Chapter Five

The hairs on the back of Mhavrych's neck stood up when he saw Ryan walk into the office. He had witnessed his interactions with Eden a few times in the couple of weeks that he had been posing as an administrative assistant in the laboratory so that he could watch them. He saw her body tense and the expression on her face become uncomfortable. It happened every time her boss was near. It was evident that he made her incredibly uncomfortable and on more than one occasion Mhavrych had heard her mutter a polite but insistent reminder to keep his hands to himself. This almost always resulted in him giving her an assignment far more suited for the graduate students who hoped for credits and recommendations in exchange for doing the grudge work throughout the laboratory.

“Ms. Baines, I have a new assignment for you.”

She leaned back in her desk chair and Ryan settled in the chair across from her. Mhavrych subtly shifted so that he could move closer to them and listen to their conversation. He wondered if this is what he had been waiting for. He came back through the streams to bring himself to Earth before Eden had left for Uoria. When he first arrived he’d gotten a glimpse of Kendra and knew that he was in the right place. A simple note had told him to wait until she left, and Mhavrych had been posing within the laboratory since then, monitoring their interactions, and waiting for the moment when Eden would climb onto the ship to head on her mission. He didn't know what he was meant to learn from watching, and he wished that he could stop her, but he knew that if he did the consequences would be far worse than anything she had seen on the planet. He had to remind himself that she, along with the other women, had been instrumental in as far as they had come in their fight against Ryan, the Valdicians, and the Klimnu.

“You’re going on a trip.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Mhavrych noticed Eden's eyebrows lift slightly in surprise.

“Where to?”

“Uoria.”

Eden immediately looked nervous and her eyes shifted from side to side. Mhavrych stilled and turned his attention back to the slides that he was aimlessly sifting through, hoping that she didn't notice his presence any more than she usually did. Eden was intense and cold, not cruel or vicious, but also not immediately welcoming. Mhavrych had exchanged fewer than ten words with her in the entire time he was in the laboratory and he doubted that when he returned to Uoria she would have any memory of him even being there. That was what he wanted. He didn't want to interfere with anything that he was watching. Not yet, anyway. There may come a time when he needed to step in, to change something, to prepare for what would happen in what was both the future and the past. He hoped he would recognize it when it happened. But for now, he was only there to watch.

“What for?”

It was obvious that Eden was hesitant at the idea of traveling to the planet that was still considered wild and fairly unknown. Though humans had visited regularly for some time, those visits had stopped decades before with little explanation. The majority of people on earth now only knew the stories of the vicious, bloodthirsty Warriors who called Uoria home. Most would be hesitant to even visit the planet, much less attempt to interact with them on a scientific level. Mhavrych had heard the beginnings of conversations about the exchange program that exists between the University and the Denynso, but Ryan had made no mention that sending Eden there had anything to do with that program.

“We need to learn more about them, what’s in their blood," Ryan replied.

His voice was casual, almost dismisses as if he was making a no acknowledgment of the danger he was putting Eden in simply by making the request. Mhavrych could see in Eden's face that hearing that assignment was both startling and terrifying. She gasped, her hands falling from where they had been clasped on her stomach as she leaned back. Her chair righted, and she leaned slightly closer to Ryan, not seeming to want to get close to him, but wanting to lower her voice. Mhavrych wondered if maybe she had noticed that he was there, if she wanted to keep him from hearing what she was saying to protect herself from this unknown, strange assistant who appeared without recommendation and had to talk himself into the position while knowing little about the work they were doing, potentially going to the department head and revealing what he had heard them discussing.

“You know that’s against the rules, Ryan.”

It had already been documented that the Denynso Warriors had willingly submitted to some testing by human scientists years before and had relented to continue the testing of the samples that those scientists had brought back, with the understanding they were to never attempt to access or test the warrior blood. Now that the samples that had been collected decades before were largely gone, it made sense that further research would require more contact and the collection of other samples, possibly testing on live subjects, but that wasn't what Ryan was suggesting. The brilliant, revered, and often feared scientist was telling Eden that he needed her to do something that was directly against the policies and agreements that had been made between the two species. It wasn't just unethical. It was dangerous. The few scientists who had decided that their curiosity about the blood of the Warriors was too much to comply with the restrictions had never returned to Earth. The Denynso gave no explanation for what had happened to them. Their official response was simply that the king and queen made their rules and had been clear about them, and those scientists had breached them.

He shrugged, his expression showing that he was unfazed by her reaction and didn't care if she felt unsure or even afraid to follow through with what he was telling her to do.

“You’re sneaky enough and no one pays much attention to you. We need to know what makes them so powerful," he said.

It was an insult disguised as a compliment, but Eden wasn't falling for it. Mhavrych could see her body shudder.

"But…" she started weakly, her voice so low that Mhavrych didn't even know if the scientist had heard her.

Ryan didn't seem to care even if he did. He leaned forward to rest his arms on the desk and look at her with a smug expression on his face. One that said he knew she was largely at his mercy. After all, he was the powerful lead scientist of the laboratory, one with absolute control over research and experiments that were done throughout this section of the University. He was often at odds with the other lead scientists who controlled other research and projects in other departments of the lab, but there was rarely a question of his intelligence or vision. In the end, Eden, though brilliant and vital in how his work turned out, was merely his assistant. She was obligated to do as he instructed.

“Oh, and preferably the blood from their strongest warrior is what you need to get. You’ve heard of him, right?”

There was an oily thread through Ryan's voice, an arrogance that made Mhavrych's jaw tighten. He didn't know Eden well. But he had heard of what she had done since being on Uoria and the incredible transformation that she had undergone when she became Denynso rather than human after a healing. He had a sense of respect for who she was going to become once she left this office and he had the sense of duty to defend her as a member of the rebellion. Again, he had to remind himself that he couldn't interfere. He was here only to learn, to understand how everything unfolded, so he knew where to go next.

“You know I won’t do that.”

Her voice sounded as though she had gotten herself under control and she was adamant, determined that he wasn't going to push her into something that she knew was not only ethically and morally irresponsible and could put her career in jeopardy, but also something that could threaten her life. Ryan was unmoved. He shrugged and stood.

“Then your job is as good as gone and so will your reputation. You’ll never work again. Not in this field” He spun on his heel and looked over his shoulder. “Might as well practice saying, 'Do you want fries with that?' because that’s the only work you’ll ever get. You know how much we need this information.”

In an instant, he had gone from being arrogant and dismissive to being angry and forceful, and it affected Eden. His eyes burned into her and when he turned to walk away, Mhavrych could see her body sag slightly as she relented to what she knew was a situation she truly had no choice in if she wanted to protect all that she had worked so hard to achieve.

“Wait,” Eden said and sighed. “I’ll do it.”

Mhavrych started for the door to the office, wanting to get out before Ryan did so that he could follow the scientist after he left. He saw the smile on Ryan's face and immediately knew that Eden had been right in her assessment that the danger is what her boss intended for her all along. He knew once he sent her to Uoria with the intention of gathering the blood of Pyra, the fiercest and most feared warrior in the galaxy, she would never return, and that was exactly what he wanted. They wouldn't hesitate to kill her. Ryan wanted to get rid of her. He knew she was a threat to him. Though Mhavrych had heard that Eden thought Ryan sent her on this mission largely because she had spurned his advances so many times, he knew that wasn't really the case. Though that might be an extra perk to getting Eden out of the laboratory and sending her to the certain death he was sure awaited her, it wasn't the main motivation. There was something else driving him.

He wanted her gone so that she didn't stand in his way.

“Good, I knew you’d see it my way. You need to be ready at four a.m.”

Mhavrych kept his back to the door of the office until he heard Ryan leave and then turned to follow him down the hallway. The scientist had left the door open and as he passed Mhavrych could see Eden working frantically on her computer. The look of fear was gone from her face, replaced by a smile that bordered on smug. He didn't know what she was doing, and he couldn't take the time to continue to watch her. He needed to follow Ryan.

Mhavrych rushed down the hallway before he could lose the sound of the scientist's footsteps. They made their way through the building until they reached one of the labs. He walked inside and put on a white lab coat that was hanging from a hook on the wall. He paused and turned toward the door, catching sight of Mhavrych.

"What are you doing?" he asked. "Who are you?"

It confirmed that Ryan paid such little attention to the people around him, feeling that he was the most important figure in any situation, that he didn't even recognize the face of a man who had been in his lab daily for weeks. The thought of how much time had passed was strange to Mhavrych. Though he felt that he had been away for so long, adjusting to the ways of Earth with help from those he had encountered, he also knew that when he returned to his own time it would have been only a matter of moments since he would have been gone. When Lucian showed him the rocks, let him hear what they whispered, and he discovered that though the Eteri man didn't really know what he had found but that he could manipulate the streams, traveling to any moment he pleased with the portals, Mhavrych knew that he was a step closer in bringing this to an end.

It wasn't as simple as just changing the things that had gone wrong. He couldn't just go back to the moments when things happened and prevent them from happening. Killing Ryan now would solve nothing. Doing that would mean leaving those he had tortured and imprisoned helpless. It would also mean never resolving how it all began. He had to find those links to really understand how it all connected. Though these were moments he couldn't change, events that he couldn't stop from happening because they would mean altering everything that had come after, they were ways he could prevent the further destruction that was promised.

"I'm an assistant," Mhavrych said. "I was just checking to see if you needed any help with anything."

He hated offering even a modicum of service to Ryan, but it was his only choice.

"No, I don't need anything," Ryan said sharply.

Mhavrych started to turn, but then heard Ryan again.

"Wait."

"Yes?"

"Actually, yes. Maybe I could use your help. What level of authorization do you have?"

It was a question that Mhavrych hadn't been asked yet. He had been given credentials when he got the position, but the access chip that he had in his pocket had been given to him by its original owner to allow him easier movement throughout the laboratory when he had the opportunity. He had never been briefed on the different levels of authorization and which he would have, which led him to believe that he was at the very bottom along with the other nameless, faceless drudges who did so much of the work and got none of the recognition.

"I am an administrative assistant," he said.

From the description of the position he had been given it was different from the role of the same title in the offices, but similar. Essentially it was his responsibility to do anything and everything that was asked of him so the more important members of the research teams didn't have to.

Ryan nodded, his expression thoughtful. His eyes moved up and down Mhavrych as if evaluating him, scrutinizing him. Finally, a hint of a smile came to his lips.

"That will do just fine. Come with me."

He led Mhavrych through the lab and a honeycomb of rooms behind it before descending stairs into a section of the building that Mhavrych had yet to enter. This section didn't utilize access chips. Rather, he input a code into a keypad beside the door and waited until the sound of a heavy lock within the mechanism released before pressing the latch and opening the door. Mhavrych noticed that he had done nothing to conceal the code that he had put in and had given no indications that Mhavrych wasn't supposed to talk about this area or what they were going to do to anyone. This wasn't reassuring. Instead, it made Mhavrych feel as though Ryan didn't think he needed to conceal this information or give any warnings because he had no concern that the lowly assistant now following him into the strange section of the building would have any opportunity to use the details later.

Mhavrych let his eyes scan every surface he could as they walked through the rooms, chronicling everything that he saw, making a record of it in his mind. He wanted to remember everything. Even if he didn't know why or how he was going to use the information later, he wanted to have it. Finally, they reached another door and Ryan put in another code, this one different from the first. Mhavrych stepped through the door first and found himself in a round room. He walked into the center of it and stood beside what looked like a round, dark blue cushioned ottoman. Ryan came in and pressed a button on the wall.

Lights burst on along the curved walls, illuminating what looked like smaller rooms separated from the center area with glass doors. Each had a bench attached to the wall at the back and what appeared to be a long tubular light positioned on one side. Mhavrych looked at Ryan.

"What are those?" he asked.

"Observation chambers," he said. "They are for an experiment that I've been working on."

"I haven't heard of any type of experiment with chambers like these," Mhavrych pointed out.

Ryan smiled.

"Ah. Well, that's because it is a confidential experiment that isn't under the regulation of the University. It is my private work."

Mhavrych nodded.

"What do you need me to do?"

"If you could please step into one of the chambers," Ryan said. "I'm going to close the door. You will then hear a series of sounds and experience a series of other sensory stimulation. Please just react to them however comes naturally. Feel free to take a moment to get acquainted with the chamber before we get started."

Feeling unsure but knowing that this was the closest he had yet gotten to learning about Ryan and his experiments before Eden left, Mhavrych walked into one of the chambers. Ryan followed him and secured the glass door closed. Mhavrych looked around and quickly realized that he was sealed in. There was no space between the top of the glass and the ceiling and he was completely separated from the chambers on either side of him. As Ryan had suggested, he took a few moments to get himself used to the space. He looked at the bench which appeared to be nothing but a piece of thick white plastic. He then looked at the light and noticed a narrow rectangular bar beside it.

"Are you ready?" Ryan asked.

Mhavrych looked through the glass at the scientist and nodded. Ryan walked over to a panel positioned on the wall of the room and hit a button. Immediately the glass chamber filled with a low tone that felt like it was vibrating in Mhavrych's chest. It wasn't unpleasant, but he also didn't know how to react to it. A second later the sound changed to a high note and Mhavrych twisted his head against the discomfort it caused, as if trying to escape it. The tone quickly changed to a soft fluttering sound followed by a trickle like water. The changing sounds continued for several minutes before Mhavrych realized that the temperature in the chamber had shifted. He felt a stinging hot on his skin that was suddenly replaced by intense cold. A rush of air hit him and then the floor beneath his feet started to shake, throwing him off balance until he stumbled back and landed sitting on the bench at the back of the chamber. He was starting to feel confused and unnerved, but when he reached for the door he realized that there was no way to open it from inside the chamber.

The smell of flowers filled the space, quickly followed by dirt, then something salty and sharp. Finally, his lungs were overtaken by a thick, sickly sweet odor that brought back a rush of memories that Mhavrych never wanted to experience again. He was starting to panic, to feel overwhelmed by the smell and the cold air, when suddenly it all stopped. The chamber went still. All traces of the smells, sounds, and movement were gone. Mhavrych stared out of the glass door, searching for Ryan, wondering if he was going to just walk up and open the door. But he didn't. Instead, he saw Ryan type something into a small tablet that he drew from his pocket, put it back in, and walk out of the room, turning off the lights as he went.

Mhavrych was plunged into complete darkness. He stood still for a few seconds, waiting for something to happen, then realized that he was alone. Ryan hadn't returned to the room and there was no indication that anyone else might be there. He remembered the light on the wall and the small rectangular piece beside it. He stretched out his hand until he felt the wall of the chamber and ran his fingertips along the smooth surface until he felt the rectangular piece that he assumed was a light switch. He pressed it and the light tube turned on, filling the chamber with a blue glow. There was some relief of having the light on, but it still did nothing for him. There was no way to open the door, no way to get out of the chamber. He felt along the sides, pressing against them, hoping that it would release.

When it didn't, Mhavrych started feeling along the walls of the chamber, running his palms across them to feel for any changes in the surface that might indicate another way that he could get out of the space. He didn't know what Ryan's intentions had been putting him in here. He hadn't specified what the experiments were for or what he was observing in the chamber, and now that he was not in the room Mhavrych didn't know what he planned to do next. Climbing up onto the bench, Mhavrych ran his hands along the top of the back wall and then leaned so that he could feel the top of the other walls as far as he could reach.

After several minutes he realized that he was starting to feel strange. He was getting lightheaded and it was harder to focus. He felt like he was no longer sure of what he had been doing and didn't know what he was supposed to do next. His lungs were starting to burn and no matter how much he struggled, he didn't feel as though he was able to get enough air into them. His body was starting to feel weaker and he didn't feel like he was able to hold himself up. Dropping down from the bench, he sat hard onto it. The burning in his lungs worsened and spots started to dance in front of his eyes. His mind was blurred, unable to grasp anything that was happening. He couldn't remember how he had gotten in there or what he was supposed to be doing. All he wanted to do was sleep.

Mhavrych felt his muscles weaken further until he wasn't able to hold himself up on the bench. He slipped down, soon finding himself sitting on the floor of the chamber with his head dropped back. His eyes stared blankly at the ceiling, trying to process what he was seeing, anything. A sound came from beyond the chamber, but he didn't know how to react. He heard what he thought might be the door slam and thought that someone might be coming. He struggled with his mind, fighting the memories forward, until he remembered how he had gotten to the chamber. Maybe the sound was Ryan coming back for him. Mhavrych dropped over to his side and tried to pull himself toward the door, but he felt like there was no breath getting into his lungs and his muscles had no strength. A figure appeared at the door, but he could only see the feet. They weren't the heavy dark shoes and black pants that Ryan had been wearing. Instead, they were small and wrapped in delicate gold shoes. Something shimmered slightly as the feet moved to the side and he heard the door open.

Hands grasped him, and he felt himself getting pulled along the floor of the chamber. His head and shoulders slipped out, dropping down the side of the low platform until he lay on the floor again. As soon as his head hit the floor, Mhavrych felt the air rushing back into his lungs. His mind cleared and the stinging on his skin dissipated. As he started to feel normal again, he opened his eyes and saw a small, beautiful woman standing over him. His mind swam for another few seconds, then cleared and he realized who he was looking at.

"Kendra," he murmured.

"Shhhh," she said, stroking his face. "You're going to be alright. It's all alright now. We need to hurry, though."

"Hurry?"

"He's going to be coming back."

"Who?"

"Ryan," Kendra said insistently, pulling on him now, trying to get him to his feet. "He brought you here to test a technology that he created. If he finds the chamber empty, it will ruin everything."

"What are we going to do?"

A sad look crossed Kendra's eyes and she guided him across the room to a shadowy area not touched by the glow still coming from the chamber that Mhavrych had been in. She touched the light inside and Mhavrych recoiled when he saw a body slumped on the floor.

"Who is that?" he asked.

"A hybrid," Kendra said sadly. "He was lost in the experiments. There's nothing that can help him now, but he can help us."

"What do you mean?"

"We need to get him inside the chamber."

"But Ryan will notice," Mhavrych argued. "He doesn't look like me and we're wearing different clothing."

Kendra's eyes rose to his and Mhavrych knew what she was thinking.

"Hurry," she said. "He'll be coming back. Hurry. We only have a few seconds more."

Mhavrych didn't know what she meant by that, but he rushed to strip off his clothes while Kendra carefully removed what the hybrid man had been wearing when he died. Mhavrych's stomach turned when she offered the clothing to him and took the pile that she offered him. He pulled the clothing on while she dressed the hybrid in his clothes. Together they scooped him up and brought him over to the chamber. Mhavrych didn't want to get near the chamber again, but he quickly approached it, put the body inside, and then slammed the door closed.

"But we still don't look similar enough for Ryan not to recognize that that isn't me," Mhavrych said. "The clothing isn't going to be enough to convince him."

"Just wait," Kendra said. "Be patient."

Moments before she had been pushing him, rushing him and telling him to hurry. Now she was telling him to be patient. She took his hand and pulled him back a few feet so that they stood behind the cushioned ottoman.

"What are we waiting for?"

"Wait."

Seconds later there was an instant of blinding flash as flames filled the chamber. When they disappeared, the body had been severely singed, with only a few details still visible. Some of Mhavrych's clothing was recognizable, but there was enough damage to the body that it couldn't be identified. A sick feeling flooded Mhavrych and he let the feeling of Kendra's hand guide him through the room and out of the door that Ryan had brought him through. They rushed back through the honeycomb of rooms and he followed her as she ducked into a small storage room.

"What was that?" he asked.

"He is experimenting with a technology that kills by removing oxygen from the air and draws nutrients out of the body."

"Why did we have to watch that?"

"No one deserves to be forgotten."

Mhavrych nodded, the words settling heavily in his chest.

"How can Ryan get away with that? How can he kill people like that and no one knows?"

"He can do what people don't know about," she said. "I suppose that it's good for him that he doesn't have security cameras in that section of the laboratory."

Before Mhavrych could say anything else, Kendra leaned forward and touched a soft kiss to his lips, then brought her mouth to his ear, sweeping her hand over his eyes so that he would close them.

"Find me," she whispered.

Her hand fell away and he heard the door to the storage room close. He opened his eyes and looked out of the door. Kendra was gone.

Security cameras. Why would she mention security cameras?