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  “I would hazard a guess, the same thing that is happening here. Tidal waves, earthquakes, animals losing migratory patterns.” Ruby noted that a few of the team members looked skeptical. “Believe me or not, you have to go back.”

  A shudder ran through the ground that they stood on. The team reacted as if it was a common occurrence, stabilizing tripods and holding the dining tables in place so that the plates and cutlery didn’t go flying.

  “What is your name?” There was a sly tone to the doctor’s voice.

  “Ruby.” She flicked the markings on her face that were delineated in bright crimson.

  “Join us for dinner so that we can pack up some of our findings. I don’t want to waste years of research for nothing.”

  Ruby inclined her head. “Thank you. I do not relish dry rations.”

  The ladies chuckled and the couple from earlier began to set the table with food. As she analyzed their actions, she figured out that they were on food duty and the solo woman was caring for the dishes. “You rotate chores?”

  “We do. Did.” The woman alone gave her a small smile. “I am Archa. My husband and I were team biologists. He died in one of the recent quakes.”

  Ruby nodded. “He is buried over there.” She pointed and the team looked at her with horror.

  “How do you know that?” Archa wasn’t upset, just gave a small, sad smile.

  “You all had trackers implanted in you when you left, I have a scanner that lets me find them. Even in those who are no longer with us.” Ruby struggled to make that sentence less offensive and when Archa smiled, she felt the thrill of success.

  The stew prepared by the couple who turned out to be expecting their first child was quite tasty. The entire group sat together and ate the meal, discussing the discoveries of the day.

  Ruby listened and felt a peculiar feeling. Being part of a group was strange. Her sisters did not count. Four of them were identical to her, except for their eyes, and the rest shared a womb with her for a few days when they had all been conceived the night before their mother came through the rift to try and stop the dimensional gateway.

  She was so distracted by the peculiarity of the feelings she was experiencing, that when she was struck with a hypo, she only had time to look at the doctor in surprise before slumping forward into sleep. As the world spun and greyed around her, she heard Archa arguing about what the hell was going on.

  Knowing that one of the team members was on her side gave her a slight smile as she let darkness claim her.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “Tying me up will not be very effective.” Ruby was instantly awake and clearheaded. She was sitting up and tied to a post with her arms behind her. Her legs were unbound and she almost laughed out loud.

  “We have removed your weapons.” Dr. Delphin was standing over her and Archa was tied up across from her.

  “That shows a lot of forethought. What is your grand plan? You can’t keep me here forever.”

  “I need a few months.”

  “You can’t have it. How long was I out?”

  “For a day.” Archa answered when the team leader tightened his lips.

  “Why did you tie Archa up?”

  “She tried to free you. We will discuss what you are going to be doing here after I return from the dig site. I cannot let records of this civilization go. We have to bring everything we can and it took us years just to get this far.”

  In a way, Ruby could understand his passion. All of her sisters were afflicted with the urge to learn. A lost civilization would be irresistible. As the doctor turned on his heel and headed into the mountainside, she shook her head.

  Only two team members were on hand and they were busy making dinner.

  “Archa, do you want to go home?”

  “Yes, there is nothing for me here anymore. It was Merwin’s dream to come on this trip and record everything that he saw for future generations when they figured out a way to make the dimensional travel work both ways. Now that he is gone, there is nothing to keep me here.”

  She nodded. “If I sent you home, could you tell the techs that the rest were coming back under protest?”

  “Yes. But how will you get loose? That rope is pretty strong stuff.”

  “I can manage it. Where are my weapons and scanner?”

  “In that tent to the left.” Archa was looking worried. She whispered, “What are you going to do?”

  “Nothing.” She grinned, drew her knees up, pressed back and stood up.

  The male of the couple came running, “What are you doing?”

  “I am stretching my legs. My butt was going to sleep.” A searing pain in her thigh made her leg buckle.

  “Fair enough, just don’t try anything.” With that admonition, he turned and went back to work on the dishes.

  The pain in her leg was distracting. She hissed a question to her companion, “Archa, how long was I out? I thought you said a day.”

  “A day here is forty hours. Delphin wasn’t taking any chances.”

  The pain subsided to a dull throb, but Ruby knew that it wasn’t over. “To hell with it.”

  She bowed forward and steeled her muscles for the effort. The snap was satisfying, as was the look of shock on the male’s face. He ran forward to stop her, but she simply turned and caught him in the ribs with the pole. He went flying and his mate ran to help him. His wife, Ruby had to remember that amongst humans it was wife.

  She worked her wrists off the pole, contorted until her arms were in front of her and freed them. The rope was made of leather and had a tensile strength that she admired. She freed Archa and tied up the timid twosome that were supposed to guard her.

  She took a deep breath and prepared herself. “Archa, gather what you want to take home with you now. You have three minutes.”

  With the others tied up, she rearmed herself. The scanner told her that the other six were still at what had to be the dig site.

  Ready for action, she stood next to the two she had tied up and waited. Archa didn’t waste time. With her duffel bag over one shoulder, she stood waiting. “Where is the portal generator?”

  “You are looking at it. Stand close to them. I will have to push you through it.” She grinned.

  The couple looked at her desperately. The male asked her, “What about us, can’t we retrieve our belongings?”

  Ruby grinned evilly. “No. You had a chance and you let Delphin drug me.” She gritted her teeth as her thigh screamed in sudden pain. “You could have had sixty hours to pack up. Instead, you get to go now. Enjoy your homecoming.”

  She opened a portal and placed her hands on Archa’s shoulders, guiding her through. Holding the portal open made her shake as she shoved the other two through abruptly. She made sure not to let go until they were completely inside the portal as she had been warned that it might slice the person in two.

  With the camp cleared, she took out her stun gun and checked the charge. It was ready for action and so was she. Ruby bolted down the pathways until the pain struck her and she panted until it subsided. She moved on the instant she could, noting that the pains were getting closer together.

  The dig site made her gasp in wonder. A huge temple flanked by dragons held her attention and she shook her head in regret as the fading pain reminded her of her leash.

  “Damn it.”

  It was time to get the team back where they belonged. The first two team members were on the exterior, so a portal in front of them with her hands on their shoulders shoving them through sufficed for a sendoff. Only four more to go.

  The other four were inside the main temple and as soon as the stabbing pain subsided once again, she strode into the temple and used the stunner on them, one by one.

  Delphin looked shocked when she whistled and the flare of pain in his face made her twinge with sympathy when the stun bolt struck. With the doctor and his team in a pile, she swung them into the quickly generated portal, one by one.

  She knew she had one thing left, bu
t it was something she wanted to do after Archa went through the rift.

  Ruby made her way back to the camp, grabbed a shovel and located the grave. With the utmost care, she unearthed the tenderly wrapped man and lifted him in her arms.

  So, that is what death smells like. It was not something her senses had ever encountered before. A stab inside her thigh brought her and her burden to one knee.

  The radiating pain lasted longer this time, tears were coming from her eyes when it subsided enough for her to open a portal. Shaking with pain but holding him tightly, she took the body of Merwin Shivven back to his home.

  * * * *

  “Ruby, Ruby, let him go.” The voice belonged to one of her least-favorite people, Janus, a tech that she thought of as the king of roaming hands and body odor. He was on good behavior and nervous, so the boss must be nearby.

  Something was tugging on her burden and it made her hold on tight. “What?”

  “Let the body go. His wife is watching.” He hissed at her and she blinked.

  Pain stabbed her again and her hands flexed. A soft hand brushed her forehead and she was staring into the eyes of Archa Shivven. “What is causing her that pain?”

  A rough curse came from the control station and the pain ceased as abruptly as it started. With her muscles quivering weakly from the adrenaline, Ruby surrendered her burden to the staff members standing by with a gurney.

  Archa was shouting at the control crew with the D.A.R.E. project supervisor watching with avid eyes.

  “How is she supposed to create a portal or even think on her feet with that much pain running through her? Do you have to test the dosage on yourselves before you program it? No? You should!”

  Dr. Vasser pressed his hand to Archa’s forearm while Ruby watched and stretched out her knotted muscles. “You have a lot of sympathy for a creature you know nothing about.”

  “I know enough. Despite those marks on her face, she is kind, considerate and thoughtful enough to risk more pain by bringing my husband through last instead of digging him up with me standing there. It would have been better for her sake to do that. The pain would not have been so intense, but she saw my pain and didn’t want to aggravate it. That means that you should have tried to save her discomfort when you could, in my book.”

  He was looking at her with a thoughtful expression, Janus had a sneer of distaste and Ruby was just amazed. No one came out on the side of the sisters in this facility if they wanted to continue their career.

  Dr. Vasser nodded as if he had come to a decision. “Meet me after you have finished your husband’s arrangements.”

  With her lips tight, Archa nodded at him and then turned to Ruby. “Thank you for bringing him home.”

  A strange feeling overcame her and she simply nodded sharply through a lump in her throat.

  “Ruby, you have your debriefing and medicals to go through. Let’s go.” Janus didn’t pat her butt, but he did leer at her as she returned the scanners and weapons to the techs at the arming station. Even stripping off the weaponry got him hot.

  The next stop was medical where samples were taken, scans were given and her leathers were swapped for her standard loose shirt and trousers. Ruby sighed as she handed over the boots. She loved those boots.

  Janus had peeped a few times as she changed behind the curtain, but since she could break his arm with a flick of her wrist, he kept his hands to himself. It had been an issue when she was a teen. One of the techs made a move on the shyest of the sisters. June had been surprised, but it had turned to fury when he tried to tear off her clothing. She broke his arm in three places and his leg in two.

  That tech had disappeared from the facility and no one had heard of him again. The sisters had watched the techs more carefully after that, but their decision to ram the next guilty party through the dimensional rift that they were practicing was never put to a test.

  The point had been made that the girls could and would protect themselves if threatened. Ruby grinned while a silent medical tech took a hair sample. She smiled at the thought that the tale of June’s savagery was most likely part of new staff orientation.

  “You are needed at the debriefing. Dr. Delphin is registering a complaint.” Tossas relieved Janus and Ruby smiled. Her handler was much better at reading her moods and had no interest in her as a female. Tossas had much more interest in Janus, which was why the homophobic little weasel beat feet to get away when he showed up.

  “I thought he might. Let’s go.” She hopped off the table while Tossas confirmed a few of the test results would be fast tracked for the sake of the project report.

  Tossas walked next to her, towering over her. His height was unusual, as was his dedication to being her handler. It took a special mind set to work with the sisters or so Ruby’s mother had told her. Their black and white manner of looking at the world made for confusion when conversational subtleties whipped over their heads. They had been taught enough about the society they were to save to understand the basics, but details escaped them.

  The debriefing room was new. It had been designed and installed in the last few months.

  Ruby murmured, “How many of my sisters are gone?”

  “Nine. The moment that your first few targets came through the rift, five more were dispatched.” He stopped her before she opened the door and made sure her hair was tidy and her loose clothing was neat. “Answer what is asked of you and don’t get emotional. Delphin is in more trouble than you are and he will want to distract his audience with you. Don’t let him.”

  “Right.” She entered the room and took the open seat at the foot of the table. Ruby kept her appearance open and relaxed as she let her arms rest gently on the arms of the chair. “Ruby D.A.R.E., reporting as required.”

  “Agent Ruby, please outline the events which occurred on your recent assignment.” The record keeper was sitting with a recording device as well as a sheaf of notes.

  “All right. I walked through the portal and looked around…” She kept her tone even and Dr. Delphin flushed a dark red when she mentioned watching their camp until they were all there.

  She continued to the conversation and the meal. When she got to the point where Delphin had drugged her, he shrieked. “That’s a lie!”

  She kept quiet as the record keeper checked the medical records including the photo of the injection site. “Proceed, Ruby.”

  As she described her waking tied to a post with Archa across from her, he frothed and protested again. Again, Ruby kept quiet while the record keeper brought out and read Archa’s statement.

  The record keeper nodded to the large mirrored window and asked her to continue.

  The rest of the statements were taken at face value, including her commenting on knocking all of the rest of the team members unconscious. “I was taking no additional chances and I was running out of time.”

  The keeper nodded. “Please explain the time problem.”

  “After seventy-two hours, my beacon started to pulse pain through my body from my thigh. I was unaware of the passage of time as I had been sedated and no one had mentioned that the days were longer in that dimension. The pain was steady and intense, putting my completion of the assignment at risk. By the time I completed my assignment, I had no concept of time and was working in the moments between stabbing sensations.”

  “You were twenty hours beyond your allotted time.” The record keeper kept his voice calm, but the reports he read and made notes on were making him pale.

  She nodded and when he gestured for her to continue, she outlined returning to the camp and excavating the body of Merwin Shivven. “The next step was returning here, but the space between pains was so short, I wasn’t even sure I had made it home until Archa Shivven told the techs to turn off the beacon.”

  The record keeper made a few more notes and nodded as he worked. Around the table, Dr. Delphin, three researchers and someone from the project administration all whispered to each other and compared notes.

  �
��What would you recommend for future assignments?”

  She blinked. “Oh, um, the techs should need to feel what the beacon does for one thing. They are very free with the charges now that the implants have healed. The next thing is time. Three days is a little short, if you are on a strange world and have no idea what you are walking into. Expand the time to five days for a single retrieval and one day for each two additional persons to be extracted. That would give plenty of time for the agent to assess and retrieve with more attention to comfort and not speed.”

  Delphin looked surprised by her statement. “I would have to concur. An extra ten days would have made all the difference. We wouldn’t have lost all our records, which is the basis of my complaint.”

  Ruby nodded. “It was not of my choosing, but if I had waited, the portals that I created would not have remained stable. It was sheer luck I ended up back here.”

  She didn’t tell them that she had locked onto her mother and followed her mind back home. Whatever her parent had planned, there was a reason she had not simply left her confinement and with luck, Ruby would one day learn why.

  “Thank you for your information, Ruby. You are dismissed.”

  Ruby stood, gave a half-bow to those assembled and left the room. Tossas waited for her in the hall.

  “How was it?”

  “Fine, I think. I don’t know what is going on behind that mirror, but someone is in there.”

  “Dr. Vasser. He is rather curious as to what you and your sisters can do and how you do it.”

  “Well, we have no idea what goes on, how could he?”

  Tossas chuckled and they passed a few guards who nodded politely. Ruby had never been sure what was going on with them. Were the guards keeping others out or the girls in?

  They walked back to the common room where she was allowed to watch vids and her sisters could come and socialize. Three of her sisters were playing a game of cards on one side of the large room with their handlers on the other.