A Mutiny in Time (Infinity Ring #1)

“Yeah, good one,” Sera added.

Dak smiled as if he’d meant for his comeback to be lame. “All right, tough guy, show us how manly you are and pull that thing free.”

Riq tugged and tugged, but the board didn’t move any more than it had for the others. Dak almost felt elated, until he realized this was their only chance of escaping certain death.

He sighed. “We’ll just have to keep working at it. Take turns so our fingers don’t fall off.”

“Looks like we have all day,” Sera said.

Riq kept yanking on the stupid board.



Three hours later, the piece of wood had come loose another inch. It had started to make an ugly screeching sound with every pull, and Dak’s head was aching from the noise. They shifted turns about every ten minutes, but it was starting to seem hopeless.

At one point while Dak was working on it he heard the sound of someone coming down the ladder and he had to jump away from the wall in a hurry. It was Eyeball, carrying a loaf of bread and a small pail of water. Two guards were with him, looking utterly bored out of their minds.

“Here you go, you louses,” Eyeball said. “I was tempted to let you starve until we threw you overboard, but me softer side shone through. I’m a beacon of light, I know.”

One of the guards keyed open the lock and pulled the chains loose. Eyeball stepped forward and threw the bread inside — Riq caught it. Then the man set the small bucket of water on the floor.

Dak tensed, seriously considering hurling himself at Eyeball. But the armed guards made him think twice.

“Eat,” the man said. “Nothin’ more tasty in this world than bread and water. Don’t you fret now — we’ll be enjoyin’ a nice rabbit stew in the captain’s hall.” He smiled and winked his one eye. “Lock ’em in.”

The guard repositioned the chains around the bars, pulled the links tight, then locked them in place. The three men disappeared up the ladder.

Dak was the first to the water, dying of thirst. He picked up the pail with both hands and drank steadily for ten seconds.

“Hey, save some for us!” Sera yelled. “And what about germs?”

Dak smacked his lips and let out a satisfied sigh, then handed the water to her. “Serious? Germs?”

“I was just kidding.” She took her own long gulp.

“That was the most glorious thing I’ve ever tasted,” Dak said.

Riq divvied out the bread and they wolfed that down, too. And then it was back to work on the stubborn board.



By the time evening came — which they could only guess at because they were far from any sign of the sky outside — they’d given up. Dak sat against the opposite wall and stared at the board that would bend but not break. He didn’t speak, and neither did anyone else. The depressed mood was almost like a living thing — a monstrous, invisible creature that shared their cell, sucking the life out of them.

They’d have to rely on Ricardo now. Dak and the others could use the Infinity Ring to escape to another time and place, hoping that their warnings would be enough to spark a mutiny against the mutiny. Riq had figured out where they needed to go next. Sera had programmed the Ring for a quick exit. But Dak hated that idea, hated it. He didn’t even want to know where they were going next. They’d come here to do a job — trusted by the Hystorians — and if they failed . . .

“What if we go back to before we boarded the ship? Could we stop our past selves from getting on board?” He asked it without any enthusiasm.

“It’s way too dangerous,” Sera replied. “Interact with our past selves? Have two Infinity Rings coexist in the same place? Time and reality are too fragile. It’s probably why the Breaks have done what they’ve done in the first place.”

“Well, thanks for the encouragement,” Dak muttered.

“Uh, it’s not my fault how the fabric of reality works.” Sera shrugged her shoulders.

They lapsed into a lonely silence.



At some point, Dak fell asleep. He didn’t know how much time had passed when he was awakened by the sound of chains. Groggy, he rubbed his eyes and saw that Eyeball was standing there. The man had already opened the lock and was working to remove the chains from the prison door.

Dak jumped to his feet, suddenly more awake than he’d ever been. This was it — they’d come for them. He turned to Sera, who was pressed against the far wall, eyes wide open.

“Hey,” he said, “get the Ring out. We need to . . .” But then he stopped. Eyeball was alone. And there were three of them. They could take this guy easily.

But Eyeball’s next words put a stop to Dak’s scheming. “Need to travel back to the future, eh? Or maybe farther into the past?” He finally got the chains loose and opened up the door, its hinges creaking. “Poppycock. You didn’t think Gloria would let you on this blasted chunk of wood without making sure you had a friend aboard, did you? Come on, now — it’s time to save this ship.”