Natty and I were woken up by the sound of a digital alarm clock. The display said it was 2:45 a.m. We must have managed to fall asleep eventually, after all.
"Are you certain you don't want to return to your own time right away, Natalie and Catherine?" Larissa Montreve had asked us.
"And miss everything so afterwards we will never find out what happened?" Natty had shaken her head vehemently. "No way. Right, Cathy?"
"I'd rather stay and see how things turn out, too, if that is an option," I had agreed. "Unless that would be too dangerous, of course."
"There wouldn't be any risk involved," Brianna Vercours had reassured me. "Your transit would be triggered automatically if this building was struck."
So here we were, in Brianna's office, sleepily rubbing our eyes. They had set up bunk beds for Natty and me to sleep in, but both of us had staid awake for a long time.
"I just hope everything is going to turn out as planned," I mused.
Natty yawned. "I do not see what could go wrong. That is, unless"
She was interrupted by the computer-generated voice of the comsys.
"A vidconf is being requested by the alien mother ship," the voice informed us. "Do you wish to accept the incoming call?"
Natty and I exchanged a brief glance.
I cleared my throat. "Yes, we accept."
Almost instantaneously, a screen was projected on one of the walls. The display showed the familiar nondescript room with its five hovering metallic spheres.
"Greetings, Fogg unit," a pleasant voice said as one of the spheres blinked. "We would speak to the Montreve unit, if that is possible."
"Unfortunately, it is not possible," Natty gravely replied. "The Montreve unit is ... uh ... otherwise occupied."
There was no doubt in my mind that 'the Montreve unit' was currently in one of the huge halls underneath the City preparing for mass transit.
"That is indeed unfortunate. I take it that this means that your people still decline to accept our terms and conditions for your surrender," the voice went on.
"That is correct," Natty answered.
"Incidentally, who is the one standing beside you?" the voice inquired.
All of a sudden, I felt oddly nervous.
"Me? I am only the Hart unit," I hastened to inform them. "You may just ignore me."
"Don't mind if we do." I thought the voice was sounding vaguely amused. "Please be advised that as of now your people's Cities are under attack. Note that your continuing resistance will not accomplish anything. We shall acquire your time travel technology following our inevitable conquest of your Cities."
Natty yawned. "Well, yes." She shrugged. "Whatever."
It was less than a half a minute until 3 a.m. now. We watched the seconds being counted down on the clock displayed in the upper right hand corner of the screen.
"We are inclined to pity you, Fogg unit. Your people have brought you here from the past, and yet you have been unable to save them." Now the voice of the alien was sounding almost condescending. "Of course, when everything is said and done, you are, as your people are fond of saying, merely a girl."
"That may be so." Natty grinned. "However, as it happens I am also your worst nightmare."
I winced. During her last brief visit to the 23rd century, Natty had watched a couple of ancient movies from the 20th and early 21st century. She must have picked up the phrase 'I am your worst nightmare' from one of these movies.
There was a brief pause.
"But we never sleep or dream." The alien voice sounded bemused.
"That may be a big part of your problem," Natty said, as we watched the seconds being counted down to zero. She smiled sadly. "I am sorry," she whispered.
Abruptly, the screen went blank. Through the huge windows of Brianna's office, we saw the night sky light up until it was casting an eerie purple light. The floor under our feet started to tremble.
Natty and I grabbed our bags. The last thing I saw before temporal transit kicked in was the bursting of those huge window panes and the caving-in of the walls.
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