Out of Deep Time

"You are dangerous," she said at last.

"No," he shook his head, "I don't mean any harm."

Her expression softened, then, and she looked at him with a distant sadness.

"I know," she said. "It is what you are that is dangerous. I will take you to the Matrons. They will know what to do." She stood up and returned to her quarters. Aman did not sleep.

**************************

Aman overheard Karris and Gwenbel arguing at the helm in the early morning, their voices carrying down the corridor. He could only make out a few words in their language, but nothing to give him a cohesive narrative of what they were saying.

Gwenbel delivered his breakfast. She only said polite courtesies, but the look in her eyes betrayed her underlying feelings. She was to keep her distance, and she carried herself with a sadness because of it.

A sadness came over Aman, as well. He was not sure if the feeling of disappointment was in the situation or in himself. He tried to concentrate on learning the women's language. Karris came to his cage after breakfast and teased out more of his language into her book, and reviewed with him the basics of her own. They carried on like this for several days, set in routine, as if such a life was perfectly normal. Gwenbel was at the helm most of the time, and based on the women's conversations he gathered that they were passing over a great expanse of open water.

He kept himself awake every night running over imagined conversations in the woman's language. Then, one night, when sleep finally came to him, he slipped deep into dreams. They flowed through him, patched together from lived experiences a distant lifetime ago.

He awoke in a sweat, and he remembered his name. He remembered boarding the corporate transport ship bound for Jupiter Station Two. He had signed up for a five-year tour working the ice quarries of Europa. It was dangerous work but it payed very well, and when he returned to Earth, he and Liz...Elizabeth. His fiancee. They were to be married.

He hid his face in his hands, and his palms became wet from tears. He sat on the floor of his cage and tried to be quiet. Memories swam though his sorrow like countless fish released into water. The empty loss of not being able to remember his life was replaced by the heaviness of remembering a life lost, and it pulled him deep into despair. He was no longer simply, blissfully, "Aman".

Some time had passed when he noticed that his breakfast porridge had been left for him. It was no longer warm and he didn't feel like eating, despite his empty stomach.

He heard Karris' voice carry down the corridor asking for someone named "Buanann" to respond. She repeated the request several times, and then there was another woman's voice, which was marred by radio static. More female voices came with increasing clarity, and after an hour of chatter he saw other airships through the tiny windows around the room. The vessels were reflective in silver and burnished copper tones.

He pulled himself to the ceiling of his cage to get a better view.

Towers of many colors glinted in the sun, as if they were made entirely out of stained glass. Suddenly, the hull jolted as it locked into a docking platform, and a few moments later Karris and Gwenbel came into the room. Gwenbel stood by his cage as Karris opened the cargo bay doors. Gwenbel reached through the bars, and he took her hand. She squeezed his encouragingly but there was worry in her eyes.

"I remember my name," he said to her in her language.

Her eyes widened. His accent was thick, but she understood him. She wanted to ask him what it was, but Karris pulled a lever and a loud clunk preceded clanking gears.

The rear door fully opened and women in mercurial, feathered armor tromped up the ramp. They didn't have guns, but they carried metal staves as tall as themselves. The one with gold on her shoulder told Karris to open his cage, which she did, and Aman was escorted out. He was wearing his stretchy pants, but nothing else, and he felt the coolness of the air outside, with the kiss of salt on the wind.

"Langsha Moyle," Karris said to him as she walked beside him, flanked by the soldiers. "Home."

The sun was low on the horizon, and it seemed the shapes of the towers and buildings all around them cradled and reflected its light to reach into every nook and cranny of open space. Some areas the light seemed to be funneled more than others, and it was in such places that geodesic domes of framed glass sheltered trees and growing things.

There were women everywhere. Tall, short, thin, thick, young, old, all women, and of dazzling diversity. There were hues of skin that covered the full color spectrum, and clothes of both fine fabrics and rugged leathers. Some paused from their activities and noticed him. A ripple of stunned captivation spread before them as Karris, Gwenbel, and he marched along with the soldiers boxing them in. They came quickly to a round plaza with large, glowing statues of a group of women in the center. All of the statues were depicted as heavily pregnant, except for one at the fore of the bunch, who held a bundled infant aloft above her, as if showing it to the world and the world to it.

There was a large domed building adjacent to the plaza with more soldiers standing guard, and after a brief spoken exchange between the leaders of each company, they marched inside. As he was led through a jade lobby carved with spidery script, he heard a voice echoing from the main chamber ahead. He understood enough of their language to follow what was being said.

"—this could not have been foreseen," the echoing voice said, "and it requires immediate attention. This is an emergency meeting and standard procedure does not apply. Ah, they are here." He was brought to the center of the large chamber to be formally scrutinized. He was bewildered at the scene, with beautiful architecture supporting a dome of tessellating chromatic lights.

The old women in the front row were set apart from the others in the assembly not just by their age, but by the dignified ways in which they held presence, accentuated by golden flowers clipped in their immaculately braided hair. Though their age was apparent by the lines and creases on their faces, none of them seemed to his eyes to be older than sixty.

Murmurs grew out of the silence. A chime sounded.

"Matron Lucilla has the floor," said a dark-haired woman. The murmurs subsided. An ash-haired woman stood from her seat.

"I desire to hear from the captain," the regal woman asked.

Karris stepped forward.

"How did you find it?" Matron Lucilla asked.

"Naked in some ruins," Karris answered, "in the southern Quecapel region. He was fighting a rakken. He claims to have come from a metal pod that we mistook for a meteor."

"Do you have this pod?"

"Yes."

"Does the magodegn speak?"

"Adam," he interjected. His male voice resounded through the chamber, invoking quiet gasps of surprise. "My name is Adam," he said in the women's own language. Karris was taken aback, and Gwenbel was surprised as well, but instead of confusion she expressed joy as a smile flashed on her face. Adam couldn't help but smile as well at the absurdity of his situation. He had always thought his name was boring, ordinary, and overused. Not anymore, it seemed.

"Tell us, 'Adam'," Matron Lucilla said sternly, "where are you from?"

"I am from here," Adam said slowly, doing his best to pronounce the correct phrase. "Earth. From a time...before."

"Are you saying you are a time-traveler, magodegn?" The matron narrowed her eyes.

"No. And yes. I was stuck...in ice. In the pod. I slept."

More murmurs, another chime.

"Matron Veerlie is recognized," the black-haired moderator announced.

"Why were you fighting a rakken?" The red and grey-haired matron Veerlie asked. "Are you a warrior?"

He looked down at the kaleidoscope-like tiles of the expansive floor, wondering what words he could use to tell his story, but an awkward silence stretched.

"I am not a warrior," he said at last. "I did not mean any harm," he said at last.

"Your speech is strange," Veerlie remarked. "Who taught you to speak?"

"I was taught...by Captain Karris."

"Captain Karris, is this true?"

"Yes," Karris said, looking a little more tense.

"Why did you do this?"

"It was an unprecedented opportunity to learn how Ancient English was spoken—"

"Teaching it our language was not your decision to make," Matron Lucilla interrupted. "What else did you share with the magodegn?"

"Nothing!" Karris blurted, and she drew in a sharp breath of indignation. "I only established a way for us to communicate with him."

"'Him', is not a pronoun that has legal recognition in this government."

More lively chatter arose from the assembly. A chime sounded, and the matron Lucilla threw up her hand to command attention back to her. "This is an emergency session and I invoke executive power in the interest of security. Do you all realize what kind of threat this poses to the law of peace, to our very survival?"

"This magodegn might hold secrets of the past," another elder woman said, standing from her seat and gesturing to Adam. "Technology lost during the Rain of Fire—"

"Magodegn brought the Rain of Fire," Matron Lucilla retorted with a voice that echoed the fury of the historical invocation, "it was magodegn who enslaved and killed while Fêra carried the knowledge and seeds of the future." Many in the chamber nodded and murmured agreement. "We need nothing from magodegn! There are some who think differently, but such thoughts are based on misguided fantasy, and jeopardize the peace and our way of life."

"It is not a question of need, Matron Lucilla," the other council woman retorted, "but one that addresses choices that may be open to Fêra now that a magodegn stands among us."

"His very existence encourages rebellion," Matron Lucilla stated gravely. "Already there are those who call for an end to the population control policy that saved our species from self-destruction."

The matron's grey, piercing eyes fell on Karris.

"Tell us, Captain," the elder woman said. "What level of physical contact have you have with it?"

"I'm sorry, Matron," Karris answered, "I don't understand the question."

"I will ask you plainly...did you have sex with it?"

"No," Karris said, almost breathlessly, "Of course not, Matron."

Adam felt the cold rush of adrenaline that accompanied a fear; the fear of a hidden truth. He flicked his gaze back to Gwenbel, who looked a litter paler herself.

"It has been with you on your ship for how many days, now?"

"Almost a fortnight, Matron."

"Have you touched it?" The matron interrogated.

"Well, yes," Karris answered, "But—"

"You must be placed under quarantine. The both of you. Who knows what diseases the magodegn carries from his time. You will both undergo mandatory medical screening."

Adam cleared his throat, said: "I have no wish to cause any harm."

"What you wish is irrelevant, magodegn," Matron Lucilla declared. "You are a threat to the peace and health of the people, and by the authority invested in me, I hereby place you under quarantine as a biological hazard. Servient Saadet, take them below."

A few elders and many other people in the council chamber stood from their seats and started talking over each other, their voices rising in competition to be heard.

But officer Saadet, the armored woman with gold on her shoulder, paid the many voices no heed, and carried out the order of Matron Lucilla. She gestured for Adam to follow her, and other women in silver-feathered armor assumed an escort formation. Karris and Gwenbel were likewise escorted, and they made a procession through an archway out of the suddenly raucous central chamber.

They were quickly led to a large elevator that ferried all of them, including the six soldiers and their leader, to a level deep underground. Karris and Gwenbel were escorted down one hallway while Adam was taken down another, and he suddenly felt very alone. He was brought to a white room with sterile metal counters and medical equipment neatly arrayed throughout. There was a woman wearing a medical mask in the room, and she gave him a simple command to lie down on a leather-padded table. There were unbuckled restraints dangling from the sides.

Adrenaline was still coursing through his veins, and he felt compelled to run away from that place, but the armored women were standing behind him. He looked at the masked face of the medical worker and shook his head.

A searing pain accosted his back. He jerked away and spun to see who was attacking him. It was officer Saadet. She had merely tapped him with the tip of the metal staff in her hand. He could see a frown through her helmet. She tapped him again in the shoulder, shoving him back against the table with an overpowering hurt that the metal transferred to him with an electric zap.

He put up his hands in surrender and laid down on the table. Two of Saadet's soldiers strapped him down. Adam could feel a panic attack coming over him. What were they going to do to him, he wondered? The medical worker was getting a glass syringe ready, sterilizing its metal needle in a dip of ether.

He asked what they were giving him in their language, but he got no response. All of his questions and objections were ignored as he was administered the drug, and he began to feel numb and foggy.

**************************

Gwenbel and Karris sat in a medical lab while two women in masks stood beside them. One held a clipboard and took notes while the doctor held a red light to Gwenbel's eyes. A stun wand was at the nurse's hip in a snug holster. Gwenbel's shoes and green panties were on the chair next to Karris, but she choose to keep her stockings on.

"Have you felt any dizziness or shortness of breath?" The doctor asked.

"No," Gwenbel answered.

"Have you felt any sexual attraction to the magodegn?"

"No," Gwenbel answered calmly.

"Pupils dilated," the doctor said for the nurse to take note. She switched the red light to Gwenbel's other eye. "Are you sure you did not feel any sexual urges when near the magodegn?"

"Yes," Gwenbel lied.

"Another micro-dilation," the doctor stated for the record, then to Gwenbel: "Lay back, please, and pull up your skirt."

"Why?" Gwenbel demanded.

"We need a swab sample from you to determine any recent sexual activity."

"I'm not sick and I've only had sex with Fêra, there's no need for that!"

"Please relax," the doctor said calmly but sternly. "A full medical screening is required. It will only take a moment."

Gwenbel shared a nervous glance with Karris, then laid down on the leather-padded examination table. The woman who had been taking notes put her clipboard on the counter and opened a drawer while the other pulled out extendable foot-pads. Gwenbel knew Adam had not cum in her and any analysis would probably turn up nothing, but there was a question burning in her mind.

"What are they going to do to Adam?" Gwenbel asked as she placed her heels on the foot-pads and spread her legs open.

"The magodegn?" The doctor asked while putting on gloves. "If it's lucky, it will only get a vasectomy. We can't risk any unsanctioned pregnancies. After that, it will likely be confined and pacified with drugs for the rest of its life while we study it."

Gwenbel fought back tears as the gloved woman leaned in between her knees with a special swab in hand. Gwenbel could hardly understand the feelings swirling inside her, but she heard one note in her soul that screamed of right and wrong, and this was wrong.

In a flash of motion, she kicked her leg up and brought her heel down on the back of the doctor's head. The impact knocked her out completely and she collapsed to the floor. The nurse cried out and drew her stun wand, but Karris was on her feet in an instant.

She lunged and hooked her arms around the nurse's leg, then flipped her over backwards messily, knocking her head against the counter on the way down. The door to the lab flung open and the soldier that had been stationed outside rushed in. Karris swiftly pulled out a tranquilizer dart from her hip pouch and flung it under the soldier's helmet, injecting the fluid into her neck. Without waiting for it to take effect, Gwenbel leapt off the table and kneed the soldier in her solar plexus, knocking her back into another guard that had just appeared in the doorway.

Karris relieved the unconscious nurse of her stun baton and charged at the traffic jam in the doorway. She barreled through and zapped the shouting guard as she crashed against the wall, then both soldiers slumped into unconsciousness. The shouting had been heard from down the corridor, however, and the tromping of boots echoed along with alert voices.

"Let's go!" Karris exclaimed, and Gwen came out into the hall running, leaving her shoes and panties behind. They fled up the corridor away from the voices and rounded the bend. Karris shoved a bewildered woman in formal dress out of their way. "Goddess-damned madness, Gwen! What have you done?!"

"We can't leave him!" Gwen answered as she ran beside Karris.

"Have you lost your mind?!"

"We have to try!"

"I didn't vote for this!" Karris fumed, and she grabbed Gwen's arm, then pulled her through a doorway.

**************************

Adam looked at the sterile, sharp metal tools on the tray next to him. The rest of the room seemed fuzzy, and the voices, too. It looked like they were preparing to operate on him. A voice in his head told him: "Get out!" He strained against the buckled straps, but he couldn't move his arms or legs, nor could he lift his waist. Officer Saadet stood against the wall with her tall metal rod of pain.

"Most of the cells in the blood sample are carbon-dated to one-hundred and twenty thousand years ago," the nurse reported in their language.

"A living fossil," the doctor mused. "Let's make sure he doesn't make any little fossils."

Adam felt a draft on his nethers, then realized the doctor was pulling his pants down to his ankles. His testicles rose as they were dabbed with the sting of alcohol.

"What are you doing?" He demanded in slurred Ancient English.

"Give him a couple more ccs of diphenylmethane," she commanded of her assistant.

As the nurse prepared a syringe, a thud was heard against the wall. The door opened and a purple-haired, masked nurse who looked a lot to Adam like Karris ran in pushing Gwenbel on a gurney.

"She's going into shock," Karris cried, "I need help!"

"You can't be in here!" The doctor scolded, and she hurried to push back against the gurney. No sooner had she placed her hands on it than Gwenbel sat up in the gurney and zapped the doctor in the neck with a stun baton.

Karris dodged the instantaneous attack from officer Saadet, twisting out of the way of the metal staff. She moved in close and grappled with it, and tried to trip the armored woman with fancy footwork, but Saadet held her ground.

"Traitor!" Saadet growled, and she head-butted Karris with her helmet. Karris reeled, and Saadet was about to jab at her again, but Gwenbel splashed medical alcohol under her helmet. Saadet howled and clenched her eyes as the potent spirits blinded her, and Gwenbel pressed her advantage, zapping officer Saadet with the stun baton.

The doctor's nurse cowered in the corner, still clutching the syringe. Karris unstrapped Adam's wrists and waist, and Gwenbel unbound his ankles. Was this a hallucination, he wondered?

"W-why are you doing this?" The nurse stammered.

"Yes, Gwen," Karris said to Gwenbel as she pulled off her mask, "Why are we doing this?"

"Because we should all be free!" Gwen answered as she pulled up Adam's pants and helped him to his feet.