The Temporal Knights Read Online Free PDF

mine.”
    “But...” Matt started but stopped as his friend looked up, his face a mixture of resignation, determination and relief. It was the look of a soldier about to make a suicidal attack on the enemy. It was the look of a man ready to die, a man who no longer cared to go on living, just so long as the constant fear and anxiety disappeared with the life he was too tired to protect any longer.
    “I’m tired,” Duncan finally whispered. Matt nodded and stepped forward and they embraced each other for a long time.
    “You can do something for me though,” Duncan said finally stepping away.
    “Anything.”
    “When you drop your bombs, tell that bitch of a Queen that they’re a gift from Duncan Hoff.”
    Matt was surprised by the fact that he was smiling and even laughing a bit.
    “You bet,” he said, and they stared at each other for another long moment.
    “You’d better get to your ship,” Duncan said and Matt nodded, his eyes welling with tears he thought he no longer possessed.
    “See ya,” he said uncomfortably, and they hugged again quickly this time and Matt started out the door.
    “See ya,” he heard as he left.
     
     
     
    §
     
     
     
    At T-minus ten minutes everyone was in place and most of the sixty vehicles in the convoy were running and ready to depart. Fear was a very real thing, palpable, part of the air around the complex. This was a trip into the ultimate unknown. The space-time coordinates were set and the connection was complete. Lee Robertson and the engineer Cummings were beginning the process of enlarging the Door to a maximum of twenty-five feet wide by thirty feet high. This was a very small space for the vast amounts of energy it required to create, and downright small for the number of vehicles they needed to push through. They would not have a lot of time before the energy supply of the complex was completely depleted. It was a simple question of give and take; the larger the Door, the more energy it used, and the more energy it used, the less time it could remain open. Even this relatively small Door would strain the maximum capacity of both the main and auxiliary generators as well as the entire back-up battery supply of the facility, and the battery supply was a healthy one, the largest of its kind in the world. But getting through was really the least of anyone’s worries. At the top of that list was; does Door actually work?
    At T-minus five minutes it was evident that something was happening. The soft crackle of static electricity and the sharp smell of ozone permeated the room, and a fuzzy distortion appeared in the direction where the Door was supposed to form. Matt ordered the ship closed and sealed, relatively confident. He figured that locked in the ship as they were, his crew probably had the best chance to survive the crossing. If the Door only partially worked and they ended up in deep space, at least they were in a ship, and not in a damn hummer. 
    By now all the vehicles were in line and running, holding just over nine hundred and fifty anxious human beings. The twin towing vehicles were the only thing between the alien ship and the Door, so as Matt took his place behind the main console he had an ideal view of the forward hangar. Captain Giles sat on his immediate right, with Lieutenant Wells and Lieutenant Turnbull sitting just behind them. The ship itself was powered down and waiting. Her engines would not be fired up until they reached the other side, and the success of the trip was confirmed.
    At T-minus four minutes an announcement blared over the loudspeakers that the Skawps had defeated the automated tunnel defenses. Matt glanced silently over at Murphy, each knowing that it would not matter what the Skawps did anymore, just so long as the Door functioned properly. And it better function on the very first try, because they were out of time.
    At T-minus three minutes the power generators for the Door were turned to full and the lights of the complex went