Zoe Thanatos(42)
Stolen books? A kidnapped King? None of it made sense to Zoe. The goings-on of another world’s monarchy didn’t interest her.
Eva continued. “I can’t say for sure but I’m willing to bet that they’re up to more than just stealing from the monarchy. They’ve managed to get their hands on some technology owned exclusively by the Crown, and who knows what kind of trouble that could cause.”
“What kind of technology?” Zoe grabbed a lace covered pillow from beside her and hugged it to her chest. Eva had a come a long way to tell her the story, and she owed it to her to listen.
“It’s complicated,” Eva sighed. “There really isn’t enough time to get into specifics. To make a long story short the Queen is having all the gates deprogrammed for Gaia.”
“What is Gaia?”
“Gaia is here, Earth. It’s what we call your universe. The gates help us travel safely between universes, but once they’re deprogrammed we have no way of coming and going. Anyone stuck here won’t be able to go home, and likewise no one from Terra can go to Gaia.”
Things were getting a big clearer. “So that means Evan wouldn’t be able to come back here?”
“Exactly. I know he wouldn’t want that. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know. He was sent with a team of Crown Soldiers to bring back the King, the book, and those responsible for taking them. By the time he returns the gates could already be shut down, and then there would be nothing he could do.”
Zoe shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “So he doesn’t even know you’re here?” she asked.
Eva shook her head. “I’m certain he would be here himself if he knew. If he could.”
“Did he say anything about coming back?” Zoe could barely bring her eyes up to look at Eva as she asked. Her fingers played absentmindedly with the corners of the pillow, wrapping the soft fabric around her fingers.
“He doesn’t need to. I know my brother well enough to know he wouldn’t want the gates to close on his chance to see you again. His life is very complicated at home and I know that he was waiting to find a way to come back.”
“Once the gates are deprogrammed there’s no way to know when they’ll be reprogrammed?”
“No.”
“So it’s possible they may not be reprogrammed at all?”
“It is.”
“And you’re asking me to go with you? Without any certainty that I’ll be able to come home?”
“I’m asking if you want to.”
Zoe could tell from the look in Eva’s bright blue eyes that even she knew how ridiculous she sounded. She looked around the room, taking in the sight of every project she had started and finished or was in the process of completing. A mess of her own creation was easy enough to fix, but what she was being asked to do was something else entirely. She was still trying to reacclimatize herself to the life she had neglected to live. How could she leave when she was only just starting? There wasn’t enough time in any world to make that kind of decision.
She’d been rescued from one jump just to make a much bigger one. There wasn’t enough time to figure out what the right decision was.
“So there’s a possibility that either he never comes back, or I never come back?” Zoe asked.
“A possibility? Yes. How certain is that possibility? I have no idea. This could just be the Queen overreacting. For all we know she’ll have the gates reprogrammed as soon as these residents are dealt with and everything will go back to normal.” Even she looked like she didn’t believe that would happen.
“And the worst case scenario?” The question lingered unanswered in the air between them. What if their Queen wasn’t overreacting? She knew enough history to know that stealing from those in power, especially the government or monarchy, was never a crime that went without punishment. Not to mention the King’s kidnapping; if someone high up in the government was kidnapped there would likely be no lack of severe punishment. She would never consider involving herself in the politics of another country or civilization, and Terra was an entirely new universe of unknown possibilities. She had no desire to encroach on a potentially unstable environment.
“Has this ever been done before? I mean, has anyone from Terra ever brought in an outsider from another universe?”
“No,” Eva admitted. She hesitated before continuing. “We don’t make a habit of involving ourselves in the lives of others. We observe and learn from other cultures, but never at the expense of our own civilization.”
How ironic, Zoe thought. Although it did offer some explanation as to why Evan was so hesitant to answer her questions. However, he had interfered in her life to begin with, so it wasn’t as though he had much of a choice. “How do you know it will even work? What’s going to happen to my body?” How did one travel between universes? What did a gate look like? Would she be safe? She had more questions than answers.