Free Stolen Dreams by Marilyn Campbell

disembarked,
but Shara had not yet appeared. Suddenly that problem became critical
when he
caught sight of four black-uniformed men striding toward the gangway.
He didn't need any special talents to know they were coming for Shara
and the tempometer.
     
     

Chapter Four
Inside
one of the emptied cargo
holds, Shara considered making the time-hop from within the ship rather
than risk running into Gabriel. The problem with that was that she was
at least twenty kilometers from where she wanted to arrive—near the
administrative buildings in First Province—and she had no idea if any
transportation would have been available from this point back then.
Besides that, she'd always had a slight difficulty with her sense of
direction.
     
When she guessed that sufficient time had passed
for
Gabriel to have left the ship in search of her, she headed toward the
deboarding area. Her dismay was obvious as she saw the one she wished
to avoid striding toward her, pulling his floating satchel behind him.
     
"It's
nice to see you, too," Gabriel said sarcastically. "But, believe me, I
am the least of your problems." He grasped her by the elbow and pushed
her back the way she had come. When she balked, he told her, "There's a
security team right behind me. Guess who they're looking for?"
     
"Drek!
I'm going to have to hop from here, then."
     
"You mean we're
going to have to hop from here," he corrected her. "But only if you
make it fast." He glanced behind him, then gave her another nudge
forward.
     
Shara quickly led him down two passageways and back
to the hold.
     
"Is this where you were hiding for the last
hour?" he asked as she secured the door.
     
Ignoring
him, she pulled the tempometer belt out of her bag and snapped it
around her waist. She had already preset the program so that all she
had to do was implement it. From Lantana's notes, she understood that
anything she was holding would time-hop with her, so she tightly
clutched her bag in her left hand and worked the tempometer with her
right.
     
Gabriel watched her finger trace the beveled edge of
one of
the large crystals on her belt. He was about to question why she was
wasting time when the front of the glowing stone flopped open and he
realized he was looking at the tempometer. As Shara took a step away
from him, he instinctively pulled her into his arms and grasped the
handle of his satchel.
     
A firm knock against the sleeper door
alerted
Shara that the security team had probably found her. She couldn't send
them a suggestion and concentrate on escape at the same time. She had
no choice but to time-hop immediately and take the professor with her.
     
"Let's
go!" Gabriel ordered.
     
Shara moved the tiny switch beneath her
finger from left to right three times, then held her breath.
     
The
knocking increased to pounding as someone called out, "Security! Open
the door!"
     
Panic
gripped Shara as seconds passed and nothing happened. Suddenly she felt
as though they'd been hit by a wall of energy that hurled them across
the room. But they were no longer in the room. In fact, they didn't
seem to be anywhere at all.
     
She
clung to Gabriel as they and their baggage seemed suspended in a black
void. As abruptly as they had arrived there, they were slammed by
another force that sent them spinning through a tunnel of illuminated,
swirling colors. A deafening, high-pitched squeal sent needles of pain
into her mind as they tumbled over and over within the eerie
kaleidoscope.
     
Just when Shara was certain they were either
going to
die or be driven insane from the noise, their bodies slowed to a gentle
float and the squeal quieted to the tinkling of wind chimes. She
remembered how that sound had accompanied Lantana's appearance and
hoped it meant they were coming to the end of the time-hop. A moment
later, she felt solid ground beneath her boots.
     
A blast of
frigid
wind greeted them. Wherever . . . or whenever they were, it was ice
cold, and there was no sign of inhabitance.