30th Century: Escape (30th Century Trilogy Book 1)

by Mark Kingston Levin

  “Jules was close friends with your father for many years, and that is why my husband was selected as your guardian, even though you have an uncle in Montreal. Your father loved these islands and wanted you to be able to stay if you chose. He also hoped you’d have developed his love of travel and might wish to see the world.

  “He was also a very generous and charitable man. He helped our families and many others with investments. You won’t have to worry about money, dear. Not for a very long time.” Eeva patted her on the arm with a chuckle. “The money Jules manages came from your mother, although the trust has both names. Your uncle’s family manages an even larger real estate company. Your mother’s money came from your mother’s inheritance in technology.”

  “Thank you!” Jennifer said. Eeva was helping her form a picture of the strangers who were her alleged parents and their lives.

  Jennifer wondered if she should feel guilty for misleading these people. Yet it appeared that both the young woman they mistook her for and the girl’s parents were long gone so she wasn’t truly harming anyone. This mother left an enormous estate; to inhabit the life of a trust-fund princess would require her to spend money the way the real Jennifer Heros would. Crossing nine hundred years of inflation and economic and monetary changes made the value of objects and services surreal anyway. She could act wealthy—she’d done so before while undercover.

  They went shopping for everything Jennifer needed for the trip to the Marquesas. Still, Jennifer made sure not to buy too much. She’d noticed Marty and the students all packed lightly in one duffle bag to avoid adding too much weight to the plane. She only bought enough to fill a duffel bag about the size of Alice’s.

  Eeva drove Jennifer back to her hotel once they were done shopping. She waved off Jennifer’s thanks with a cheery grin.

  Jennifer sat on her bed, trying to wrap her mind around the day’s events.

  Luck, she decided, was a strange thing. She didn’t know how long she could keep up the charade of being twenty-one. She was forty-four years old no matter how young she looked now. She’d lived through combat, conflict, and spent most of her years in deep cover before being elected leader of the SS. What did she know of peace or joy? What did she know of days like this where one did nothing but eat and shop and laugh?

  Jennifer would have to be very good at pretending. She was used to pretending in her undercover career. People hadn’t changed very much. At least, she didn’t think so.

  After a light dinner chatting with Alice and Lacy, telling them of her whirlwind day, she fell asleep thinking her own dazed thoughts.

  The next morning, J.B. Bernard approached Jennifer after she sat down to have breakfast with Marty and his crew.

  “I have some news,” J.B. said. “First, here is a temporary passport. Second, we have applied for a visa for you through the consulate in Honolulu. We paid a higher fee to expedite it so your student visa will be cleared in a few days. Your father purchased a condominium on the thirteenth floor at the Ilikai in Waikiki decades ago, which gives you an anchor address there. My team of forensic experts examined your survival kit and found that it was made by a Canadian company in Montreal. This could have come off your family’s yacht, which was also made in Canada. Therefore, we have launched a search sponsored by the French government.”

  “Good news,” Marty said.

  “Thank you,” Jennifer said, clutching the papers. She felt stunned but happy at the same time. Who was this family? She needed to get a clear picture of this Jenny fast and figure out who she was expected to be.

  “We must say Aloha to Jennifer after breakfast,” Marty told J.B. after he sat down next to them. “We have a schedule to keep. Thank you, Mr. Bernard, for all your assistance. I can leave now knowing that Jennifer is in good hands. I am very impressed with the officials in Tahiti. I’m certain the U.S. could not respond any faster. I will have many good things to tell Americans about our wonderful experience in Tahiti and French Polynesia.”

  “Thank you for kind words, Marty,” J.B. said.

  Eeva and Jules arrived as the two men spoke. They greeted everyone before sitting down and questioning J.B. about the search for Jennifer’s parents.

  “We have two planes flying over the atolls in the area within a thousand-mile radius around the Moruroa atoll,” J.B. told them. “These two aerial photography planes are funded by private funds and not the government. I will see that the private results are coordinated immediately with the French Government.” J.B. stayed for a time, answering their other questions about the search, before excusing himself.

  All too soon the meal ended and Jennifer knew she would have to say goodbye to Marty and her new friends. She wanted to make it quick so there would be no time to think.

  “Aloha,” she said, hugging each crewmember. She lingered with Alice and Lacy. She’d felt a bond form in what little time she’d spent with the women.

  Marty was the last to say goodbye. Jennifer hugged him tightly, already missing the sight of his face in the morning.

  “We’ll miss you,” Marty told her. “Send us a text message if you have any problems. You must send these messages through J. B., as he has the satellite communication system to reach us. His email is on his card.” Marty handed a small card to Jennifer.

  “Thank you, Marty.” She forced a smile to halt her lip trembling.

  All too soon Jennifer was alone with Jules and Eeva. She watched the taxis take her friends away, wishing she was in one of them.

  CHAPTER 14

  Trip to Marquesas

  Jennifer turned to her new hosts and squared her shoulders. “Eeva, thank you for coming to see me. I want to thank you for helping me yesterday. I feel so much better now that I have clothes, personal effects, and luggage.”

  “No need to thank me. I enjoyed spending time with you. It takes a strong woman to survive what you have been through,” Eeva said. “With the shopping done we can do tourist things. I’d love to show you some local sights. My daughter, Erita, is going to join us after lunch for a jaunt on the water.”

  “She loves sailing,” Jules said. “She’s a little older than you but not too much. We thought you might enjoy meeting her and seeing more of the harbor area.”

  “I would love that,” Jennifer said.

  “She’s performing after at Le Meridien’s famous Le Carré,” Eeva said. “So we’ll make a whole day of it.”

  “Sounds wonderful to me.”

  Jennifer looked forward to meeting more people, to better assimilate to the culture. Being included into a family unit was unbelievable luck; adapting her behavior would be even easier by observing their interactions. She felt a high akin to gaining a superpower with the boost this would give her cover.

  “I have tickets for us tomorrow to visit Nuku Hiva, the island where your parents lived for over twenty years. Your parents’ house is rented by a French artist; the money goes to your estate. Jean-Paul is away visiting France in the summer. We have the key. He has told us we can bring you to look around and see if that will help your memories.”

  “Thank you, Eeva—you are too kind to me,” Jennifer said. “I do not know how I can ever repay you.” Seeing Jenny Heros’ home would help her cement the disguise.

  “It is nothing! Jules and I enjoy helping others,” Eeva told her. “The flight is on Air Tahiti and leaves early in the morning. We will pick you up at five-thirty.”

  “I will be waiting in the lobby,” Jennifer said.

  The couple left and Jennifer returned to her room to go through the iPad Marty had left for her. It was just something to occupy her mind. She found the book Eeva had recommended about French-Polynesian Archeology and found herself becoming engrossed in its contents.

  It was clear that current dating techniques now placed the earliest migration to the eastern Pacific islands to the Marquesas, not Tahiti. This was hard to explain based on the winds and current. If the people came from Samoa, Tonga or Fiji, which was the predominant theory, how did that f
it into Thor Heyerdahl’s theory that the Polynesians may have come from the Americas by raft much earlier? Jennifer dipped further into Heyerdahl’s book, Kon-Tiki.

  Heyerdahl believed that people from South America could have settled Polynesia in pre-Columbian times, although most anthropologists as of 2010 had concluded they did not. Now this book said clear evidence lay in genetic South American DNA in Polynesia but also Polynesia DNA in a tribe from Eastern Brazil, which supported Heyerdahl’s main theory. His reason for the voyage was to demonstrate that using only technologies available at the time, he could find no technical reasons to prevent people of the time from having made this journey. For safety reasons, the Kon-Tiki carried some modern equipment, such as a radio, charts, sextant, and metal. Heyerdahl argued these items were not important to the fact that he had proven the raft itself did make the journey without modern technologies.

  It hit her that maybe both theories were correct. The question was who was first? Maybe she could get a topic for another PhD out of this book and trip.

  What if the Marquesas were first and they interacted with the people from Asia later in Tahiti or elsewhere? There should be some elements of the earliest civilization. Could they be found? Where to look for them? If the first trips were made 10,000 to 20,000 years before, the ocean would be three hundred feet lower and their remnants might be found in what were now undersea caves or Blue Holes. The caves would have been carved out during the glacial period when humans crossed over the Bering Strait from Asia to North America. They may have crossed earlier than originally thought. This evidence could also be underwater in caves or buried in the underwater muds, as these people may have been tied to the sea for food. Eating shellfish was one of the easiest ways to survive, as picking up a clam or conch required no technology. These creatures could be easily over-harvested in the shallows; so the prehistoric populations might eventually build rafts like she had to move things to a new or better harvesting area. Was that where the expression “all conked out” came from?

  Her mind spun as she read through the book. Jennifer looked up at the clock and saw that it was after ten. She had missed dinner. She turned out the light and went to sleep thinking of an exciting new idea for her research.

  She dreamed about her lover that night. They were on their rented catamaran; a boat Jennifer had adored. A large yacht nearly ran them over. She wasn’t frightened. She and Zexton held each other as the waves crashed around them.

  “This wasn’t an accident,” he said. “You have to be careful. I won’t always be here for you.”

  “Don’t say that.” Jennifer raised her lips to kiss him.

  He pulled away. She couldn’t see his face anymore.

  “Be careful,” he whispered.

  She woke up, sitting straight in the bed. Jennifer touched her lips as though she could still feel his kiss.

  They’d been different people after that trip. Both reborn and disguised under assumed names. Yet they’d done it all together, allowed to go undercover as a honeymooning couple. She felt married to Zexton after that most enjoyable, yet at the time terrifying, mission.

  She looked at the clock and saw four-thirty blinking back at her. She sighed and went to shower. Soon she’d have to leave to catch that plane.

  * * *

  Jennifer was still thinking about her dream and the ideas she’d had the night before when Eeva drove up.

  She smiled at the woman. “I loved that book, Eeva! It gave me a lot of great ideas.”

  “I am glad you enjoyed it!” Eeva said.

  Jennifer looked at Jules with an abashed expression. She’d totally forgotten he was there. “I am sorry, Jules. Aloha!”

  “Bonjour, Jennifer. Comment vous portez-vous ce matin?” Jules asked. He shook his head. “I keep forgetting. Lacy told me to speak only English to better prepare you for school.”

  “Jules, that is up to you,” Jennifer said. “I know Lacy wants me to immerse myself in English but the people on Nuku Hiva will not speak English. They will speak their local dialect of Marquesan and French.”

  “Yes, we will speak French in Nuku Hiva, but we are not there yet,” Eeva countered. “We should practice English as much as possible.”

  They arrived at the airport, parked and waited in the lobby for their flight. Eeva showed the Air Tahiti ticket agent Jennifer’s temporary passport. He stamped her passport and smiled at the two ladies. Then Eeva and Jennifer took seats to wait to board the flight. Jules left to get some fresh fruit juice from a vendor he knew well in the airport. He came back with three leis around his neck and three glasses of freshly squeezed guava juice. “Aloha!” he said in greeting.

  “Try this guava juice, Jennifer!” Eeva prompted. “It is the best in the islands I have tasted so far.”

  After taking a sip, Jennifer said, “Yes, I love it!”

  Jules put a flower lei on Jennifer and another on Eeva, which left him with just one. He ushered the ladies to board the plane.

  After takeoff, Jules and Eeva slept. Jennifer studied using her iPad. She thought about her past in Hawaii, remembered her parents teaching her to ski when she was very young in Canada. The family spent three weeks every year at Mont Tremblant. She recalled how she’d had to learn to ski all over again from lack of practice. Her father had told her she had legs like a young colt. Those memories were real. Her life was real. Yet it was hard to counter this couple’s certainty that she was their long lost friend Jennifer and not herself.

  After two and a half hours, the flight attendant asked if she could serve breakfast.

  “Yes,” Jennifer said, “I will wake up Jules and Eeva when the food arrives.”

  A few minutes later, the food cart arrived. “Do you want coffee or tea?”

  Jennifer woke up Eeva and asked her if she wanted breakfast.

  “Yes of course,” Eeva said, yawning.

  “Please wake up Jules,” Jennifer said.

  “It is now nine a.m.,” the flight attendant informed them. “We will be descending in about thirty-five minutes so this is your last chance for breakfast.”

  “Bonjour, merci beaucoup,” Jules said.

  After the breakfast was cleared they talked about their plans for the morning. Jules said, “We have a rental SUV waiting and we must drive a long way to get to the Keikahanui Lodge, which is in Taiohae, the main town. The airport is on the north shore.”

  Jennifer asked, “How long will it take us to get to the hotel?”

  “There is much to see along the way,” Jules told her. “We wanted to show you some of the archeological sites, if you felt you would not be too tired today. Or would you rather see them tomorrow when you are fresh?”

  “I am not sure; how long will it take?”

  “It can take one and a half hours to drive to the hotel from Yvonne’s after lunch,” he said. “So if we stop for a few photos that will add a half an hour.”

  Eeva added, “We have reservations at Yvonne’s at noon. It is near Hatiheu on the north coast. There are some archeological sites nearby; seeing them in detail will take many hours. We should come back tomorrow for those.”

  She took one last sip of coffee, then continued. “Later, we have a dinner meeting with Amura Kimitete. She will come to eat with us at seven p.m. Her sister is the deputy mayor and she knows much about the archeology and culture activities of this area. So, after she tells us what are the best things to see and what time events happen, we will be better able to plan.”

  Jules said, “I want to take Jennifer to her former home to see if that will jog her memory at all, but we do not need to rush that. We can visit maybe the day after tomorrow if that is okay.”

  “Please do not worry about me, I am flexible,” Jennifer said.

  The captain’s voice came from overhead. “We will be landing in about twenty minutes; you will have a view of the island on the left side of the aircraft as we turn south for landing.”

  The car rental agent met them at the airport. Jimmy Pakoko, a friendly nativ
e, told them about an upcoming native cultural festival in July in Taiohae. As they all got into his car, he spoke about the history of diseases that had decimated his people when explorers and missionaries from Europe found the islands beginning in the 1500s. By the turn of the twentieth century, only four thousand or so Marquesan natives still lived, although their numbers had increased since. Jennifer empathized with him; her people too were a minority now among the Syndos and faced extermination. She swallowed, thinking of Kylie and the mission to reverse that.

  He took them offsite to a Land Cruiser. “This four by four has everything you will need,” Jimmy said.

  Eeva spoke to him for a few seconds in the liquid tones Jennifer had come to know came from the Marquesan dialect.

  Eeva then walked up to her husband and asked, “Jules, do you want to drive?”

  “Yes, I will start, if you do not mind, but you can drive after lunch for a while if you like.”

  Eeva insisted Jennifer sit in front so she agreed for a while. They loaded the bags in the back before taking some quick snapshots with Jimmy and the quaint grass shack that served as his office.

  Jules looked at the map and then handed it to Jennifer.

  “Jennifer, can you please navigate for me?”

  “Sure.” Jennifer scanned the map to find their current location.

  “We can stop anywhere you want to stop,” Eeva said.

  “The current plan is lunch at Chez Yvonne, which is at Hatiheu,” Jules said, pointing to the top of the map.

  “That sounds great.”

  “Look!” Eeva pointed to the coast. “I would like to document the trip with photos for Jules’ book. Please stop a moment so I can get this shot.”

  Jules pulled over, letting Eeva retrieve her Nikon. She extended the telephoto lens and snapped several photos. Eeva showed Jennifer the picture she’d taken of an Imperial Pigeon, which had a white head and neck with a light blue body and tail feathers.

  “Beautiful!” Jennifer said. “I did not see this bird where you pointed but the picture is amazingly close up.”