Avert by Viola Grace Page A

training than the bare minimum offered by the Alliance to someone with her career path.
    She crept along the floor of her shop and reached her worktable, pausing to check again for anyone noticing her before she reached up and gripped the long shears on her table.
    Sky inhaled and exhaled quietly, freezing as she heard a sound within the confines of her shop. As slowly and carefully as she could, she leaned out and peeked around the corner. One of the invaders was sweeping the shop with a scanner.
    “The signal came from in here.”
    The harsh voice sent a shiver through her. She tensed with nerves and prayed that her desk was thick enough to hide her from the scanner.
    To mock her, the beeping of the scanner picked up in pitch and got louder. They had found her and her time was up.
    Sky gripped the scissors in either hand and waited.
    She heard the rush of fabric and a light flared in her eyes as the neural disruptor powered up. Sky lashed out and spiked the scissors into both legs and jerked them free, blood spurting over her as she grabbed his weapon and left him in her shop.
    His screaming brought others to her store and she lifted the disruptor, firing at one after another until the charge was done and she was facing two men with the same weapon.
    She didn’t surrender but dropped her gun and dove for the weapon of one of the dead invaders in her shop’s doorway.
    Sky didn’t make it to the disruptor before she was struck again and again. Her body shorted out, her lungs stopped working, and she heard a series of harsh cries as a bright light took her and carried her away from Resku Station.
    Pain ripped through her as she was subjected to a charge that restarted her system. She gasped and cried out as her body screamed with pain.
    A hand clutched hers and she squeezed it tight.
    “It will be all right, Sky Raynard. You are safe now and your new life begins today.”
    She focussed on the speaker and saw a man with broad shoulders and a smiling curve to his lips. He was wearing a cowl that covered his head and threw his face into shadows. The lips and chin were all that was available to view.
    “Who are you?”
    The smile turned into a grin. “I am Tavik. I had to manipulate the timeline a little to bring you here, but you are safe here.”
    She used his grip on her hand to lever herself upright. “Where is here?”
    He helped her gain her footing and two other figures slipped out of the room.
    A wide balcony was accessible along one wall and he led her out into the peculiar light.
    Looking out over the fantastic view, she blinked rapidly as she tried to absorb the ramifications of the expanse of land that ended suddenly in a swirling star-scape.
    “How are we breathing?”
    “There is a force that provides us with the atmosphere, gravity and lighting that we need to live.”
    “A force?”
    “It will be explained in time. Will you walk with me? Your body is still coming back to itself now and the physician said that the walking would help.”
    She shook her head. “I don’t remember him saying that?”
    “Time moves differently here. What you perceived as a moment was actually close to an hour. Your body did not want to wake. I am wondering if it is a characteristic of your species.”
    She wondered about that but didn’t have a chance to ask him what he was referring to, because he kept his grip on her hand and led her out of the medical centre and onto an arcing walkway that stretched between buildings.
    He didn’t have to hold her hand as they walked. She clung to him for fear of slipping off the edge of the pathway. Shivering, she held on for dear life until they were in a building where a wide spiral staircase ran around the outer edge of the room and huge frames were spaced along the path at regular intervals.
    “Where are we?” The walls absorbed her voice in an eerie way.
    “The library of time. I want to explain to you why you are here, and the best way is to show you where you came