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"Because shit is happening, that's on a need to know basis and you, sure as shit, ain't on the list of those who need to know."
"I'm the Infirmary! I have to be able to communicate with my patients!"
"I can pass a message on if it's urgent. Is it urgent?"
"Well, I do need to speak with Technician Thomas about a test result, so yes, in a way it is urgent, but I don't suppose you'll let him contact me, will you? So, just forget it. I'll see him at dinner in the mess hall."
"That wasn't so hard, was it, Infirmary?" The call cut out without the unknown antagonist signing off.
Jones turned to look at me. "I'm afraid we might be in some trouble, sir."
"What gave it away, Jones?" I asked, scratching at my scar.
I realised, then, that I couldn't hear the celebrations anymore. The mess hall was quiet. The scent of food being prepared had cut off. No clapping or laughing or cheering or singing. An unnatural silence had engulfed the building and everyone in it.
"I think I'd better go see what Anderson's up to now," I announced.
"Will they let you near Mimi?"
I didn't think they would. But Mimi had found a way to get in to see me when I was under house arrest, so I was pretty damn sure I'd find a way to get in to see her, too. I only prayed she wasn't severely injured. Jones would have treated her in the Orion, thank God, but what the hell had Anderson done once the medic had been thrown out?
It was a worry that ate at my soul, at my heart. I wanted desperately to get to Mimi, but Anderson was locking down RATS and there had to be a reason why. A reason, that I was pretty sure, had nothing to do with the death of Sergei Ivanov or Time's reaction to it.
Of course, I didn't know for sure if it was Sergei's death that had caused Time to initiate a TCE. But what else could it have been?
I pushed off from my lean against the cabinets and headed toward the door.
Before I made it, though, the doors pushed open before me, and Rafe Hoffman rushed in, looking over his shoulder as if he was worried he was being followed.
I didn't much care for the pale look on his face.
"Rafe?" I said, drawing his attention to me. "What is it? What's happened?" How did he escape Anderson's rampage through the Academy?
"I've stashed Orion 0 where he can't find it," Rafe said quickly. "Jack, it's bad. Really bad."
"Out with it, then," I demanded when he paused briefly to catch his breath. And not for dramatic purposes, I was sure; Rafe was as serious as I had ever seen him and it scared me.
He huffed out a breath of air and said, "He sent Mouse back to her time period, Jack. He got Harding and Pratt to do it in Orion 2b."
There was so much to say about that that I couldn't even speak.
"Orion 2b was damaged," Jones said softly.
"Yeah, but Orion 6b is overdue on return and Anderson was not gonna wait around for anything."
Nothing they said reached me. Mimi had been sent back. Back to her own time. Back to a place where she had nobody.
Mimi, the woman I loved with every fibre of my being, who stole into my dreams every night without pause, was gone. And she needed me, now more than ever.
