The Encounter

by Norman Fitts

  What the papers didn’t say was anything about her car and what had happened to it. The damage could not be explained and the DNA found on the door matched nothing found in the human evolutionary chain.

  It was to Lawrence’s advantage that the security cameras located on every level of the garage had been down while an upgrade was being installed in the control center. A few witnesses remembered an unmarked van but on one got the license plate number.

  Edward Crocker headed up a small obscure government agency that looked into events that, shall we say, fell just outside the mainstream cases investigated by the FBI. He had ways of confirming information, but none of it would be admissible in a court of law or anywhere else.

  His interest was peaked when all he could find out about Margaret O’Donnel was documented proof of her existence. What he couldn’t find was what he referred to as “living proof”. Other than the people who worked with her, he couldn’t find one other living human being who knew her.

  His team went back to her house and this time they extracted DNA samples. They also removed several items they couldn’t identify. When the samples came back as unknown, she became his only case.

  ***

  Lawrence had no way of knowing what his alternate reality had been. Both the physical and the abstract had changed. Their interaction with the past had changed his personal timeline. It was just luck that they met at all.

  A month before he was to enroll in the paralegal program a car wreak almost cost him his right leg. His long time involvement with martial arts had instilled the discipline he needed to get through what followed. During the month in the hospital, and over the nine months of rehabilitation that followed, his interest changed. He got hold of a book entitled, BUILD YOUR OWN PC. With nothing but time on his hands he set about doing just that. When he finished and it worked, his future was set.

  He worked as a service technician for two years, and then he met Jeff Link. A year later they founded their own service company.

  He was trying to run down a problem with the law firm's computer network when Margaret showed up for her first day. They worked in the same office and kept eyeing one another. He asked her to lunch that first day, but she turned him down. The next day he was back. He hadn't been able to get her out of his mind all night. He asked again. She couldn't fight off what she felt inside, and accepted. The rest you could say was history.

  ***

  Jeff, and his family, had both filed a missing persons report. The reports were closed the day after Jeff picked him up on the side of the road.

  The story he came up with for his partner, and family, was a thing of beauty and simplicity and not far from the truth. After he finished at the law firm he stopped off for dinner. It was dark before he got back on the road. He lived in Baytown and was traveling toward highway 146 when the ignition in his van died. He coasted to a stop and got out to have a look. There was a heavy rush of air and a flash of light and that was all he remembered until he woke up in a field off Interstate Forty-five, several days later.

  He was sure everyone thought he was crazy including the insurance company when he put in a claim for the missing van. It took six weeks, but they finally paid off.

  Maggie was never far from his thoughts. One day, while working in a building downtown, he played a long shot. Something had occurred to him and he wanted to check it out.

  Using a wireless connection on his laptop, he got onto the Internet and looked up the name McKenly, but came up with nothing that told him anything. He thought about it for a moment, and then looked up Kramer, first with a "C", then a "K". There it was, Joseph Kramer. The first line told him what he wanted to know. It started, Joseph Kramer, son of Sarah and Joshua Kramer, was born on March 5, 1876... He stopped reading. He didn't care why the name was there. He just felt better knowing Sarah and Josh had made it.

  ***

  Two months passed and nothing from Margaret. He kept driving past her house. One day there was a FOR RENT sign in the front yard. He copied down the number and called it. Two days later he moved in. He stood in the barn and envisioned her ship. This house was where he'd wait. No matter how long it took.

  Another week passed. Lawrence pulled his company van into the driveway. He'd worked late trying to finish a job they were behind on. He entered the house, stopped in the living room and emptied his jacket pockets on the coffee table. Part of what went on the table was her black device. He left the living room for the kitchen. The light on the device blinked, and then showed steady.

  He fished a beer out of the refrigerator, opened the freezer for a mug and began to pour. He stopped for a second when he thought he heard something out back. He listened for a minute, and then went back to what he was doing. He dropped the can in the trash and left the kitchen.

  He crossed the living room toward the bedroom. He was thinking about taking a shower. Two steps past the coffee table he stopped. He looked back. The beer almost fell from his hand. He sat the mug down and picked up the device. He tilted it back and forth to be certain the light was really on. The barn, that's where she'd go. He headed for the back door. He jerked it open

  She stood in the doorway. She wore jeans and a loose fitting white shirt. She smiled and cried at the same time.

  He took her in his arms. He had her back and he wasn't going to let her go again no matter what. No words passed between them in the doorway. Words weren't necessary. He brought her inside and closed the door.

  Once inside they talked about everything. The threat to her family had been resolved. The one responsible for the death of her brother had been cornered and killed. He filled her in on the police investigation. There was no way she could go back to work there without bringing up questions she couldn't answer. They'd have to work around that somehow. He told her about Sarah. She was pleased to hear it. They finally got around to the bedroom.

  They took separate showers because of the difference in water temperature. He went first. While he showered, she sat on the toilet seat with a towel wrapped around her. He finished and stepped out of the tub. She wrapped him in the towel she’d been wearing, kissed him and sent him toward the bed. He stopped and watched her leaning into the shower adjusting the water temperature to suit her. She sensed his eyes and wiggled her bottom at him. He laughed and she stepped into the steaming shower.

  He dried off, climbed into bed and waited for her. After what seemed like the longest shower in history she turned off the water.

  She walked into the bedroom toweling off. "So anything else exciting happen while I was gone?"

  "Exciting? Compared to what?"

  She dried her hair as she walked toward the bed.

  He threw back the covers. "Did someone drop you off?"

  She sat on the edge of the bed still drying her hair. "No. It's cloaked in back of the house."

  He began rubbing her back. "Great... Then I suppose we can pop over to Mars for the weekend."

  "Why? It's a beacon station. The planet has almost no atmosphere."

  "You know what I mean. I've got a hair dryer. That towel’s gonna take all night."

  She kept toweling her hair. "I used one of those once. They dry out my hair." She turned around on the bed so she could look at him. "Part of my mission here, before I met you, was to perhaps make formal contact with your world."

  "Make contact. You mean like, land on the White House lawn or something?"

  “Not exactly. A danger does exist.”

  “Danger?”

  She continued. “Your world is referred to as a fringe world. You’re on the edge of a frontier that separates my home from the rest of the universe. That universe is filled with life; not all of it friendly.”

  He started to say something, she stopped him. “The Drigonians are showing an interest mainly due to your proximity to our border. Now we have to assume they know about the portal. By the way, the portals have been shielded against any unauthorized entry. After what happened with Earth’s timeline, serious conside
ration to abandon time travel research is being talked about.”

  “Okay, now what’s a Drigonian? It’s been over two months and nothings happened.”

  She worked on the ends of her hair, “A disgusting creature. We left a military presence in your system. The difference between us being, our laws prevent us from occupying a free world. The Drigonians take what they want. They kill or enslave the entire native population. It’s in Earth’s favor that they have no real desire to go head-to-head with our military. They’ll back off and wait to see what we do.”

  “And what are you gonna do?”

  “A formal diplomatic mission is in route. They should arrive in a few days. Initial contact will be with your government. It exerts more control and effect than any other. Formal contact will then go through your United Nations organization."

  She dropped the towel and rolled into bed beside him. "There's still some doubt about whether or not your people can except the changes. We usually wait till a planet has evolved to a one world government, but in Earth's case that’s not gonna happen."

  "Let me get this straight. With all the millions of inhabited worlds out there, I assume there are millions..."

  "Many more..."

  "You're concerned about one small speck in the middle of it."

  "Don't sell yourselves short. Humans are very unique in many ways. We want you to survive." She cuddled up to him, "Especially one of you."

  He kissed her. “What’s next?”

  She ran her fingers through his hair. "My parents want to meet you."

  "Not as pissed as you thought?"

  "It took a little selling on my part.”

  "I haven't quite figured out what to do about my family. Why don't you get the light?"

  She rolled away from him to reach the light.

  "I suppose we could date for a while. Till people get to know you."

  She clicked off the light. She snuggled back into his arms. "I don't think we have time for that, and we can't do what you're wanting to do."

  He started to roll up on top of her. She held him off. "What's wrong", he said?

  In the darkened room, she pushed herself up on one elbow. After a moment she smiled. "I'm pregnant."

  It took a second for that to sink in. "You're what? He swung around and got to the light on his side of the bed. He still wasn't sure he'd heard what he heard. "When? How long...?"

  "I'm a little over two months along. It takes about seven and a half of your months to come to term."

  He reached over and gently touched her stomach. She wasn’t showing very much. "A boy or a girl?"

  "A boy. I think he's gonna look like you."

  He looked at her face. His eyes said it all. Something suddenly occurred to him. "We can't do what?"

  ***

  Edward Crocker was persistent if he wasn’t anything else. He ran the plate on the van of the person living in her house. A company called “Networks to Go” owned the van. He did an extensive background check on the two owners. Nothing turned up out of the ordinary. The man living in the house, Lawrence Casey, was working in the building the day all of it went down.

  Now coincidence was a commodity Edward never bought into. He thought about concealing audio and video surveillance inside the house but the guy living there was an electronics expert and didn’t want to take a chance on tipping his hand. So, for the last month and a half he had parked outside at night and used thermal imagining equipment to monitor the inside of the house.

  The moment Margaret arrived through the back door he knew the time investment had paid off. She registered at one and a half times that of a normal human being. Policy required that he call in the troops, but a sixth sense, developed over time, told him he should watch, and wait.

  THE END