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  DEDICATION

  To all the members of Trazling and Traci Harding Fans FB Pages and all my readers everywhere, who have taken this journey with myself, the Chosen and the Timekeepers. Thank you for your encouragement, input, promotional efforts and support over the last nineteen years — this one is for you!

  ENJOY!

  EPIGRAPH

  You owe me a life; I have to repay my debt to you. From these causes and conditions we pass through hundreds of thousands of aeons, in a sustained cycle of birth and death. You love my mind; I adore your form. From these causes and conditions we pass through hundreds of thousands of aeons, in a sustained mutual entanglement.

  - Śūraṅgama Sūtra, Vol. 4

  CONTENTS

  COVER

  TITLE PAGE

  DEDICATION

  EPIGRAPH

  LIST OF CHARACTERS

  TIMEKEEPERS REINCARNATION GUIDE

  ASTRO MARINE INSTITUTE EXPLORER

  PLANETS OF THE UNITED STAR SYSTEMS

  PROLOGUE: ABSENT WITHOUT OFFICIAL LEAVE

  PART 1: DIVERGENCE

  CHAPTER 1: MACHINATIONS

  CHAPTER 2: GRAN MAI’S LIBRARY

  CHAPTER 3: AN ACCOMPLICE

  CHAPTER 4: BREAKING LOOSE

  CHAPTER 5: ANGER MANAGEMENT

  PART 2: EMERGENCE

  CHAPTER 6: SHADOW BOXING

  CHAPTER 7: GAMBLING WITH ABSOLUTES

  CHAPTER 8: KEY TO THE KINGDOM

  CHAPTER 9: VOID OF FEELING

  PART 3: TRANSCENDENCE

  CHAPTER 10: WARP SPEED

  CHAPTER 11: TOUGH ENOUGH

  CHAPTER 12: EXPLOIT

  CHAPTER 13: EVIL TO BETRAY

  CHAPTER 14: SERENDIPITY

  PART 4: UNIFICATION

  CHAPTER 15: INTERCONNECT

  CHAPTER 16: THE WAITING GAME

  CHAPTER 17: BACK TO THE FUTURE

  CHAPTER 18: MOTHER OF ALL CURSES

  EPILOGUE: BACK FROM THE PAST

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  OTHER BOOKS BY TRACI HARDING

  COPYRIGHT

  LIST OF CHARACTERS

  Ship: AMIE (Astro-Marine Institute Explorer)

  Head of AMIE: Prof. Lucian Gervaise

  Financial Director: Dr Taren Lennox

  Lucian’s Brother: Swithin Gervaise

  Marine Biologist: Dr Amie Gervaise

  AMIE Pilot: Zeven Gudren/Starman/Kale Tane/Bob

  Zeven’s Father: Mythric Zeon/Spyridon Vidor/BA Tane

  Mythric’s Wife: Princess Satomi (deceased)

  Zeven’s Wife: Aurora Gudrun

  Zeven’s Daughter: Thurraya Gudrun

  Science Advisor: Telmo Dacre

  Co-Pilot/Navigator: Leal Polson

  Ship’s Doctor: Kassa Madri

  Botanist/Horticulturist: Ringbalin Malachi

  Marine Botanist: Ayliscia Portus

  Ex-Head of the MSS: Zelimir Ronan

  Ronan’s Son: Yaspar Ronan

  Yaspar’s Wife: Jazmay Cardea Ronan

  Yaspar’s Son: Fari Ronan ‘the Thrice Strong’

  Technician: Kalayna Zuri

  Psychic Fugitive: Vadik Corentin/‘the Hurricane’/Harry Cane

  President of Sermetica: Jabez Anselm

  AMIE’s Nemisis: Khalid Mansur

  Khalid’s Father: Kaveh Ahura Mazida — Angra Mainyu

  Dropa Master: Dorje Pema

  Dowager Duchess: Maiara Vidor (deceased)

  Custodian Vidor Manor: Trance Ducer

  Phemorian Ruler: Qusay-Sabah Clarona

  Phemorian Viceroy: Jalila Lamus

  Jalila’s Sister: Jafera Lamus

  Qusay’s Guard: The Valoureans

  Head of the Valoureans: General Prochazka

  Prochazka’s Lieutenant: Sovee Puturi

  Vault Guard: Captain Vishketah

  Last Phemorian Prince: Chironjivi (disembodied)

  First Phemorian Queen: Thurraya the Slayer (deceased)

  Maladaan’s President: Woodford Tallak

  Ruler of Frujia: Chief Matan-tu-hoo

  Rainbow Monkey: Karisha

  The Being of the Field: Azazèl-mindos-coomra-dorchi

  TIMEKEEPERS REINCARNATION GUIDE

  PLANETS OF THE UNITED STAR SYSTEMS

  Maladaan

  Capital City: Esponisa

  Ruler: President Woodford Tallak

  Climate: Polluted

  Landscape: Overdeveloped

  High-rise modern cityscapes

  Known as the technology capital of the USS

  Frujia

  Capital City: Kotan Bathaar

  Ruler: Chief Matan-tu-hoo

  Climate: Hot, tropical

  Landscape: Scattered island archipelagos

  Small tourist colonies

  Known as the pleasure capital of the USS

  Sermetica

  Capital City: Heavensgate

  Ruler: President Jabez Anselm

  Climate: Controlled

  Landscape: Desert, mineral-rich

  Mobile-airborne cities in the clouds

  Known as the mining capital of the USS

  a.k.a. the Planet of Men

  Phemoria

  Capital City: Tonissia

  Ruler: Queen Qusay-Sabah Clarona

  Climate: Moderate

  Landscape: Forest and ocean rich

  Beautiful ancient cities, unspoilt by time

  Known as the cultural capital of the USS

  a.k.a. the Planet of Women

  Oceane

  Ethereal City: Karmandi

  Ruler: Azazèl-mindos-coomra-dorchi

  Climate: Wet and steamy

  Landscape: Largely ocean and small rocky landmasses

  Unknown to the USS

  PROLOGUE

  ABSENT WITHOUT OFFICIAL LEAVE

  Mission Log — Day 1

  What I have chosen to do is shocking. When I contemplate all I must negotiate in order to achieve the desired outcome, trepidation underpins every move I consider.

  A timekeeping mission into the past of AMIE project, alone, and without the knowledge of the timekeeper and rest of the crew, is borderline insanity. I know this! Screw up, and I could drastically alter many of our past successes. The liberation of the Phemorian queen and her people from the curse of the Phemoray is a prime example of a major event that must remain unaltered. This mission resulted in three out of the four planets in the United Star Systems signing a ‘psychic’ bill of rights, freeing those with the Powers — like the crew of AMIE — from persecution. The time period in question will also see my parents reunited after decades in limbo, as my murdered mother is resurrected from the grave. I will see my own daughter sacrifice her life to free the souls of her tormented ancestors from a pit of despair on Phemoria. This most harrowing moment of my life I must also leave to play out as before, in the knowledge that her life will be restored by a fellow crew member.

  This is where the AMIE project is unique.

  Before the Astro Marine Institute Explorer launched — having secretly only recruited crew members with the Powers — psychics had never had the courage to admit to having a Power, or been given the opportunity to freely band together and use their talents for the greater good. Through our work, the bad reputation and widespread fear of those with the Powers is being turned around. Our services, always rendered in secret, are clearly beyond the scope of any other task force ever assembled, and as our identities are being shielded by the government leaders we serve, our PR is also handled by them. Hence, the evil stigma that has hung over those with the Powers since the sexual revolution on Phemoria will be all but swept away in three star systems.

  The timekeepers have come to understand, via our adventures through time, universes and altered states of consciousness, that the material worl
d is an illusion and hence there is no such thing as individualisation or personal achievement. Your actions are either to the detriment or benefit of the grand scheme, which has only one end game — make it back to source. If all are one, then service to all is the only means that will serve. Yet the greatest service anyone can perform for the good of all is mastery over the self — through which comes the realisation that there is no self.

  Of all the timekeepers, I had the hardest time grasping this premise, and subsequently had my Powers revoked on several occasions until I shed all want of personal glory and was not a liability to my fellow timekeepers — or Zagriata, as we are known in this universe.

  This sabbatical into the past I have embarked upon is not about me playing hero — not this time. Nor is this about me getting overly cocky due to my command successes on the timekeepers’ most recent mission in the universe parallel. This lone manoeuvre is about minimising the risk to our timeline, whilst neutralising our biggest opposition to the event that the timekeepers first set out to prevent. This will be, for me, the second attempt the timekeepers have had at altering this event, and the third time I have actually lived through it. I have seen these circumstances play out, and I know what must be done to ensure our end goal. Of all the timekeepers, I am the only one who can complete this mission solo, and that is no boast.

  It is a well known fact that I, and I alone, will destroy Khalid Mansur, our opposer in this event. This prophecy was spat forth by my grandmother the night I was born. The trouble is the man became a trusted ally and good friend of mine in the universe parallel. I vowed to him that I would not forsake him in that universe or this — where he is being controlled by an evil entity that attached itself to him on the night of his conception. Sadly, circumstances beyond my control prevented me from keeping my vow in the first part. He was killed and his recall of that adventure, and our friendship, wiped from his eternal memory. My recollection is perfectly intact, however. Here, in our rightful universe, I have an opportunity to make good on the latter part of my vow and completely defuse the circumstances surrounding the event the timekeepers ultimately seek to alter.

  For those reasons I chose to return to this day, several years further back in the AMIE project history to where the rest of the timekeepers on our last mission will be uniting to debrief. It was agreed we would meet back in this universe one week before the event we meant to alter. I still intend to make that meeting, but by the time I do, it is my hope that we shall be facing a far more congenial situation than that we will face if I do not act.

  On this day the Qusay-Sabah Clarona — Qusay being the Phemorian term for their queen — will have her curse lifted. Then my mother will rise from the grave, and the inter-system gateway to the Oceane system will reopen after eons in shut down. This is also the day that my nemesis from birth, Khalid Mansur, will escape the psychic security prison the timekeepers put him in five USS standard years ago.

  This is the situation as it stands upon commencement of my quest. It is my intention that this log serve as an account of my actions to my fellow timekeepers in years to come — when they shall return to AMIE with their conscious recollection of our visit to the universe parallel intact. I trust it grants insight into why I chose to take absence without official leave, to run a mission that I was never assigned. But, to my reasoning, fate chose me for this task a long time ago. Causality will be my judge, and it is my soul intention to have her rule in our favour.

  PART 1

  DIVERGENCE

  1

  MACHINATIONS

  It was bliss to awaken in his sleeping pod with his wife curled up behind him. It had been too long since he’d emerged from sleep to find himself in such a happy situation. Then the reason he felt this way dawned on him, and suddenly he was hyper-aware of being back on AMIE. If his will had been fulfilled he was now absent without official leave and was the only member of the crew who would remember anything of their last mission for several years. From this second forth he was changing history — the premise sent pangs of shock rocketing through his being. He held his breath, and mentally shook off the foggy hangover of his post-mission time-lag, as it always took a moment for the brain to process the shift in reality.

  He was Zeven Gudrun, aka Starman, Kale Tane and Bob. His true birth name, which only a handful of people knew, was Zaman Vidor, of the royal House of Vidor on Sermetica. In the old Sermetic tongue his name translated to mean ‘time warrior’. Taren Lennox, whose real name was Tymea Anselm, meaning ‘time protector’ according to the Phemorian tongue, was his cousin. Taren — the secret offspring of President Anselm of Sermetica and Qusay-Sabah Clarona, Queen of Phemoria — was the timekeeper, here to awaken all the Zagriata to their potential. But he was Taren’s first recruit and oldest confidant, who had been time-hopping with her since the beginning. Zeven felt a little guilty; having made Taren vow that she would never jump time without him, here he was doing exactly that. Taren was going to be pissed at him when she found out — but then she’d never asked him to make that same vow.

  I have a plan, Zeven assured himself. On the upside, he was back to being youthful and he appreciated that — having left an ageing body back in the universe parallel. If I have landed where I willed, then all I did this morning was make love to my wife and take a shower; I can’t really screw that up. That fact helped Zeven breathe easier.

  Aurora stirred behind him and gave a delighted moan, as her arm wrapped around him and her hand came to rest over his heart. ‘Your heart is beating out of your chest! Feeling a bit amorous, are we?’ She kissed the nape of his neck to let him know the feeling was mutual.

  ‘Do we have anything on today?’ he thought it the opportune time to query.

  ‘Nothing until the mission brief this evening,’ she peeked her head over his shoulder to advise with a grin. Her short, platinum blonde, shaggy hairdo was all messed up, there were traces of yesterday’s make-up on her ivory skin and around her baby blues; but still, she was a sight for sore eyes.

  ‘About the Phemorian problem,’ Zeven supposed, trying to keep his mind in the game and confirm his landing date.

  ‘Or stopping the inter-system gateway to Oceane being activated,’ Aurora suggested. ‘Only Taren knows, and we’ll find out soon enough.’ She kissed his cheek, and returned to snuggling him from behind.

  Although the crew of AMIE had yet to discover it, the inter-system gateway had been brought back online two days ago by a couple of their future crew mates. Zeven had thought about returning to AMIE then, but he couldn’t remember anything specific that happened on the morning of that day. Today was quite the opposite, and he was both relieved and horrified to discover that he’d landed right on target.

  Most of this day was fairly uneventful, which gave him time to think and prepare. Such opportunity warranted taking immediate advantage of, yet, as Aurora’s roving hand slid downwards towards his already aroused member, he felt equally obliged to stick to history’s timetable in this instance.

  As Aurora took a shower, Zeven grabbed his portable workstation and began a mission log for his own future defence. He also began noting down a list of things Taren had to know before he left and everyone started getting the wrong impression of him. It was best that no one knew the truth right now, but he wanted to give Taren at least an inkling.

  ‘Are you writing?’ Aurora sounded flabbergasted.

  Zeven looked up to find she had emerged from the bathroom.

  ‘I didn’t think you knew there was a keyboard on your workstation!’

  ‘Sure, I know about the keyboard.’ Zeven hammed it up as he closed the device. ‘I use it to play games all the time!’

  ‘Ah.’ Aurora was enlightened. ‘Of course … I should have known.’

  Zeven rose to kiss his wife, taking the workstation with him towards the shower.

  ‘Why are you taking your workstation to the bathroom?’ she queried.

  ‘That’s probably not the best idea.’ Zeven played innocent and retu
rned it to a desk — hopefully Aurora was not in an overly snoopy mood this morning. ‘I’m in the middle of a level,’ he thought to add, to discourage her meddling.

  ‘I wouldn’t dream of touching it,’ she said, and headed into the wardrobe. ‘Go, shower. I need to eat.’

  ‘You don’t have to wait for me,’ he advised as he entered the wet room.

  ‘I won’t,’ she assured.

  She really wasn’t fooling anybody. Aurora had trained in the secret service on Sermetica; of course she was going to investigate. But it wouldn’t serve her, Zeven considered — hot water pelting down on him — as he’d activated the security access code function. She’d be waiting for him all right.

  ‘Since when do you security code anything from me?’ She stood, arms folded, waiting for him as he exited in a towel in search of clean clothes.

  ‘Since you can’t help but toy with my stuff,’ he replied surely.

  ‘I don’t toy with your stuff!’ she defended, whereupon Zeven turned from his trek to the wardrobe to serve her a cheeky grin.

  ‘That stuff isn’t security coded,’ she rebuked his sidestep of the issue.

  ‘That’s right, you’ll always have free access.’ He winked.

  ‘What are you up to?’ Aurora’s arms folded even tighter.

  ‘I’m writing a book,’ he replied.

  Aurora was stunned and then burst into laughter.

  ‘See!’ he emphasised, faking disappointed. ‘I knew you’d think it was stupid, so I didn’t want to tell you until I was done.’ It was only as the words were rolling from his tongue that Zeven realised what a truly talented bullshitter he was.

  Aurora immediately backed off and appeared apologetic. ‘I’m sorry.’ She smothered her mirth. ‘I don’t think it’s stupid … I’m just a little stunned is all. What brought this on?’

  ‘Well, I’ve had more adventures than most,’ he pointed out. ‘And once psychics become more widely accepted, an account of how that came about might be a bestseller!’

  Aurora smiled supportively, although a trace of scepticism still lingered in her frown. ‘I can’t argue with that reasoning … and I’d love to read it once you’re done.’ She wandered over and gave him a kiss of apology.