“I am unfamiliar with the term.”
“What is he saying?” Hal asked.
“It’s a structure that goes over water.”
“There are remnants of ancient structures like that. None to my knowledge still exist in my time. Then again, the country is vast. Much land I haven’t seen.”
“”Bu it’s so close to here,” Frank said. “I mean, wouldn’t you know.”
“Hey!” Hal yelled. “Can you tell me what he is saying?”
“He said west is far enough from the settlement if they are still there and he doesn’t know about the bridge,” Frank said. “Also he thinks you suck.”
“Funny. Chaka would the LEP or your people cross that bridge?”
Chaka shook his head. “Until today, I was never submerged into water. We fear it. Unless to cleanse or drink. I would not see us crossing the water.”
“What did he say?” Hal asked.
Frank replied. “He said no and your hair makes you look like a girl.”
“Frank, grow up.” Hal snapped. “If they don’t cross the water, then they didn’t take Johnny and Fort. There’s no way.”
Henry spoke up. “We can’t be sure. Chaka is talking his time. Things could change.”
“From my calculations,” Frank said. “We aren’t far from Jordan and that’s where Chaka says the LEP camp is. Our best bet to look for Johnny is to go there. Chaka asked if it was possible that Fort had his own time device. Because of the way they disappeared.”
“Oh my God, that’s possible,” Hal replied. “How would we know?”
“We won’t,” Frank shrugged. “We have to assume they didn’t and look. Get close enough to the settlement, Chaka and me will get close. They can’t smell me. I’d send just Chaka but he’s kind of racist and says we all look alike to him. He wouldn’t know Johnny.”
“Until then?” Hal asked.
“We head toward that bridge. Make plans to cross it in the morning, after second sun up. Problem is, we have weapons, yes, but we don’t have what it takes to take on a fucking horseback riding army of demented LEPs who toss nets at humans. We don’t have the ammo, or rather the right ammo.”
Hal lifted his hand. “Nothing we can do about that.”
“That’s …” Frank held up a finger. ‘Not necessarily so. I have an idea. See, there is an ancient city. The ruins are sacred, but there are still structures. That city is Bowman. Parts of it still remain.”
“You’re kidding,” Hal said.
“Nope. We find out what remains, because Chaka has been there and …”
Hal finished his sentence. “We plant what we need.”
Frank snapped his finger. “Exactly.” He faced Chaka. “What buildings remain in the sacred city?”
“Only a few structures,” Chaka replied. “Most are not fully intact. Just shells. Only one still has some walls and has a lower level beneath the ground that still exists. We believe it was a place of worship.’
“The church, good.” Frank looked at Hal. “The church is partially intact and the basement is accessible. We put it in the basement.”
“Uh, Frank,’ Robbie said. “If we’re where I think we are, we have to pass Jordan, unless you want to take the long way around.”
“We’ll have to. Take the long way to Bowman, get the LEP ammo and Dean-Ami and then go to Jordan.”
“One more question,” Hal said. “How do we plant the ammo? Do we all go back?”
“No.” Frank shook his head. “We can’t take that chance. Obviously things get skewed when going a thousand years in the future. We send someone back.”
“Oh! Oh!” Henry raised his hand. “I’ll go. Send me.”
Dean laughed. ”Henry, you disappeared with Fort. You go back, they’re gonna think you were behind it all.”
“Not if we send someone back with him,” Frank said. “That way there are two going to plant the stuff we need. Figure out how to seal it and bury it.”
“Who goes?” Hal asked.
Frank looked at Dean.
<><><><>
Dean whined. “No, Frank, send Robbie or Hal. I want to do this.”
“I know you do,” Frank said. “But if I don’t send you back, my father will be pissed that we even took a chance with you. Because you know as well as I do, you are needed there. If something goes wrong, we don’t make it back, Beginnings will survive without me, Hal and Robbie, they won’t survive without you.”
“Uh, Frank?” Robbie said. “That’s not true, they have Roy now.”
“Okay yeah, you’re right. He still has to go back.”
“You’re an ass for doing this, Frank. You can send Henry back with a note. But fine. I’ll go. Just ...” he handed Frank the bag, “This is everything you need. Use the water pills. Wait …” he opened his back pack and pulled out Chaka’s satchel. “I’m taking this. If you guys are in his time, he can get more and …” he lowered his voice. “Try to get me more of that healing agent. Please.”
“You got it.”
“Also … all of you,” Dean said. “I know you Slagels think you’re invincible. Well, maybe Frank is, but you’re human. The air is different. Your lungs will take a while to adapt if they ever do. In the mean time you will get winded really fast and really bad. Don’t take risks.”
“Explain winded really fast,” Hal asked. “What constitutes really fast.”
“Probably half the time that you usually would get winded. All of you smoke like fiends so that doesn’t help. Okay. Send us back.”
“Do you know what to get?” Frank asked.
“Yes. And I know where to put it. The basement below the altar, against the wall. Get Danny to help us with an airtight box, dig a hole and change the stone color to mark it.”
“Henry? Do you know what I need?” Frank asked.
“You want me to wrap up a Gemma cake.”
Frank gave a thumbs up.
“What?” Hal asked. “You can’t expect the cake to last a thousand years.”
“Uh, Hal, it’s a time machine,” Frank said.
“Yeah, so. It’ll be fine”
Robbie laughed.
“No, Frank, it won’t be.”
“Yeah, Hal it will be.”
“Frank, it will be a thousand year old cake. Even if by some chance it survived, if Henry wraps it well, you won’t be able to eat it.”
“What if he wraps it really well?” Frank asked.
“Even then.”
“Really, really well?”
“Frank!” Hal snapped. “It will be a thousand years old!”
“No, Hal it won’t be! Henry is going back, it takes a few seconds, so you can’t count that. Even if he doesn’t bury it for a day. We took a time machine here, it’ll only be a few days old.”
“How do you figure?”
“How long have out bodies been gone?’
“A couple days.”
“There.” Frank held out his hand. “She just made them before we left.”
“Frank. The cake isn’t going through the time machine. Henry will wrap it and it will be buried for a thousand years before we uncover it. Even if it was only two days for us.”
Frank went silent.
“Make sense?”
“No.”
“Remember when they uncovered food from Pompeii, it was six hundred years old, they said it was preserved. But would you eat it?’
“It was preserved.”
“But it was hundreds of years old.”
“Hal, if it wasn’t good to eat, why would they say it was preserved. Huh?”
“You know what? You’re right. Eat the cake when we find it.”
“Thank you! Man, it’s tough to get through to you.” He handed the pendant to Dean. “It’s all set. I don’t know how long it will be since we left. Hopefully only a couple seconds.”
“I’ll wrap that cake tight for you,” Henry said.
Dean stared down to the pendant and took a breath. “Oh, wait, before I forget.”
He removed the translation piece from his ear and handed it to Frank. ‘There.’
“What!” Hal blasted aghast. “You hand an extra the whole time?”
“Yeah, I had three.”
“You’re an ass.” Hal reached over and snatched it from Frank’s hand.
“That’s really gross,” Henry said as Hal put it in his own ear. ‘Dean had that in his body. What if he has old man ear wax leakage?”
Hal curled his lip in disgust.
“Just sayin’.” Henry shrugged.
Dean held up the pendant. “Okay, I’m ready. I’ll see you soon, Frank. And please come back.” He lifted his arm and Henry held on to it. “See you on the other side.”
With a press of the button and a flash, Dean and Henry were gone.
FOURTEEN – BEGINNINGS
Joe slammed the door to the quantum lab when he entered, causing Jason to jump. “I didn’t expect to see you here,” Jason said. “Didn’t Danny find the future guy?”
“He did.”
“Why are you here?”
“I need to get some space. I’m pissed and ready to kill someone or at least kick his ass...”
“Who?”
“Dean.”
“Dean?”
‘Dean.”
A triple flash happened in the lab and with a rush of an electrical sound, Dean and Henry appeared.
“Well,” Jason said with an exhale and smile. “It’s like Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice. Shall I find you a weapon?”
Dean looked at Joe, who stood, hands in pockets staring at Dean intently. Confused, Dean asked. “What?”
“Before I kill you, where the hell are my sons?” Joe asked.
“They’re still there,” Dean said.
“What!” Joe blasted.
Henry held up his hand. “Joe, they sent us back. They needed us to come back.”
Jason stepped forward. “How long were you there?”
“Twenty-four hours,” Dean said. “That’s all. We were canvasing the area, that’s as much as we got done. And Jason, we weren’t in Kansas, we’re here or near here. Your trajectory was off.”
“Hard to be specific when dealing with that big of a time trip,” Jason said.
“I followed Fort,” Henry said. “Frank had me on him. It was Fort who was trying to kill Frank.”
“We know,” Joe said.
“And he kidnapped Johnny,” Henry added. “We were trying to track them.”
Dean continued. “But the trail stopped cold.”
“Because Fort had his own time device,” Jason said. “You had no trail to follow because they jumped time.”
“My grandson is back. He’s fine. Fort is in 1984. My son,” Joe said. “Robbie. Is he alright.”
Dean nodded. “He’s fine. Why?”
Jason replied. “Right after you left, he came back, and he was in bad shape. Looked like he had been through hell. Was tied up to pole, his arm torn apart, he was beaten.”
“Then it didn’t happen yet,” Dean said.
“Maybe we can stop it,” Henry added. “Warn them, then again, they will just return once they find out Johnny isn’t there.”
“No.” Dean shook his head. “Those three will stay and sight see, they want to see if they can find out how it went from a planet of humans to a planet of LEPS.”
“Wait.” Joe held up his hands. ‘We can’ send you back to warn them. We can’t take that chance.”
“You don’t need to,” Dean said. “That’s why we’re back. Apparently, Bowman is a sacred city in the future, well, the ruins are. The church is still standing. We’re supposed to find a way to bury the special LEP ammo and my Dean-Ami. When we do, we include a sealed air tight note, telling about Johnny and Robbie.”
“Bury ammo and a note?” Joe asked. “And leave them for a thousand years. Jason, will any of that be any good.”
“We would have to find a way to remove all air from the container and seal it good,” Jason replied. “Even then, it’s iffy. Worth a shot. Once we bury it, it could be a matter of hours and they’re back.”
Joe pointed at Henry. “I’m putting you on that.”
“Joe I already have ideas.”
“Good. And you…”He turned to Dean. “Elliott Ryder is awake, he is completely healed.”
“Healed completely?” Henry asked. “Wow, Dean that’s impressive.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Joe said. “Real impressive. But that is the least of my concern right now with the crazy ass shit you have done.” Joe lifted his phone and dialed. “Danny,” he spoke into the phone. “Where did you hide him? Thanks.” Joe hung up, put away the phone and walked to the door. “Let’s go, Dean. Jason you may want to see this.”
“Absolutely,” Jason said.
“Joe, where are we going?” Dean asked.
“You’ll find out.” Joe walked out the door.
Danny didn’t have time to hide him. Actually, he told 9-B to stay put while he went and got one of those jelly donuts. He even got one for 9-B. When Joe called, not long after he left, Danny just got back to Joe’s office.
So he went outside and waited.
He was surprised to see not only Joe and Jason in the jeep, but Henry and Dean as well.
“Dean.” Danny smiled. “You’re back. Please don’t tell me something happened to Frank, Robbie and Hal.”
“No. They’re fine. We’re back to bury something for them. And you’re going to help.”
“Cool.” Danny said.
“Why are we here, Joe?” Dean asked.
“Is he still in there?” Joe questioned Danny.
“Yep, just had a jelly donut. Loved it.”
“Who?” Dean asked.
“He goes by the name 9-B something, something. He came from the future wearing a ninja mask.” Joe reached for the office door and opened it. “Know anything about this?”
Dean stepped inside. He paused when Danny snorted a laugh.
“Sorry.” Danny held up his hand.
9-B stood up.
“Oh, shit.” Henry exclaimed.
“Fuck,” Dean blurted out in a whisper.
“Fuck is probably the right word,” Danny said.
“You’re absolutely right,” Joe said. “But something tells me that none of this surprises you, does it Dean?”
Dean half shrugged, tilted his head and gave a guilty look.
“Well, well, well,” Jason cleared his throat. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say he looks like a younger, thinner, pre apocalypse …”
Sounding disgruntled, Joe finished Jason’s sentence. “Frank.”
FIFTEEN – BEGINNINGS
His voice was deep, like Frank’s, perhaps not as raspy. His was fit and was tall, but looked leaner than Frank. Who was the man that appeared in Beginnings in a ninja mask? Joe had enough time to absorb his appearance and his curiosity took over. He wished Jason would have stayed around to be part of the madness but he wanted to be in the lab in case anyone returned.
Joe needed to find out more about the man. Obviously, he was one of the cloned embryos, Dean swore he destroyed.
“That’s it, Joe, I swear,” Dean said. “Frank asked me not to destroy it.”
“Fort came from a future where they had to manufacture children. Roy came from that future. This man came from that same future. So, given Danny …” Joe lifted his eyes to Danny. “Knew the embryo location, I think it’s safe to say, Danny had something to do with this.”
“Not fair, Joe,” Danny said. ”We don’t know that. We only know I was responsible for Roy. I wouldn’t even think to clone Frank. Until … you know now.”
Joe grumbled. “Danny, do you realize you get credit for inventing everything in the future, when in fact, you get the ideas from future stuff that ends up here.”
“Yeah, pretty cool, huh.”
“No!” Joe yelled. “This ….” He pointed to the clone. “Isn’t cool.”
9-B, paused eating his donut and looked up to Joe. “I’m not
cool?”
“What?” Joe asked confused. Not ready for that response.
“I thought I was cool. That makes me sad. I was told I was cool.”
“By who?” Joe asked.
“Our Benevolent One. He gave us life, he speaks to us daily through the wonders of projection. He tells us every day we are the cool ones.”
“Uh huh,” Joe nodded. “And is that the term he uses, ‘you are cool’?”
He nodded. “Every day. It gives us a boost of feel good to start our day. Though there are times we do nothing but get physically in shape. Which I don’t mind. I like training. I like the training films. Especially the one with the moving drawings. It shows team work, honor. Several times we watch the live people version.” He sat up. “Some say I even look like the main hero...”
“Yeah, well …” Joe reached in his desk and pulled out a picture. “I say you look like him.” He handed him a picture of Frank.
9-B gasped. “Oh he is a handsome man.”
Danny snickered.
“Danny,” Joe warned.
“Sorry, Joe.”
“Anyhow, 9-B …”
“9-B-754,” he corrected. “My friend 7-D, is the only one who goes by the short name. 7-D, he laughs when he says it. I don’t get it.”
“Seven D,” Joe stated. “Like 1970.”
“Oh, no, Nineteen is 19-W.” He shook his head.
Again, Danny laughed.
“Danny.”
“Well,” Dean said. “Seems like some things are genetic after all,”
“Dean,” Joe warned.
Henry lifted his hand. “Can I suggest we just give him a name to make it easier than calling him 9-B-754?”
“Yes,” Joe said “Will that work for you 9-B-754?’
“I get to pick a name? A new name? Like the Benevolent One has his own name?”
“Yes.” Joe nodded.
“Anything?”
“Anything.”
“Great, I know the name.” He sat up straight. “I want to be Steve.”
“Steve it is.”
“Steve Rogers.”
Joe stared. “Steve Rogers, like Captain America Steve Rogers.”
“Yes.” He smiled, then the smile dropped. ”Wait. Too soon?”
Escape the Planet of the LEPS: Beginnings Series Book 28 Page 5