“The security-monitoring camera and computer systems have a backup, but the backup system had been compromised too. We knew from the beginning it was an inside job since it took someone with detailed knowledge of our security systems to change the passwords that allowed us to get into the various computers, and see the security footage. It took our computer guys most of the day and into the night to break the codes, but by the time they had figured them out we had gotten the fingerprint information back from the FBI. The prints were a perfect match for Forrest and Olive Marie.
“Once we were able to gain access, the backup camera system plainly shows Forrest resetting the launch commands on the master control panel, and we also saw both of them entering Pegasus. Forrest set the launch time for ten minutes from the time he pressed the ‘LAUNCH’ button – ten minutes later your time-machine vanished, along with Forrest and Olive Marie.”
Topping off his cup Captain Scarburg walked across the room and sat down. His face was expressionless. Sitting there the Captain stared off into space as if no one were in the room with him, Mike asked, “Captain! Captain, are you all right?”
Taking a sip from his cup, he turned his attention to Mike as if he had not heard Mike’s comment, “Okay, now the big question. Did you determine the destination and period of time they where trying to achieve?”
“Captain, I have not changed any settings on Pegasus since you returned, and the recording computers indicate Forrest only changed the setting for the departure date. He changed it to yesterday’s date December 6, 2012. Forrest and Olive Marie were going back to Texas. If all went well they should have arrived on the same day and in the same place as you did previously. That would be 12:30 p.m., Wednesday, November 20, 1963 in your cow pasture near Celina, Texas.
“Yeah, you’re right. The time and the place had been erroneously changed on the onboard computers. Shouldn’t your master control computer have the arrival date as Friday, November 22, 1963?”
“There was one abnormality to your flight I discovered we didn’t know existed until now. The man I talked to... Clem something or other...”
“Yes, Clem Ruby.”
“Right, Clem Ruby, he reset Pegasus’s computer, but he could change the onboard computer only. The master computer here at SCAR picked up on the change and reprogrammed itself. In doing so the master computer changed another extremely critical date - it changed the Parallel Universe. You left in one Parallel Universe and returned in another. They left in the current Universe, but they are going to arrive in a totally different Parallel Universe. The master computer indicates they are going to another Parallel Universe, one yet to be identified.
“You mean they will not arrive in the same Parallel Universe I was in? What are you saying Mike, speak to me so I can understand! How could this happen?”
“Captain, we never anticipated someone would be able to change the onboard computer to a different time and date as originally set on the master computer. The circuitry on the master just duplicated Pegasus’s computer when it began its return flight, and changed its internal program accordingly.” For some reason, unless we specifically program in the specific Parallel Universe we want to travel to, the master computer will assign the next available Universe in its program.”
“I think I am beginning to understand - tell me if I am wrong - Forrest and Olive Marie changed the departure date to yesterday Thursday, December 6, 2012 at 4:35 a.m. They were destined to Celina, Texas and should arrive on Wednesday, November 20, 1963 but in a different Parallel Universe. Pegasus will leave Texas on Saturday, November 23, 1963 at 12:30. How am I doing?”
“Good, but not so good Captain. You have it right until the coming back part. The master computer has them locked into a return exactly twenty-four hours after their arrival. That would be 12:30 on Thursday, November 21, 1963! They do not have until Saturday the 23rd!”
“Wait a minute Mike. Are you telling me...? What exactly are you telling me?
“Captain, I believe Forrest arrived on Wednesday the 20th, and will assume he and Olive Marie will have until Saturday the 23rd to get back inside Pegasus and return to the 2012. I’m afraid if they wait until Saturday they are going to be two days late. Pegasus IS going to leave on Thursday the 21st!”
“Okay Mike, now I’m really getting worried. Tell me exactly when we should expect Pegasus to reappear in the lab.”
“I have already given this some thought Captain. If they left here at 4:35 a.m. yesterday morning, regardless of the 12:30 arrival time in Texas, Pegasus will disappear at 4:35 a.m., our time today and return to our lab.
From Forrest and Olive’s prospective Pegasus will disappear Thursday at 12:30, their time.”
“So, Mike your saying we have to sweat it out until 4:35 tomorrow morning?”
“I’m afraid not Captain. I have been trying to call them using the Tachyon communication system, but a couple of things had to have happened for it to work. To begin, Forrest or Olive Marie must have had their Smartphones with them, and they must have the phones turned on. For the Smartphones to work, even if they are turned on, they will still have to have to be within five miles of Pegasus. I tried every hour on the hour since yesterday morning, without success.”
“What are you saying Mike?”
“Captain you have six minutes until Pegasus should return and I emphasis ‘should’ because we are never sure it WILL return, but if it’s coming back it should reappear downstairs in our lab with Forrest and Olive Marie inside in a few minutes.”
The time was 4:29 a.m., Friday, December 7, 2012.
Chapter Forty-One
THE CLINT MURDOCK ESTATE
Forrest had estimated that they would arrive at the Clint Murdock estate sometime around the middle of the afternoon. Now it was beginning to look more like a late afternoon rendezvous. The treacherous journey from Celina to Dallas, which on a warm, clear, summer day would have taken, at most, an hour, had now consumed most of the day. Today was anything but warm or clear and certainly was not summer. They had slipped, spun and trudged down the snowy road in the midst of a brutal Texas blizzard.
They were slowly coming to the outskirts of Dallas. “Sis we must be getting close. I will keep a sharp eye peeled for the Addison Airport cutoff.” No sooner had the words left Forrest’s mouth he saw the large green “ADDISON AIRPORT - NEXT RIGHT” sign. “Slow down Sis the Cedar Springs Road should be up here on your left.”
“Forrest, if I drive any slower we will stop!”
“There it is Sis, there on your left, just past the closed Texaco service station. Hey, look at the sign – gas 26.9 cents per gallon. I guess this is what they mean by the ‘good ole days’”
“Yeah, I see it Forrest,” she said turning onto the Cedar Springs Road. “What now?”
“Just a piece down this road should be Wood Valley. It will be on your left. Follow it and you will make one right turn onto Ash Hill Lane. The address, 45 Ash Hill shouldn’t be very far after the turn.”
It was ten minutes past five p.m. when they pulled across the street from the Murdock estate’s driveway and parked. The snow had gradually tapered off the farther south they drove from Celina. Here in Dallas a few flurries were still occurring, but the ground was only covered in two or three inches of snow. Most of the snowfall had taken place north of the city. The worst part of the blizzard with its deep snow and driven wind had been between the northern suburbs of Dallas to deep into the central part of the state of Oklahoma.
“Forrest, I’m worried!”
“Now Sis, just play your part - no one will be the wiser.”
“No, I’m not talking about that – we arrived in Texas yesterday, Wednesday at 12:30. Unless the instructions had been changed Pegasus should return home today, Thursday at 12:30, right? That was nearly five hours ago.” Without waiting for Forrest to answer, “What if Pegasus left without us? How are we going to get home Forrest? This is what I am worried about.”
“Nah, don’t worry, when Grandpa came her
e his instruments were set to allow him to leave on Saturday the 23rd. I’m fairly sure they were not changed. Pegasus will be right there waiting on us ‘til Saturday. Come on Sis, we have a mission to complete, everything will be fine.”
Little did Forrest realize, Olive Marie was right - they had a lot to worry about!
The time was 5:15 p.m., Thursday, November 21, 1963, a little over four and one-half hours after Pegasus had returned home - empty!!
Chapter Forty-Two
PEGASUS RETURNS HOME
Grandpa and Mike Watkins hurried into the outer reception area. Looking left toward Krista’s office he motioned with his hand, and shouted, “Come on Krissy, Forrest and Olive Marie are coming back! Come on, shake-a-leg we only have a few more minutes.
Running as fast as possible in her high heel shoes Krista caught up with Captain Scarburg and Mike at the elevator door. “Gracious Captain! What is going on? What do you mean, ‘Forrest and Olive Marie are coming back’? Where have they been?”
“Krissy, Mike said he knew who took Pegasus.”
“Who Captain? Who would be crazy enough to do such a thing?”
“Forrest and Olive Marie! They took it!”
“NO! Your wrong Captain, not my Forrest and Olive Marie!”
“I’m afraid so Krissy. We don’t know why they took Pegasus, but Mike has calculated, from the instruments in the laboratory the time machine should be returning within the next couple of minutes. We are on our way to the lab to wait Pegasus’s arrival, come join us. We are hopeful Forrest and Olive Marie will be inside.”
Entering the elevator she asked, “Captain? I don’t understand, why would the two of them take Pegasus? And where were they going?”
“We don’t know all the answers Krista, but we believe they were destined for Texas in the year 1963. Maybe in a minute or so things will become clearer.”
The elevator dropped swiftly from the fifth floor, the door dinged announcing their arrival at the laboratory in the basement. As the door opened the three bolted across the hall, past the security guard just in time to hear the sound of rustling wind and see the static electric charges jumping through the air. The faint whiff of ozone could also be detected. The miniature tornado like effect was beginning to appear in the center of the room. A swirling fog like haze was becoming prominent. Gradually the outline of the gleaming, silver craft began to appear. At this stage of re-entry, the whole machine was transparent. Within seconds, the transparency began to solidify, and the shiny, lustrous object settled down within the confines of the launch facility. The loud hissing noise almost overshadowed the faint tranquil bagpipes heard playing in the background. The escaping air indicating the hatch was opening, caused everyone to scamper to the hatch to await the exit of those supposedly inside the craft. The service platform was rolled up beside the hatch, and Captain Scarburg ran up the steps like a mad man.
Gaining the last step, he bent over and pushed his head inside the craft. The group standing around Pegasus was holding its collective breath – anxious with anticipation. Finally, Captain Scarburg withdrew his head, turned and exclaimed, “No!!”
It was an exercise in futility, no one was inside – Pegasus was empty!
The Captain slowly stole one last glance into the machine then turned, and somberly walked down the steps with head bowed. Reaching the floor his expressionless face suddenly brightened as he turned to the assembled group. “Mike, Spook, Tinker, Sam Lin, Si Lei and Krista all of you to the conference room, now! Mr. Rousseau, prepare Pegasus for another flight, same departure time, leave the arrival time the same also. Let Pegasus settle down in the same cow pasture. Walking toward the exit to the elevator he spoke to Krista, “Call Dr. LJ and Rocky, I need them too.”
EVERYONE TO THE CONFERENCE ROOM
Once in the conference room everyone was buzzing as each took a seat. The last to arrive was Captain Scarburg with a thick manila folder. Walking to the podium, “Folks, I know we have just been disappointed since Forrest and Olive Marie did not return, but I have a glimmer of hope.” Knowing Krista was sick with worry he believed this would lift her spirits.
“If you all will remember back to our previous meeting when I assigned duties and responsibilities for our return to Dallas to dig into the John Kennedy assassination. I asked Spook, Tinker, Forrest, Olive Marie and you, Krista to stay behind and mind the store while we were gone. I had previously asked Sam Lin and Si Lei to go back to Bangkok, and investigate Ryan Rousseau and they successfully completed their task.
“Spook and Tinker have already provided some basic information on the Mafia’s connection with the assassination. That’s good guys keep working on that angle. Krista, you were to coordinate all the activities and keep everything in an orderly fashion. Mike your job was to ensure Pegasus was up and running for the return flight.
Now this brings us to the current situation - Forrest and Olive Marie,” the Captain said opening up the manila folder. “I know they were certainly not satisfied with being left behind. Forrest, I’m sure, believed he could be useful, and I relegated him to a minor role in our Kennedy mission. Olive Marie was mad because I said she was not old enough to participate. I believe these two concocted a plan. A plan, which they believed they could pull off, and prove to us, well actually me, they were able and capable of handling responsible SCAR assignments.
Spook replied, “Captain, we believe you are correct, but what are the new assignments?”
“I see two pressing actions. To begin, I need to go immediately back to Texas and find Forrest and Olive Marie and bring them home. They do not know the danger they are in!! To do this, I have instructed Mr. Rousseau to prepare Pegasus for a return trip as soon as possible.
“The second action involves you, Mike. I have informed you about my suspicions of Mr. Rousseau, and those suspicions were confirmed by the information Sam Lin and Si Lei discovered on their trip to Bangkok. Mr. Rousseau was back in the ‘60s and still today an active operative for the CIA. The CIA was involved in some downright terrible things during the Vietnam War. Things the CIA does not want uncovered and exposed to public scrutiny. I believe he was planted within the SCAR organization in order to keep tabs on us. I now further believe his assignment at SCAR was to intervene in any plans we might undertake to investigate the JFK killing. The CIA did not want us to find out they were deeply entangled with the shooting of the President, especially, their connection with Lee Harvey Oswald!
“Since SCAR was formed, and even before it was started, we had a goal, to investigate the John F. Kennedy tragedy. Mr. Rousseau knew about our goal. I believe, it was his mission to sabotage our efforts if we made an attempt to pursue the Kennedy assassination, and he did a darn clever job on fouling up my first flight to Dallas.”
Opening the folder he said, “I believe Forrest thought if he could prove Vice President Johnson attended a party at the home of Clint Murdock the night before the presidential assassination he could show a connection between Johnson and the murder of Kennedy. A connection a lot of political big wigs wanted to be kept secret. Did Johnson, along with some of his powerful friends, plan or assist in the shooting of the President? I believe that was Forrest and Olive Marie’s mission - to find out.
“I’m getting ready to return to Texas, but Mike since I told Mr. Rousseau to program my departure and input all the coordinates, times and dates to the onboard computers for the flight, I need you to discreetly check all his input data and see if he is once again attempting permanently to get rid of me and send Pegasus to an unknown time and to an unknown place.
“I figure, he is going to change the master control computer’s flight data. I know he is intent on killing me. Here’s what I want you to do is sneak around, so he doesn’t know what you are up to, and change my arrival time to 12:30 p.m., Thursday, November 21, 1963 use the same GPS coordinates we originally used.”
“Wait a minute, Captain, you want to go back to the cow pasture?” Exclaimed Mike.
“Correct, if Fo
rrest and Olive arrived on Wednesday at 12:30 and Pegasus returned home on Thursday at 12:30, one fact is known for sure: Forrest and Olive were not in the cow pasture. I want to begin my search for them at their last known position, in the pasture northwest of Celina, Texas. I want you to send me back Mike - I have to find them! And Mike, the key, make sure the Parallel Universe settings are set to the same Universe as the same one in which the kids arrived. I need to work in the same Parallel Universe only a couple of hours behind them.”
“Sure, Captain, but what do you have in mind?”
“Since I will be trying to find our two lost ‘children’, Mike I want you to work on the Pegasus computers and have it return immediately after I arrive in Texas. Give me a few minutes to get out and onto the ground, and then bring Pegasus back home.”
“Okay, no problem Captain, but I don’t understand. What do I do with Pegasus then?”
“Mike program the master control computer’s arrival date for 9:00 a.m., Thursday, 21 November, 1963. Its coordinates will be the Texas School Book Depository building on the corner of Elm and Houston in Dallas.
“Listen up LJ, Rocky, Lou and Bud this will be your flight. You four should depart just as soon as Pegasus has returned from my journey, and Mike has her up and ready to go. When I was on the roof of the School Book building, I saw the Dallas city vehicle impound lot directly behind the Book building. Those vehicles are held in the impound yard for, sometimes, months; therefore, no one would miss them if you were to ‘borrow’ a couple for a few hours. There are no guards, and no one observes any vehicles leaving or entering. Remember, 1963 is long before security cameras and sophisticated security surveillances were used.
“LJ and Rocky, after you ‘requisition’ a car from the impound facility head over to Jack Ruby’s place on the corner of Field and Commerce Street. I know the big boys from the Mafia will have a meeting with Jack Ruby around lunch. We need to find out what they are talking about. Do you think you can take care of that? Here are the snapshots I took of the men sittings around the table you might want to use them for identification purposes. Also, I have a list of their names Miss Kandy Barr provided take it along too. Another bit of information - the Carousel opens at 10:00 in the morning. If you arrive on the roof at 9:00, you have plenty of time to procure a car and get to the club a few minutes after they open, and well before the Mafia group arrives.
Justification For Killing Page 36