The Time Travel memoirs: Lost And So Alone

Making our way up the sewage shaft was a gruelling job indeed.
Needless to say the shaft stank to high heaven and was slippery with the remains of urine and faeces.
We put arm to steel for as long as we could take, Stryker vomited, I could hear hit the bottom of the steel pipe with a ping.
“How long?” Storm asked.
“At least another minute Storm, be patient.”
Storm sighed, “Yes sir, but with respect sir, this is a stupid idea.”
“It’s the best idea, its humane, keep climbing.” Growled Stryker, he sounded positively ill.
“Yes!” I shouted, triumph in my voice.
I felt the top of the shaft and pulled myself upwards and out.

“Thank God,” Said Storm.
We all got out of the shaft and were greeted by a bathroom.
It looked like a bathroom the troops would use; I took out my magnum and hid behind the door.
Storm and Stryker joined me, they looked tired, Stryker most of all, he had been on a planet for the past few months, he had been only going out for a hunt, he hadn’t moved this much for a very long time, if the police or milita caught him, he would have been a dead man, surely.
I turned to Storm, “John, if you kill anyone else unless prompted to I will have to kill you.” I said.
Storm nodded, “if you say so sir.”
I couldn’t help thinking that John was neglecting what I was saying, that he wasn’t listening to me. I had to live with that fact until we got back to the Majestic.

If we got back.

John took out a shotgun for close range, Stryker hadn’t used the revolvers yet, he hadn’t used anything but his crossbow, and I had lately discovered he called his crossbow Lauren, after a previous lover.
Stryker loaded a bolt into the crossbow; he pointed at it, “incendiary sir.”
I nodded, “interesting, if you fire that it’s bound to make his day a little more explosive.”
“Nothing beats a good old shotgun at this range,” said Storm.
I nodded, “I should have brought the blood bringer.”
He put a few cartridges into the shotgun and pumped it.
I knew John didn’t like the blood bringer, it was entirely alien to him, and the men that built the shotgun to fire shrapnel bullets were genius.

We opened the bathroom door and stalked out, the carpet was green and royal, woven by servants no doubt.
I walked in front, Storm and Stryker at my rear; we climbed a wooden staircase to the top of the tower where the leader would surely be.
We reached the top of the stairs and I opened the door with my foot with a swift kick, I had always wanted to do that.
As the door flapped open, a man with a huge black beard and black beetle eyes to match began to clap.
He was some size; he sat on a throne and probably weighed the same as a bull.
I bet the bull had the better temper though.
I felt a sword on my neck and I was pulled to the side, as were Stryker and Storm, our guns were confiscated and we were thrown to our knees in front of his majesty.
Black beard laughed, he had a terrible booming laugh which made his servants look nervous.

“We’ve been expecting you.”
I smiled, “I would have been surprised if you weren’t sir.” I said.
Black beard stood up and surveyed me, “such old eyes for one so young.”
“With respect sir, looks aren’t everything.”
Black beard smiled, “quite right, Mr. Carter.
I raised my eyebrow.
“You want to know how I know your name.”
I sneered, but not entirely unkindly, “you know everything, like a surveillance system, I hardly think you haven’t noticed my trail of destruction.”
Black beard looked impressed.
“And quite a trail of bodies you left in my courtyard.”
I glanced at Storm, “apologies sir, someone had an itchy trigger finger.”
Storm lowered his head in shame.
“Now, Mr. Carter, give me a reason why I shouldn’t blow your head off your shoulders.”
Blackbeard was... intimidating, that was for sure and he knew it.
Stryker sighed; he didn’t know I had an ace up my sleeve.
I shrugged my shoulders.
Blackbeard smiled, revealing some silver fillings.
“Brilliant, that is clear then, soldier’s, kill them.”
I smiled; “Dortingo.”

Blackbeard turned to face me and slapped me with such great force that I was knocked away from my captor and flung to the ground.
“So that’s what it is Carter, blackmail, for your life?”
I shook my head, “on the contrary, blackmail for everyone else’s.”
Blackbeard smiled and stroked his beard, “I could kill you now, and then the information would simply die here with you, in this room.”
I inclined my head, “yes, you could but the information wouldn’t die with me, since my friends have it and a few other allies on a couple of star systems too.”
Blackbeard casually strode over to a coffee table and picked up an ashtray and threw it at a wall.

Stryker snickered, “unstable bastard.”
I heard Storm laugh vaguely. “Sorry, but it’s the only way to get things done, I don’t want to leave this place in a body bag sir, neither do you in weeks time when the systems find out about your wife, they loved her, didn’t they?”
Storm looked up, “shame she had that tragic accident on Dortingo ay? Stryker nodded, “but you did all you could to save her life, it wasn’t enough though.”
Blackbeard sat down, anger rippling over his face. “It was an accident, my anger problems have gotten better now, believe it or not, my doctor advised me just to throw something.”
I smiled, “I wish my doctor told me to do that.” Blackbeard came to a conclusion internally and stood up, I caught sight of a sword in a sheath, he removed it and held it in his arms, it was perfectly balanced.
He walked over to me and smiled; he leant down and cut the ropes that were binding me. Ropes I wasn’t even aware I was bound with, I didn’t feel them.

“Fear, Mr. Carter, when the enemy is scared, the enemy is weak. Bare that in mind.”
I nodded, “so you’ll help us?” Blackbeard nodded, “in exchange for your silence.”
“Done and done.” I shook the man’s hand; we were at truce in a way.
The truth was, Blackbeard had taken his wife to the planet Dortingo, the planet was mostly forests and deserts, and she loved a good adventure. It was the wrong time for her to release news of her pregnancy to Blackbeard. Blackbeard didn’t want to be a father, he didn’t want an heir, he had decided that if he couldn’t have Atlantica then nobody could, he had decided to destroy Atlantica before he died. Rumours were that he had a machine that would destroy everyone when his heart stopped beating. According to the Majestic’s database anyway, that’s where I got the juicy information about his wife.
Janette was a national treasure, the star systems and every planet within a million light years loved her. She was a presenter of television, everyone tuned in to see Janette, she had such a great speaking voice, Blackbeard was never happy with that ‘dead end career’ as he spoke of it. This always upset Janette, she loved her career.
The jealousy that Blackbeard didn’t even know he possessed kicked in on the planet, she had angered him all day about talking about a new television show she would be presenting, he had taken her to a waterfall, he had looked calm at the time but inside he was fuming.

The waterfall was massive, perhaps 80ft, which was the largest that the planet possessed, when she turned to him, to be in her arms, he pushed her. He cried, he had loved her, maybe too much.
“So are you a jealous man?” asked Storm to Blackbeard. Blackbeard rounded on Storm, whose face looked a tad too smug. Storm was punched very hard in the face. I heard the clatter to the floor and I heard a mug of tea spill onto the hardwood floor.
“Such a waste, I would have drank that.” I said. Storm stood up, Blackbeard had stridden to his throne like seat and sat down, ready for the negotiations. “Aren’t you going to say something captain?”
I looked into Storm’s eyes, “unlucky.” I heard Blackbeard chuckle, the only really human sound he had made since we had met. This brought a slight smile to my face.
Storm gritted his teeth, “what?” I sighed, “come on Storm, you provoked him, you’d do the same.”
“You know what?” Storm said, poking me hard in the chest. I drew up close to his face, “what sergeant?” John Storm shook his head, “I’m going to wait on the Majestic.”
I began to protest but Stryker put his hand on my shoulder, “best not to sir, he’ll only moan.”
I turned back to Blackbeard, “I need an army, sir.”
He raised his eyebrows, “an army for what?” What else did he expect me to need an army for? Dancing?
“I’m leading an attack on the underworld, we are attempting an assassination on Beelzebub, and his intentions are to take over the universe.”
He held up a hand, “Beelzebub... he is a powerful beast, a god amongst the demons, what makes you think you can kill him?”
“Because if I don’t, then we’re all doomed, I don’t want to be a slave, pounding rock all day; neither do you I’m guessing.”

He sighed, “How many troops do you need?” This is the part of the whole operation that he wasn’t going to like. “I need one hundred thousand and your wolves.”
Blackbeard’s face went totally blank, “that’s my entire army Mr. Carter.” I smirked, “that’s why we came to you, you can be there if you like, when we attack, you can be a war general.” I could see a twinkling in Blackbeard’s eyes at this, “it’s been a long time since I’ve fought, must have been the battle of Spartika.”
“You battled with the Spartans?” He shook his head as if he was irritated by a fly, “against them boy, tough bastards, last time I heard of them there numbers were low and they had taken refuge on Massidonia. You ended their stay there I believe.”
I lowered my head, “I did what was right, what was humane, and committing genocide wasn’t my plan.” Blackbeard smiled, “you ran into Dan then?”
I nodded, “crazy son of a bitch, “how did you know?”
He linked his hands and crossed his legs into a more comftable sitting position. “Son, the Spartans are trained to protect their brother’s, you’ve been duped, you didn’t commit genocide, there must be a thousand more Spartans out there.”
My jaw dropped to the floor and my tongue rolled out. That should have been obvious, I felt stupid so I just nodded. I was dumbstruck, “are they forming an army that you know of?”
Blackbeard batted my comment away with a flick of his hand, “no, Carter, listen, the Spartans will never form an army again after their brutal defeat at the battle of Spartika, their losses were too great. Our numbers were too great. Instead they just form cults; at the most there will be six men in a cult.”

I nodded, “I’m not sure I’d like to encounter an army after seeing how powerful a cult was.”
Blackbeard laughed, “Dan’s cult was nothing, he was an idiot, a homicidal idiot, he just cared about murder, the rest of the Spartans, they are to be feared, and they’re strategists.”
Stryker smiled but interrupted me, “not to be rude or anything sir but I think we need to deal with matters a little closer to home.”
I nodded, “so do we have a deal?”
Blackbeard nodded, “I wouldn’t mind seeing another great battle before I die, it would be an honour.” He shook my hand and turned away.
“Can you fix the Majestic?”
He turned back to Stryker, “the ship you landed in? Yes, I’ll get some of my finest engineers’ right on it.”
I nodded and we stalked out of the room, I turned to him once more, “Ill be in touch.”