Mickey & Nadika: An Adventure Across Time and Space

Copyright © 2012 by Jenna Lindsey

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

iUniverse books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

iUniverse

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.iuniverse.com

1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4759-2174-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4759-2176-2 (e)

ISBN: 978-1-4759-2175-5 (dj)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012907810

iUniverse rev. date: 5/17/2012

Contents

Acknowledgments

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Epilogue

For my mother, Joan Bruce Stalker

1928 – 2011.

Acknowledgments

Thank you very much to my husband, Jerry Mellott, for his creation of the Laser-Operated Air Bed. Special thanks to Jelly Bean for her enthusiasm and to Dane Davis for rescuing Sam and Ziggy. Thank you once again to Rose Harris.

Prologue

The planet exploded. A splinter of rock—a mere fragment of what moments before had been a world, a civilization, a billion souls—spun past the shartha.

The shartha floated in space. She looked like a gigantic fish with a prehensile tail and long, thin tentacles on either side of her wide mouth. The shartha used her sensor tentacles now, seeking a familiar trail. She had been following the wake for months. Once, she had lost it, spinning helplessly and disoriented through a vortex of time and space. The shartha had struggled to adapt to the new universe, hungry and alone until she found the trail again.

With a swish of her tail, she propelled herself forward and away from the scene of the most recent destruction.

Chapter One

Remove the passenger before the vehicle goes over the cliff, Nadika repeated her instructions. Then send the vehicle on its predestination to avoid altering the planet’s history.

She shivered. The rain spattered her, and Nadika pulled at the brim of her fedora, lowering it a little over her right eye. For a moment, Nadika wished she could have started earlier, before the rain. But no. Haden said it was a matter of universal importance. Timing, for a time traveler, was crucial, and Nadika wasn’t just traveling through time on a whim; she was a Special Agent on assignment.

Tonight, however, wearing her trench coat and hat, sent on a top-secret, dangerous mission, Nadika felt like a spy. Like a … Secret Agent. She liked that idea. It appealed to her Caethin aggressiveness. Rescuing endangered and extinct species for relocation was all very well, but it was more arduous than fun. The background information she’d read about her target had intrigued Nadika. He certainly sounded more fun than the twenty-six dodo birds she’d had to capture and transport last month.

Nadika searched the road for the lights of the vehicle she was to intercept: a Jaguar E Type, green. She’d seen one a long time ago.

Come on, Nadika grumbled. At last, lights appeared in the distance, swerving back and forth as the driver followed the sharp curves of the road.

Mickey drove with only one hand on the wheel. He loved his car. His Uncle Farnsworth had left it to him. Sure, Mickey could have bought one for himself. His family was obscenely wealthy, and they were happy to appease him if it kept Mickey and his unusual ability out of the press. But this car—this green Jaguar—was special because it had belonged to Uncle Farnsworth. He had been the only person in the world who had found Mickey’s unusual ability amusing and fun instead of embarrassing or scary.

Mickey glanced at the picture he held in his left hand. Uncle Farnsworth was leaning on the back of his classic car, arms folded, cigar hanging out of one side of his mouth, and a blonde hanging on to each arm.

Feeling reckless, thinking of his uncle, Mickey tucked the picture into his shirt pocket and increased the car’s speed. The Jaguar roared and raced along the highway: cliffs rising on Mickey’s right and dropping off to the ocean on his left.

Whoa! Mickey yanked the steering wheel to the right, braking, panicking, tires skidding as he avoided hitting the small figure that dashed onto the road.

The Jaguar stopped. What the hell! Mickey pulled the park brake and opened the door. He shielded his eyes with one hand. Someone in a light gray trench coat and a hat stepped into the glow of the headlights.

Hey, was that you on the road? he called out. Are you okay?

The figure hurried forward and stepped around the open door.

Looking up, Mickey stared, deciding there was such a thing as love at first sight. The woman was slim and pale with a beautiful mouth.

Michael Durin?

Beautiful voice too. Mickey nodded.

Come with me. The woman took a step back from the car.

How did she know his name? He hadn’t been in the papers for months. Are you hurt? Do you need help? Mickey got out of his car.

Nadika was momentarily mesmerized. She’d seen the picture of Michael Durin in the obituaries; she knew he was handsome, with dark hair, probably tall, but the photograph had been in black and white. Nadika was unprepared for his eyes; they were blue like the color of his planet’s ocean when the sun was shining. She stared. Blue, Nadika said, not realizing she’d spoken aloud.

Pardon me?

A rumble of thunder reminded Nadika that she was in a hurry.

I’m not hurt, she said. But I do need your help. Come with me. Please. She grasped Mickey’s arm, unruffled by his greater height, and propelled him up a slope on the side of the road.

Confused, Mickey watched as the woman pulled out what looked like a cigarette case from her coat pocket. Adjusting a dial, she aimed it at his car. On the road below, the green Jaguar slammed its door shut, shifted into gear, and spun about.

Hey! Mickey started back toward the road, stopped. Hey! My car!

He watched in disbelief as his car zoomed away without him, accelerating dangerously as it clung to the road’s tortuous turns.

What’s going on? Mickey demanded, casting a quick glare in the woman’s direction.

History.

What? Obviously, I’m in love with a psycho, Mickey decided. Was she armed? Did that mechanical car-napper shoot bullets?

Nadika smiled. Suspicious, Mickey followed her gaze. He could just make out the headlights of his car as it came into a curve near the cliff.

If you’re driving my car, slow it down. Slow it down! It’s going too fast!

The Jaguar missed the farthest edge of the curve and soared over the cliff. An explosion followed a second later as it hit the rocks below, then crashed into the ocean.

Nadika shoved the brathya back into her pocket. Let’s go.

Mickey tried to assimilate the horrific sight of his beautiful green Jaguar trying to fly and failing. He stormed back up the slope, caution blown away like his car. You blew up my car!

Be grateful you weren’t in it. Nadika nodded toward a copse of trees. Now come with me.

Mickey stubbornly stood his rain-soaked ground. Who are you and what the hell is going on?

Nadika fought her temper. Tact, patience, and diplomacy were alien to her nature. Haden had chastised her social inadequacies as often as he had praised her work.

Yes, you’re good, Haden had said. Nevertheless, you could be better. You need to be more polite, patient. The planets that offer relocation facilities often do so at great expense. They’re investors. Be nice.

All right, thought Nadika, I’ll be nice. I’ll be patient. For as long as I can.

I’m Special Agent Nadika. I’ve been sent by the Torin Council to retrieve you.

Torin Council? What’s that? Some new branch of the CIA?

I’ll explain as we go. Nadika started across the field. We have to hurry, she said over her shoulder.

Curious, drenched, and minus one Jaguar, Mickey trudged after her. Retrieve me for what?

A matter of universal importance.

They reached the trees, and Nadika ducked nimbly under a branch.

Head down against the rain, Mickey walked into it and stumbled back. Thrashing through a tangle of bushes, he caught up with Nadika.

Look. Miss … uh. What’s your name again?

Krath! thought Nadika. Humans use last names. She made a quick decision. Nirud. Nadika Nirud.

Mickey nodded. Okay, Miss Nirud. Is it really Nirud? Because that’s the palindrome of my last name.

Quick mind, Nadika thought. Is it? What a coincidence. You can call me by my first name.

Fine. Nadika it is then. Now, what the hell is this really all about? You jump out of nowhere, steal my car with some weird remote control, blow it up—thank you so much—and now you’re telling me we’ve got to hurry to save the universe?

Nadika stopped and looked up at him. That’s correct.

Mickey could only see her left eye. He had to resist an impulse to lift Nadika’s hat. Where are you from?

Caethia. Nadika turned away and continued her march through the undergrowth.

Following her, Mickey slapped away a wet branch. Is that one of those new Russian countries?

No.

The trees and bushes thinned and became a meadow of tall grass. Nadika paused, waiting for Mickey’s reaction to the sight of a spaceship.

Wow! Mickey hurried forward to admire the gleaming silver vehicle in the center of the meadow. This must be the newest model, right?

The tall grass obscured the fact that the vehicle didn’t have tires. Caught up in the sleek lines, Mickey ran his fingers along the hood. Beautiful. And the windshield is so dark it looks practically solid.

He moved to the side of the vehicle. Where’s the door handle?

Nadika joined him. It doesn’t need one. It has a hand scanner.

Mickey nodded. I’ve heard of those. Very impressive. Does it come in red?

Suppressing a smile, Nadika pressed her right palm against the side of the vehicle. The door opened.

Mickey peered into the vehicle’s interior. Beige, velvety lining, silver and black steering wheel and gear shift, leather bucket seats.

I like it. He climbed inside. Not much leg room.

Move over, please.

Mickey squeezed past the steering wheel and crawled over the gear shift to the passenger side. Settling into the seat, he turned his full attention to the dashboard. It was crowded with buttons and switches, blinking lights, analog and digital monitors, and the tempting outline of a glove compartment.

Before Mickey could touch anything, Nadika climbed in. She tapped the center of the steering wheel with her right index finger. The door closed.

This is one hell of a car, said Mickey. What model is it?

It’s not a car; it’s a Skimmer.

Interesting name. The dashboard alone screams race car.

That’s not a dashboard. It’s a control panel. And the Skimmer is a spaceship modified to travel through time.

Mickey paused in his inspection of the car. He looked at Nadika as she removed her hat. Short, light brown hair framed her heart-shaped face. Her eyebrows were two straight lines above her soft, brown eyes.

Realizing he was staring, Mickey cleared his throat. Nice hat.

Pleased by the compliment, Nadika remembered to say thank you. After viewing dozens of old, black and white movies, she had made a special trip to Earth, circa 1941, just to purchase this color of fedora. The trench coat too. Turning, she set the hat on the small backseat.

Now tell me the truth, Mickey insisted. This is a test model, right? Hot off the line.

The slang was confusing, and Nadika decided to let the Skimmer convince her passenger. Lower your body brace.

Mickey watched as Nadika reached up and pulled down a heavily padded, U-shaped brace. It looked like something you wore on a roller coaster.

Glancing up, Mickey reached for his brace. He heard a click as it locked into place.

Nadika said something incomprehensible. Instantly, a series of lights began a sequential flashing. A moment later, a surge of power rocked the vehicle. There was a sharp hiss, and the windshield revealed they were moving fast, heading for the road.

Smooth ride, Mickey commented.

The vehicle accelerated. Before Mickey could shout, Look out! the Skimmer roared across the road and over the cliff.

It didn’t fall. Instead, the Skimmer soared forward and up. Mickey clung to the body brace, amazed. He caught a faint gleam of ocean far off to his right before it disappeared beneath clouds. Gray and white vapors shifted eerily about the window, then disappeared as the Skimmer continued to climb. Mickey saw the moon on the left; it was enormous. Still they ascended.

Was he dreaming? He looked over at Nadika. She was pulling the steering wheel toward her and slightly up. Like a small plane, thought Mickey.

"Ethatba," said Nadika. The ship hovered.

How many miles above the Earth were they? Mickey wondered. He looked out the passenger window. The Earth was a tiny blue sphere. Wild, Mickey murmured.

Are you okay?

Mickey nodded. I’m fine. This is amazing. I’ve always wanted to fly a plane, but this is fantastic! Where are we going? Mars?

Jahar. Nadika flipped up part of the control panel to reveal a small keyboard. She entered a numerical code.

Tathba, Nadika commanded. The ship shot forward.

Space blurred before them as they rushed ahead. Nadika pressed a button and shifted gears. The Skimmer shuddered. The boom hit Mickey’s ears like a cannon blast. He was pinned to the back of his seat. A moment later, there was another crashing boom. The pressure eased, returned to normal, but now space had gone insane. Grotesque shapes and impossible colors whipped around the ship.

Setting the Skimmer on auto-drive, Nadika turned to find Mickey staring at the contortions of time travel. He’s taking this very well, she thought.

Nadika remembered her first experience with time travel; it had been just a bit nauseating. Lifting her right hand to a switch on the control panel; Nadika pressed it. Instantly, a shield covered the window, and they sat in a bluish light with only the hum of the ship to remind them they were traveling through time and space.

Mickey took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. What was that?

Time distortions. I had to travel back through three centuries to find you.

Uh-huh. Mickey grappled with this information. Can you pretend that I’m just an uninformed kidnappee whose idea of a long trip is a two-hour plane flight?

Nadika reached across Mickey and pressed a blue switch. A small screen popped up.

Television, said Mickey. In outer space.

Watch this and then I’ll brief you on what’s happening, Nadika instructed. She pushed an earphone into Mickey’s left ear.

Mickey wanted to argue, but the program was starting.

A low female voice began speaking about the history of two planets: Jahar and Caethia. Caethia was devastated by an asteroid. They asked the Jaharians for temporary shelter. The two cultures mixed easily: Caethins wanted to become more peaceable; Jaharians wanted to become more assertive. An agreement was made, and all the survivors from Caethia immigrated to Jahar.

In return, Caethins assisted the Jaharians with their Special Projects Program and provided protection from marauders, technology thieves, and invaders.

The Caethins designed and implemented a protection force for Jahar: a small series of warning buoys, automatic bombs, and a small planetary guard.

Mickey sat back a little from the screen, surprised at how many life-forms abandoned their home planet once they achieved space flight.

He looked over at Nadika. Can you believe these guys? he asked. They just leave their polluted planets behind and take over somebody else’s planet.

Nadika—busy with her time calculations—didn’t look up. Watch the program, she said.

Mickey returned his attention to the screen. He didn’t know how to rewind.

The Jaharians’ scientific knowledge was largely theoretical because they were too physically frail for extended space travel; Caethins thrived on it. Well suited for adventure and challenging tasks, the Caethins infused the Jaharians’ theorems with their technology; concepts of time travel for the purpose of relocating endangered and extinct species became realities.

Wild, Mickey announced as the screen showed myriad different wildlife living happily ever after.

The program ended. Mickey turned to face Nadika. So a Special Agent is actually a time-traveling zookeeper?

Nadika scowled but didn’t comment.

Where do I come in? asked Mickey. I’m not an endangered species. And just what is so damn important that you had to blow up my car?

Perhaps now would be the appropriate time to brief him, thought Nadika.

In your century, Michael Durin— she began.

Call me Mickey.

Why?

It’s friendlier.

All right. Mickey. At 11:28 p.m. on the night of October 20, 2007, your car spun out of control and plunged over a cliff into the Pacific Ocean. Your body was never recovered.

My body? Mickey pointed at his chest. Me.

Nadika felt a moment of sympathy. According to your planet’s history—newspapers, radio, television broadcasts—you died that night, Mickey.

Are you sure?

Yes. Three centuries ago, at that time, in that place, you died.

Okay. So I was supposed to die, but you intervened. I can’t believe I said that, thought Mickey. Why?

Because of your telekinesis.

You’re telling me that you traveled three centuries and who knows how many space miles because I can bend forks?

Yes.

Mickey waited. Nadika, however, seemed to think she’d explained everything. You have a wonderfully vague way of explaining things.

Nadika noticed Mickey’s tone of voice: sarcasm. Your solar system, indeed this entire universe, is in extreme danger, Mickey.

Well, you’re obviously the space-going guys, Mickey said. You’ve got tons of technology, even time travel. Why don’t you save the day?

Nadika opened her mouth and snapped it shut on a yell. She was not explaining this well. They sat glaring at each other.

An alarm sounded. The ship bucked.

Nadika turned her attention to several pulsing lights and pushed two. The window’s shield snapped open. Outside, the weird shapes and colors paled, wavered.

We’re falling out of alignment! Nadika shouted over the roar of the ship as it was subjected to enormous pressure. Hold on!

Mickey gripped the body brace as the ship tipped to the left. I used to like roller coasters, he thought.

Speaking her strange language, Nadika wrestled with the wheel. Several grinding noises preceded the boom. Abruptly, they were spinning through space, stars shooting by at odd angles as the ship was whipped upside down, then sideways.

Managing to right the ship, Nadika began punching lights. A piercing whistle screeched in their ears. Still they streaked through space, out of control.

A gray planet loomed on their left. Nadika forced the wheel about. They hit the planet’s gravitational pull with a bang. Instantly, the temperature began climbing. Clouds grabbed at them. Mickey stared, transfixed, as an alien landscape rapidly approached.

Nadika threw a switch up. Hethba! she demanded.

The ship braked, slowed, but not enough.

Mickey had a brief image of himself in his car as it went over the cliff. It would have been like this, he thought.

Hethba!

This time, the brakes engaged and locked. The ship hit the ground, bounced once, then scorched its way a hundred yards across