by M. J. Konkel
“Three silver boxes that look like boxy suitcases about this big.” He spread his arms apart to indicate the length, width and thickness of each case. “They might have been in my car or in my motel room.”
“OK. We will look for the ... your instrument”
“One more thing, there are an almost infinite number of branes. How can I be sure that I am translocating us to the right one instead of one where the earth doesn't even exist?”
“Isn’t there a way to tell before we go?”
“I don’t know.”
“Give yourself time, Professor. Your missing memories will likely return soon. In the meantime, take it easy. Let it come back to you and you’ll figure this all out.”
“I just hope you're right.”
Chapter 22
Karen called an immediate emergency meeting of the council. She explained what the Professor had said. Mike Elkins then threatened that he was going to kick the Professor's sorry ass until he regretted that he ever set foot in Minnesota. Joe reminded him that the Professor was their only chance of returning. It was urgent that they find the SEAD before anything happened to it, and he told them to pray that it was not already too late. Joe called a boy over that was nearby and asked him to run and bring back Jerry Comlin to the meeting. Five minutes later, Jerry was informing them that there was some type of apparatus open on a small table that was in the inn room when they rescued the Professor. It sounded like it was the SEAD the Professor had described. Everyone agreed that a team would have to go back for it as soon as possible, and they all hoped that it was still there and not under water.
*****
Johnny heard the shouting of the boy that ran down the road, announcing that the council was calling for a few volunteers for some important mission. Johnny ran swiftly over to the pavilion where the boy said they were meeting. He listened as Joe spoke to the gathering crowd, telling them of the Professor's story and asking them not to blame the Professor for their situation. They needed the Professor if they were ever to have a chance to get back. Johnny was excited by the news of possibly going back. He still had a possibility of seeing Tiffany again. When Joe asked for volunteers, Steve Mercent volunteered his boat immediately, and Johnny volunteered right behind him to be on the team to go back to find the SEAD. Then he saw that Anne volunteered too. Johnny had not noticed her in the crowd before, but he squeezed his way through the gathered crowd to get to her.
“You should stay here where it is safe. This could be dangerous.”
“More dangerous than what we went through up on our farm? I am not afraid of anything, except not seeing my parents again. What is your problem with me going? Is your objection because I am a girl?”
“Yes, because you are still a girl. You are still a kid.”
“I am eighteen and if we weren't stuck here, I would be old enough to enlist in the army.”
“That's different.”
“In what way?”
Johnny pursed his lips, but he didn't have an answer to Anne's question. He thought that she was too young to enlist in the military too, but he saw that he was not going to win the argument with that line of reasoning. In fact, there was no reasoning with her.
“Then it's settled. I am going too,” Anne concluded. “I think your trying to stop me is sort of sweet. You're trying to be protective of me.”
Johnny gave her an evil eye. “Am not!”
Jerry Comlin also volunteered. He pointed out that he was the last person to see the SEAD and knew right where it should be and what it looked like.
*****
Karen pulled Joe off to a private corner out of earshot of anyone else. She said, “You know that Span should have given that speech as the leader.”
“I said in the meeting that this is what I thought needed to be done. He had the opportunity then to say that he would do it, but he didn’t.”
“You should have asked him if he wanted to give the announcement.”
“I gave him a chance and that is as much as I will give him.”
“You really don’t like him. Do you?”
“No, I don’t. Do you like him?”
“Not really. But remember, that he is our elected leader and we should respect that.”
“I respect that he fairly won the election. But I don’t have to respect him as our leader. That he has to earn by leadership.”
“All I’m saying is play nice. Okay?”
“All right, I promise to do my best.”
*****
Half an hour later, Anne was there with all the volunteers were at the boat dock where Steve's pontoon boat was moored. The Professor was there too, insisting that he needed to come. Anne heard Karen object, arguing that if anything happened to him they would have no chance of returning and she was worried about whether he was ready for such an excursion. The Professor pointed out that if anything happened to the SEAD, there was no chance anyway. And he insisted he needed to be there to make sure that it was properly handled and cased, because it was a very sensitive piece of equipment that could easily be damaged.
Soon they headed out of the little harbor from the southern tip of the island. The day had turned dreary. It was cold, and a light drizzle came down out of the gray sky. Steve drove the boat slowly on the river. When he had tried to go faster, the freezing rain whipped in under the roof. They made their way slowly upriver to Brown's Station, eventually arriving after what seemed like hours.
“Lordy! It's like Venice,” Jerry commented. All the buildings were surrounded by water flowing through the streets. Trees and street signs stuck up out of the water. Steve guided the boat up Main Street which was under several feet of water. He turned off the motor and the glided towards the front of the inn. Steve scrambled to the front and caught a signpost to stop what little momentum the boat still had, and then tied a rope off to it to keep from drifting away.
“Johnny and I will go in first.” Jerry instructed. “Keep your eyes open and stay alert.”
“I should go too,” said the Professor.
“Wait here until we know everything is safe,” instructed Jerry. The Professor nodded acceptance.
Jerry and Johnny got into chest waders and stepped down off the back of the boat into the water which went up to their bellies. The current was light, and it didn’t appear they were having any difficulty walking in it. They slowly made their way to the steps of what had been the Professor's room and went inside.
“Wow! Look at that,” the Professor exclaimed from the front of the boat. The rain had finally stopped, and Anne saw two dinosaurs standing in the water up ahead of them about 300 yards away. The professor picked up a pair of binoculars to get a better view.
“These are first dinosaurs that I’ve seen other than the pterodactyls,” he explained.
These stood upright like the freddies, but looked quite different. These were a smaller, weighing maybe a ton and their snouts were flat like a duckbill, but longer and narrower. Their most pronounced feature though was a huge sail-like fin on the back. One of the two dipped its head down into the water with dazzling quickness and came up with a huge fish in his mouth.
“I think these are related to the Spinosaurus,” the Professor exclaimed.
Anne called into the inn, “Hey guys, don't take too long in there. There are a couple of mean-looking dinos not too far from here and I think they may be wondering if we are an option on the menu.”
“I am going to be right there to help put it in its case. Don’t move it without me,” the Professor yelled to the guys. “Can one of you help me into these waders?” he then asked of Anne and Steve.
“Stay on the boat,” answered Jerry as he came out the door. “It isn't in here. It's gone.”
“What do you mean gone?” the Professor asked.
“I was there when we pulled you out. The device was sitting up on a table. That table is still above the water, but there is nothing on it. We checked all over the floor area in case it got knocked onto the floor someho
w. We checked out the closet and the bathroom as well. Nothing.”
“Did we mix up the rooms? Maybe it's in different room,” puzzled the Professor.
“This is the right room. I am sure of it,” confirmed Jerry.
Anne felt her raised hopes now dashed by the news. She and Steve watched the sail-backed dinosaurs while Jerry and Johnny made their way back towards the boat. Their progress was slow though the water, but Jerry finally made it to the boat and pulled himself up onto the deck. Johnny was a couple of paces behind him. Suddenly, another sail-back dinosaur came charging at them from behind. This one was bigger than the distant pair. It was on par with the bigger rexes that they had come across. They had been too busy watching the distant ones to notice this one stalk them from around the corner of the inn behind them. It reached Johnny and snapped down with jaws full of sharp pointed teeth. It picked him up while Johnny flailed his arms and legs and screamed in agony. Steve fired his shotgun several times into its side from a couple of yards away, but this did not seem to have any effect. Jerry picked up his shotgun from the back corner of the boat and aimed at its head and when the dinosaur turned its head, he fired. The dinosaur's eye exploded, and it loosened its grip on Johnny. He went sailing through the air and into the water. The dinosaur went running away with giant strides from them while emitting a loud high-pitched screech of agony, causing everyone in the boat to cover their ears.
Anne turned her head, horrified to see Johnny sinking under the street's water. She didn’t hesitate. Dropping her gun, she dove over the side of the boat after him. After a couple of quick strokes, she reached him and pulled him to the surface as she was standing in waist deep water. There was a great resistance as she tried to bring him up as if something had a hold of him. Finally, she got his head above the water, but it was difficult to hold him there.
Meanwhile, Jerry made his way over in his waders. “We got to get him out of his waders,” he said. “They are filled with water and the weight is pulling him down.”
They unfastened the shoulder straps of the waders, and after they pulled Johnny out of them, the waders sunk down to the bottom. Between the two of them, they carried a slumping Johnny back to the boat. After helping them get Johnny aboard, Steve jumped back to the controls and quickly got them speeding back down Main Street the way that they came.
Jerry unsnapped his waders while Anne shivered from the freezing cold water soaked through her clothes. Johnny was probably freezing as well as he lay moaning in the bottom of the boat.
“Forget modesty, Anne. You are going to go into hypothermia if don't get out of those wet clothes. Here put this on.” He whipped off his coat and tossed it to Anne. He turned to Steve and the Professor. “Give me your coats, quick!” They obliged. He tore Johnny's clothes off, leaving him the dignity of his boxers, and then covered him with the coats. Meanwhile, Anne turned her back to the men and stripped down to her panties and bra before donning the coat and huddled down to cover as much of her body as she could. Jerry was examining Johnny's wounds as Anne sidled over next to Johnny.
“How does he look?” Anne asked, shivering.
“There are two deep puncture wounds. He's losing blood,” Jerry answered while taking off his shirt and tearing it in two. He balled up each half, pressed them against the two deep puncture wounds and held them. “You know he will be all right though as soon as Karen has a look at him,” he said looking over at Anne.
Anne heard the worry in his voice and saw it in his eyes and became more frightened.
“There is a radio in my coat pocket. Take it out and get a hold of Karen or Joe. Tell them what happened. Make sure that Karen is at the dock when we arrive. Ask them to bring blankets to the boat dock and have a warm fire ready for you.”
Anne reached into the pocket of the jacket she had on and found the radio. She figured out how to turn it on and sent the message as instructed. Steve throttled the motor to max and said it would between ten and fifteen minutes to get back to the island. Anne shivered in the brisk wind created by their speed and kept a close watch on Johnny.
“Keep moving around as much as you can. Rub your arms; tap your feet; whatever you can do. It will help warm you up a little,” Jerry advised.
When they got to the dock, there were a dozen people, including Karen and Joe, waiting for them. Joe threw a thick blanket over Anne while Karen went to look at Johnny. Karen took over holding the bloody rags that were once Jerry's shirt. Blankets were handed to Jerry and the other guys. Four big guys scrambled onto the boat and each grabbed one of Johnny's arms or legs.
“Easy with him,” Karen instructed. She held the rags tight against Johnny as he was carried to a van that was backed up to the dock. Karen went in the van with the four guys, and the van drove away.
“Get in the truck. It's been warming with the heater on,” Joe advised. Anne got in while the other guys got into the back, and then Joe drove them quickly to where a big campfire was blazing. They all got out and got as close to the fire as they could withstand.
“The device wasn't there,” Jerry announced.
“Really?” That was all that Joe said before leaving the campfire and heading off, not even waiting for an answer. It was starting to get dark and Joe quickly disappeared into the blackness.
Anne was left wondering how Johnny was doing. She blamed herself and the rest of the crew on the boat for not watching behind themselves. How could she have been so careless? After she stopped shivering and felt that she was warming up, she left the fire and went to her camper. She got into a clean set of dry clothes and then went looking for where they had taken Johnny. She was guessing that they had taken him up to the Headquarters Building. She knew that she was right when she saw lights coming from a window up that way. The only other lights on the island were the campfires and the solar powered garden lanterns.
It was not like a hospital where she would have been waiting in a lobby. She went right up to the door where she knew they were on the other side of, and she listened to the voices of Karen, June and Ellie. There was nothing to stop her from going through the door, except her sensibility that such an action would be a disturbance to Karen. She listened and hung onto every comment made. Karen swore more than once and each time it made Anne's heart race. It could not be going well. Was he going to die? He can't die now, she told herself. If he did, it would be her fault. “Lord, I know I don't pray to you as much as I should. But I don't ask you for much very either. I am asking you tonight to please spare him,” she quietly prayed. After what seemed an eternity, Karen came through the door.
“How is he?” Anne anxiously asked.
Karen seemed surprised that anyone was there. “Oh! Hi, Anne. It is Anne, right?”
“Yeah, I'm Anne.”
“My husband has told me so much about you. You were such a big help with getting our stuff moved. I would like to thank you for that.”
“Oh, you're welcome. Is Johnny going to be OK?”
“I think that he will be fine. He came through remarkably well. He was very lucky. There were two deep puncture wounds, but they didn't hit any vital organs. He lost quite a bit of blood, but has not gone into shock, and should be able to recover from the blood loss. Although I can't be sure, I think that I was able to stop all the bleeding. I will be back in about an hour and June will monitor him until then, making sure that his pressure doesn't drop.”
“I heard you swearing in there. I thought that maybe it wasn't going well.”
“I am sorry I didn't know anyone was out here. You weren't supposed to hear that. I was just frustrated with the conditions. I am missing so many things that I should have to be able to be a good doctor. Christ, I don't even have any Novocain to numb the pain. He is still unconscious, but I think that he is doing remarkably well, considering what has happened to him. I am going to go and check on the Professor and another patient and make sure they are all right and then I am going to grab a bite to eat. As I said before, June will be here to keep an eye on him a
nd I will come back to check on him in an hour to an hour and a half.”
“Thanks, doctor. Is it OK if I peek in on him?”
“Sure! That would be fine,” Karen agreed before she left.
Anne went in to see for herself how Johnny looked. Johnny had become special to her. After her sorrow in being separated from her parents, she had confided in Johnny about her feelings of loss and her worries about her parents – about the fact that her parents must be devastated after losing everything. Their daughter was missing; the farm and house would be gone in their world. About how she was helpless to let them know that she was all right. He had listened to her and comforted her. She shared feelings with him that she couldn't share with anyone else, not even her aunt. If she lost Johnny, she would be all alone again, and she didn't know if she could bear that. But now Johnny just lay there. He breathed steadily, but was not conscious. All she could do was wait and pray.
*****
After Karen went to the professor, she went to check on Jim Durst. His temperature was still a little high, but had come down from earlier in the day. He did not look good. His eyes had dark circles and his skin looked pale.
“Have you been getting the rest that I ordered” asked Karen.
“Sorry. Doc. I can’t seem to sleep lately.”
“Are you suffering from pain?”
“That’s not it.”
“What is the problem then?” asked Karen. Mr. Durst looked the other direction silently.
“I can’t help if I don’t know the problem.”
“I… I…” he stuttered.
“Yes?”
“I… I have a confession to make.”
“Should I go get a priest?”
“No. No.”
“What do you want me to do then?”
“Just sit there a minute.” Mr. Durst took in a deep breath and let it out. “I have a confession to make,” he repeated himself. “Your husband…” He paused.