The Mission of No Return

by Frank Cereo

  “You two were sleeping so sound, I didn’t want to bother either one of you.” Amanda answered.

  “You know we don’t even know where we are and you’re out wondering around in the cold.” Stephanie said in a demanding voice.

  “I’m grateful for your concern of my well being. First of all, missy, I’m old enough to be your mother and I can make decisions on my own. Second I know where we are by the surrounding landscapes.” Amanda replies in a sarcastic but mild manor.

  Stephanie stood shocked and unresponsive to Amanda’s reply to her because it was so unexpected.

  As the sun passed down over the horizon darkness began to fall. The wind off of the ocean kicked up and the temperatures began to drop.

  “We better get back to the camp. It’s going to get mighty cold tonight.” Amanda said as she put her arm around Stephanie and they began to walk back to the camp.

  When they arrive at the camp Huey had already begun stoking the fire and added more wood for warmth.

  “Are you two alright?” Huey asks.

  “We’re fine.” Both Stephanie and Amanda respond together.

  “I’m guessing from the position of the sun we are somewhere in the northern hemisphere.” Huey says from a kneeling position with a stick poking and stirring up the embers in the fire.

  “To be exact we are off the coast of Alaska staring out over the Bering Sea.” Amanda replies.

  “How do you know that?” Stephanie asks with a puzzled look on her face.

  “I spent one summer up here doing one of my internships between my junior and senior year of college. Mark my words it was cold in the summer up here and late March up here is a far cry from spring.” Amanda replies.

  The three scurried around and gathered enough firewood for the entire night. Then they went to beach and captured a few land crabs to eat. It was not an easy task but when you’re hungry you do what it takes to eat. It was funny to see the three of them chasing the crabs around on the beach. As they sat around the fire that was burning brightly the five crabs were skewered on the end of a stick and cooking over the open fire.

  “Okay we know where we are and what time frame it is, but we cannot help ourselves here in Alaska.” Huey says as he rotates the crabs on the skewer.

  “First order of business is to get out of this desolate place.” Stephanie replies.

  “Wrong, we need to stay here retrieve the time machine.” Amanda interrupts.

  “There is no way we are bringing that machine back to the surface. It’s under a few hundred feet of water and we have no resources to aid us.” Huey says.

  “We have no choice right now. We have no identities. People, we don’t exist yet, or at least you two don’t. I will in about an hour or so when my mother gives birth to me.” Amanda says as she looks at her watch.

  “I never thought of that.” Huey says

  “You’re right. We need to do this as discreetly as possible.” Stephanie adds.

  Then there is a noise coming from the heavy dense forest of evergreens. The noise sounds like movement of something walking as the sounds of cracking twigs and small branches break upon heavy footsteps. The noises appear to be getting closer as all three gather on the opposite side of the fire for safety. Huey grabs a large stick that is around three feet long and four inches in circumference for protection. The noises are getting closer with every step.

  “It’s probably a grizzly bear that smells the crabs cooking.” Amanda says as she hides behind Huey for safety.

  The noises are so close that whatever is out there is close enough to see into their camp. Just as the pine braches open up a furry brown creature breaks through as Amanda and Stephanie jump backwards and scream in fear at the unexpected. Huey lunges forward with the large blunt branch above his head and he swings towards the head of the large intruder.

  “What the hell!” A Native American Eskimo says as he grabs the club from Huey with one clean swipe before it connects with his head.

  Huey falls on his ass from the recoil as the club was taken from his hands so abruptly. There stood a large man of six feet five inches tall wearing a grizzly bear skin jacket. The hood covered a portion of his head and features.

  “We thought you were a grizzly bear.” Stephanie says.

  “If I were a grizzly bear you would already be dead. My name is Harold Tunuk and this here is my land.” Harold says as he pulls his hood off his head.

  Harold is a large man that weighs about two hundred and seventy-five pounds. He has long jet black hair that is pulled back in a pony tail. His eyes are also dark with a large and perceptive nose. He has no facial hair but his large pink lips are very noticeable. Harold has a perfect set of teeth with the exception of the top front tooth on the left side of his mouth which was missing.

  “I’m only going to give you one opportunity to tell me the truth of who you are and what you’re doing here.” Harold says in a distinct, but demanding, voice.

  “You’re not going to believe us if we tell you the truth anyways.” Amanda says as she shields herself with fire from the intruder.

  “Try me I may believe anything after the events I witnessed today.” Harold says as he taps the club into his left hand.

  “Okay where do I start?” Amanda says.

  “Try the beginning.” Harold answers.

  “Well first of all we are from the future. We went on a space mission to Jupiter and on our return flight we were jettisoned back in time to the Cretaceous Period. There we altered the future and a time machine was sent back to reverse the changes that occurred. Then we took the time machine to the day that I was born to see if we can coexist in the same time frame with our significant selves. That leads us to here and now and we proved we can exist together since today is my birthday.” Amanda responds.

  “From what I see it sounds like a fair enough assumption because my house is on top of the knoll that overlooks the bay. I saw something this afternoon that I couldn’t explain.” Harold answers. “Come on, you can stay in my house tonight. It’s too dangerous out here without the proper gear or weapons.”

  The four made their way through the narrow trail and climbed the small knoll. They were speechless as the three time travelers were in shock not knowing who this large Alaskan was. They approached Harold’s house which was a large log cabin. The house was crafted like a ranch with large brown pine logs. There was a small front porch that housed a lone rocking chair. They entered into a large living area that had deer, elk, moose, and grizzly bear heads hanging off of the walls for decoration. The room had a large homemade sofa and love seat that sat in front of a large fifty-two inch plasma television. The only thing that didn’t fit in this room was the lazy boy recliner because it was out of place with the native decor.

  “Sit anywhere you like with the exception of my lazy boy, while I get you something to eat.” Harold says as he made his way into the kitchen.

  The kitchen was adjacent to the living room on the backside of the house. The dining room was attached to the kitchen with a large sliding glass door that led to a deck that overlooked the bay. There was a hallway on the left side of the living room that led to three bedrooms and a large oversized bath. Amanda and Stephanie sat on the couch as Huey occupied the love seat by himself. Stephanie turned on the television as all three slouched into their seats comfortably.

  “I hope you don’t mind venison steaks.” Harold yells from the kitchen.

  “Sounds good to me,” Huey answers.

  “Yeah I can handle that.” Stephanie responds.

  As the Stephanie and Huey look over for Amanda’s response she crouches into a fetal position and onto the floor. She begins to yell in severe pain as Stephanie jumps on the floor by her side.

  “What’s wrong?” Stephanie asks.

  “I don’t know. All I can tell you is I have very painful abdominal cramps. It feels like something eating me from the inside out. Oh god it hurts.” Amanda yells from the top of her lungs.

  All the noi
se brings Harold from the kitchen with a large kitchen fork in his hand.

  “What’s going on?” Harold says with concern.

  “I don’t know something is wrong with Amanda.” Stephanie says as she holds Amanda’s hand tightly.

  At that point, Amanda goes into a crazy frenzy on the floor like she is having a seizure. Her body is flopping around on the floor as Stephanie tries to console her. Amanda’s yelling becomes ear deafening as she screams in a fit of rage. The pain is so unbearable that Amanda starts to punch the wooden floor. Amanda’s hands hit the floor her fingers and hands crumble into a white powdery dust that rises like a dust cloud around the room. Amanda stands up with her eyes rolling from side to side in her head. You can see her body turning to a white dust as the gritty white sand pours from her sleeves and pant legs. It piles on the floor in four areas underneath her body. There are two piles where the pants legs reach the floor and two piles just above the where the sleeves stand above the floor. Amanda’s head begins to twitch from side to side as she begins to disintegrate into the dust she was created from.

  “What time of the day were you born?” Huey yells.

  “Nine twenty-seven.” Amanda batters out as her face begins to turn into powder and fall to the floor.

  Huey looks at his watch displaying the time of nine twenty-eight in the evening. Meanwhile Amanda’s whole body begins to shake like a palm tree in a hurricane. She is waving from side to side as her ears become dust and slide down her neck and onto the floor.

  “What can we do for her?’ Stephanie yells as she looks towards Huey and Harold for advice.

  Then Amanda’s eyes roll back in her head and turn into dust and sandy residue is expelled from her nose. Amanda begins to shake so rapidly that she looks like a leaf on a tree during a thunder storm. All of a sudden she stops shaking and explodes into a cloud of dust that covers the whole room. Stephanie and Huey run out the front door with Harold close behind coughing and hacking for air. When the three reach the safety of the outside fresh air Stephanie and Huey fall to their knees trying to catch their breath. Meanwhile Harold puts his hands on his knees as he too tries to catch his breath.

  “You need to tell me what just happened there?” Harold says as he coughs and chokes.

  “We were experimenting with the time machine to see if we could return to the future and could coexist with ourselves as we were born onto this Earth. We used Amanda as the guinea pig because she was the eldest. We just found out that we cannot exist when we reach our birth date because we will suffer the same demise.” Huey says while he coughs and hacks out the white dust.

  “This just seems to get more eerie by the minute, but I believe you.” Harold exclaims.

  They returned inside the house and opened the door and windows to clear out the dust. All of Amanda’s remains were swept up and put into a coffee can. Then the three sat in silence as they ate their venison steaks. When their meal was finished Harold showed Stephanie and Huey to their rooms.

  “You know Amanda was only three years older than me. Harold, is there any way you can help us retrieve the time machine from the bottom of the bay?” Huey asks as he entered into his room.

  “We’ll talk about it in the morning.” Harold says as he closes the door to Huey’s room.

  Chapter 26 – The Plan

  As morning draws near Huey and Stephanie spent a sleepless night as the previous day’s events unfolded in their minds. Harold on the other hand was very confused and he slept with a shot gun very close at hand. The alarm began beeping in Harold’s room when the time showed six forty-five in the morning. He slowly hit the button on the top of the clock to silence the alarm. Harold moved out of his warm bed to the coolness of the bedroom air. He put on his jeans and a flannel shirt over his thermal underwear. Harold made his way aimlessly to the kitchen and prepared a large pot of coffee. Within five to ten minutes, Stephanie made her way to the kitchen still wearing her dingy and ripped astronaut jumper.

  “If you would like there are some of my wife’s clothes in the closet in the bedroom you slept in. You and she are about the same size. The climate around here is a little colder than you anticipated.” Harold says as he admires the beautiful woman that stands before him.

  “What will your wife think?” Stephanie responds.

  “She passed on a couple of years back. Cancer ate her up alive. She was nothing but skin and bone when she died.” Harold answers.

  “I’m sorry for your loss.” Stephanie says sympathetically.

  “Thank you.” Harold answers.

  Stephanie pours a cup of coffee and takes a sip. She then proceeds back to the bedroom to change her clothes.

  “You know there is cream and sugar for the coffee?” Harold says as he holds the sugar up from a seat at the kitchen table.

  “No thank you. I like my coffee black. By the way the coffee is delicious.” Stephanie adds as she walks away.

  Meanwhile Harold goes into the closet in the hallway to retrieve some older and smaller clothes that might fit Huey. Both Huey and Harold’s height were close but Harold had a larger build by far. Just as Harold pulled out an older pair of jeans with a heavy long sleeve hunting shirt Huey made his way out of his bedroom.

  “What you looking for?” Huey asks.

  “I’m going through some of my older clothes that might fit you. Those clothes you’re wearing are a little suspicious and people may ask questions if you’re seen wearing them.” Harold adds as he tosses the clothes to Huey.

  “Thanks man!” Huey says as he returns to the bedroom to put the clothes on.

  Harold goes back into the kitchen and starts to prepare breakfast. Stephanie was the first to return wearing a pair of snug fitting jeans that revealed her well proportioned butt and legs. She wore a heavy white wool sweater that covered a sheer white camisole worn underneath. She also had a pair of wool white socks that she tucked the jeans into as her feet were protected by brown Timberland work boots.

  “Whoa, don’t we look snazzy. How would you like your eggs?” Harold asks as he flips the bacon over.

  “Thank you for the compliment and I would like two eggs over easy.” Stephanie answers as she takes a seat at the table.

  Stephanie pours more coffee into her cup as she takes a sip with both hands around the cup to warm her hands. Then Huey enters the room wearing Harold’s hand-me-down clothes from ten years back. The jeans are massive on his medium built body and the green flannel shirt just drapes over his shoulders. Stephanie tried to hold back her giggles, but she can’t.

  “Huey you kind of look like a hobo.” Stephanie says under her laughter.

  “Yeah funny, huh,” Huey says as he shakes his head.

  “You will fit right in. Don’t worry about Huey.” Harold says with a grin on his face.

  As all three of them sat down and ate a hearty breakfast, a knock came from the front door.

  “You two sit right here and don’t make a sound.” Harold says as he exits the dining room into the living room to answer the front door.

  Stephanie and Huey ate as quietly as possible as they listened to the conversation from the front door.

  “Hey, Sheriff Campbell, what’s up?” Harold asks.

  “Hi Harold, sorry to bother you, but there have been some complaints of a UFO sighting in the bay area. Have you seen anything out of the ordinary?” Sheriff Campbell asks.

  “No Sheriff Campbell. I haven’t seen or heard anything out the ordinary.” Harold responds.

  “Is it alright for me and a couple of my deputies to walk off the shore line of your property?” Sheriff Campbell asks.

  “Yeah, go right ahead. Oh by the way I was down near the lagoon yesterday burning some of the old drift wood. The embers still may be warm.” Harold says as he shuts the door behind him.

  Harold goes back into the dining room to join Stephanie and Huey who by now were both standing by the door and listening to the conversation.

  “You two really got things fired up around here.”
Harold says as all three turn and head back to the dining room table.

  “Can you help us retrieve the time machine from the bay? You know what’s going to happen to both of us when we reach our birthdays.” Huey says with concern.

  “First of all we need to let everything cool down. If we go poking around in the bay, someone’s going to think we’re up to something. Let’s play it cool and figure out a plan to pull your machine up and out of its watery resting place.” Harold says.

  “The longer the machine is down in the cold water the more the salt water will eat away at its hull and mechanical structure.” Huey responds.

  “Listen Huey that water is so cold down there that it takes years to eat away metal. I’m only asking for a few weeks to let hype calm down. As for you two, you need to lay low for your entire stay here. Do you understand where I’m coming from?” Harold explains.

  “Do you know anyone that has a large enough ship to pull the time machine up and out of the water?” Stephanie asks.

  “You two are the luckiest people on the face of the Earth. I have my own fishing fleet. I have a large trawler that hauls three thousand pound crab pots off the ocean floor. The weight it is governed to hoist is twenty thousand pounds. We are in luck, but we will have to remain the course for the time being. Huey you will be one of my new mates onboard my ship at all times. Stephanie you can stay here and hold down the fort. I figure in two weeks we can make our first attempt at retrieving the time machine. How does that sound?” Harold says.

  “Sounds fair enough,” Huey says

  “I don’t know how to thank you.” Stephanie adds.

  Chapter 27 – Two Weeks in Alaska

  As the two weeks march on the month changes into April. The weather in Alaska remains cold and wintery until the end of May and with a short spring, summer, and fall. Winter is back in full force by the end of September. Huey remains onboard one of Harold’s fishing boats while Stephanie stays at Harold’s house cleaning and cooking on a daily basis.