Chapter VII: Into The Wall

Maya opened her eyes and thrown out of balance. She felt the ground tremble, and pieces of concrete splashed above her. She took cover behind Puerta De Sta Lucia of the Walled City, Intramuros, behind the gate's foundation.

Maya checked the Alcubierre Metric Drive. It displayed the mission's specifications, including the timeline she jumped into.

Intramuros, Manila, Philippines

February 23, 1945

Target: Katana owned by Rear Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi, Imperial Japanese Navy

The deafening thuds of heavy artillery shook the 14-foot-thick wall of the Spanish-origin city. Maya felt she's inside a concrete box, simultaneously pounded in every corner. With every mortar hitting the wall, her mind becoming disoriented.

A beam of light hit Maya's peripheral view. She looked at how the light was coming and realized that the portal she went through was still opened. She ducked through and went near to check the portal.

In front of the portal, Maya saw a black figure coming out of it. Confused, she checked the drive's input and found her name there. She lowered her eyes after it and read another line of words.

Alcubierre Metric Drive

Input: Johnson, Maya – ID Number 14678

Input: Unknown

In horror, Maya realized that the drive detected another passenger about to respawn. As she lifted her eyes from the drive's screen, the figure of a man hit her. The force and weight of it made her gasp for breath, and both of them collapsed on the old concrete floor. She felt a heavy mass pressed above her, pinning her to the ground.

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Edward Lee nervously grabbed his chest. Did she see me? He asked himself. He hid behind the corner near the elevator. The lady in a halter dress went out of Room 609, minutes before she entered.

He waited for two minutes before peeking again. He felt relieved when he saw the lady left, but Edward spotted something on the floor. He squinted his eyes and saw it was a green rectangular shape.

When Edward felt he's alone on the sixth floor, he rushed into Room 609's front door. He was correct in what he thought it was, as he picked it from the floor. It was a hotel's card key – of the room in front of him. Whether the lady, who exited the room lately, purposely dropped it or not, Edward was thankful for it.

He knew the consequences he may face for forcing himself into a room – with a woman. But Edward's desperation to find an answer is more immense than jail. He quietly swiped the card, and the door clicked opened.

He turned the door handle and sighed. Slowly, he opened it and saw an eerie circle of light circling in front of the room's bed. Edward thought he was dreaming, but it was spoiled by cold sweat rolled on his back.

He entered the room and walked in front of the lights. He inspected it and saw different colors mixing towards the center.

What in the world is this?

Suddenly, Edward felt two hands flattened on his sweaty back. Before he turned his face, the hands pushed him into the growling lights. It sucked the professor's body, squeezing it, and disappeared. That was the last thing he remembered, and all went black.

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Sylvia giggled after she pushed the stranger into the portal. She picked a crumpled paper on the floor and sensed how lucky she was. It was the forged mission order she gave to Maya.

Everything is going the way I want them.

She grabbed her lighter and lit the paper. Seconds later, ashes scattered on the floor.

_______________________________________________________

With all the strength she has, Maya pushed the body from the top of her. It stumbled on her left side, face down. It was a man, dressed in kitchen clothes. Maya stood up, and grabbed him by the arm, and turned him upward.

Terrified, Maya recognized him. The man in the elevator! Maya gasp and felt weak. Her hands and knees trembled as the loud barrage of noise coming from the heavy artillery continuously pounding the wall on her right.

For few minutes, she thought of any possible explanation. But one thing for sure, she realized, it's a compromised mission with a stranger inside the timeline. She leaned on a boulder and touched her head in disbelief. She knew how severe the violation she committed.

Maya's demotivated. She looked at the drive and counted the remaining minutes left to complete the mission.

Twenty-one minutes.

I can still salvage the mission, Maya thought. Maybe the board will call it even and pardoned her, she contemplated.

Slowly, Edward got up on his feet. His head was still wobbling, and he felt a shooting pain from his right knee. Another mortar hit the tormented wall, and it made Edward knelt with his hand on the shaking ground.

At first, he thought it was an earthquake., But when he looked at his surroundings, he realized this was not Le Meridien anymore. On his right, he saw a massive concrete wall with holes on it. He wandered his eyes around and saw an old structure resembling an old guard post. He also saw horses left unattended, attached to their cart. Some of them were lying down on the ground, bloodied and lifeless. Rubble of concrete scattered on the uneven pavement, and smoke from pulverized concrete clouding the surroundings. There was a thick, chard smell of gunpowder in the air.

He tried to connect all the things he's seeing, but it's like an unsolvable puzzle. He turned his face to the left, and a familiar face was staring at him. It was Maya.

Upon seeing Edward up into his feet, Maya charged and grabbed him by his collar. Despite the height difference, she was able to pull Edward and glued him to the wall's column.

"Who the fuck are you?" Maya shouted, her face turned red, and her grip tightened on Edward's shirt.

Edward, with his mind still jumbled on what's happening, responded with a question. "Where are we?"

It made Maya even madder. "Who told you to jump in?" She persisted.

The professor saw how deep Maya's eyes are, like a tiger locked on a prey; in this case – on him. It seems to him that he was in a deep hallucination. "I don't know – I – don't –"

Puerta De Sta Lucia collapsed. The wall protecting it pulverized as large stones and bricks splattered in all directions. Edward and Maya were thrown five feet away from the gate's column. They hit the pavement for the second time. Dust covered the thick air as old flower clay pots fell from above an old house's terrace.

Edward sensed Maya was shaken as she lowly to get up. He jumped on her, covering her with his body. The destroyed rubble smashed into Edward's back.

He ached and groaned in pain, but the adrenaline kicked in. He clutched Maya with his broad shoulders and ran to the nearest house he spotted. He kicked the old brown Alhambra door, and it opened.

He sat Maya on the house's steps and shut the rustic door behind them. "Hey, are you alright?" Edward asked her, holding her by her shoulders.

Maya recollected and opened her eyes, seeing Edward's face near to her. She quickly pushed him, and Edward stumbled. "Get-off me!"

"Hey, I just saved you!" Edward protested as he stretched his back in pain.

"You saved me? Your presence here put me into a more dangerous situation!' Maya countered.

The ground shook further. American liberators were the only kilometer away from the fortress. "I don't know how I got here… what is this place?"

Maya didn't dare to answer. Instead, she crawled towards the door and opened it. As the dust settled, she saw the Allied forces' advancing tank, and their troops on foot started to infiltrate the pentagon-sized Intramuros.

She realized she needed to hurry, as another three minutes burnt into the time-lapse. But she has to deal with her uninvited companion. She took a deep sigh and tried to calm herself.

"Look, mister – "

"Edward - "

"Whatever the hell your name is, you just made yourself a walking target. The Allied forces are about to wipe this place up. Now, if you get killed here – you're not my responsibility. So be my guest!" Maya lectured Edward. She stood up and walked upstairs to find another way out.

Edward quickly followed her, as his mind concentrating on what Maya said.

Allied forces?

Both run upstairs, looking for exits to the backyard. Edward felt he was running in a history lesson. He clearly remembered Asian History – these were the antiques he's been teaching at MIT. The sofa set was made of wood, especially the Butaka – a rocking chair that was the lazy boy's counterpart during the Spanish time.

"Can you please answer me first?" Edward asked. He received no answer as Maya was stepping on the phase. They went to a big capiz window and unfastened it. They saw that this door leads to another side of the street inside Intramuros.

Maya calculated that they need to climb down the 10-foot-high two-story house. She looked over the living room and saw an abaca linen covering the sofa set's small center table. Maya grabbed it and tied it to the window's base. It did not reach the pavement below but enough to cut the dangerous height.

She climbed down expertly, holding the linen with hands and planting both her feet on the house's wall, which was a combination of wood and concrete. She alternately exchanged her grip and footing. At the end of the line, she let go and landed safely.

Edward was not a fan of height, but he has no choice. Like what she did, he grabbed the abaca and replicated Maya's form to climb down. His hands and feet trembled when he looked down. Reaching the end of the line, he let go and landed on his butt. It was painful, but he has no time for it as he saw Maya speeding away from him.

The professor tried to catch his breath. He wasn't sure when was the last time he sprinted that long. In broad daylight, with the pacific sun pinching through his chef's jacket, he sensed that his back was terribly burned.

He doesn't even know what they are running up to. In the first place, he doesn't even know why he was here; or what this place is either. All he knew was he needs to follow the woman in front of him – she has all the answers that only piling up.

They made sudden stops and hide, especially when they see people running. Edward noticed some Japanese soldiers running away from the walls. He observed that they were wearing an Imperial uniform called Shiki – Gun – I, with the standard khaki color.

Civilians also running back and forth, trying to avoid the Japanese and getting out of the wall. They managed to climb out through the rubble and made it to the open. Houses and buildings were on fire and add up to the heat of the sun.

"We stop right here," Maya said as she knelt and hide behind piles of the wooden palette. She looked down, between the steel railings of concrete steps leading down to an open quadrangular of The Dungeon, Intramuros' cells.

Edward looked over Maya's shoulder. He smelled her perfume and reminded him of Bulgarian rose in the morning. In the meantime, he forgot the dilemma he has.

But it was cut short when a Japanese soldier passed them. They held their breath and lean on the wall, as they are thinly covered by the palettes. They made themselves as small as possible to prevent being discovered. But the soldier didn't even blink and run down to the quadrangle.

"Americajin tachi ga kita zo!" The soldier shouted. The Americans are here!

He shouted once more, and his voice reverberated under the cells. Other Japanese soldiers with their rifles appeared on the quadrangle in pronto, looking anxious but still calm and ready to defend. Another emerged from the cell, and the soldiers paved the way for him.

Maya recognized the man and saw the katana hanging on his side. It was him, the target on this mission.

"Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi?" Edward exclaimed in disbelief. The man he discussed in history class is alive, only feet away from him.