(Disclaimers in the prologue)
Silver leapt to his feet when Jet and Diamond returned. He had waited in Jet's retreat, unable to assist with the exercise and wary of the last time his uselessness had prompted him to take a walk around the Hub. For more than a day he had seen them both come and go, as they recharged their energies between searches, but this was the first time they had returned together.
Jet was leaning heavily on Diamond's shoulder. She was suffering in some way; perhaps she had exhausted her energy too completely, reaching for a signal. Silver knew that her fear for their absent colleagues' safety might have caused her to disregard safe working practice. He moved aside as Diamond lead her to the settle and tried to make her comfortable.
"I found Sapphire," Diamond finally announced in a strangely dulled voice.
"She's alive?" asked Silver, suddenly hopeful.
Diamond nodded tiredly, his attention focused on his colleague. He brushed a tear away from Jet's cheek. "Yes. At least she was ten minutes ago. I heard the mental equivalent of a scream of pain."
Silver winced. "Oh hell, what are they doing to her?"
"I don't think she was suffering physical torment. Her pain was emotional. It was grief."
Silver was quiet for a moment, registering the implications of this statement. "Steel?" he finally queried, quietly.
"I think so," Diamond replied, a tremble in his voice. Jet seemed to respond to this exchange with a sob. "Look, take care of Jet, will you? I have to get back to the central chamber and try to make contact with Sapphire. I'm the best Operator for this."
"Of course," Silver agreed, though Diamond was already sprinting for the arch. He sat down beside Jet and took her hand.
~~~
Steel looked up as Nitro returned to his room. The former specialist's entrance was a welcome distraction. Steel's fruitless attempt to speak with Sapphire had been hurtful and he repeatedly backtracked over the one-sided conversation, wondering whether he had missed anything out. His partner had not responded to any reminders of previous closeness; it was almost as though he had spoken of experiences which she hadn't even shared.
Perhaps he had forgotten the one memory from their partnership which might at least have prompted some dialogue.
Nitro was respectfully silent as he settled down to wait, like an onlooker at a funeral. Steel appreciated his company. Maybe he could trust this outlaw, after all. At least this man had not yet lied to him. Everything else besides, whether Sapphire was part of his life or not, he remained a target for a powerful, higher authority. He could not hope to fight it alone. If he were to continue to live, Steel had to admit that the Transients were his best option.
The thought still left a bad taste in his mouth, though. He reminded himself of the woman he had tried to 'save' from the Transients at the service station. It had happened just days ago, but it seemed like a lifetime.
"What happened to the woman?" he asked Nitro, trying to distract himself from the emptiness inside.
"Woman?"
"Yes, the human at the garage, with your leader. What happened to her?" Nitro's eyes flashed around the room, and Steel felt a stirring of further disquiet. "Tell me!" he insisted.
"We took her home," Nitro answered. "Back to 1948. Couldn't exactly keep her here with us, when we found out about the authority's plans. Anyway, this is no place for a lady."
"Topaz is here," reminded Steel, uncomfortable about Nitro's earlier hesitation.
"Well, in case you hadn't noticed, Topaz is no lady!" smirked Nitro.
Steel could not smile in agreement. He thought of Sapphire, in the dark and elegant dress she had worn for Mullrine's party. His partner had looked breathtaking in that outfit, every inch a lady. Then again, she always looked good.
No wonder Silver had fallen for her.
Plummeting further into the depths of misery, Steel sank his head into his hands.
~~~
Sapphire followed the Transient Being as he lead her through the complex. He finally asked her to step into an empty room. There was no door to close her in, and she turned to the man in puzzlement.
"I have to protect you," he said. "Steel believes that you betrayed him, in the worst possible way. I have no idea whether he will react physically when he sees you, but we can keep you separated with a forcefield."
"You want me to stand in this room and let you pen me in?" Sapphire asked.
"Yes. It sounds rather primitive, I know, but it will keep you safe. We'll bring Steel here to see you."
"I'm going to need to touch him," Sapphire warned. "If you want to convince me that my partner is still alive, then I need to touch him."
"I understand. We can arrange that." The man backed off. "Will you wait here and let me bring him to you?" At her terse nod, he spun round and retreated down the corridor.
Sapphire slumped against the wall, unable to garner the enthusiasm to complain. So what if they were imprisoning her, now that she had discovered the truth about Steel?
~~~
There was a knock at the door and the Transient leader came in. Steel looked up slowly, wondering whether the man had come to gloat at the lack of success his earlier confrontation with Sapphire had yielded. The man, however, was brisk; all business.
"She wants to see you. She's asking for you," he said to Steel.
Steel felt thrown. After all his pleading, Sapphire now wanted to see him?
The Transient obviously noted Steel's confusion. "It might be my fault. I let her see Silver."
"I don't understand."
"After you and she had spoken, earlier, she demanded to see Silver. Told me that if I was going to make her see you, then she should have something in return."
"So why should that make her want to see me again?" Steel asked, his skin crawling at the thought of Sapphire and Silver's brief reunion nearby.
"Well I don't know, Steel, I wasn't privy to their discussion," the man returned irritably. "She and Silver spoke at some length, and when she returned to her cell she was all sweetness and light, asking if she could see you. Do you want me to tell her you won't come?"
"No!" Steel surprised himself. "No, I'll come along." He clambered to his feet and watched the man exchange a glance with Nitro. "Lead the way," he prompted.
The leader stepped back out into the passage and held the door open. Steel followed him down the corridor, even more confused now than he had been earlier.
~~~
Diamond sat in the central chamber, reaching with his mind. He knew the taint Jet had recognised from Mercury, now, and had found the location where the Transients had to be hiding. He could not, however, break through the barrier which enveloped the place; not from such a distance. Sapphire's earlier cry had torn this shroud apart, but however he strained to hear, Diamond could not sense her any longer.
Eventually he broke off and addressed the central alcove.
"We have to send someone through," Diamond concluded. "I can arrange a port to the location. We know where they are. We need to find out what the situation is."
"We may just do that," agreed the figure. "But not yet. Listen a while longer."
"Why? If Steel is dead then Sapphire is hugely vulnerable!"
"There are at least three Transients at that location; the leader, Mercury, and another who maintained the café Silver visited. There are probably more. We don't have anyone to send through who might be able to stand up to the combined power of a group of Transients."
Diamond was silent, recognising this truth. How could they beat the Transients? A single agent would be destroyed, a group of agents would be too obvious and may cause the enemy to run. And the Transients could go anywhere, anywhen, thanks to Mercury.
His superiors were right. He settled down to listen some more.
~~~
Sapphire stood behind the barrier and watched as Steel, flanked by the Transient leader, made his steady way up the corridor toward her. She immediately noticed that this Steel, unlike the earlier version, wore a bandage on his left arm. His shirt sleeve was missing and the white cotton was spotted with blood. Sapphire drew the only conclusion that she could. Had he tried to kill himself, after trying to kill her?
Why hadn't she been told about his injury?
When he was close enough that she could see his eyes, a fist clamped itself tightly around her heart. There was so much hurt and distrust in his expression. Steel regarded her warily, and glanced at the Transient as though looking for support.
There was a long silence as they stood, watching each other. Sapphire tried to find their connection again, but the void remained. Finally, Steel spoke.
"Well? You wanted to see me?"
"Yes, yes I did." Sapphire tried to smile as Steel reacted with a shocked frown to her rasping tone. She tried very hard to be reassuring. "How are you feeling?"
Steel looked at her incredulously, as though she had no right to ask the question. Disturbed, she glanced at the Transient, who studied the floor politely, pretending not to be aware of this highly-charged exchange.
"I've had better weeks," Steel finally snapped. He looked her up and down, and Sapphire felt quite exposed beneath his suspicious scrutiny.
"Your arm -"
"Is none of your business!" Steel narrowed his eyes at her. "Look, you sent for me, so tell me what you want or you let me go back!"
"I want to make sure you're all right!"
"I'm fine," sneered Steel. "Being targeted by powerful authorities for destruction, losing my job, discovering my partner has sold me out, trying to bleed to death, it happens to me every day. I'm just fine, Sapphire!"
"Please, Steel, let me touch you."
"What?"
Sapphire tried to explain. "Earlier on, these people, the Transients, they tried to convince me that one of them was you! But I saw through it and now I need to know if you really are Steel or if my Steel is dead. To do that I need to touch you."
Steel spun around, and Sapphire wondered whether he was going to walk off in disgust. The Transient looked very disturbed, ready to overpower her partner. The man was correct in one respect; if this was Steel, he was dreadfully unstable. Finally Steel returned his gaze to her, and spoke more quietly.
"You saw me, but you thought he was an impostor?" he asked slowly, as though struggling with the idea.
"That's right. I need to touch you, to be sure."
"Do you trust her to do this?" Steel was speaking to the Transient, now, incredibly asking the man to reassure him that she meant him no harm!
"A single touch," the man agreed, locking his gaze with Sapphire. "Let her believe in you."
He gestured to the barrier and it shimmered once, before disappearing. Suddenly there was no protective field between herself and this horribly damaged man. Sapphire swallowed, nervous of touching Steel, though she had done so countless times before. She composed herself, looked with concern upon Steel's bandaged arm and then, finally, reached for his healthy right hand. She paused half way, again wanting Steel to meet her there.
With excruciating slowness, he stretched his hand forward. His eyes were intent on her unmoving arm, wary, as though he expected an attack or a trick. As he stared, his eyes grew wide, as though seeing something unexpected. Sapphire glanced down, but her hand looked the same as always; a little dirty, but intact. She still wore Steel's ring, she realised, his sentimental gift from a century ago.
He edged closer, allowing Sapphire the chance to study his face. His skin was streaked with dirt, his hair similarly unkempt, but he seemed otherwise well. His eyes were dull, though; as if he had considered the situation he found himself in and decided that nothing really mattered any more.
Sapphire shuddered and looked at his hand. His fingers were almost touching her. She prepared to reach with her mind when contact was made, to analyse his physical make up and discover whether this really was Steel, or whether it was just another elaborate illusion.
A moment longer, and then they touched.
Straining, Sapphire ascertained quite quickly that the man whose hand she gripped was indeed her partner. Relief flooded through her. Steel was alive! She reached for his mind but was buffeted back by the Transient taint. Pressing, she tried to break through it. She had to reach him and make him understand that she had not betrayed him.
[Steel!] she sent, desperately. She summoned every ounce of power she could and drove through the barrier. [Steel!]
Her partner frowned, as though he was aware of her attempt at communication. Sapphire gritted her teeth, hoping that her exertion was not apparent on her face. She needed every second the Transient would grant her.
She was so close, so close to touching his mind. Steel frowned harder, raising his gaze to look wonderingly into her eyes. Nearly, nearly - they were so close ...
The Transient leader suddenly moved forward and pulled Steel away. In the blink of an eye, the forcefield was in place once more and the tempting warmth of Steel's mind was utterly out of reach.
"No!" she cried. "I need more time!"
"You're convinced that this is your partner?" the leader asked, ignoring Sapphire's distress.
She deflated, reaching for the wall to support herself. "Yes. This is Steel." She caught her partner's gaze and tried to transmit all that she had wanted to communicate telepathically simply using her eyes.
"Then this meeting is over." He grasped Steel's shoulder and spun him around, ready to march back along the passage. Her partner looked dazed.
"It is not over!" Sapphire asserted, even as the two men proceeded away from her cell.
"For now, it is over," the man called, over his shoulder. "I'll be back shortly."
Exhausted, and not a little relieved, Sapphire gave up on protesting and sank back against the wall.
~~~
Jet had fallen asleep against his shoulder, by the time that Diamond returned. Silver greeted his fellow agent with an embarrassed smile, but made no move to extricate himself.
"How's she doing?" asked the empath.
"She cried, she talked, she fell asleep. Do we know anything more about Sapphire and Steel?"
"Nothing. I asked if we could send somebody through and the request was refused. I suppose they're right, we don't have a chance against a group of Transients."
"Why not?" Silver considered. "If we just sent a two man team through, one of them an empath, we could get some intelligence, at least. Closer to the location, an empath could read the situation. Even if we just found out whether either of our two are still alive, it would be worth it!"
Diamond sank into the settle and placed a comforting arm on Jet's back as she squirmed fractiously in her sleep.
"And I suppose this two man team would consist of ...?"
"You and I?" suggested Silver, with a challenging eyebrow.
"Silver, I'm exhausted. I've been scrying for hours!"
"Then get some rest," Silver advised mildly. "We'll discuss things some more when you wake up."
~~~
After Sapphire had been taken back to her room, the leader went to inspect Mercury's progress with his fellow true Transient. The gateway was developing well, and Mercury rested on a pallet in the corner.
Quietly, the leader informed his brother of the earlier problems with Sapphire. They had been lucky that the traumas suffered by the two agents had been sufficiently similar to allow a certain amount of common ground, but their reluctant guests had not yet responded to the manipulations surrounding them, as the Transients required them to respond. They needed more time, but it was time they did not have. The longer Sapphire and Steel remained in this place, the more likely it became that one of them would discover the nature of this deception.
He'd almost been tempted to go along with her theory that Steel was dead. It would have been one less problem to worry about; a Sapphire no longer taking every opportunity to seek her partner - former partner, he corrected - out. But he'd known it would lose them far more than it would gain. While Steel remained alive and present, Sapphire had the most compelling reason of all not to attempt escape. In this, a maddened and belligerent Steel was of more use to their cause, than a dead one.
The Transient was beyond rage, now. He was beginning to feel panicked. If Sapphire and Steel would not demonstrate allegiance to their group, then the plan was finished. But there was still a chance. They needed one last push, before Sapphire had the opportunity to review the meeting with her partner and demand further contact.
"She still believes Silver is a traitor, " the leader mused.
"How?" questioned his associate. "She doesn't remember his visit to the café. That memory has been replaced."
"No, she can't remember Silver giving them the faulty device. But she can remember a feeling that he betrayed her. So, we can use that feeling."
"More trauma?"
"Of course." The leader managed a smile. "Trauma is the basis of all good mental manipulation. And what is worse than the trauma of suffering at the hands of one who was once trusted?"
"What indeed?"
"And of course, as Sapphire's allies and friends, we cannot stand by and allow anybody to hurt her!"
"So we finally get to play hero," smiled the other, appreciatively.
~~~
The figure spoke with utter conviction. <We know where they are, now. We must activate!>
<There does seem little alternative,> agreed the leader.
<Well, if we assume Steel is dead ->
<We cannot assume anything.>
<Diamond could not have been mistaken. Sapphire grieved with such distress that it broke the Transient's barrier. We all know that there is nobody she would grieve for like that except her partner.>
<Then why did the grief stop?> asked the leader, pointedly.
<Well, the Transients could have realised what she had done and closed the barrier ...>
<... or she could be dead herself.> The leader sighed mentally, unhappy with speculation rather than cold facts. <The main point is that we simply do not know. But it is probably safe to assume that if our agents are alive, they are in no position to retrieve the device and return the Transients to the past. Therefore, you are right. We must activate.>
The other figure joined the discussion. <With a transuranic? What about the life there?>
<That at least is in our favour. The Transients chose a location which is far removed from the nearest settlement. We can send a pulse through with minimal risk to the human populace, at least.>
The leader looked upon the forms of his two fellows. In the darkness of the central chamber he could yet read every concern and uncertainty in both.
<This is the point where we have no other choice. We don't know whether our target is alive. We don't know whether the pulse will be successful. Even if it reaches the target, we have no idea whether it will cause activation. But we have no other choice.>
~~~~~~~
Continued in Chapter 12
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