Twilight Earth

by Ben Winston

  As Ben helped Tom stand up, Tom asked. "When are you and Deirdre leaving?"

  "In a little bit. We're picking Jorga up around four at her place," Ben replied.

  "You should ask Jorga to move in here, Ben. You'll need each other more often now. Besides, it would be better to have all of you in one place," Tom said.

  "I'll talk to her about it Dad," Ben said.

  "Be sure to do it tonight," Tom said, it seemed to Ben he was getting weaker.

  "The drugs are really doing a number on you tonight, aren't they?" Ben asked.

  Tom nodded. "It's not just the drugs Ben. This grenade in my head is pressing on a lot of stuff and that isn't helping either." His speech was getting very slurred.

  Ben got him to his room, got him in bed and made sure he was comfortable.

  "Make... sure... I can get... to... pills...... please," Tom said, obviously in pain. His nose was starting to bleed as well.

  "I will, Dad. Hang on, your nose is bleeding, I need to get a washcloth," Ben said and ran to his bathroom.

  When he got back, Tom was motionless and had stopped breathing. Ben checked for a pulse and found none. Tom Bedouin, Ben's father and best friend, was gone.

  Bedouin Residence

  Fulton's Prairie, Missouri

  United States

  Ben took a moment to let himself cry. He took out his cell phone and called his girlfriend.

  "Hey Ben, has something changed?" Jorga asked as she answered the phone.

  "Dad just passed away, Jorgie. I'm sorry, but I think I need to cancel our date tonight. Do you think you and your Dad could come over? I'm supposed to call him as well as Doctor Lyam," Ben replied sadly. Jorga's Dad was a Deputy Sheriff for their county, and Dr. Jon Lyam was not only a family friend, but also the family doctor.

  "I'm so sorry, hon. Yeah, I'll get Daddy and come over as soon as we can. How are Deirdre and Kaitlin holding up?" Jorga asked.

  "I haven't told them yet. Kait and Marcy already left for the mall and Deirdre is still getting ready for our date. I was talking to him when he got a nosebleed, when I got back with a washcloth he was gone," Ben replied. It was clear to Jorga that Ben was only barely holding it together.

  "Okay Ben. Go tell Deirdre before you call Doctor Lyam. I'll call Marcy and Kaitlin and have them come home. Help is on the way baby, just hold it together for a while longer," Jorga said.

  "Okay, I'll do that. Thank you Jorga. I'll see you in a few minutes," he replied and hung up the phone. It was a sign of how upset he was that he hadn't told her he loved her. He got up woodenly and went to Deirdre's room.

  She answered the door in a robe, but it was clear she had been getting ready to go out. "Ben? What's wrong?"

  He hugged her and started crying. "Dad's gone. He just died."

  "How? He wasn't going to take the pills until later!" Deirdre asked as tears began forming in her eyes.

  "His nose started bleeding and that was it. He didn't take any pills," Ben said between sobs. He fought hard and managed to pull himself back together. "I've already called Jorga and canceled our date tonight. I asked her to come over and bring her Dad. I still need to call Doctor Lyam," Ben said, as he pulled away from the woman slightly. She was still hanging onto him and put her forehead against his chest.

  "What about Kaitlin and Marcy?" Deirdre asked.

  "Jorga said she'd call Marcy and have them come home. I think we're going to have a house full of people pretty quickly," Ben replied.

  Deirdre nodded and leaned back. "I'll get some clothes on and come out to help. After you call the doctor, could you put on a pot of coffee?"

  "Yeah, I will," Ben replied and left the room.

  After calling Doctor Lyam, who expressed his condolences and replied he would be over in a few minutes, Ben made a fresh pot of coffee and set out plenty of mugs. Just as he was finishing, Jorga arrived.

  "Dad said he would be over here as soon as he could. He'll bring an ambulance and the needed paperwork. Did you call Doctor Lyam?" The young woman asked.

  Ben nodded like he was on autopilot. Jorga realized he probably was and moved to hold him in her arms. Tom Bedouin had been a very well respected and influential man in their small city. Jorga knew he had a lot of business contacts since he owned a very successful investment firm. He had also been very active in the community and had been a major motivator on any project that helped to improve the lives of the people. She was also one of the few people that knew that he had been the money behind a reclamation project that had taken two old, abandoned grain storage facilities, as well as an old brewery and turned them into the town's newest, and largest park. She knew that the entire town would feel his loss.

  "Okay, is Deirdre still in her room?" she asked letting him go for the moment.

  Again, Ben only nodded. "She's taking it pretty hard, I..." he paused to keep from crying again. ”I guess I am too."

  Jorga nodded. "I would be surprised if you weren't, love. Why don't you go put some sweats or something on? I'll go check on Deirdre. I'll order dinner even though I'm sure none of you will feel much like eating."

  "Okay, thank you Jorga," Ben replied and walked to his room. He was definitely on autopilot.

  When Ben returned to the living room, he was wearing jeans and a tee shirt. Jorga and Deirdre were also in the living room, and Deirdre was dressed in sweats and a tank top. Jorga was wearing a pair of shorts and a tank top. Ben briefly wondered how she had changed clothes, but before he asked, the doorbell rang.

  Ben answered the door to Jorga's father and the two paramedics behind him. "Deputy Lowe, thanks for coming," Ben said and stepped aside.

  "I'm really sorry to hear about your father, Ben," Jorga's father, Bill Lowe, replied. "Have you called Doc Lyam yet?"

  Ben nodded. "Yeah, shortly after I called Jorga. He said he'd be over in a few minutes, so he should be here any time. While you wait, would any of you like a cup of coffee?"

  One of the ladies had carried the pot and cups out to the living room before Ben came back from his room.

  "Thank you Ben, I will, but I do need to see the body first," Bill replied, sadly.

  "Of course, follow me," Ben replied and looked at Jorga, who was holding a crying Deirdre. "Could you get these gentlemen some coffee, please?"

  She nodded at him as Ben led her father back to Tom's room. "Your father was a good man, Ben. One of the few truly good men left. He'll be sorely missed."

  "Thank you Sir, I know he had a lot of friends around town. Which reminds me that I need to call Bob Gilly and let him know as well. Dad made sure I knew what to do when he passed," Ben said sadly.

  Bill nodded. "That's probably a good idea. Bob will be a good person to handle all the legal stuff that comes with this." Bill once again checked for a pulse and verified that Tom was indeed deceased. Ben saw him glance at the pills on the nightstand and frown.

  "I know what you’re thinking, Sir. No, he didn't get the chance to take them. I will tell you that he had planned on it; the pain had gotten so bad and he didn't want to go into hospice, but he... died before he could follow through with it." Ben explained.

  Bill nodded. "I understand. I think we can leave that part out of the official report. Once Doc Lyam gets here and does his thing, I'll have the EMT's transport him to the morgue."

  "He had an inoperable brain tumor, Bill," Doctor Jon Lyam said from the door behind Ben. "I thought he might have been planning something, but couldn't have been sure." He looked at Ben. "Were you with him at the end, Ben?"

  Ben nodded. "We were talking in his den when he said he'd lost his sight again. He asked me to help him in here. I did and got him in bed. He tried to ask me to make sure he could get to his pills when his nose started bleeding. I went to get a washcloth and when I got back, he was gone."

  Doc Lyam nodded. "That's not surprising considering his circumstances. He most likely died of an aneurysm, but I'll have to do a postmortem to be certain. I really don't feel that's necessary in this case though." />
  Bill nodded. "Okay, I have the paperwork downstairs Doc. Do you want him sent to the morgue or County General?"

  "County General please, I know he had arrangements made with a funeral home, and they are to pick him up from there," Jon replied.

  "Okay, let's go back to the living room and we can let the EMTs do their work," Bill replied.

  When the three men returned to the living room, Bill took the paramedics aside and spoke to them briefly. They nodded and left to get their equipment. Bill and Jon sat down with the family, which now included a heavily crying Kaitlin being held by an also crying Marcy.

  "This'll only take us a few moments, Ben. Why don't you call Mr. Gilly to let him know of Tom's passing," Bill suggested sadly.

  Ben nodded and went to Tom's den to get the number. While he was in there, he called Bob Gilly, Tom's best friend and personal attorney.

  "Good evening, Tom. What do you need help with?" The man asked, pleasantly.

  "Mr. Gilly, this is Ben. I'm afraid my father passed away a little while ago," Ben said.

  "Oh damn! I'm so very sorry, Ben. Is there anything I can do for you? Do any of you need anything?" Bob replied. The man truly had been Tom's friend.

  "I don't think so, Sir. Both Doctor Lyam and Deputy Lowe are here right now, Deputy Lowe brought two paramedics with him to take the body," Ben replied.

  "Okay, can you make sure they take him to County General? Tom had planned for this and the funeral home will pick up his body from there," Bob replied.

  "I'm pretty sure that's where Doc Lyam told them to take him."

  Bob sighed. "Good, it's not really a big deal, since they could get him from where ever he gets sent to, but that was the plan. I'll start on the legal work right away. There is a Will, but your father also left pretty explicit instructions for you for when he passed. I'll wait a few days before I bring the Will over to read it. I'll also need your signature on a few things. However, until then, if any of you need anything; and I mean anything, let me know and I'll try to make it happen. Okay?"

  "Okay, Mr. Gilly. We'll call you," Ben said. He was starting to lose it again; he could feel it.

  "All right, please ask Deputy Lowe to give me a call when he finishes with you folks. I'll check on you guys in a couple of days. Thank you for calling me, Ben. I'll miss your father too," Bob said as his voice cracked.

  "I know, Sir. I think we all will," Ben said not knowing how to reply.

  "Go be with Kaitlin and Deirdre, Ben. They need you and Jorga right now," Bob said. "I'll talk to you again tomorrow and please, call me Bob."

  "Thank you, Bob. I'll talk to you then," Ben said and hung up. He got up and returned to the living room.

  The night that Tom passed away, unknown to Ben and his family, another event took place. While studying a formation called the ‘pillars of heaven’ in the Eagle Nebula, the aging Hubble Space Telescope, or HST, detected a cloud of thousands of objects. They were still over two light years from Earth, and well below the plane of the ecliptic. It was thought that the rapidly moving debris field was the remnants of a destroyed planet possibly ejected from a nova or some other cataclysm. Based on the observed speed of the objects it was calculated that it would take twelve to fifteen years for the objects to get close enough to Earth for study.

  Scientists all over the world were very excited over this discovery since the projected path of the objects was going to be relatively close to Earth. Plans and funding requests for hundreds of projects were sent to almost every governing body on the planet.

  Fearing the general public would panic with fears of asteroid collisions, it was decided that further news of the pending event be kept from the public at large. The original report of the 'Wilcox-Locke Asteroid cluster' was downplayed in the media. Further information releases could be done later, when the trajectory of the objects was better known.

  However, the major governments of the planet had already begun working on disaster shelters as well as other preparations for a worst-case scenario. More funding and manpower was covertly diverted to the project, as well as an increase in private funding. The original plan for these shelters had been designed and implemented by Tom Bedouin. 'Operation Bedouin's Hope' had originally received less than enthusiastic support from the major powers of the world, citing the need for resources to be used elsewhere.

  Several of the smaller nations embraced the plan, and did all they could to assist the undertaking. At first it had been for purely selfish reasons, the jobs and income created by the construction efforts was very welcome to most third world countries. When the world's so-called super powers moved to block operations and construction in some countries, the UN had been called on to intervene. While negotiations happened in New York, the companies founded and funded primarily by Tom Bedouin covertly continued their tasks.

  Unknown to many of the governments of the world, Tom had done far more for the people of the planet than any of them would ever know.

  The next morning, Ben had Deirdre help him to open the family safe. Ben took out the manila envelope and sat at Tom’s desk. Everyone was still there, so he opened it.

  Inside were documents and powers of attorney. Ben set those aside for when Bob Gilly came over. He also found a typed letter, which he opened right away. He took a drink of coffee and began to read out loud.

  “Ben, if you’re reading this then I’m gone. If they’re not with you already, I ask that you gather the rest of the family, which to me includes Jorga Lowe and Marcy Carmichael. Please stop reading this if they are not here too.

  “I’ve tried to keep this letter updated as often as I can, but my handwriting has become unreadable and it’s getting too difficult to look at the screen of the computer. However, every person here is a member of this family; in case all of you haven’t figured it out yet.

  “I’m going to break one of my own rules just this once because this is important. I don’t know if Sandra will allow it and I didn't get a chance to ask her, but if the girls agree; Marcy should live here with Kait. Though it may change from time to time, I feel that these two will always be together.

  “There’s plenty of money for you five to live the way you want, wherever you want. The corporation I formed years ago has grown far more rapidly than even I thought it would. However, even with all the boards of directors, in all the diverse subsidiaries we own, Ben will become the sole owner of the master corporation. I want you all to understand one very important thing; no matter whose name is on everything, you are all the owners.

  “Now, one other thing. If you dig very far into the business, you’ll find that huge amounts of money are being pumped into a very hush-hush project. Please leave it alone and let it run. At the first of the year, you’ll receive a file outlining the entire project. Once you’ve read the whole file, I would ask that you consider just letting it continue as is. I've made lots of notes in it as to what I'm trying to accomplish and what I hope to have happen. You’ll understand better once you read the file.

  “I should also warn you that shortly after I pass, one of a myriad of federal agencies will attempt to seize all our assets and confiscate all my old stuff here in the house. Bob Gilly will take care of my computer, which is where the information is that the agencies want. Don’t worry about the loss of data, it’s all backed-up in a secret, ultra-secure place. Bob can make sure you regain access to it once the smoke clears from my death and you read that file I mentioned before. Just let Bob do his thing in my study and everything else will be handled. By the way, you don’t have to allow anyone onto our property no matter who they are. When they show up with the warrant, Call Bob and tell them to leave. You won’t get into trouble.

  “One final thing; if any of you are approached by someone in a black suit and they tell you ‘stage one is now active’ please follow their instructions and trust them. They are trying to save your life.

  “I love all of you, your friend and father, Tom.”

  Ben took a minute to swallow the lu
mp in his throat and to try to regain control over his emotions. Jorga had tears in her eyes and was holding a softly crying Deirdre. Marcy was holding Kaitlin on her lap, and both young women were crying softly. After a few minutes, Ben sniffed, handed out tissues, and then took a seat by Jorga and Deirdre.

  “So, I guess we all need to talk about what we do now. Do we move after the funeral? Do we stay here for a while? What do you ladies think?” Ben asked.

  “I really don’t want to leave. I really like living here; this area is beautiful and there’s always something to do or see," Kaitlin said.

  “I honestly don’t care, as long as we’re together; that’s where I'll be,” Marcy said.

  Jorga nodded in agreement. “I agree; staying together is what’s important. I should mention that I made a commitment to my mom to help her with an experiment she’s been working on.”

  Ben looked at Deirdre. “You're pretty quiet, what do you think?”

  “I think we should stay here, at least for now. I would like to look for a new house for us. We’re starting a new life we should do it completely. Perhaps something in the country this time,” she replied.

  Kaitlin nodded. “If we’re as well off as Daddy said, maybe we could just have a house built.”

  “That’s a good idea, that way all of us could have a say in how it gets built,” Ben offered.

  By mostly silent agreement the family decided to put off further discussion on the subject until after the reading of the Will, and Tom’s funeral. None of them mentioned the strange instructions at the end of the message. They needed to deal with their grief first.

  Bedouin Residence

  Fulton's Prairie, Missouri

  United States

  Ben was amazed by the fact that there didn’t seem to be any adjustment period for Jorga and Marcy. Considering how much time Marcy spent at the house with Kaitlin, that really wasn’t a huge surprise. However, there was no adjustment for Jorga either. She belonged with them as part of their lives, that’s all there was to it.