay here."

"Hold him!" Tabitha instructed Will, pushing Jake towards him. Will awkwardly grabbed Jake to hold him upright.

"This may take a while," Tabitha said, turning to face Angela, "try to keep them away as long as possible."

Angela nodded as Tabitha seemed to melt into a small glowing projectile that began to weave itself in slow figure of eights up Jakes legs and into his body. Angela watched as Jake was slowly able to stop leaning on Will and stand by himself, though his eyes were shut, he swayed slightly and he said nothing.

There was, however, little time to stop and watch Jake slowly being regenerated, as she felt her matter-shield flutter and watched as several Murrays got into the zone inside it. "Will, I'm going to need you to kill any who break through the shield, those two out there aren't making it easy to maintain it and there are other matter-controllers joining in..." Angela trailed off focusing her mind on keeping the Murrays out of the shielded area she was creating. She glanced towards Jake and saw the bright cigar-like projectile was still weaving through him and knew it was just her and Will for the time being. Non-matter controlling Murrays soon began to circle the matter-shield, rushing in whenever and wherever it weakened. Will shot at those who got through and Angela noticed that he didn't miss at all, not even once. Angela wondered where he had acquired the energy gun from, his last one had been destroyed when fighting alongside the ancients, wondering if, for whatever reason, he grabbed it at some point when he was on the ship.

Angela began to think, fill of hope, that they might just be able to hold off the Murrays long enough for Jake and Tabitha to re-enter the fray. Glancing towards them she saw that the speed of Tabitha's weaving through Jake had greatly reduced, a sure sign that they'd soon be able to help.

"What's that?" Will yelled, over the sound of firing his energy gun at the latest group of the Murrays to breach the matter-shield.

"What's what?" Angela yelled back.

"There's a whistling..." he replied, running towards her.

Angela strained her ears, but couldn't hear anything. "I don't hear it," she said to Will.

"It's like... one of those old-fashioned jugs boiling. It comes and goes," he explained.

Angela looked around the interior of the matter-shield, but could see nothing with her normal sight. Her matter-sight, however, conveyed an entirely different story. The matter controlling Murrays outside of the shield were using their powers to remove the air from within the shield, the whistling was the sound of it slipping in from outside the shield, where it didn't quite meet the ground, as a vacuum began to form within the shield's interior. Angela swore loudly at her realization that she couldn't maintain both the matter-shield and their supply of air. One would have to be given up.

"Now," came Jakes voice from behind her, "I'm sure it's not quite _that_ bad. Though, it _would_ appear that we are losing air quite rapidly and though I don't need it, some of us, -" he flicked his eyes at William, "- some of us do."

How Jake knew without being told that they were losing air Angela didn't know, but then Jake had always had an uncanny ability to know things he shouldn't, "How'd you know that?" she asked him.

"As I have told you time and time again, knowing things is what I do. I'd have thought you'd be sick of me telling you that by now."

William rushed past Angela firing off bursts from his energy gun as her matter-shield weakened yet again.

"Are you going to do anything? Or just stand around chatting?" Angela demanded.

"I'm not just standing around chatting; I'm getting a feel for the situation. Now, where'd Tabs get to?"

Angela noticed for the first time that though Jake was now, seemingly, back in the fight, Tabitha had disappeared. "No idea at all. But I could use a little help here... which do you want, air or shield?"

"Well, I'd say shield but I imagine your friend Will there might not like having no air, so we'll go with air. When I tell you, drop the shield. Focus your attention on those two energy-matter Murrays over yonder," he pointed to the two tentacle-covered Murrays standing back some distance from the others. "Those are the two that have to be defeated, once they go the rest will be easy. Cover William as you need too and... oh, you know the drill." A burst of violently bright light near the two tentacle-covered, matter and energy controlling Murrays let them all know where Tabitha was, Jake looked in her direction for a moment before yelling "Now!" and turned into a shadow that streaked across the sky only to reform itself into a vague person-like shape where the two Murrays and Tabitha stood.

Angela let the matter-shield collapse completely, as she did so hundreds of the Murrays pushed forward into the previously shielded space. She ran towards Will, yelling at him that the shield was down, he glanced in her direction and she yelled at him again, this time telling him to take out as many of the Murrays as possible.

As Angela ran into his side Will asked, "What's the plan?"

"We're going to try and take out those two, the two with the tentacles. They're the biggest threat. Jake and Tabitha are already there," Angela replied.

Will looked around, firing his gun at the closet of the approaching Murrays. Some it blasted through, others it seemed to have no affect on - those that were unaffected were undoubtedly the matter-controlling types. "It'll take us forever to get there through this lot," he said, "what about that... what did you call it? Transportation thing? Can we do that again?"

Angela looked at him knowing how hard it must have been for him to ask her that, due to the pain and nausea he had suffered last time. "Yes, but -"

"Don't worry about it, just do it!" he instructed, grabbing her hand.

Angela closed her eyes and with all her strength of mind focused on moving the pair the few hundred metres to where the others fought. This time was immensely harder than transporting them through space and it took her a moment to figure out why. The difficulty this time was stemming from all the matter-controlling Murrays trying to thwart their movement, trying to pull the free floating atoms that formed the pair from the group they travelled in, trying to stop them making it to their destination and being able to form back into Angela and Will. It wasn't just that, however, that made it so hard. Angela sensed that the material make-up of this whole part of the planetoid seemed to be changing, she thought it might be something to do with the energy-matter Murrays, but she couldn't figure out if it was them, or what exactly was happening, until they reformed.

With a sharp crack she pulled all the atoms together again to reform both Will and herself, now standing just a handful of metres from the tentacle-covered energy-matter Murrays. One of them was locked in battle with Tabitha, the pair seemed to be equally matched, bolts of energy, literally, screamed across the air between them, sometimes crashing together in the middle. The other was battling Jake, who seemed to be utilizing every trick in the book to try and harm his opponent, but to no avail - whenever he hacked at the Murray with his sword, the Murray simply repaired itself.

None of the four battling seemed to have noticed Will and Angela's arrival, she turned to see Will firing his weapon into the horde of Murrays that now rushed towards their new location. Angela decided the best plan would be to try and pick off the Murrays rushing towards where Jake, Tabitha and the two energy-matter Murrays fought. If she and Will could reduce their numbers a bit she might be able to help Jake and Tabitha maybe, or at the very least, make it easier for them to fight.

"If we pick this lot off, we might be able to help the others," Will said to her, seeming to read her thoughts.

"Just what I was thinking," Angela replied. "I'll try to take out the matter controlling ones. There's so many of them here though, it's hard to know exactly which they are, they seem to be everywhere."

"I might be able to help," Will yelled, over the incredible noise of the fight, across to her after a few seconds. He looked down at his gun scanning it for a moment before he seemed to change some kind of setting. "It's on wide dispersal now. It'll blast to pieces those who aren't matter controllers. You take them out after I shoot the rest!"

Angela nodded her agreement and the pair turned to face the on-coming Murrays, who rushed towards them at a run now, instead of a walk. It was like trying to stare down a herd of some kind of insane, stampeding, wild animal; an animal that had learnt to use weapons. Here and there balls of sparking red energy burst forth from the mass of grey-suited men, Angela could see swords in some of their hands, there were guns and axes and a couple even carried, almost to Angela's amusement, large stones.

As Will fired into the crowd Angela worked hard to destroy the matter controlling type Murrays: she had learnt the best way to kill them now. It was to haul all the atoms of their body in different directions at the same time and at tremendous speed, giving them no time to react and work out what they need to do to keep themselves in one piece. While she attacked them, though, she had to work to keep both herself and Will from suffering the same life-ending fate. Every now and again a group of the matter-controllers seemed to concentrate their attack on one of the pair and then Angela had to stop attacking and focus all her attention on keeping whoever it was being targeted, be it Will, herself or the pair of them, whole and alive.

She glanced over her shoulder every once in a while, but the four locked in battle behind her still seemed not to have noticed either her or Will, nor did the battle seem to be making any progress.

## Chapter 31

Tabitha focused a blast of energy, once again, into the energy-matter grey-suited man she battled with.

It had little effect.

The man soaked up most of the energy before throwing it, hurtling, back at her. They were locked into an evenly matched battle, neither sustaining any amount of harm, neither of them tiring, neither of them able to get the upper hand. Glancing to her right she saw Jake and the other energy-matter grey-suited man also still locked in battle. Jake occasionally scored a hit with his sword on the man, before the man rapidly regenerated itself and threw itself through the air and straight through the shadowy Jake. She had a rough idea of why Jake had wanted to take them on by himself, they were tied to him as she was - though she thought there must be a better way than him having to die to achieve victory. Slight further away she spotted Angela and William. They looked to be keeping the mass of other grey-suited men at bay; their plan was a sound one as it enabled both her and Jake to continue to fight the energy-matter types without having to worry about an onslaught of other grey-suited men.

Tabitha soaked up the largest amount of energy to be thrown at her yet, before she hurled it back at the man. It wasn't however, the full amount, it was a fraction less. Not so much less so as to be noticeable, but less just the same. Each time she threw the energy back she made sure that it was slightly less than what had been hurled in her direction. A plan was forming in the depths of her mind, she wasn't sure of its merits, or if it would even work, but it was a plan none-the-less and a plan was desperately needed.

She thought if she could get this grey-suited man to use his entire energy reserve, he'd need to recharge himself somehow - if he didn't, he'd become vulnerable to a physical attack and Tabitha thought it was likely that he wouldn't be able to regenerate himself, or perhaps even know that he _needed_ to recharge himself. If he did know about recharging, he would, surely, need to use Jake - as he was her birth star and the grey-suited men _did_ , in a way, come from her - and if Jake remained shadow the grey-suited man wouldn't be able to recharge. At least she hoped, and knew that Jake also hoped, that the same rules that applied to her would apply to them. Even if they did, of course, Tabitha had no idea how long it might take before the grey-suit had been worn down and then, _then_ , she'd have the task of tackling the other - especially since Jake seemed to be fighting an entirely ineffective battle. The plan was a bit flawed, and relied on a lot of supposition, but she couldn't help it slowly resolving and becoming her strategy. She was going to try to tell Jake her plan, telepathically of course, but she feared that these grey-suits had also inherited that ability. She shuddered to think that in a way these monstrosities of life were 'offspring' of her own kind, offspring, in fact, of herself: a new generation of a long extinct species.

The writhing mass of tentacle covered grey-suited man that she fought seemed to be becoming more and more frustrated with the lack of progress with his attack, his blasts of energy continued to become more and more powerful, continued to be thrown at her with more and more force. Tabitha knew that would wear his reserves down faster, but that would probably still not be fast enough.

A loud yell came from Jake's direction, she looked to see him charging at the grey-suited man he fought, watched as they soon became locked in a hand-to-hand battle – Jakes body seeming to flicker between shadow and solid matter, she could feel him trying to force his own energy into the creature he fought, knowing what Jakes shadow really meant she wondered if it might work, but it didn't seem to be. She stole glances towards him, watching as parts of him seemed to just disappear before her eyes, while she continued to engage the other energy-matter grey-suited man in battle. The strange thing was, whenever she could get a look, it seemed that different parts of Jake were disappearing, but the bits that had vanished beforehand had reappeared unscathed. Soaking up another blast of energy, realization dawned on Tabitha. Jake must have been around Angela, and now around these grey-suits that could control matter, for enough time for him to have picked up, in a small way, her ability to control matter. It meant that even as the grey-suit dissolved him, he was able to, crudely and hurriedly, reconstruct himself, it meant that with every passing moment Jake became more and more like the creature he fought with.

The ground exploded around Tabitha, sending her hurtling into the air. The grey-suited man must have noticed her wavering concentration and so had blasted the ground around her with energy instead of targeting it directly at her. With a heavy thump she landed on the ground, immediately pulling herself back to her feet, just in time to dive out of the way of another burst of energy aimed at the ground around her. A hunk of rock grazed her face and Tabitha felt it tear through the flesh above her eye.

The grey-suited man laughed, "You will never defeat me!" he bellowed.

Tabitha refused to give him the satisfaction of a reply, instead she wiped at the blood that was running into her eye, cauterizing the wound as she did so.

"You fail to realize that you always have been and always will be inferior. You could have used your abilities to become all powerful like us, instead you chose the losing side, the weaker side. You chose to fight us when you should have chosen to join us, then together we would be victorious!"

Tabitha could see Jake and the other energy-matter grey-suited man still locked in their hand-to-hand struggle. Both seemed to be suffering physical wounds, both had become drenched in blood. As she watched she saw Jake get thrown to the ground, the grey-suited man landing on top of him, holding him by his throat. Jake struggled and thrashed, Tabitha wondered, briefly, why he didn't just turn to shadow and escape.

"There is still time, you can still choose to join with us," the grey-suited man continued, his voice calm and controlled, "join with us now and become what you could be, what you _should_ be, what you were _born_ to be. Join with us and become a God in the universe, strike fear into the hearts of the mortals, keep them as your pets or your slaves."

Tabitha stood silent for a few moments as she watched Jake stop thrashing, he lay still and limp on the ground. Quietly she said, "I'll join..."

"What was that my dear?" asked the grey-suited man. "Did you say you'll join?"

"Yes," Tabitha said, her voice becoming louder, stronger, as she made her decision. "I'll join."

"A wise and excellent choice for one who has been so foolish in the past," replied the grey-suited man, "you will not regret it! Now help us finish those two!" he pointed a massive finger at Angela and William. Tabitha could see their faces stricken with disbelief at what was happening, they had destroyed almost three quarters of the host of grey-suited men, those that survived now stood around them in a vast circle, waiting for the energy-matter grey-suited men to finish them off. Tabitha could sense that neither of them could believe what she was saying when she spoke again.

"I'll join you..." she said softly, her voice trailing away.

The energy-matter grey-suited man turned away and began to walk towards Angela and William. Tabitha watched as Angela fell to her knees in despair, William stood over her pointing his gun at the approaching grey-suited man in a useless display of defiance.

"... Jake." Tabitha whispered, her voice carrying on the wind towards the grey-suited man that walked away from her.

The grey-suited man stopped and started to turn, as if in slow motion, to face her, "What did you say?"

His reaction was too slow however and in the time it took him to spin around Tabitha had vanished into a beam of light. The beam appeared beside Jake, just as he suddenly threw the grey-suited man off of him and hauled himself to his feet. Tabitha had known Jake wasn't dead, she could still feel his presence in her soul, their bond was ancient and little understood to all, even to them themselves - though they wouldn't admit it. She had known that, as she had watched Jake get taken to the ground, his plan was to lull the grey-suited men into a false sense of security. She felt sorry that she hadn't been able to convey that thought to Angela and William, but she knew they'd understand.

The brightness of the beam of light faded as Tabitha appeared pulled Jake to his feet. "Well played," he said, "you almost had me going there. _Almost,_ " he flashed her a grin. "Now what say you, I think it's time this lot learnt the true meaning of power."

Tabitha nodded, placing her hand on his shoulder. The two energy-matter grey-suited men charged at the pair, as an odd sensation spread out from Tabitha's stomach, she felt as if she was getting lighter, as if she would blow away on a gentle breeze. The feeling extended down her legs and up towards her head, she held her left arm out before her and watched as it seemed to leave a trail behind it as she moved it through the air, the whole world seeming to have stopped turning, so slow had time seemed to become. The feeling passed into her head and she watched as Angela and William suddenly raced closer at an unimaginable speed. Soon she stood beside them, the strange sensation still filling her body and holding a ghost-like hand out to Angela she spoke, "Take my hand," she said to her, "and you," she looked at William, "take hers."

"But what's going on, you look like a ghost," William argued.

"Just do it," Angela told him, holding out her hand.

Tabitha felt the warmth of Angela's hand in her grasp, felt her energy and life begin to flow through her. When William finally took Angela's hand, she felt his energy as well, Tabitha looked towards the pair, watching as they, too, became almost ghost-like. Around them the grey-suited men charged forward, she could feel the matter controllers trying to tear them apart; realising, with a small surprise, that she was sharing Angela's experiences.

"What the hell is this!" William demanded, though he didn't speak aloud, it came to Tabitha like telepathy did, but seemed more like a thought that she was having than the voice of someone else.

Angela's voice came to her next, "We're... we're all connected somehow. I can... it's strange. It's like I can... feel both of you, as part of me."

Tabitha watched as the grey-suited men came closer and closer.

"Shouldn't we do something?" enquired William.

"They cannot harm us," Angela replied, "there is nothing left here for them to harm anymore."

"Then can you _please_ tell me what's going on?" William asked as the horde of suited men seemed to run through them and around them. Lashing out with weapons and fists, trying to use their powers over matter to pull them apart, but it was to no avail.

"We're safe," Tabitha thought-said, "we're almost just shadow now. They cannot harm us in any way."

"That's right," came a new voice, Jakes voice. "I can't think of a better way to keep you all safe." He appeared before Tabitha then, taking her free hand. "Luckily for us, I -" he looked at Tabitha, "we - remembered that we can do this, though it takes an enormous amount of effort on both of our parts." Around them and through them the grey-suited men pushed and shoved, balls of energy occasionally blasted at them from the energy-matter controlling grey-suited men, every now and again one would yell in frustration and rage.

"I want you two," Jake said, as he looked at Angela and William, to focus on Tabitha. Nothing else. Just Tabitha. And you, Tabs, you know what to do." He stared deep into Tabitha's eyes for a few moments, before letting go of her hand and turning to face the two grey-suited men that could control energy and matter.

Tabitha watched as the smoke like shadow that formed Jake twisted and turned as he made himself solid, swinging his sword from his back while the grey-suited men tore pieces from him. He seemed oblivious to their attacks as he stood with his sword held above him, pointing to the sky, almost directly at the moon's twin suns. Tabitha began to focus on Jakes sword, ignoring everything going on around her, it filled her vision, filled her mind as she felt Angela and William start to focus on her, she knew that they'd be able to sense her focusing on the sword and knew they would wonder what was happening. But there was no time for an explanation, as the others focused on her she felt their energy coursing through her with renewed vigour.

Using her own ability she pulled the energy from around her, pulling it from the grey-suited men that massed around the shadowy trio and Jake, she pulled it from the heat and light in the air from the twin suns that Jol and its moons orbited around and she pulled it from her own being, using the energy she had accumulated in the earlier battle as well as her own reserves. She could sense that Jacob was also drawing energy to him, his was the opposite of hers, he was a Shadow, not a Light, and his kind was linked to the universe's dark-energy, the very stuff that caused it to expand ever outwards. As she focussed her mind, she knew, that if this did not work, there would be no second chance; it'd be all over - really, properly, over.

She raised her free hand and held it palm open towards the sword Jake held aloft, feeling her hand shake slightly as she did so. She focused her mind and let the energy rush out of her, through her arm and into her hand where it raced, arcing and flashing like lightning, through the air and into the sword Jake held above him. From there it poured down into Jake himself, sparks flashed across his body as he grew in size until the last of the energy flowed from Tabitha she and the others fell to the ground as one, unable to find the strength to continue standing.

Pulling the others close to her, Tabitha eventually sat with her arm around Angela's shoulders and a hand on William's upper arm.

"What was that all about?" William asked, his voice strained and tired.

"Our last chance I think," Angela replied, "am I right?"

"You're right," Tabitha said, "We've given him a fighting chance now. He has the energy from all around us, he has your ability to control matter and he has his own abilities as well."

"And my part?" William asked Tabitha, who could sense he felt uneasy, left-out.

"Your part was the most important one of all," she replied as she watched Jake carving his way through the lesser grey-suited men towards the two energy and matter controllers. "From you he now has a fighting chance to survive this, he has gained part of your immortality, he is tied to that other universe..." She trailed off into silence wondering if she should let William know she had sensed something else in him, just as she knew Jake had, just as The Ancients had, but decided now wasn't the time.

Falling quiet she watched Jake stand before the two most powerful grey-suited men she had ever seen. They were soon fighting hard; bursts of energy lit the area while hunks of stone and clouds of dust flew into the air. Tabitha watched as Jake swung his sword at one of them, as it approached the man it began to glow electric blue. The blade sliced into him like a hot knife through butter, as it passed the halfway point through the man a blue light could be seen shining brightly out of the man's ears, eyes and mouth. There was a blinding flash, a deafening roar that shook the very ground and the man was no more. Jake turned to face the remaining energy and matter controlling grey-suited man who, Tabitha was pleased to see, didn't look as smug or confident now.

The battle between this suited man and Jake went much longer than the first one had. The man was making certain to avoid Jakes blade, he came in close to Jake causing Jake to have to resort to hand-to-hand fighting instead of sword play, Tabitha smiled slightly as Jake swung his sword up and into the sheath on his back without even looking, smiled as she realised it the Murray didn't know it wasn't the sword that was the source of Jake's sudden power, it was merely a conduit, the source was Jake himself.

The two men pushed and pulled at each other, each trying to force the other to the ground. Suddenly, as if from nowhere, Jake seemed to lose his footing, to be taken off guard and he fell to the ground again, and the grey-suited man crashed down on top of him, its tentacles latching onto Jake. Tabitha tried to get to her feet, but she didn't have the energy, all she could do was watch helplessly as Jake thrashed and struggled. He suddenly looked in her direction and catching her eye he gave her a small smile, a tiny nod.

"NO!" Tabitha yelled as the grey-suited man was suddenly swallowed by a rapidly expanding ball of blue light. The light raced towards her and the others, blasting through the remaining, normal and matter-controlling grey-suited men, a group that had ceased their attack to watch Jake battle with the energy-matter controller. It struck them hard, knocking them backwards and tearing them into pieces; it was an energy and matter destroying force. It passed through the trio, leaving them somehow unharmed where they sat on the ground, racing into the distance turning the very ground to a fine dust and near levelling the mountains it crashed into. Tabitha watched as it slowly it dissipated in the distance and was no more.

As she watched it fade away Tabitha felt a wrenching sensation throughout her body, it was as if she was being drawn and quartered, as if her internal organs were all trying to pull their way through her skin and out of her body. A pain like she had never felt before filled her body from head to toe, even her hair seemed to ache. Her head felt as if it might explode and she screamed, violently and loudly. Then, as rapidly as it come, the feeling was gone. She opened her eyes to find she had fallen from her sitting position to her side, Angela and William sat over her their faces concerned. They were all solid again now, no longer shadow.

"What is it?" Angela was asking, rubbing Tabitha's arm, "Come on Tabitha, talk to me."

Tabitha pulled herself to a sitting position, frantically scanning the ground around them. "Jake..." she whispered, "it's Jake."

William sprang to his feet. Tabitha wondered where he could find the energy to do so and watched him spinning around on the spot.

"I don't see him," he said. "I don't anything. It's all just dust."

"He's... he's..." Tabitha struggled to speak, grabbing at Angela, pulling her closer, as she did so.

Angela looked into Tabitha's face; her expression pained. "Don't say it," she whispered, "please don't say it Tabitha."

William let out a cry and rushed away from the pair as Tabitha sat, with her knees drawn up to her chin, shaking on the ground with Angela's arm around her shoulders. When William returned, after a short while, she still hadn't spoken and she didn't think she ever would again.

"I'm so sorry," William said, his voice barely audible. He bent down and placed some twisted, burnt and broken fragments of metal at Tabitha's feet. "This was with them," he placed another piece of metal on the ground, this one, though also twisted and burnt still retained enough of its 'T' shape to be recognizable as a sword hilt.

For the first time in a very, _very_ , long time Tabitha felt alone. It was a loneliness she hadn't felt since long before she met Jake and this time it was even worse; before Jake she had been able to sense her birth-star, like a constant companion - but it was long since gone. As the feeling of emptiness built within her she slowly admitted to herself that she couldn't feel him anymore, she knew he was gone. She thought it was cruelly typical that on the very day they had decided that their decision to not become a couple in case one or the other was killed had been a bad one: one of them _had_ been killed.

William sat next to Angela and Tabitha felt him slide his arm around Angela's waist. The trio sat in silence as the twin suns dipped below the newly re-shaped horizon.

As the twilight faded and the stars slowly began to come out Tabitha softly spoke as she watched their twinkling light, "I... I hope they welcomed you home, Jake. I hope you are free now to explore as you always wanted to, free to explore as you wanted to long before any of this ever happened to you, happened us..." she trailed off as tears ran down her face.

There were a few more moments of silence before William suddenly spoke, "He wasn't so bad you know..."

The trio were encompassed in a silence so deep they could hear one another breathing, then as the rings of Jol appeared over the horizon Tabitha turned to watch the planet rise out of the horizon opposite to that which the suns had not-long dipped behind.

" _Faarathai-Ru, Typ sodoraka ko tyek_..." she began, her voice slow and quiet.  
" _The Fates,_

They brought us our first meeting,

Many they were,

But always so fleeting.

The Fates,

They led us to unending battle,

And in battle we listened,

For death's sombre rattle.

Those Fates,

They conspired to throw us together,

Just as was told,

At the dawn of forever.

Those Fates,

They joined us, together as one,

Our fortunes entwined,

As Legend was spun."

Tabitha sung the poem slowly and quietly, seemingly more to herself than to anyone in particular, as the great sphere of Jol appeared over the horizon.

"Where's that from?" William asked her, but Tabitha couldn't find the words to explain, as once again she felt she would never talk again.

Angela replied quietly for her, "I used to hear her singing that to Jake, in the old tongue, when they thought I couldn't hear, I think she made it up as it fits them so well... though that's the first time I've heard it in the common tongue." She smiled slightly, "It seems like it works better in the common tongue though, its much shorter _and_ it even rhymes."

"Its brilliant," William replied.

Tabitha found her voice again and whispered at the stars, " _Faaratha-Ru._ He always said not to place any trust in you... and in the end he was right, wasn't he?" she trailed off into quiet sobs.

## Chapter 32

At length Angela got up and walked over to where Tabitha now sat, some distance away, and though she had respected the fact that Tabitha wanted to be alone, she felt that they had sat idle for long enough. As she walked slowly to Tabitha's side it occurred to her that this branch of Murrays was finally defeated and that, for the very first time in her life, she wasn't at war with someone. None of the other branches of Murrays, as far as Jake had been able to tell, knew of her existence. She was finally free, no longer to be hunted by anyone, or anything. The thought filled her with a strange joy, though it was bitterly tainted by the despair that had filled her when she had realized Jake was gone. "Hey Tabitha," she said softly and quietly, sitting down beside her, "I think we should go."

"But he might -"

"No..." she trailed off for a moment. "No, he won't Tabitha, you know that better than I do, better than anybody does."

Tabitha sighed as she slowly got to her feet. "I'll fetch the ship, save you having to bring William up like you brought him down."

"That's a good idea" Angela replied, keeping her voice soft, "he didn't look so flash after the long trip down here, the short jump didn't seem to hurt him as much."

Tabitha nodded and vanished into a beam of light that stretched from the ground far into the sky and then vanished. Angela knew it would be a good while before she returned with the ship itself, they had left it outside of the solar system in which Jol was a mere speck of rock and Angela suspected Tabitha had locked it down so as to prevent it drifting and removing the lock down was a lengthy procedure by yourself. Angela walked over to Will, sliding her arm around his waist and resting her head on his shoulder.

"I don't get it," Will said, "he must have been able to beat them without... well, you know."

Angela thought for a moment, "Of everyone he has ever met, in this dimension and the other, I knew him best - other than Tabitha of course. If there was a way for him to not... if there was any other option... he would have taken it. He has - had - back-up plans for back-up plans, it's rare that he hasn't planned every single possible outcome."

"So, he might still be alive?"

"I really doubt it Will, you saw Tabitha before. The connection between them has been broken, the only way for that to happen would be for him to be gone, really, truly, gone."

"But he thought she was gone and she wasn't, she was just captured. So..."

Angela was surprised at how concerned Will was at Jakes passing, she didn't think he was putting it on for her benefit, she thought that he was genuinely saddened by Jakes death. "That's true I suppose," she paused for a moment's thought. "But then, they are two different types of beings, perhaps as he is – was – her 'birth-star' she feels the connection more deeply than he does – did? You've seen her energy diagrams? She can always sense where he is, but I don't think he got that particular trait of hers all that time ago, he never seemed to properly understand the diagrams anyway."

"I still don't get it," replied Will, looking confused.

"Well... maybe think of what she has to him as an... energetic attachment. It would know no bounds, it could stretch across the universe, from one side to the other."

"And with Jacob? Doesn't he have the same sort of attachment to her?"

"Well, with him, it always seemed that if got too far away from where she was, he couldn't sense her anymore. At least not at a level where he knew of it, maybe faintly something, somewhere in his mind could sense her, but if he could he wasn't aware of it consciously. I suspect, however, some part of him must have been able to sense her though, because how else would we end up on the same moon, around the same planet, in the same solar system in the same galaxy to find each other again? The universe is a massive, massive place and it only makes sense if those two were somehow pulled, drawn to each other."

"But since she was here on this planet with him, why couldn't he tell she was here? He said he visited her in that massive machine they had her in, but he didn't recognize her." He paused for a bit, "But then he said something about how part of him was missing..."

"Part of him was missing? Well, that part could only be Tabitha. Maybe he had lost her in that mind of his, or maybe he couldn't tell because of guilt, I don't know. She'd been gone for thousands of years already before he brought us here, where he thought we'd be safe -"

Will laughed loudly and suddenly, cutting Angela off, "So, he did get it wrong sometimes then."

Angela couldn't help but laugh as well, "Yes, yes he did. He got that one very wrong."

"So, how long do you think she'll be?" Will asked, after a period of time.

"Shouldn't be too much longer I wouldn't think."

"And then?"

"Then?"

"What happens then? What will we do?"

"I dunno... we'll just have to see I suppose." A thought suddenly came to Angela, "You do want to stay here, don't you?"

"I didn't before... but now... now, I do. Now that I know you won't have to live through me getting older and dropping dead, now that I can stay with you forever, now that it's all possible, I would quite like to stay here. If you'll have me..."

Angela smiled and hugged him, "Of course I will have you. Why wouldn't I?"

"I dunno... maybe I'm too young for you," he laughed. "How old are you anyway?"

Angela looked at him long and hard, "Old enough."

"Which is how old exactly?"

"Does it really matter?"

"I suppose not."

She'd tell him how old she was one day, one day when he was ready for it. But, before Angela could say anymore there was a loud, supersonic, boom that echoed in the air high above them. Looking up Angela saw a glowing triangular shape slowly gaining in size and losing its glow as it grew, the massive shape hovered above the ground in what seemed like no time at all and vast legs extended slowly from the body before the ship settled onto them. A door opened and sloped walkway emerged from it.

"Come on then you," Angela said to Will, leading the way towards the ship.

The pair walked up the long, surprisingly steep, ramp. Once they were aboard Angela turned to the panel beside the door, waved her hand over it to wake it up before pressing a selection of buttons causing the ramp to slowly retract and the door to close with a loud metallic clang followed by a hiss as it sealed air-tight.

Wordlessly Angela turned and led the way towards the bridge of the ship, through one of the long slightly curved corridors that circled the main body of the ship. On reaching the front she slid into the elevator with Will and emerged into the corridor behind the bridge, they stepped from the lift and, with an immediate hiss, the bridge doors opened as she approached them, letting her see Tabitha sitting at the main console in the lowered section of the bridge.

Angela directed Will to her usual seat, while she sat in what was Tabitha's usual seat. Will would be alright, the main purpose of that panel was for monitoring interior ship functions, though it did handle ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore communications when required. Tabitha's usual console handled exterior ship functions as well as processing sensory information from the scanners. It was the second most complex console after the one that Tabitha currently sat at and could, in an emergency, control all ship functions. Glancing at the console before her she smiled a little, remembering the countless hours Jake had spent teaching her to use any and all of the consoles in case there was ever an emergency that required her to use one other than her own. He'd been very obsessive about it.

"I... ah... I have no idea what I'm doing here," Will said from across the bridge as the familiar vibration of atmospheric flight settled into the ship.

"It's easy enough," Tabitha told him her voice almost monotonous in its lack of emotion, "if anything on any of the screens changes tell us and we'll let you know what it is you're looking at."

"So, all I have to sit here and make sure nothing changes?"

"That's the one," Angela told him, "and don't give me that look. Those screens are the ship. If any of them change we're probably in big trouble, especially if any of the screens flash a coloured border at you."

A larger than usual shudder shook the ship as it broke free of the planetoid's atmosphere.

"I've cancelled the planetary evacuation," Tabitha announced as Angela's eyes adjusted to the darkness of space outside the bridge windows allowing her to see a vast array of different ships approaching the planetoid they were leaving. "They don't need to leave now, not now that all those grey-suits have been destroyed."

"So, where are we headed?" Angela asked Tabitha. "We've got the whole universe before us."

"That we do, but we're going to the Quelt system. That's what he wanted."

Angela began to protest, "Tabitha -"

Tabitha turned to look at her, "I know, you don't need to argue with me 'cause I know. But I just need to do this, for me."

Angela replied with a sad smile and nodded, "Quelt it is then. You'll love it Will, a pair of binary stars in orbit around each other."

"So, four stars?"

"Yep and each one a different colour and size. It's really quite something to behold... and the best bit is it's in a whole different galaxy!"

Forwards motion of the ship suddenly stopped; the deep thrum of engines fell silent. Angela looked at her console and flicked a couple of switches beneath yellow lights, watching them turn green before she turned to Tabitha, "Inertial fields in place. We're all set to head into Fruig-Space." Glancing at William she expanded, "Fruig-Space is a kind of... dimension between dimensions, but not the nothing space... I gues you'd call it the skin of the universe. Using it is a way faster method of travel than standard drives or even hyper-light could ever hope to achieve." William looked back at her, his eyes kind of glazed and she wondered if he even understood a wood she had said. Looking back to Tabitha, she shrugged.

Tabitha nodded, "Fruig Drive engaged. Stand-by for Fruig-Space in ten, nine..." she proceeded to count down before finally throwing forward a pair of levers on the console before her and from the heart of the ship came a rumbling sound before the view through the windows ahead exploded. Streaks of different coloured light flashed by, until Tabitha shut the windows visors. "Makes you sick if you look at it too long," she offered as explanation, "Jake used to watch it for hours, said it made the universe make sense..."

Across the bridge Angela saw a very sick looking Will holding onto his seat as if it might suddenly try to jump out from under him. "You'll get used to it. Well the sensation of it you will, but never that view, that view still makes me nauseous," she said.

Almost two months had passed without incident as they travelled towards the Quelt system, the Fuuron Galaxy was a long, long way from Hygo, even at Fruig Drive speeds. Angela had found she had plenty of time to explain to Will about the purpose of around half of the displays at his console and what to do if the readings changed, she thought it wouldn't be long before he had mastered that station and could tackle one of the others - Jake's idea of having everyone able to do everything had its merits.

At around three hours from the Quelt system a quiet beeping came to Angela's ears as she sat at her console and she spun her chair to face it, checking the instrument readout screens. She swore loudly, "We've got a proximity alarm, ten... no wait... It's fifteen vessels, maybe more. They're positioning to surround us."

Tabitha's head snapped around to face her, "Damn it! They must have been here waiting for us! How the hell did they know we'd be here? And how did they get here before us..."

"Who? Who was waiting for us? And how is it even possible for them to surround us in Fruig-Space?" Will asked.

Angela gave him a 'who-do-you-think' look, "We're going to have to drop into normal space. They're locking weapons and we don't want a fire-fight in Fruig-Space, bits of the ship could emerge at all different points of the universe."

"Agreed," Tabitha said as she pulled the levers on the console back towards her, "Fruig Drive disengaged, In-Space Gravity Drive online."

"Inertial fields offline," Angela said, immediately slipping into her well-trained role. "Weapons systems standing by. Force-fields coming online now. Fruig Drive containment field activating."

The ship suddenly rocked violently causing Will to shout out in surprise, then to start calling out the changes he saw on the screens in front of him. Angela knew if they survived this he'd do well; he really did seem to be a natural. "- at 75% now and holding." He ended, Angela had missed what it was he was referring to, but she knew Tabitha would have it in hand. "Hull breaches on 'C' and 'D' decks. Pressurization doors are closing now."

"Return fire," Tabitha instructed furiously working the controls on the panel in front of her to try and manoeuvre their ship into a better firing position. The ship shuddered and shook as blasts from the Murrays vessels hit them again and again as Angela furiously targeted their ships and returned fire. Wills voice suddenly caught her attention; he had just said something completely unexpected. "What was that Will?" she called across the bridge, not taking her eyes off the targeting screen in front of her.

"I said that I have some weird... cube like thing seeming to turn inside itself on the screen here," Will said, "it was a normal cube just before, but now, all of a sudden..." Angela looked across the bridge at him, before hitting a few buttons on her own console so she could see what he saw.

The screen displayed a bright green flashing border around a black background. In the centre of the black background a wireframe cube within a cube appeared, the central cube had lines running from its corners to the corners of the outer wireframe cube and the whole arrangement rotated so that the outer cube became the inner cube, which then became the outer cube.

"A hypercube... but it _can't_ be, because that would mean..." she whispered as another alarm began to sound.

"They're onboard!" Will yelled. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Tabitha suddenly spin around in her seat, just as Angela did so herself, to face the doors behind the bridge as they opened with a sudden hiss. Grey-suited men burst through the opening doors, quickly removing Will, Tabitha and Angela from their seats and lining them up in front of the main rectangular view screen, the visors stood open so they could see the battle outside.

"Tabitha..." Angela said as she was forced against the wall by one of the Murrays. A strange sensation filled her body, as it had from when she had first seen the image of the rotating tesseract, it was as if her matter controlling abilities were being used without her deciding to use them. Tabitha turned to look at her, her expression unreadable.

"I know," she said her voice oddly calm, though perhaps an octave or two higher than it had been since Jake had been taken from her, "I saw."

"You will surrender to us!" the Murray who stood nearest to the raised 'Captains' chair said. "Or we will kill you all, slowly and so, very, painfully. You have no 'protector' to save you now... So, now, oh yes, _now_ , you belong to us, you are _ours_ to do with as we please. So, what, in the words of your 'protector', do you choose? Will you surrender or will you _die_?"

Tabitha shoved the Murray that held her aside, laughing almost manically as she did so. "Us? Surrender to you? _Never!_ "

Angela thought she saw the briefest hint of a smile flash across Tabitha's face, but if it had been there it was so fleeting that she couldn't be sure she had seen it.

"So, be it," said the Murray who, with a wave of his hand, signalled to the other Murrays on the bridge to attack the imprisoned crew. As the Murrays advanced on the trio a new voice suddenly seemed to fill the bridge, Angela couldn't see where or who it came from, but she knew who it was.

"I think not," it said booming through the entire ship, "I _really_ think not."

The Murray fell on top of Jacob, catching him right as he went to change his footing, timing his charge to the millisecond. Jacobs mind raced ahead; he knew what he'd have to do: he knew there would be no getting up from this position. Stuffing one hand into his pocket he fumbled for the small coin like object he had carried since arriving back in this dimension and as the Murray crushed down on him, grabbing him with its massive tentacles, he pulled at the object until it was large enough to fit his hand into, or so he guessed.

He turned his head and caught Tabitha's eye, trying to give her a reassuring smile. A millisecond later he concentrated on releasing all the energy stored within him, it tore at him, ripping and pulling the very particles that his atoms were made of apart with its mix of matter and energy controlling power. As the energy roared from him, he plunged his hand into the portal he had opened in his pocket, feeling a strange sensation as he did so - most portals were designed to be walked through not to have a hand thrust into. Doing it this way, by just forcing a hand through, caused him to be sucked into his own pocket before it too went through the portal and with a heavy thud he landed on the ground, a crushing weight upon his chest. Jacob opened his eyes to find that the Murray had been pulled through the portal with him, he swore loudly, reaching up and grabbing the man around his throat, just as the Murray opened his eyes and realized his situation.

The pair rolled on the ground, each trying to throttle the other. Now that Jacob had pulled the Murray through to, what he could only assume was, Earth's dimension the Murray was just a man, a grotesque man, but just a man, with no powers to absorb energy or control matter. The problem was, he, too, was just a man. And the Murray was still bigger than he was. The pair thrashed and kicked, rolling through what felt to Jacob like mud - he hadn't had time to see where they had come out before the Murray had woken up. Jacob's breath was being cut-off by the bigger man's hands around his throat and Jacob could think of only one thing to do. He reached up and forced his thumbs into the man's eyes as hard as he could. The man released his grip on Jacob's throat and wrenched Jacob's hands from his eyes. Seizing the moment Jacob threw himself hard to his right, catching the Murray off guard. The Murray rolled away slightly and with as much force as he could muster Jacob brought his elbow crashing down into the man's temple, there was a sharp, loud cracking sound and the side of the Murrays face seemed to collapse slightly. The Murray exhaled in a sharp breath and then fell silent, leaving Jacob panting on the ground beside him, massaging his elbow.

Jacob took a moment to observe where he had come out, he knew that trans-dimensional portals were very strange things - they didn't map exactly from one world to another, but he thought he would have been on Earth. As he looked around, he became rapidly aware that this wasn't Earth; he had no idea _where_ he was.

He had emerged on a long straight beach of grey sand, the tide must not long ago have retreated as the sand was still very wet, which is why he thought it had been mud. But what gave away his non-Earth location wasn't the sand, that felt very Earth-like to him, but instead the vivid green sky that reflected off a strangely yellow-tinged sea.

He placed his hand into his pocket, feeling around for the coin sized and shaped portal, but to his dismay found that his pocket was empty. A brief scan of the beach didn't reveal the coin-like object either and Jacob's spirits sank even lower - he had to find that portal and he had to do quickly or the others would have left the planetoid. As the thought about them leaving occurred to him he realized they already could have, he had no idea how time passed in whatever universe he had found himself in – cause although it seemed unlikely, this may not even be Earths dimension. Decades, centuries or even millennia may have already passed for the others back in his home dimension.

On his hands and knees, he ran his hands over the beach around where he had fought the Murray, scuff marks in the sand easily showing where they had fought. He soon found the indented bit of sand that the pair had landed on when emerging from the portal and, under a light layer of sand, he found what he was looking for. Jacob held it up, smiling, to the sun of this strange planet, letting out a yell of triumph.

"Moment of truth," he said, grabbing its edges and pulling at them. If it didn't start to stretch out, he'd know both Angela and Tabitha hadn't survived, the portal relied heavily on their abilities to work - though he wasn't sure how he knew this, he just knew that he did. To his relief, the coin began to stretch out as he teased its edges. Soon it was large enough for him to see through and he was surprised to see a corridor on the other side of the portal, instead of the surface of the planetoid he had left. The corridor was familiar, but as he watched he saw Murrays rush past and through a set of sliding doors that opened with a hiss, into another room. Jacob teased the portal out larger and stepped through.

Again, he felt himself being drawn out, as if he was a large rubber-band being stretched by a giant pair of hands. With a light thud Jacob found himself sitting on the floor of the corridor, a tiny clattering noise behind him let him know that the portal had shut and the coin like object had fallen to the ground, reaching behind him he felt around until his hand clasped it and again he placed into his pocket.

A distant, but familiar, drone confirmed his location: he was on his ship, he knew that sound anywhere. Tabitha and Angela must also affect where the portal comes out somehow, he thought to himself, which, in the current circumstances, was _very_ useful. He gathered himself from the floor and collapsed into himself, turning to shadow and sliding along the floor and through the tiny gap between the doors ahead and onto the bridge. He saw his friends, his family, being held prisoner by a party of about ten Murrays, the Murrays knew there was only three people to stand against them on the ship and so hadn't sent a large party - even though the Murrays knew one of the party could control matter, another energy itself.

Angela didn't seem to be able to cause any harm to the Murrays, which let Jacob know from where he watched, a mere shadow on the wall, that the other reason for the small boarding party was that they were all of the matter controlling kind. Jacob could sense that Tabitha was by far too weak to use her energy controlling ability on them, as she had discharged nearly all her energy into Jake before he slipped through dimensions and with him gone, she had no way to recharge. When he looked at William, he saw that he had been disarmed, his weapons lying on the floor close to where Jacob's shadowy self clung to the wall. Nobody seemed to notice as the shadow slid down the wall to where William's sword and energy-gun lay on the floor, nor did they notice the weapons suddenly vanish as Jacob's shadowy hands grasped them.

"Us? Surrender to you? _Never!_ " Tabitha said.

'That's my girl' Jacob thought at Tabitha and watched as a tiny smile flashed, briefly, across her face.

"So, be it," said the Murray standing most central in the room as he indicated the others to attack the prisoners.

"I think not," Jacob said as he materialized from shadow, "I _really_ think not."

## Chapter 33

"Kill them!" the Murray screamed as William fought to keep the Murrays from getting too close to him, they seemed determined kill him, not by using some sort of ability, but with their own hands.

"Will," Jacob called, shocking him momentarily by using not calling him William, "catch!"

William reached out and caught the energy gun that Jacob had thrown across the room to him, seeming to somehow pass right through any of the grey-suited Murrays it came into contact with.

"Forget the boy!" the Murray commanding the others yelled, pointing at Tabitha. "Kill her! Kill her now!" William tried to shoot the Murrays but his weapon had no effect and he realized they were able to heal themselves.

Angela appeared to be in shock from the events unfolding in front of her, "Poss!" William yelled at her, "you have to help me here!"

She shook her head slightly, as if shaking away a bad dream, before shoving the Murrays that were approaching Tabitha to the ground as she rushed to William's side. With a look of confusion Angela began to move her hands and arms around her and the Murray, the one that William repetitively fired his weapon at, began to stagger, though not as much as William would have expected, he thought that there must be more matter-controlling Murrays in the ships surrounding their one using their powers to negate Angela's own.

The Murrays Angela had knocked to the ground had regained their feet and were again approaching Tabitha, some beginning to grab and pull at her with both their hands and their matter-controlling abilities. William watched on in amazement as they suddenly flew backwards through the air, two managing to fly so far that they struck the back wall of the bridge leaving large dents in the thin metal. Spinning from where the Murrays had struck the wall and looking back at Tabitha, William saw the reason the Murrays had been sent flying, Jacob stood in front of her with an expression that would have stopped a lesser force in its tracks.

"No," he said, his voice cold and hard. "You will not even dare trying that."

William didn't know how it was possible for Jacob to overpower eight matter-controlling grey-suited men by himself, but he thought it might have something to do with what had happened when they were back on the moon orbiting Jol. William watched as the Murrays pulled themselves back to their feet, more than one of them yelling in rage and charging at Jacob.

Standing his ground against the advance Jacob spoke, "You don't scare me, not even slightly. As always you have _grossly_ under-estimated me, surely you must realize there is a reason I keep on living and you do not."

A Murray near Jacob spoke, slowly walking towards Jacob as a group of his more eager comrades were again thrown across the room, seemingly by Jacob's sheer will-power alone. "Your tricks are old and tired and we _will_ destroy you! For the moment of our triumph is here, your death is upon you!"

"You think you have me figured out? You think you can win? Watch this!"

As William, with Angela at his side, both forgetting the fight and watching the exchange between Jacob and the Murray, watched, something very strange happen to Jacob. He seemed to rapidly move around the bridge to stand before each of the Murrays, leaving a trail like smoke behind him as he did so. William had a hard job believing what he saw next, at each of the places Jacob had briefly stopped on his whirlwind lap of the bridge an exact copy of him now stood.

Each of them wielded a sword that sparked with an inexplicable blue energy, each of them in unison swung the blade and struck the Murray standing before them and, as the blades impacted each of the Murrays, they, as one, began to dissolve into tiny glimmering specks of dust, exploding outwards from the sword-blow. The air in the bridge seemed thick with electricity. It made Angela's long hair seem to suddenly start floating and William felt his own hair lift from his head, although when William looked at Tabitha, he saw that she looked no different than usual. Her expression, however, was hard and she seemed to be muttering something quietly under her breath, something, William was sure, in that strange ancient language that he didn't understand.

As the last glimmering specks of dust faded from the starship's bridge, one of the Jacobs turned and walked back towards Tabitha and as he did so the others flew across the bridge, crashing into him and causing him to sway a little from side to side while they were all absorbed back into him, to form just a single man once more.

"Come with me," he said to Tabitha grabbing her hand. She nodded slightly and William watched as the pair seemed to turn into beings of Light and Shadow which then vanished from the bridge.

William spun to face Angela, "What the hell just happened here?" he asked her.

"I don't... I have no idea," she replied, still wearing an expression of extreme confusion mingled with vague shock.

The ship suddenly rocked and a sound like hail on a tin roof filled the bridge causing Angela to race across to the console she had been seated at when the Murrays had boarded the ship. As she sat down William saw her glance briefly at the screen that had displayed the strange cube within a cube, a screen which was now showing a simple wire-frame cube rotating on the black background.

"One... no, two... whoa! All of the ships are exploding, one after the other like dominoes," she hit a switch and the remaining visors over the windows retracted. "Look at them go, into dust just like the Murrays did."

"Well," replied William, "I don't know what he's doing, how he's doing it, or even how the hell he's even here to do _anything_ , but whatever he is doing it certainly seems to be working."

"Mmhmm" Angela murmured in response.

Deciding that there was nothing more he could do for the situation, William sat for a few moments on the edge of the raised portion of the bridge before turning to Angela, "So, what was that cube thing? That was on the screen? It seemed to surprise you."

"That was a hypercube – also known as a tessaract," she pressed a few buttons on her console and the image appeared again.

William walked over to get a better view of it. "What's a tesseract? It seems to defy the eye to look at."

"It's a four-dimensional cube. See normally you see this normal wireframe cube rotating around," Angela again pressed a series of buttons and the image changed to the standard wire-frame cube, slowly spinning, "as that's what reality usually is. Well, perceived reality anyway: height, width, length."

"Yeah, I think I'm with you so far."

"Due to the fact that Jake created a transference device to send us to another dimension, the ship is set-up to alert the bridge whenever it detects a fourth dimension, or fourth and fifth, or fourth, fifth and sixth - well you get the idea. The ship is set-up to alert the bridge whenever more than three dimensions are detected. That's why the tesseract appeared, 'normal space' had acquired an extra dimension instead of its usual three. Though if he was in another universe, with multiple dimensions it should have been something like a six-dimensional cube, perhaps it just picked up time?" She trailed off; her face thoughtful.

"So, that's how the Murrays got here then?" William asked.

"No, that's how Jake got here I think, he must have slipped through to another dimension when we thought he was dead. Since all of him went this time, Tabitha wouldn't have been able to sense him at all, as no part of him was left here _for_ her to sense, if that makes sense."

"And it took him nearly two months to get back here?"

"Time isn't a constant, I am sure he would have explained that to you, probably trying to show off his math skills or something knowing him."

William sat in silence while he processed this information, "So, he could have been gone say... a day from his point of view?"

"Probably, maybe, who knows. He will work it all out in a couple of minutes, maybe ask him when he gets back. Which should be very shortly I'd say; there's only one ship left now."

As the words left Angela's lips there was a brief flash of dim light at the rear of the bridge and Tabitha appeared. She staggered towards the nearest seat and fell, heavily and with an equally heavy sigh, into it.

"All right, are you?" Angela asked.

"Never been better," Tabitha replied with a grin, blowing a strand of hair from her face, "just a little worn out, a little low on energy."

"Where's Jacob then?" William asked her.

"He'll be along shortly; he just has to take care of something."

For the first time since Jacob had seemingly 'died' William noted that she wasn't talking in the flat, monotonous, tone he had become accustomed to, instead her voice had returned to the light tones it had had when he had first met her.

"So, it really _is_ him then? Not someone else?"

"Oh yes, it _is_ him -"

The door at the rear of the bridge slid open with a quiet hiss and Jacob stepped through it. As he entered the bridge Tabitha extracted herself from the seat and rushed towards him, suddenly full of a life and excitement that William hadn't seen in her since before Jacobs disappearance, maybe not even then. Jacob, however, held out a hand in front of him as she approached, "What's the rule?" he asked as Tabitha stopped in front of him.

"Don't touch," she replied, her expression dropping.

Jacob laughed, "No," he said. "The rule is 'you are the exception', now come here."

Tabitha's face lit up as she stepped forward and hugged Jacob, "Don't you ever leave me again, you hear?"

"Don't intend to," Jacob replied, disengaging himself from her embrace and walking across to Angela, though Tabitha trailed close behind, her hand in his.

Angela slapped him across the face before breaking into a smile, "I knew you'd find a way to cheat death," she said to him as he rubbed his jaw in an exaggerated manner, "you _always_ do."

"And _I_ knew _you'd_ know I would find a way. Though why none of you seemed to think that I had actually managed to pull it off is beyond me."

"Well, it certainly seemed that you were dead."

"Appearances aren't everything you know, I'm a prime example of that. I'm not the best-looking lad out there and yet..." he nodded his head in Tabitha's direction and Angela laughed.

"I'm just glad you're okay," she said.

"Hey you know me, I'm _always_ okay. I'm glad _you_ are. Without you I would never have been able to do what I just did. You have to love how abilities slowly rub off on me," he flashed Angela a grin and turned to face William. "So, that must bring me to you Will. I wouldn't have thought it when I met you, but you're all right you are. I'm gathering you will be staying with us?"

"I will be... if that's okay with you of course."

"Is it okay with me..." Jacob mused, placing his hand on his chin in mock thought. "Of course, it is," he said after a moment. "Plus, these two would never forgive me if I said it wasn't. I really would die then, they'd kill me."

William watched as Jacob glanced around the bridge of the ship at everyone before settling into the seat behind the main control panel at the front of the ship, Tabitha falling into the higher 'Captains' chair behind him.

"So... they're all gone now?" William asked Jacob.

"I should think so, if not they have learnt not to take us lightly. Although, I really would have thought they would have learnt that particular lesson already, but some people just never learn. There'll be more of them out there, though, the universe is teeming with them. If we're lucky there is probably none hunting for us, well Angela, specifically. They'll always be hunting for us in general, Tabitha and I have made quite a noise in our travels through the universe..." he trailed off as he read one of the screens. "The Quelt system? Really?"

"I just thought that maybe..." Tabitha said from where she sat, above and behind Jacob, in the 'Captains' chair.

"Only a few hours out I see, let's actually get there then. He flicked a couple of switches and William watched Angela quickly follow suit on the console she was sitting at opposite where he now stood.

"Inertial fields up," she said, "visors closing."

"Going to Fruig-Space in three, two..." Jacob counted down then pushed the levers forward on the console.

William listened in as Jacob explained how he had managed to 'cheat death' - as Angela had put it - and came to the shocking conclusion that he was glad that Angela had a friend like him. He decided that he _himself_ was glad he had a friend like Jacob; he was the sort of person that you knew would always come through for you somehow, and those sorts of people were rare. It was a surprising revelation to William, who had, not that long ago, disliked Jacob almost to the point of hate.

Jacobs full account of the events leading to his return somehow managed to take up the entire time left in their trip to the Quelt system, though his story seemed short and the time to the system long. The lights in the bridge dimmed as the visors were once again lifted from over the forward-facing windows, the view left William awestruck. Never had he seen a view so magnificently beautiful, the four stars seemed close enough for him to reach out and touch as they shone brightly in their slightly different colours.

"Hello old friends," Jacob whispered.

Angela suddenly appeared out of the darkness of the bridge at his side and took his hand, "Follow me," she said.

"Why?"

"I think these two are going need a moment or two."

As they stepped through the bridge doors, he heard Angela mutter under her breath, "It's about time too." William quickly looked around as the doors to the bridge slid shut, catching a glimpse of Tabitha grabbing Jacobs shirt and pulling him towards her before kissing him, glowing, suddenly, so brightly in the seconds before the door shut that he had to shield his eyes.

"They seriously _weren't_ a... couple?" William asked Angela.

"No, they weren't. Hard to believe, but true."

" _Very_ hard to believe."

"Listen, Will, I'm not good at this sort of thing, which is why I haven't said anything before now..."

"Oh?"

"I just want to... wow this is even harder than I thought it would be. I just want to, you know... thank you. Thank you for coming to get me, for saving me."

"I just did what anyone would have done," William replied.

"No, no, you didn't. Not just anyone could stick aside their own feelings about someone and ask that very person for their help, not just anyone would have given up their own life to come to this place. That's how I know you're not just anyone, that's how I know that I love you, and that's how I know you love me."

"I do love you, Poss, I really do," William stepped forwards hugging her, then kissing her, "I'm so glad I came here" he whispered into her ear.

## Quatra: Realities

### A Preview

"Wake up! Mister! You have to wake up!" a voiced called, as if from far away. Groaning Jacob opened his eyes and glanced around to see who was trying to wake him. "Are you awake yet Mister?" the voice asked, a girl's voice, a voice he didn't recognize but with a cadence and tone that seemed familiar.

"I think so," Jacob replied, "but I'm not sure as I don't seem to be able to see anything _and_ , what's more, I don't know where I am. Where am I?"

"You have to get up Mister, they are coming. If you don't get up, they will kill you."

"Kill me? For lying down? That seems a _bit_ extreme," Jacob said as light suddenly burst forth in a rectangular shape. He sprung to his feet realizing he was in a room, a room best described as a cell. The silhouette of a man appeared in the doorway, the light streaming in around him. Jacob shaded his eyes from the glare and woke up.

He lay staring at the ceiling, musing over his dream for a few moments before he heard the door slide open with a gentle hiss. Turning he could make out, like an echo of his dream, the vague outline of a figure, backlit slightly by the dim corridor lighting.

"Jake?" Tabitha asked, crossing the room.

"'Lo Tabs," Jacob replied, sensing her standing beside his bed and shuffling himself over to make room for her.

Tabitha slipped into the bed and Jacob felt her watching him. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"Of course, I am," he paused for a moment. "Legs, feet, arms, hands, head! All still there so I must be all right. Why do you ask?"

"I don't know, I just thought I felt... something."

"Again?"

"Yes, again. Did you see anything, hear anything?"

"Nothing other than the usual, Tabs. A girl's voice, a dark room and a silhouetted figure. It never changes, which is quite bizarre really."

"Do you think it's me?"

"You?"

"Yeah, the owner of the voice. Could it be me?"

"I think I would recognize my own –" Jacob stopped short.

"Your own what?"

Jacob remained silent, wondering both at what he had been about to say and what he should say now, he instead, however, elected to remain silent.

Tabitha sighed gently, "I know _that_ feeling, I don't know what I should call you either, don't worry about it."

"Good," Jacob replied, "I wasn't going to."

"Liar," Tabitha laughed. "Anyway, could it be me?"

"It could be I suppose. But the owner of the voice doesn't seem to recognize me. Surely you'd recognize me and I'd recognize you... unless..."

"Unless... we had both forgotten each other?"

"I wonder how that could even happen; I mean how could I forget you? It'd be like waking up one morning and going about one's business, all day then realizing one was missing a leg."

Tabitha laughed again, "I love your analogies. I suppose you're right though, as I'm in here," Tabitha tapped Jacobs temple, "as well as out here in the real world."

"And as more than just a thought, or a memory, as well."

"Exactly."

"So, no, no I don't think it is you. But never say never, it's _almost_ an infinite universe - anything is possible really isn't it."

Tabitha rolled over and lay still, seemingly falling asleep. Jacob lay awake, staring at the ceiling think about his dream and wondering if perhaps it _was_ Tabitha, if the dream was some sort of premonition it would make sense if it was her. She _was_ made up of the energy of the universe and that flows in either direction, independently of time. Though why _he_ would see it and not _her_ was a little confusing, as was why he should start having premonitions all of a sudden - in all the time he and Tabitha had been connected he couldn't recall once having seen the future.

Suddenly, causing Jacob to jerk slightly with fright, Tabitha reached over herself, grabbed Jacobs hand and then pulled his arm over her, as one might a blanket. Jacob half smiled and after at least another hour of thought he drifted, slowly, to sleep, arm still draped across Tabitha as she held his hand, gently stroking his thumb in her sleep.

Jacob side-stepped through the still opening doors, glanced quickly around the bridge and took his seat at the forward, slightly lowered, console facing the three large windows – all still blacked out. He flicked a switch and the heavy steel visors slowly retracted upwards to reveal a brightly shining starscape. He spun in his chair to face Tabitha, "Lovely view this morning isn't it?" he asked, Tabitha gave a nod and a smile and silently returned to her work.

A short while later Angela and William walked onto the bridge, taking their own respective positions at either side of the bridge. "Quiet in here this morning," Angela remarked.

"Good, good. Quiet's good, except when you need it to be loud and noisy," Jacob replied, not looking up from the screen he was reading off, he sat in silence for a moment before he speaking once more, "That's a bit odd."

"What is?" Angela asked.

"Check your logs for anomalies around... oh an hour and a half to two hours ago," Jacob instructed, still not looking up from the screen he was looking at. William and Tabitha exchanged looks, raising their eyebrows at one another before silently returning to their own tasks.

"I've got a dimensional fall-off," Angela suddenly said, "fifteen minutes long."

"Tabitha can you -"

"Already doing it, running drive system scan now."

"Will, run a computer diagnostic please."

"Got it running," Will replied, "it's returned no errors so far. I'm thinking it's not a computer glitch."

"Fruig Drive reports a fifteen-minute power interruption-"

"Computer system checks out fine, although the secondary clock is out by fifteen minutes-"

"Navigational log reports a complete dimensional void for fifteen minutes. It seems we were nowhere at all."

"Or parts of us were," Jacob mused. "William, can you run a diagnostic on the primary clock – find out why it wasn't affected. Angela get us our estimated position when we hit that anomaly. Tabs, did the interruption damage the drive system?"

"It seems not. The drive just seems to have not been running for a while. The computer reports that it was, but there was no activity at all so that implies it wasn't. The drive is undamaged, it's like it was just... just... not there-"

Will interrupted Tabitha's train of thought, "Primary clock was unaffected, according to its systems nothing happened-"

"Anomaly bearing 180.16 by 45.9 by 23.7 degrees, we're almost two hours from it." Angela said, speaking in turn over top of Will.

"Alright, I'm setting a course. I think we need to know what exactly is going on here. Can the three of you, from what systems were interrupted, figure out if all or part of the ship was affected? And where the boundary of the affected area would have been?"

"Shouldn't be too hard," Tabitha said, "Just have to find out what systems are out by fifteen minutes. I've disabled the auto-sync which should stop any systems that were affected being updated by the primary clock at the four hourly re-sync that was due in a few minutes time."

"Good thinking. The course is set and she'll pilot herself to within twenty minutes of the occurrence. I'm going to check the Fruig Drive visually, I'm afraid it's going to be a slow trip."

"We'd all rather be safe than sorry I think," Angela replied.

Jacob leapt from his seat and walked to the bridge door, again sliding through them sidewise as they slid open. He ran around the slowly curving corridor until he reached the doors to the number one lift. The doors to the lift already sat open, and he dashed inside, hitting the button for the Engineering, or E-deck, as he did so. With a hiss the doors slid closed and a faint hum and vibration filled the capsule he stood in. "Come on, come on!" he muttered impatiently. With a gentle thud the lift stopped and the doors rolled open. Jacob dived through them and looked at the displays showing the computer readouts for the various engine components that stood at the end of a steel catwalk that stretched from the lift across the engineering. "Normal, normal, normal. Everything is normal..." he said as he read through what the screens told him.

He walked slowly down the length of the catwalk, looking down on the vast array of metalwork, electronics and cooling systems that made up the Fruig Drive system. As he walked, he muttered to himself, checking off the various components as he saw them, he had nearly reached the end of the catwalk when he stopped. "Wait. What?" he said, as he took a couple of steps backwards and leant over the catwalks handrail, looking down at the drive system with a look of confusion on his face. He glanced along the catwalk for the nearest communications station and walked over to it, "Tabs," he said, "run a high intensity scan on E-deck, section G- fifteen."

"Why? What do you see?"

"Run the scan. Then bring me the report, in person. I think you, all of you, are going to want to see this," Jacob replied leaning out over the catwalks handrail and staring at the giant sphere that hung, unsupported, in the area between two of the Fruig Drive's magnetic coil chambers.

The longer he looked at it the more it seemed to change; at first it was black and oily, reflecting colours in a rainbow-like pattern before it slowly changed to white with the same oily reflectivity before changing once more to a mirror like reflection that faded back to the black, oily appearance of earlier. Its material state seemed in a constant flux, it changed from appearing solid, to dripping and rippling like a liquid and then turning almost transparent and gaseous - sometimes it appeared to be all three at once.

Fighting and overwhelming urge to reach out and touch the sphere, Jacob headed towards one of the ladders off the catwalk that would take him down to the level the sphere hovered on. He slid down the ladder and approached the sphere, now that he stood beside the strange object it seemed to have grown in proportion - from above it had looked half its current size. He held his hand up just above its surface and at first felt heat radiate from it, before the heat faded and he instead felt a coldness wash from it before the heat returned once more. He paid closer attention to the changes of state and form and realized there was no predictable pattern, they didn't change in time with one another nor with any set pattern of what change came next - it seemed to change randomly before his eyes, sometimes instantaneously and other times lingeringly.

"What _are_ you?" Jacob muttered to himself, as he stared at the sphere.

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