The Lilliput Legion (TimeWars 9)

“Jesus,” said Delaney, “that didn’t even occur to me.”

“Maybe you should take somebody back with you,” said Steiger.

“There’s no point in pulling someone off another team,” Delaney replied. “We’ve all got more than enough to worry about. Besides, now that Lucas is back, we’re up to full strength again.” He paused awkwardly. “Uh, sorry, I didn’t mean that quite the way it came out.”

“It’s all right, I understand,” said Steiger. “I just hope you know what you’re doing.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just that you and Andre seem pretty convinced that he’s really Lucas Priest.”

“You’re not?”

“Well, I don’t know him as well as you two did,” said Steiger, “but I’m reserving my judgement until I’ve had a chance to speak with Dr. Darkness.” He sighed. “It’s a wild story. I don’t know what the hell to believe. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I want to think he’s an impostor who’s been cleverly coached by someone from the other side, but if it really is him, then I’m worried about the consequences of his coming back to life like that.”

“Look if I’m out of line, just say so,” said Delaney, “but are you sure your concerns don’t stem from the fact that Darkness can’t do the same thing for your brother?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Steiger said, after thinking it over for a moment. “I wouldn’t have qualified my answer except for the fact that I’m still pretty tom up about Sandy’s death. Still, I know the circumstances weren’t the same. At least I understand that intellectually. Whether or not I understand it in my gut is something I can’t say for sure yet. But either way, it makes no difference. What matters is the truth. Maybe I’ve been in the agency too long, but I simply can’t take anything or anyone at face value anymore. Be careful, my friend. Watch your step.”

“Believe it, Creed, if that isn’t Lucas, I’ll know it. And I’m sure Andre will know it, too.”

“Maybe,” said Steiger. “On the other hand, maybe she’ll subconsciously decide to fool herself. I’m not saying that anything was going on there, it’s none of my business, but it didn’t take a genius to see that they had some strong feelings for each other. Or at least she did. I’m not sure I’d count too heavily on her judgement right now.”

“Point taken,” Delaney said. “But even if Andre could be fooled, I don’t think I could. Lucas and I go back a long, long Time. I know him like I know myself. I know how he reacts, how he thinks. If that isn’t Lucas Priest, believe me, he’ll wish he was dead.”

What neither of them had voiced was the unse

ttling possibility that if Drakov really was alive and creating Lilliputians, then he might have created another Lucas Priest, as well. Drakov had studied under the tutelage of a master, the infamous Dr. Moreau, and he had continued where Moreau left off, using his discoveries to genetically engineer such horrifying creatures as harpies, werewolves and vampires. For a man who could accomplish all. that, how difficult would it be to create a “fake” Lucas Priest? They had been in his custody before. He could have taken his raw material directly from Lucas himself.

And that could also explain how Drakov had survived. If it was indeed Drakov they were facing. He might have replicated himself. Or perhaps, given the reality bending conditions imposed by time travel, they were encountering Drakov before Forrester had killed him. Or what Darkness had done in bringing Lucas back to life had somehow resulted in a temporal disruption that had also cancelled out the death of Nikolai Drakov. Either way, the implications were frightening to consider.

Delaney took one last drag, crushed his cigarette out beneath his boot and programmed the co-ordinates for “Lilliput Island” into his warp disc. He made a final pre-flight check of his floater pak. It wouldn’t be amusing to have it fail for some reason while he was over the Indian Ocean.

“Right,” he said to himself, “let’s see if there really is a Lilliput Island.”

He clocked out.

He materialized in free fall about a mile above the surface of the Indian Ocean in the year 1702. He immediately fired his jets. Seconds later, he was in controlled flight, soaring above a bank of clouds. He had purposely clocked in at a high altitude, in order to avoid being seen by any passing ships. In some time periods, high altitude transitions could be hazardous due to air traffic, but there was no chance of that here. Still, Delaney knew of one case where a man clocking in at high altitude with a floater pak had rammed a hot air balloon, so it paid to orient yourself at once and pay attention. As he flew past the bank of clouds, he glanced down toward the ocean.

Nothing. Nothing but open sea.

He checked his transition co-ordinates once more. There was no mistake. So much for Gulliver’s insistence, he thought. If Gulliver had been right, there should’ve been an island down there. Instead, there was only a long, narrow bank of clouds or fog slightly below him and absolutely nothing else in sight for miles, as far as the eye could see. Delaney started to descend a little ways below the cloud bank and fly a quick, wide search pattern, but he didn’t think he’d find anything. Gulliver must have been wrong about those co-ordinates.

And then he saw it, directly below him as he flew down beneath the cloud bank. A small island, approximately the shape of a kidney bean, exactly where Gulliver had said it would be. He blinked. He didn’t see how he could possibly have missed it. The cloud bank didn’t seem big enough to hide the island from his sight. He looked up. The cloud bank was easily three times as large from below as from above.

Impossible.

He ascended rapidly and went right through the cloud bank once again. And sure enough, from overhead, it was smaller. And even though the wind was blowing briskly in a westerly direction, the cloud bank wasn’t moving. Actually, it was moving, but instead of being driven west, it was slowly going around in circles, slowly revolving like a whirlpool.

He had found a confluence.

Directly below him, two timelines intersected. Gulliver’s Lilliput Island was in the parallel universe. Somehow, Gulliver’s ship must have been blown through the confluence point during a storm. He had been the sole survivor, never realizing that he was in another universe. How could he possibly have suspected such a thing? Or … perhaps Gulliver was from the parallel universe to begin with and he had passed through the confluence point when he had escaped from the Lilliputians. Either situation was possible. Only. how to tell which one had happened? Where did Lemuel Gulliver belong?

Delaney double-checked the transition co-ordinates once more. It was now absolutely vital to log the time/space co-ordinates exactly, or he might never get back home.

“My apologies, Dr. Gulliver,” Delaney said to. himself. “The island is down there. Only ‘down there’ is a universe away.”

He descended through the cloud bank once again and came in at an angle over the island, following the shoreline. It wouldn’t take long to do an aerial reconnaissance. The island was fairly small, probably volcanic, though dormant for years. It was heavily forested and Delaney saw nothing that indicated any sort of settlement, no signs that the island was inhabited. He flew lower. And then he spotted it.