In the Shadow of Shiva

By

Titania

A pilot fighting a doomed war is recruited for a secret mission that has the potential to save a world. The cost will be more than his life.

Major Devin Riley raced down the halls, giants shadowing his every step. Yelling “move aside,” he pounded down the slate gray corridors. Most people were polite enough to get out of his way. Those who did not got a small shove as the four foot tall barrel of fury pushed through.

He shouldn’t have to run. He’d gotten his new assignment at the morning briefing. He should have had more than enough time.

“The 34th will be on 3 week deploy to Orbit 16. They’ll be at wing, in case any single cubes try to break the line. New York was our last failure. We will not lose another city. Captain Korda will take command. Major Riley, you are being reassigned to R&D for evaluation. Special orders.”

That was it. That was his bloody notice.

But then, after the briefing he spent half an hour arguing and yelling at the Colonel, to no avail. So now he had to run to make his appointment. There were times he regretted his temper. He and his men had been ground-side for half a year, but people still forgot about him and didn’t get out of his way.

He’d been marked as a Dart pilot when he was a child. A regimen of drugs dampened his inborn nanocytes so he could be kept at a child’s size. His white hair, blue eyes, and pale skin were a side effect of the drugs, accentuated by years out where the Sun was just the brightest pinprick in the sky.

With a quick smack to the door, he rushed in. “Major Devin Riley, reporting as ordered.”

Three people in lab coats were inside working. One of them was a woman, unusual in the military, but apparently more accepted in research. They all stared at him, but he didn’t let the silence hang for long. “Right. Which of you is Major Chen?”

“Let me get him,” replied a man who was 10 years younger than Devin, yet towered over him by more than a foot. Devin resisted the urge to kick him into gear.

“That’s ‘let me get him, sir’ to you. Now go.” He was in a foul mood, and it was not getting better.

The lab tech returned a few moments later. “Dr. Chen, this is Major Riley.”

Dr. Chen also wore a lab coat rather than a uniform. He was an elderly Chinese man, and like everyone else, he towered over Devin.

The old man came over and shook hands with Devin. Devin was annoyed again. Saluting was proper, not handshakes. He didn’t like it because it drove in the size difference. Dr. Chen’s hand enveloped his. Still, the man was his equal in rank, and probably superior in the org charts, since he’d gotten Devin pulled from duty for at least a week. Best to be polite for a while.

Major Chen escorted him back to his office. “Mr. Riley, …”

“That’s Major Riley,” Devin interrupted. Enough is enough.

“Hmph,” Dr. Chen snorted. He stared down at Devin. “For the next few weeks, Major, we will be putting you through a battery of medical tests. You are one of very few people to have passed the initial screening.”

“For what?” Devin asked impatiently. He nearly started tapping his foot to show his annoyance, but restrained himself.

“I can’t tell you yet. Only that if you pass, you might yet save this doomed world.”

☩ ☩ ☩

8 months ago

Devin landed his Dart at the orbital station. Jupiter’s pale light shone through the hatch as he stepped out. The battle outside was still going on, but his squad was done with this one.

The Shivan craft were small, only half the size of his tiny ship. An individual cube, as they were called, was barely a threat. But cubes could join together and form new, more powerful craft. Those were major threats. The cubes traveled through space individually, only joining together near a gravity well. His squad of Darts had to kill as many as possible while they were slowing, and then left the battle to the heavier craft when the Shivans joined together.

His awareness of the battle slowly faded as his ship detached itself from him. When he was joined with his ship he was special, a fighter that floated through space and killed his enemies. When away from it, he was only a child-sized freak. There were times he wanted to stay permanently attached to his ship.

The final separation came suddenly. The massive Hawk Firing Platforms fighting a Shivan Twelve vanished, he could only see the walls of his Dart around him. He heard the pressure seals open, and started crawling out of the comforting womb into the cold, sterile walls of the Jove 12 satellite.

His squad mates were crawling out of their ships. They looked as weak as he felt, but he was in command and couldn’t show it. “Visual inspection,” he shouted. “I want reports in five.”

He went over his own ship, looking for any signs of damage. He was clear. The others shouted their reports, everyone was clear. “On your way.”

They filed out of the hangar into their section of the satellite before any maintenance crews came. The child-like Dart pilots were kept strictly segregated from the rest of the crew. Their quarters were built to their small size, so they could feel normal for a little while. Devin believed that it was also for the rest of the crew’s convenience. They didn’t want any reminders of the price Earth had already extracted from its soldiers.

“Charlie,” Devin yelled to one of his pilots, “you had lowest kills.” The other pilots stopped in the corridor as Devin began his ritual humiliation of the worst performer. “Any cube that makes it through us can join and become trouble for the biggies. We will show them what we can do. You’re going to be polishing boots before showers. Everyone, give Charlie your boots, then hit the showers yourselves.”

Weak smiles all around. Every pilot, including Devin, knew that a low kill was a possibility regardless of skill. But they also knew that, this time, it wasn’t them drawing Devin’s fire.

“Incoming cubes detected,” blared over the speakers. “Counting two hundred cubes. ETA four hours.”

“You heard it,” said Devin. “No rest for the weary. Prep up. You’re off the hook, Charlie,” he added with graveyard humor.

Where were they all coming from? How many were there?

☩ ☩ ☩

Present

Devin crawled out of the swimming tube he’d been in for the last two hours. A poor swimmer with no practice, he was completely exhausted. The highly oxygenated water still filled his lungs. He coughed spastically as it was replaced by air.

Dr. Chen and the female scientist, a black woman with intricately braided hair, were waiting for him to recover his feet. “Take five, Major. Sally,” Dr. Chen said to the striking giantess standing next to him, “get the sensor net.”

“What’s a sensor net?” asked Devin, working his way up to pacing.

“Your next test,” the senior scientist answered uselessly.

He stared up at the man’s gray hair and dark eyes before turning away. He knew he wouldn’t get anything else out of the old man. Devin slammed the wall in frustration.

In a few moments Sally returned carrying a silken spiderweb over her left arm. “I’m going to put this on you,” she said smiling softly. “Please stay still.”

She knelt down next to him, bringing her face to his level. From his head, the web draped down past his shoulders. She tightened it, rubbing her hands over his still damp bare skin. He felt warm from unaccustomed female attention.

Then he felt a wave of dizziness as the world faded out and twisted around him. He couldn’t stand, couldn’t see; his ears pounded, his nose felt like it was bleeding. A booming echo pulsed through his skin, knocked him off his feet. He flinched as something pounded him, hitting him like a freight train.

Noise. Pain. Nausea.

He curled into a fetal ball. Whimpered.

His head exploded.

Wait. That was noise, that was him whimpering. They weren’t his senses any more, it was coming through the webbing. It wasn’t quite the same as when he merged with the ship, but it was the same principal. He shut it down, blocked everything, one sense at a time. Then turned them on.

“He’s not going to make it,” Dr. Chen sneered, “Physical tests are one thing, but he doesn’t have the mental strength to pull through.” Devin could hear Chen’s heart beating irregularly. He smelled stale sweat from some morning exercise, and the scientist was sweating anew now, nervous about the results.

“He might,” from Sally. She was as athletic as she looked, heartbeat steady, a hint of sweat and pheromones under the perfume she’d sprayed on the previous night.

“That’s right,” he said as he stood up. “I might.”

Dr. Chen started in surprise, and Devin heard his heart speed up. “Fine Mr, er, Major Riley,” the scientist said. “It is time you know why we pulled you from your squad.” Devin perked up.

“It requires tremendous energy, and only one person in a million might survive it, but we have discovered a means to send a person through time.”

☩ ☩ ☩

9 years ago

“We’ve got contact!” The class heard an excited voice play back to them. “There’s no doubt, multiple non-terrestrial powered vehicles headed this way. We’re training all views that way, and will let you know more as we have it. Looks like Jormun gets the credit for first alien contact!”

“That was the first we ever heard of the Shivans,” said the muscular bald man at the front of the room. The sergeant was briefing soldiers as they headed to the edge of the solar system to wait for their foe to reach them.

“Jormun was 22 light-years from Earth,” he continued, “and we received that message 34 years ago, so first contact occurred 56 years ago. The Shivans should hit the system within the next 5 years. We will be ready for them.”

“Hsst, down in front,” came a teasing whisper from behind Devin. The Dart pilots were all in the front row so they could see. The child sized soldiers had already come in for significant harassment, and he was getting sick of it. He ignored his tormentor for now.

The sergeant continued the briefing without noting the interruption. “Jormun was our first, and so far only, extra-solar colony. The news that they encountered intelligent alien life electrified people. The whole planet was listening when we received the transmission from their first direct encounter with Shivan ships. It was, of course, a disaster. Jormun’s ships were all destroyed. We didn’t get the telemetry from that encounter, but they sent more information with later transmissions. We will not be going in blind like they did.”

A soldier in the back of the room interrupted, “Why did they keep transmitting? Wasn’t that just showing the Shivans where to go next?”

“Good question,” answered the sergeant, “that’s basic operational security. But no, in this case, they were right. They’d been transmitting while the Shivans approached. The enemy already knew where to go next. And at this point, Jormun still thought they had a chance.”

“At least we have speed bumps,” came a whisper from directly behind Devin. A tap on his shoulder accompanied the message.

That was enough. Devin turned and slammed his clipboard into the soldier sitting behind him, a man who outweighed the tiny Dart pilot by at least 100 pounds.

The sergeant was playing another transmission from Jormun. “They are death, destroyers of worlds. They’ve disassembled Alfheim, taken the whole planet apart to make more of them. There’s thousands of them. We’ve got to stop them now, or we’re doomed.”

While that most famous transmission was playing, the sergeant barked, “Lieutenant Riley, that’s enough. You’re confined to quarters. Now.”

It would be a long journey for the young lieutenant, but he’d at least earned the respect of the other Dart pilots.

☩ ☩ ☩

Present

Devin collapsed onto his bed after stripping off the sensor web. He’d been wearing it for three days while taking dozens of other tests. They tested his adaptability by giving him direct interface to different machines, while rapidly changing his senses and chemical balance. As a result, he had a massive headache.

He could, however, enjoy one of the few perks of this ridiculous assignment; a private room. He lay back spread eagled on his soft mattress and just let himself relax, closed his eyes and enjoyed the lack of sight.

The door opened. His eyes were closed, not his ears. The tall black woman, Sally Latelle, was there. “Excuse me,” she sounded a bit shy, “can I come in?”

He sat up slowly and nodded. She ducked to enter. The room was built to his scale, so she had to stoop to come in the door, and her head was near the ceiling.

“Time for the next test already?” He tried to keep any signs of weariness from his voice, but he was not looking forward to another one. He needed to rest, get over his awful headache.

“No,” she shook her head. “It’s over. You’re the best candidate we’ve got, by a lot. I…” she paused. “I wanted to be the one to tell you. To tell you the rest.”

“Like what I’m supposed to do?” He stood up and moved over to the desk chair, waving at her to have a seat on the bed. He knew the chair was too small for her, but didn’t want to acknowledge it.

“No matter what Chen thinks of me, I’m not stupid,” he insisted. “You’ve got a plan for what I should be doing in the past. Warn people, maybe? Start building ships back then?”

She sat down, looked at him. Put her hand out towards him, then stopped. Devin was getting impatient. Finally she said, “None of that. It wouldn’t work. We ran that scenario. The odds are terrible. You’d get killed quickly, and we’d lose our best man for nothing.”

His body warmed. He wasn’t used to even slight compliments from giant-sized normals, let alone from pretty women. “So what…” He didn’t know how to continue.

“You’ll hide among them. Pass off your technology as magic. Use it to punish the stupid, reward the good. Make us better than we are.” She reached out again, and this time didn’t stop. Her hand enveloped his. He didn’t like to shake hand, but this was different.

“So. You’re going. I don’t.” Devin stammered. He couldn’t wrap his head around it. Sally’s grasp on his hand didn’t make it easier to concentrate. It was the closest contact he’d had with a woman since he left his family when he was a child.

“You’re already a hero, now you’ll be a legend,” she whispered, leaning in. “I don’t know any other heroes.” She kissed him, and he kissed back.

She didn’t leave until morning. The size difference was less of a problem than Devin had expected.

☩ ☩ ☩

The next day

“You were not my choice for this project,” said Dr. Chen coldly. “But your scores were far and away the best. This process takes tremendous power and exacting timing, and with the Shivans closing in, we may not get another chance. You have, simply put, the single best chance of surviving the transfer.”

“So get on with it already,” snarled Devin.

“Sally will hook you up to the machinery,” he replied. Devin smiled involuntarily as the tall dark woman entered the room. She returned a bittersweet smile. This would be a one way trip, he’d never see her again. If he did his job well, she would never exist, save in his memory. She would be, at least, a very good memory.

Her hands ran over him as she hooked him up to the sensor net and then to what he assumed was the time travel device. When she was done, he’d barely be able to move.

“We will move you as far back in time as we’re able,” Dr. Chen said while she worked. “Your primary tool will be your nanocytes. The people of the time have no defenses, so they’ll be particularly effective. Sally has already briefed you on your role, right?”

Huh?” Devin exclaimed with a jolt, earning a reproving glance from Sally, who had to readjust his fittings. “Of course.”

“Of necessity, you’ll have to use your own judgment in carrying out your mission,” Dr. Chen snapped. “Just remember that we must be sufficiently advanced to fight back when we encounter the Shivans. Staying on Earth is not an option; they’d have found us within a century regardless.”

He paused, disturbed. “There’s one more thing I must tell you. We can’t send living tissue back.”

Devin was now strapped in tight, and couldn’t move or speak, but he tried. Sally leaned in and gave him a kiss, whispering, “Don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“That’s why we had to make sure you could handle working through mechanical connections. You’ll be in an artificial body. You’ll need to recharge regularly, depending how quickly you use your energy outside. It’s another reason for the magical cover.”

This was sounding progressively worse to Devin, but he was strapped in too tightly to indicate his displeasure. He wanted to hit something. The two researchers towered over him even while he was standing. Seated, as he was now, they couldn’t even see his eyes as panic grew.

“Now.”

Panic was replaced by pain. He felt like he was coming apart. Then, at last, there was nothing.

☩ ☩ ☩

Date unknown

The pain faded and Devin could move again. He wasn’t bound into his chair, he wasn’t in the lab anymore. It wasn’t as bright; there was dim, comfortable light. He was lying on the floor and it was soft. Something wasn’t right. He started to sit up, and it hit him.

He wasn’t in his body.

Large breasts shifted on his chest. Hair fell down his back. Breasts. Hairless. Vag… Oh Gods above, they’d made him a woman.

He screamed in rage. His high pitched voice brought him to a crashing stop.

He cursed Dr. Chen for this cruelty. He kicked the floor, then the wall. The wall changed color under his pounding. It responded to him - to her. No use putting it off. She’s a woman now, she thought, so had to get used to it.

“Walls, green,” she commanded, and they turned green. She was in a virtual world, probably recharging. So, they’d at least given her that much, control of the local environment. Good, because it was pretty bare otherwise. “Mirror,” she ordered next.

A wall length mirror appeared. She looked at herself. Long hair, dark brown, almost black, curled in front. Short nose, small chin, wide lips, round face. She forced herself to look down. Her breasts were not as large as she’d first thought, but she had wide nipples. She put her hands on them, they were very sensitive. Her whole body tingled. She turned away angrily.

“OK, clothes. Give me clothes. In a closet.” A door appeared, she went in to a well appointed closet filled with dresses, skirts, blouses, kirtles, harem pants, and more. The closet stretched beyond her sight. She could get lost exploring it. “Jeans and a t-shirt,” she commanded.

It gave her a full outfit, including underwear and sandals. She had to struggle a bit to figure out how to put on a bra, finally buckling it in front and turning it around in place. “Oh well,” she thought to herself, “I’ll have a long time to practice.”

She remembered Chen telling her that her body and senses were artificial, though she didn’t notice any difference. It might look normal because she was in a virtual space. “Show me outside,” she ordered, but nothing happened. “Blast it all,” she yelled.

That broke the dam, and she cursed up a storm for hours. She yelled so much her curses should echo for the next millennium. Dr. Chen might yet get to hear them, she thought.

Eventually cursing lost its appeal. “Give me a gym.” She spent time running, only to find that she didn’t sweat or tire. She tried lifting some weights, but that too was easy. She could either lift a weight or she couldn’t, but she couldn’t push herself to just lift something. She kept trying, but no matter what she did, she couldn’t tire herself out.

Aiming for some satisfaction, she ordered, “Give me a punching bag, with Dr. Chen’s face on it.” She still didn’t get tired, but it made things more fun.

“Enough of this. Bed.” And one appeared, but before she could lie down, her world lit up, and she could feel herself being pulled out of her room.

☩ ☩ ☩

She found herself in a bare room with stone walls. A gap in the walls let in the outdoor sunlight, but the room remained dark and cool. Sand piled up near the door, but there was at least some sand everywhere. An unkempt man with dark skin, a hook nose, and several missing teeth stood in front of her.

“Praise be to Allah,” he shouted, “A genie.”

It hit her like a hammer. Not that she was a genie, but that she was a giant. She was huge. Looking straight ahead, her eyes were even with the man’s nose. She didn’t have to stare up.

She smiled, honestly and truly. Tears of joy welled up inside her. She stared straight at the man, and broke out in laughter.

“Genie of the lamp,” he commanded, “I, Abdullah Hamar, am now your master. You must obey me.”

Her orders came back. She was still a soldier with a mission, and had to at least pretend to follow her “master’s” orders.

“Of course, worshipful master,” she responded with a smile. Her body easily handled the translation to Arabic, she barely gave it any thought. She couldn’t get over her joy at being normal sized.

“I have been locked away too long, and rejoiced in seeing the sunlight again.” She gestured downward, and saw her home from the outside for the first time. It was a bronze oil lamp, simple in design, but intricately engraved with a picture only she’d recognize for at least a thousand years; a Dart flying in front of the Sun.

“Come to me, oh Genie of the Lamp, and give your master a kiss,” he ordered lasciviously. He was an ugly little man, and his breath reeked of garlic. Even if she were a real woman, she wouldn’t want anything to do with him. But she didn’t think it would be that hard to deal with him.

“Is that your wish, O master? I am forbidden to touch my master unless that is his wish.” She noticed that her clothing had changed when exiting her lamp. She was dressed in green silks, wearing bangles on her arm, and her nails were painted silver. Probably a safer choice than the jeans and tee shirt she was wearing inside.

“No, no,” he hastily answered. “You’ll not trick me that way, crafty Genie.” She wondered how exactly that was a trick, given that she’d spelled it out for him. “Abdullah Hamar gained your lamp through his exquisite skills in thievery, but there is more he might gain with your power behind him. I wish,” he said with a pause and a wink, “that I was the greatest thief in the world.”

Okay, she thought. This would qualify as the stupid and petty that she should get rid of. With the smallest of smiles, she said, “Your wish is granted. Be warned, this might hurt.”

His broad smile vanished as soon as he felt the changes start. He yelled, and then stopped an instant later when his throat changed. He grew scales, fell to all fours, and sprouted a tail. Within minutes, a monitor lizard stood where once was a thief. “You are still a thief, one of the greatest in the world, though it will be eggs you’re after now,” she gloated.

Her body tugged at her. She’d used too much power changing him, and could feel herself fading back into her lamp.

☩ ☩ ☩

She reformed inside the bottle, absolutely exhausted. Where working out for days on end did nothing but fight boredom, using her energy to transform someone wore her out completely. She was thankful she’d created a bed before being pulled out. It took everything she had just to collapse onto it.

She didn’t even notice she was still wearing her silks and makeup.

Time without time passed.

She slept without dreams.

She woke up slowly, enjoyed lolling in bed. She rolled over at last, fully awake. Her clothes were still fresh, but she felt it was time to change. Accepting her new situation, she decided to continue dressing as a woman, in a dress and sandals. She spent some time learning to do her makeup.

She ordered up books and movies, exercised until it too became boring. She bathed and lay in bed without sleeping.

She thought about the wish she granted. While amusing, she eventually decided it was a failure. The man was a lizard, he’d tell no stories. There were no witnesses. One less thief would make no difference, she had not set an example for others to follow. She’d have to do better next time.

☩ ☩ ☩

It was a relief when she was finally pulled from her lamp. She was indoors again. She hoped she’d get to see direct sunlight some day. Instead, she had filtered light, coming through cloth. She was in a tent.

A man stood in front of her, taller than the last one. She came up to his mouth, but it was still a relief to see a normal person as her equal in height. An uncontrolled smile broke through.

The man backed up in surprise and fear. “What? What are you? What foul sorcery is this?” The man spoke French, but she had no more problem understanding that than she did the earlier Arabic.

“I am the genie of the lamp, O wise master, and I exist now to serve your command.” She enjoyed playing it up, it was fun watching his reaction.

The man wore armor, chain over a silk shirt. He had a white tabard with a red cross over the armor. A Crusader. OK, that made sense to her. It gave her at least a rough idea of the time period. She also noticed that her clothing had changed again when she emerged. She’d gone back to silks, though this time in rose and gray. Her nails were painted bone white.

She could see fear and greed playing over the man’s face. He grabbed the hilt of his dagger, but didn’t pull it. She was not worried about swords, so just stood there calm and nonthreatening.

“A genie,” he said, “then you’ll grant a wish?” Greed won, she realized.

Time for a bit of fun. “A master who is both wise and knowledgeable,” she said with a curtsy that deliberately gave him a good look at her cleavage, “is a rare and wondrous treat. As you have freed me from my lamp, so must I grant you the wish you make.”

He grinned. Small at first, but growing. He started to laugh, and his chuckle grew into a guffaw. He released his dagger hilt and raised his hands over his head. “Thank you Lord of Hosts. You have delivered my enemy’s ruin unto me. Genie, I wish to destroy my enemy, the general Shirkuh.”

This, she thought, she could work with. She needed to encourage warriors, those who would build the weapons they could one day use against the Shivans. She needed to mold men who would do what it took to win wars. Men who would warp others to fit their weapons so they’d grow to hate themselves. So when their bodies were stripped from them and they were turned forcibly into women they’d rejoice for the simple fact of being normal.

She stopped. Where did that come from?

She wanted more than destruction, she wanted someone who was more than a warrior. This wasn’t the way. “Are you sure that’s what you wish, my master?”

The smile vanished, and the Crusader grew angry. “Yes. Destruction. I want to destroy him. Obey me, Abomination unto the Lord.”

“As you command.” Her nanocytes filled the air again, and the unnamed knight writhed as they began their work. His armor fell to the ground, his hair lengthened, his waist thinned, his chest expanded, her manhood vanished. “You are now among the most beautiful of women. Seek out Shirkuh, bed him and wed him. From there, his destruction shall be assured.”

To the new woman’s curses, she withdrew to her lamp.

☩ ☩ ☩

She was tired when she returned to the lamp, but not nearly as bad as when she’d turned Abdullah Hamar into a lizard. Knowing she’d be able to sleep soon, she decided to take the opportunity to try out sleepwear. She found a pair of satin pajamas in red, and was pleased at how she looked in them.

She had to think. Would she continue her mission or change it? It would wait until she awoke.

She lay back in her comfortable bed and let unconsciousness claim her.

Awakening with recovered strength, she went back to her routine within the lamp, summoning up books, exercising, and watching movies. When boredom struck, which it frequently did, she would learn something new. She tried on different outfits, learned to do her makeup, practiced dancing and sewing, even put in a shooting range and fencing arena for practice. Female she may be, but she was still a soldier.

Her boredom ended when the light in the lamp shifted. An alarm blared. A blue-white swirl opened before her, a gaping void in the virtual walls of her reality.

First try the direct route, “Get rid of that.” It didn’t work. She tried to set barriers against the intruder, and catch it in recursive algorithms so it would bury itself. None of these worked, but they did buy her some time.

“Analyze. Is it Shivan? Put it on screen,” she ordered.

“Unknown composition,” came back, followed by a string of data she could not quickly comprehend.

The light returned in force, a blue tunnel into another place. A hand, a human hand, reached through.

“Sword. Foil.” It appeared in her hand. She lunged, piercing the hand that reached through. It withdrew.

“Icy Halls of Hell,” came a male voice from the tunnel of light, “I just want to talk.” It spoke English, or something close to it.

“On screen. Any sign of Shivan technology?”

As with the previous request, the analysis came back ‘Unknown technology.’

“Come through and you’re dead,” she answered. Lacking any other information, she had to assume the intruder was hostile. No one in this time period should be able to access her lamp. “Close your entrance, or I’ll do it for you.”

“Defense 3,” she ordered quietly.

Another alarm went off, a second entrance was forming inside the lamp. From inside the first tunnel, she heard “I’m like you, we need to talk,” but it was already too late.

She fired into the tunnel, spraying bullets. At the same time the emplacement she’d summoned up did the same. Lasers and bullets rained into the entrance.

Seconds later it closed. She hoped the intruder was dead.

No, she really didn’t. If it was Shivan, she hoped so, but she had enough doubt to hope that she’d only wounded or driven off a human. What was it?

She had a project, something to hold her interest. She pored over recordings in every spectrum, analyzed digital signals and correlations. She listened endlessly to recordings of the intruder’s voice.

She was so engrossed in her research, she got upset the next time she was pulled from the lamp.

☩ ☩ ☩

She was in a tent again, the evening Sun streaming through the opening. There was sand on the floor, so she was still in the desert, most likely. She was once again in rose and gray.

The man in front of her was on his knees, giving her a thrill as she stood higher than him. “God of mercy protect me,” he cried.

Damage control. “Do not fear, O worshipful master,” she began. The servile routine was getting less amusing each time. Soon she’d need something new, but she’d stick with it for the moment. “I am the genie of the lamp, and must serve at your command.”

This one stopped quickly, looked at her. “I have heard of such things, pagan magics. But you are more fair than I’d ever expect of such.” He reached a decision. “No matter your origin, you are still, I think, a lady, and deserving of courtesy. Please forgive my rough reaction. I am Aubrey DeVere. Who do I have the honor of addressing?” He spoke archaic English.

“My name?” she asked, off balance. No one had ever asked before. Devin was inappropriate, both because it was a man’s name, and because it’s not who she was anymore. “I am called Daphne.” First thing she thought of. It wasn’t a bad name, at that.

“Then be welcome Lady Daphne. I’ve heard tell of genies. I hope you’ll forgive me for being forward, but is it true you’ll grant me a wish?”

She nodded. “What do you want?”

“I want to go home.”

So he was a crusader running from war. Still not what she needed.

Then she remembered floating in space, where light from the Sun was already weeks old. Vast and empty, waiting for a foe that couldn’t be beaten. Exiled from a world she - he - couldn’t share. A home he couldn’t return to if he wanted.

“My lady? Forgive me if I’ve given offense, please.”

She was near tears. “No Sir DeVere, forgive me. It is not for a genie to react so. I will… I will grant your wish.”

He waited expectantly.

“Where is your home?” she finally asked.

The man burst out in laughter, open and honest. “I am from Oxford, where my father rules as Earl.”

She smiled in return, and extended her senses as she hadn’t done since the sensor net tests. She found a bird and worked a small change on it. “It is done. A letter from your King Richard is being delivered now, calling you home.”

“Oh.” He sounded disappointed. “Somehow I expected to be whisked home instantly.”

“If you wish,” she bluffed, since she had no idea how to do such a thing, “but I thought you might prefer not to be hunted as a deserter.” She had used so little power on the bird and letter that she could easily remain outside the lamp.

“Of course. I hadn’t thought of that. Thank you most kindly.”

She liked this man. She hadn’t experienced much courtesy in her life, and found it welcome. “You know, you do get three wishes.”

He looked startled. “My thoughts have been on home of late, where one day I will succeed my father. I wish I could ever be a good lord to my people, and bring them to prosperity.”

She put on a look of concentration, then snapped her pretty fingers. “It is done. But you must always tend to the needs of your people, or my blessing will be undone.” That was easy, she thought. She’d done nothing at all, but a man who wanted to be good, and would tend to his people, would undoubtedly be a good ruler. She smiled, “You have one more wish.”

My lady,” he said looking in her eyes, “I would wish to get to know you better. May I do so?”

She smiled back, a bit shyly. “Inside the lamp, I neither eat nor drink. I miss it. Allow me to join you for dinner, and we can talk…”

☩ ☩ ☩

Four years later

Returned to her lamp, Daphne wept quietly on the bed. It was her choice, she knew. Aubrey would have gratefully kept her forever. She would never bear him children, and his line would end with him. A historian from Wales was lecturing in his town, and DeVere promised to build from it a center of learning. Oxford could be the key to the future, but he needed to take a wife and have a son. It couldn’t be her.

For the first time, she found herself wondering if it really was Dr. Chen who put her in this body. Maybe she was wrong, and it was Sally instead. Even knowing it was the right thing to do, she hurt imagining her man with another woman. Could Sally have felt the same about Devin?

Aubrey promised to leave her lamp far away from Oxford, but where it would soon be found, that she wouldn’t have to spend too long inside. Still, she hoped it wouldn’t be too quick. She needed time to mourn.

While she cried, her alarms went off again. The tunnel of light formed, but this time she let it. She wasn’t sure of her motivation. Had she learned patience from Aubrey, or was she hoping for an end?

“Please don’t attack,” she heard from inside. A man stepped through, a dark, red haired stranger barely an inch taller than her. He saw her, still weeping, “Forgive me. I didn’t mean… Can I help?”

This was not what she’d expected.

“Who are you?”

“Of course. I am Aaron, although I’ve used many other names. Like you, I am both genie and time traveler.”

“Excuse me?” Daphne was still mourning, but surprise was better than most things at pulling her out of her misery.

“Yes. It seems our systems are compatible, at least mostly, and I’ve been trying to visit for some time. When are you from?”

“What? I left in 2640, the Shivans were attacking.”

“Fantastic,” he crowed. Daphne scowled at him. “No,” he waved, “sorry, I’m sure that was bad and all, but I left a world dying to the Crimson Plague in 2510. It means my efforts worked. We got past that.”

“What a minute,” she frowned. “Are you saying you time traveled from a world-ending disaster, just a different one than me? Do we just go from one disaster to another?”

“That’s right,” he nodded, smiling. “I don’t know why it’s happened, but all of the ‘magic’ people I’ve met come from world ending disasters, and we all found time travel just in time to get one or two people out. Now we work to avert our own disasters a thousand years in advance.”

Daphne sat down, stunned. “There’s more than just us then.”

“Oh yes, I’ve met one other genie and a leprechaun. Both from before my time, you’re the first one after me.”

She smiled, warmly. “Then it’s possible. I can save the world. I wondered.” Looking at him, she couldn’t help but see potential, “And it’ll be nice not being alone.”