21.
The Prodigy
Billy Hayes was born in 2011 and was just about ten when he lost both of his parents. He was raised by Frank, and eventually called Frank ‘Dad’. But even with the brawn and mentality of being raised a Slagel, Billy was gifted with the intelligence of his father.
At eight he thought he was too smart for school, and in a way he was right.
He was schooled by his father, and then by Frank.
Something happened with Billy. Around the time he was fifteen, he lost his intellectual edge. He wanted to be like Frank, Johnny, and any other Slagel.
He found a certain demented pleasure in protecting.
Frank was fine with that, I wasn’t.
I was a pretty integral part of all the kids’ lives. After all we all were from Beginnings.
I knew the scientists we had were aging.
I went to Frank.
Billy needed to be schooled while we still had some great minds to learn from.
At the age of twenty, at the height of the no-birth time, Frank sent Billy to Boston to work and learn.
Don’t get me wrong, Billy was highly intelligent. And his intelligence never once went to waste. He worked as a soldier and he invented weapons.
But the world would need scientists, and Billy had to move into that.
He was angry. He wanted to be a soldier. And when the LEP wars began, Billy learned to fight them … just because.
He wanted to be part of the team that fought them always.
But he was needed elsewhere.
Despite the fact that we were battling the LEP problem, we still had the infertility issue to deal with.
Once Billy achieved an education level that his teachers felt he could only surpass by hands on, Billy dedicated his work to that issue alone.
Why couldn’t the women survive the birth?
What was happening?
And damned if he didn’t figure it out.
Originally the scientists believed the virus developed in the late third trimester of pregnancy, carried through the placenta-fetal host immune-and then it was carried into the bloodstream of the mother upon detachment.
This was true.
In a sense.
Billy discovered the virus was actually male gender carried, locked into the DNA of the embryo, and released at the same time frame.
He isolated the DNA strand.
It was a synthetic virus.
The enemy had hit us with a biological weapon. That was the only explanation.
Then he was stuck.
That’s where I came in.
You’re probably wondering, me? An engineer? How could I solve this?
I had the answer all along and never knew. I suspected, but never knew.
Just after the onset of the Great War, Dean came to me with a sealed box. He gave me a date.
“Danny, whatever you do, do not open this box until February 2041. On that date you’ll give it to my son.”
“Dean, what’s so important that it has to wait?”
“It’s timed Danny. We changed the course of history once. Let’s not condemn ourselves to change it again.”
I knew what he meant.
Two years before The Great War, Ellen and Dean claimed adamantly that Billy Hayes stepped through the time machine and brought them to the future. Dean never really detailed what or why that was, but he and Ellen did say that while there they found out they were to die shortly in an explosion at a warehouse.
The future Frank and Billy warned them of their deaths.
There was never any proof to substantiate this future claim. But an explosion did occur at a warehouse and because Dean and Ellen were aware, they were able to escape.
Dean always believed that he was supposed to die in that explosion.
See, a part of me agreed with him after the start of the war.
Joe was sick at the time. Had Dean died, Dean would have never cured Joe. Joe would have died before the Great War. Joe’s decisions, though agreed to by everyone, were not the proper decisions in handling the war.
In hindsight everything is different. In hindsight had we listened to Frank we wouldn’t have had the massive ground battles. We wouldn’t have been hit with a bad water supply. We wouldn’t have been hit with the bio-weapon that compromised our reproduction ability.
In hindsight, had Joe died before the war, Frank would have made the decisions.
Things would have been much different had Dean and Ellen died in that explosion.
But to repeat?
Ah …I didn’t know the exact reason they brought Dean and Ellen to the future, but I was about to.
It came on a day when I was visiting Billy. Part of my job was to keep track of all projects the scientists worked on so as to keep track of the resources they used.
I was in Billy’s lab when he released a mighty Frank style ‘Fuck’ of frustration.
“Billy …”
“No, Dan, this is driving me nuts. I can’t figure out the next step. I get only so far, then what? How?”
“Have you consulted?”
“Absolutely,” Billy said. “We’re all stuck. We know the cause, but what to do next is the question.”
“I know it's driving you nuts. But it’ll click. It will. You have the switch to flip in your brain, just like your father.”
“My father.” Billy looked at me. “If he were here he could solve this. He could solve this like …” Billy snapped.
I chuckled. He still was not catching on.
“Danny,” Billy rushed to me with a change in tone. “I have an idea.”
“Okay.”
“I know my Dad… Frank, I mean, I know my Dad banned it. But I’ve been working on the Godrichson time machine.”
“What? When? I didn’t see anything in your notes.”
“Yeah, you did. You just didn’t know what I meant. I call it the Aragon Window Project. Anyhow …”
I stumbled back. The Aragon Window. That was what Dean and Ellen called the future. The Aragon Window future.
“You OK?” Billy asked.
“The Aragon Window.”
“Yep. So anyhow. It works. It really works. Danny, let’s go back. Let’s get my dad and mom and bring them …”
“Stop.” I held up my hand. “What’s today’s date?”
“February 16th.”
“2041.”
Billy snickered. “Um, yeah. I’m thinking of going back to …”
“You don’t’ remember do you?”
“Remember what?”
I mumbled aloud to myself. “It must have been the reason. This must have been for it.”
“Danny what are you talking about?
“You really don’t remember, do you?”
“Remember what?”
“When you were little … your parents claimed they went to the future. That you came and got them … that …there was a reason. This had to be the reason.”
Billy shook his head and then suddenly stopped. “Oh my God, I do remember now.”
“Billy, if you went and got them, would you tell them about their deaths in Oklahoma?”
Billy didn’t answer.
“Be honest.”
“Yeah, I would. Because if my dad lived, a lot of problems would have never happened …”
“That’s why he did what he did.”
Billy looked at me curiously.
“I’ll be right back.”
I never lost track of that box and I went to retrieve it.
It went with me everywhere.
I returned with it, old and dirty, handing it to Billy.
“What is this?” he asked.
“Your father said to give this to you. On this date. This year. See, he believed that when he went to the future and returned, things occurred that changed the course of history and he stated he didn’t want to repeat them. Meaning he didn’t want you to go get him again.”
“What do you think it is?”
&n
bsp; “I think, Billy. I think it’s your answers.”
22.
The Long Term Answers
We were correct in our thinking. The box prepared by Dean was the answer to the dilemma at hand.
Inside was a letter to Billy telling him to use his knowledge to further the findings, and whatever he did … do not come back for him.
Dean knew. If Billy was handed that box, then he was dead.
Some things were meant to happen, even if they were mistakes
Dean’s research showed Billy the solution. But it was long term, although it did hold some immediate results.
When Dean came to the future he was brought there to solve the problem. But he covered his tracks in case he wasn’t around when the problem arose again.
There were two problems to face. One was the mutated DNA viral strand carried by the males.
The second was the infertility of the women brought on by surviving the pregnancy.
I found it amusing, where in Dean’s notes he called the second problem … easy. An easy solution.
Although he did tell Billy he needed to develop a viable artificial womb as back up, Dean had invented – in his time—the hormone inducers needed to solve the infertility problem. The women stopped menstruating, so therefore they couldn’t reproduce.
Dean’s therapy and injection recipe called for six weekly shots. It worked. The only problem was, the women began puberty again. Their breasts grew larger – not that it was a problem—but they exhibited the same body changes all over again.
There were many women in their mid to late thirties who opted to not go the route of puberty again.
But many did. This opened up the door to successful pregnancies.
Back to the first problem.
Dean outlined the technique for removing the mutated strand from the sperm, and to use the sperm to fertilize an egg outside the uterus. The egg was then implanted.
We did so successfully.
Removing the mutated strand was a complicated task and very time consuming, so the conception rate dropped, but we started having pregnant women again.
The first five women were implanted in March. They were confident, because it was Dean's research and history showed Dean to be another Einstein.
The only problem with this method was that Jack and the babies born after him, except those Society embryos, were all carriers of the virus. They would never be able to conceive a child naturally without scientific intervention again. But the children conceived in-vitro and post 2041 would carry on the gene without the virus.
Things were looking positive.
On a cold night in Boston, November 2, we sat nervous and frightened in the waiting room of a birthing center.
The first of the Deanbryos births were about to take place. That’s what Billy named them Deanbryos.
Billy was confident in his father’s research and solution, he just lacked the confidence in himself to implement it properly.
Frank was calm, although I could see that jaw twitching he did.
Sixty-four years old and I swear it was the first time I saw Frank showing his age. His hair looked grayer. His face was more lined.
He looked at his watch.
“Any minute now,” I said. “She’s in delivery.”
Billy looked at me. “This will work, Danny, right?”
I nodded. “I believe so. I hope so. I’m getting too old to wait another seven years for a solution.”
Frank chuckled. “You? Bill, this is gonna be fine. You did great.”
“Thanks, Dad.” Billy replied. “But Dean … I mean Dad deserves the credit.”
“Let’s just say the Hayes genes deserve the credit.” Frank said.
Billy smiled. “If you guys don’t mind, if this is successful, I’d really like to have the credit for this going to Dean… I mean Dad. He deserves that historical recognition.
We both agreed.
And it wasn’t long after that the doctor arrived in the waiting room. We all stood.
“Amazing,” The doctor said. “I thought after the deaths of all those women, we’d never see the day when it would stop. We just have. Mother and child are fine.”
We cheered, as did everyone else who was waiting. We ordered the word to be put out.
Billy ran immediate tests on the infant. No signs of the virus.
It was done. It was over. That phase.
From beyond the grave, Dean Hayes emerged to be no less than a hero to the world all over again.
23.
End of an Era
Dean Michael Hayes Lincoln was born on November 2nd 2041; seven pounds four ounces, a happy, bright, healthy boy. His mother a thirty-five year old teacher was in great shape.
We were elated.
Upon the news of Dean’s birth I saw something on Frank’s face.
Peace.
He smiled genuinely, and that worn out look, that aged appearance, seemed to disappear that night.
I should have known.
I should have seen it coming.
We had a drink in Frank’s hotel room that night. Billy, Frank and me. It was relaxed and fun. Frank talked so much about Dean and Ellen.
Several times his eyes welled up with tears.
But they were tears of joy, not sadness.
He told me that I amazed him in how intent I was about finding solutions and how he had every faith in me that I would continue to find a solution for a better life for the rest of my days.
He told Billy how proud he was of him and how he was even prouder that he thought of Frank as his dad.
It was a great night.
The last great night for Frank.
He passed away in his sleep that evening.
Peacefully.
I found him when he didn’t show for our morning meeting.
He looked happy.
He truly looked happy.
24.
The Black Parade
When the Great War began they launched many low level nuclear warheads. But in a country as big as the United States, the slightly less than a hundred bomb payload caused chaos and a few damaged dents.
We did more damage to ourselves trying to get rid of the enemy.
But that was twenty years earlier and things were getting back to normal.
Sort of.
In the old days of film and television, many movies depicted the apocalypse.
Many movies showed cities in ruins.
That was the one thing we decided we did not want.
Museums of destruction. Ugly burned out buildings, destroyed.
One because it was so big, and two, because we needed some monument, we left a large portion of New York City, in its barren, destroyed state intact.
In Washington DC, we left a portion of the monument, the statue of Lincoln survived and we left that there. The dome of the Capital. Yes, so much was reminiscent of Hiroshima.
But twenty years after the Great War, those monuments still stand and the city is a park.
But the rest, the cities that were hit … we leveled them. It took about sixteen years and a lot of manpower to do so, but we leveled them. The rumble was reduced to rubble.
We would rebuild.
There were so many cities still intact.
Boston for example.
It was unlivable for about ten years. Radiation levels, though low, were constant. Fall out was heavy there. But rain, weather and snow cleaned up the dust, and time cleaned up the air.
Boston was our Capital.
The buildings gleamed. We cleaned it up, kept it modern and renamed it Boston York.
Don’t ask me why, that was a Joe thing.
Boston York was amazing. Beautiful.
Frank died in Boston York and it was only fitting that the tribute be paid to them there.
We were a country in mourning. Frank was our leader for thirteen years.
No one felt ambitious enough to do anything, but we still did. A committee formed, they ran everything by
me, and I approved. Why not?
A week after Frank’s death a huge parade would be held in his honor. A funeral service that would parade down the streets led by a marching band.
The main drag, which we had renamed Patriot Road, went straight through the city. We gave ample time for people to arrive.
I swear every person in the United States was present.
They lined the streets. Men, women and children.
Myself, Hal, Joey, Billy, Nick, Alexandra, Johnny and Jack had a special spot in the center of the procession. Sitting on that platform, we’d wouldn’t be the first to see the procession, but we wouldn’t be the last.
We had our own funeral service before the public one, we said our personal goodbyes, and we buried Frank. Then we took our positions. The parade would carry a coffin, but we, the family, knew Frank wasn’t in there. It was symbolic, that’s all that mattered.
It was a celebration of life. Frank’s life.
Eighty years earlier there was a band called Journey. See, a lot of people knew the band because, well, there just weren’t many new bands, so the music of the old stayed young.
Frank loved Journey. Without a doubt it was his favorite band. He listened to them constantly.
Posters and banners showed pictures of Frank as a 'Soldier in Black.' Pictures were enlarged of his younger days and the early days in Beginnings. Women carrying flowers escorted the float that carried the coffin.
People cheered. People cried.
And the band played on.
They didn’t play dismal songs, they played Journey.
We stood when we saw the procession just about two blocks away.
The start of it.
Ah, we could hear … “Open Arms.” Frank’s favorite Journey song.
Jack Slagel was all of thirteen and damn near stood as tall as me. He was just starting to get the Slagel build and he definitely had the look of his father and grandfather.
I caught the glimmer of pride about the same time Johnny did.
Both of us to each side of him, looked at Jack.
“This is amazing, Dad.” Jack said in awe, staring out toward the oncoming parade.
“Yeah, it is,” Johnny replied.
“All this for Pap.”
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