“Feel it, Carter. It’s real and soft just like yours,” I said, “Would you still date a girl who has machine guns hidden inside her futuristic arms?”
He squeezed the flesh of my forearm, then surprised me as he took my hand in his and looked over at me.
“Would I ever?” he laughed, “You like huntin’? You and I could go deer huntin’!”
Darren cleared his throat, returning my attention back toward the man holding a packet of bills. He leafed through the thick packet, perhaps to reassure himself that the money was real throughout the bundle.
“I take it that you’ll need positions within the company so as not to attract any undesired attention while I go about fixing the books and then allotting funds toward certain areas of fleet construction,” Darren said.
“Yes, most likely. And I’d appreciate it if all facial recognition cameras were shut down in the parking lot and in the building as well.” I said.
“And if I screw things up?” he asked.
“All of mankind is exterminated in four hundred years. Anyone left on Earth at that time dies. It’s up to you to make sure that there are very few if any people on this planet at that time. If you screw up… if you take this money and run, I will most certainly kill you. I’ll kill you before you reach the front door. I came here to save the planet and I’m offering you a second chance. You can change from being a felon to being a world-rescuing superhero who will probably live on in the history books of Zeta2 Cancri. It’s your name they’d remember, not the names of those who held the gun to your head to make you change your ways,” I said.
He stared down at the giant stack of cash for a moment, then set down the packet of money he’d been holding. He looked at the three of us standing on the opposite side of the desk, then he breathed out a long sigh and nodded.
“I’m willing to believe your story and I’m willing to take this second chance. If you’re willing, I’d like some ideas on how I repair the records without alerting anyone in the process. Then I think I know how to invest the rest in order to get these ships built,” he said.
“Good, let’s do it!” Nautica said.
Epilogue
Carter returned to the farm while Nautica and I stayed on at Intergalactic to assist as Presidential Aides. On the weekends, I’d make the three hour trip back to that Pennsylvania farm to spend time with Carter and his grandpa. We even managed to go out on a few dates during that first month. Before long, Carter was making the trips to Washington DC to spend time with me since I’d been working long hours at the office.
Darren Gates concealed all evidence of his shady past and became the hero he always had the capability to be. In slightly less than a year, the USS Mercy was launched with a complement of three hundred and twelve people aboard. They set off toward Zeta2 Cancri while we sent along all our hopes and prayers.
The USS Mercy returned six months later with plenty of video and photographic evidence that the planet was very real, it was beautiful, and it could most certainly sustain human life. By then, the USS Gates was preparing for its first launch. Nautica, Carter, and I were going to be leaving the Earth on that ship. His grandfather chose to stay behind and keep the farm running. His grandfather had said that it was the highlight of his life to get to see his grandson get married. It was the highlight of my life to be the one to marry him shortly before the launch.
In the end, the police never came for me and Nautica. Perhaps they’d given up on us, but I didn’t believe that for a moment. You see, according to Nautica’s Mapper, we’d made some significant changes to the Timeline River Delta. We’d completely altered the history of humankind. Because of that, perhaps Three didn’t even exist anymore. And even if he did, he probably didn’t operate in the time-traveling capacity we’d known him to.
The way I saw it, Three knew that we were going to alter his life, so when he came back and visited the farm, he went all out. He brought enough cash to make our visit with Intergalactic peaceful and then he probably did something underhanded in the law-enforcement world. What did he do? I really didn’t know, but there’s absolutely no way that the police would have just given up on finding me and Nautica. Heck, I’d killed dozens of officers that day in full view of the others. I’d shot down a chopper, killing at least two with that blast. I’ve got my theories about what he might have done to keep the police off our tail and they will forever be just those – theories.
So, shortly after the return of the USS Mercy, I’d said goodbye to Darren Gates, and then I left Earth forever with my husband. Nautica, Carter, and I would never see the Earth again and this was perfectly fine. It was a world that would never even realize that it was saved by two suicidal women from the twenty-first century. You’re welcome.
THE END
Author’s Note
What I’m about to share is probably the most private thing I’ve ever shared, be it in person or in writing. But I feel it’s important especially to this particular story. First, let me explain one of the greatest triggers of mine that causes me to begin writing a story. When my heart is broken over the meaningless death of someone, even someone I never met, I often want to rescue them. Believe me, I know this is going to sound a little silly, but I’ve done this in many of the books I’ve written and some you may have read. For example, to name just a couple:
After reading the life story of Louise Brooks, a silent film actress from the 1920’s, I was absolutely heartbroken by this odd and self-destructive woman. I literally wanted to go back in time and save her from the abusers as well as from herself. One thing led to another, and suddenly I had a whole novel in my head which ultimately became “Saving Brooksie”. This isn’t a story about rescuing Louise Brooks, but through my writing, I essentially brought life and love to a doppelganger of her.
After seeing a real photo online of a woman from the 1940’s that leapt to her death from the Empire State Building, I sought out more details about this beautiful woman. If you Google “Beautiful Suicide” you can see the same photo. It’s not gory – merely heartbreaking. Again, I needed to go back and rescue this young lady from herself. I ultimately did so, even using her real name, in the Mystic Saga. She never falls from the Empire State Building and this satisfies my broken heart.
When Dolores O’Riordan from the Cranberries died in January of 2018, it destroyed me. Mainly because several of her songs were from important parts of my life. Also, she was my same age and I never knew this. In an effort to resurrect her, I started writing Ptolemy’s Child, modeling Sky after some older images of Dolores. I then even called the advanced Cryogenic Chambers ‘DOLORES’ as though the letters stood for something. In reality, it simply stood for “I don’t want Dolores O’Riordan to be dead”. It helped me to deal with her death and my broken heart is better now thanks to a very loving and gentle character named Sky.
Now we come to this book and this is where it gets personal. I will ask for your forgiveness now and also ask that you don’t think less of me. This book came from a need to rescue me, Scott McElhaney. Throughout this year, I found myself driving across that Rte 8 bridge each morning as I headed to work. And each and every time, that light blue railing mocked me and taunted me because that waist-high railing separated me from my ‘rescue’. You see, I live with significant chronic pain in my neck and my shoulder. I’ve had surgery to fix this, but it accomplished nothing. My doctor has since taken me off any narcotics, so I literally have no hope in the medical world when it comes to this ongoing throbbing pain.
And yes, I’m a Christian man as well as a Sunday School teacher for little kids. I’m also a loving husband and father, which is why I’m still here today, alive and well. I pray about the pain and plead for healing, but so far nothing has changed. And through it all, the blue railing serves as a reminder of what I have to deal with every morning. I have to spend my time on that bridge thinking about the many blessings in my life while that bridge (and essentially Satan) taunts me and mocks me.
Some might
say that I should get treated for depression, but serotonin levels have nothing to do with it. It’s the ongoing throbbing pain and I’ve most certainly tried to get it fixed even by having two vertebrae fused that apparently didn’t even need fused. So when it’s all said and done, I needed to rescue this broken man who really breaks my heart each and every day. That’s where this story came from – an attempt to rescue me.
Now please understand that I’m not suicidal, hence why I am still here today. I want to go to my kid’s graduations and I want to go to their weddings. I never want to hurt them, so I’m going to continue to reject the tauntings of the light blue railing on the Rte 8 bridge. I’m a strong man, but I do still need to be rescued.
If you want to help me, please pray for me. Pray that the bridge (Satan) stops taunting me each day on my way to work. Also, please pray that I get complete healing and pain relief. Also, as usual, if you liked this book, please post a review on Amazon or Goodreads. It helps greatly for those who might not trust an unknown author.
Also, if you are having suicidal thoughts and think you may be in need of assistance or encouragement, please talk to someone about it because this is seriously a horrible epidemic right now. It’s not something to be embarrassed about because depression is common and it’s a real medical problem that is often caused by your body not producing sufficient amounts of serotonin. There are medications that regulate this and I speak from past experience when I say that you can literally ‘wake up’ from this dark cloudy existence once the medication jump starts your body to produce what it needs. If you have no one you really want to talk to or no one you trust to help, please call the suicide prevention hotline at 1-800-273-8255. There’s always someone who cares and who wants to talk.
Thanks for listening to me and thank you so much for allowing me to entertain you with yet another twisted tale of space and time travel.
Blessings,
Scott McElhaney
Sept 2018
Check out these other affordable books available
for your Kindle by Scott McElhaney:
The Ani Maxima Files
Final Season
Selenocentric
Indentured (Mystic 1)
Legacy (Mystic 2)
Violation (Mystic 3)
Judgment (Mystic 4)
Convergence (Mystic 5)
The Mystic Saga Omnibus (all 5 books)
Dominion
Vestige
Erinyes
Ghosts of Ophidian
Alastair (Ghosts of Ophidian)
Daylight in Blossom
Beyond the Event Horizon
Mommy’s Choice
Elusive December
One Crazy Summer
Talking to the Moon
Saving Brooksie
The Wisconsin Samurai
Maelstrom Page 10