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

by Mark Kingston Levin

  Jennifer and extended family said their goodbyes to Alice. Then Alice took a commercial flight back to Papeete to train pilots and be with Mike.

  * * *

  Marty had rented a Suburban so they all piled in and headed to Yvonne’s restaurant to meet Eeva and Jules. He drove along the same route that Jennifer had been on before with Jules and Eeva. Jennifer pointed out where she saved the dolphin and showed the video to the kids again.

  Yvonne met them as they drove up to her restaurant. She hugged Jennifer after everyone got out of the Suburban and approached her.

  “It has been too long!”

  “I was just here a few months ago,” Jennifer laughed.

  “Jules and Eeva are here, drinking at the bar,” Yvonne said.

  Jennifer, Marty, and the children followed her in. They sat down with Jules and Eeva, who told the children how happy they were that they weren’t hurt.

  “Thank you so much for hiring Zack,” Marty told them. “He was a great help.”

  Jules smiled. “We were happy that we could do something.”

  They finished their meal. Yvonne wouldn’t take any money, waiving them off with a grin.

  “Thank you for the most excellent meal,” Marty said.

  “Jennifer has already become famous for her rescue of the dolphin,” Yvonne noted. “And also because she was trapped for three days and the story was big news in the Marquesas as well as France and Tahiti. The discovery she made became another news story as the archeological site opened to the press just months ago in Tahiti Iti. Jennifer is local born and we’re all proud of her.”

  Jennifer cringed but kept the expected smile on her face. She wished she could remember growing up here in the islands.

  The family headed to the hotel with Jules and Eeva, winding around the very steep mountain roads. They had to go slowly but eventually they reached the Keikahanui Pearl Lodge. Jennifer saw the young woman she’d met on her earlier trip, Poe, in the lobby.

  She placed a hand on the girl’s arm and smiled. “I am so sorry it has been so long before I got back with you!”

  Poe smiled widely. “Aloha! My friend Jenny.”

  “You know me?” Jennifer’s heart beat fast at having another person from Jennifer Heros’ life to try to relate to.

  “My mother worked for your mother for many years and we played together as young children. I couldn’t place your face when you were here before but it came to me afterward. I don’t blame you for not remembering me either—it has been many years and we were much younger then.”

  Jennifer recited her cover story—head injury, amnesia, found stranded on an island—and felt like a sham with every word. Poe took it in stride, nodding in sympathy.

  “My mother is ill and she wishes to speak with you. Can you make time for her?” Poe asked.

  “Of course! How about tomorrow morning?”

  “Can you meet me at ten?”

  “Yes!”

  Jennifer felt horrible that she hadn’t remembered her promise to talk to Poe later. She wasn’t sure what she would say to the mother the next day. She couldn’t fabricate a story she’d never experienced. Jennifer felt she had been relying too heavily on her amnesia and had taken too much from these people who claimed to know her.

  As they were going to bed that night Jennifer told Marty she was going to meet with Poe and her mother, Tika. Marty agreed to take the kids sailing while she did so.

  The next morning Jennifer woke and kissed her way down Marty’s chest. She licked and sucked his penis until he came in her mouth. He reciprocated in pleasuring her when they took a shower. They ate breakfast with the kids before Jennifer had to leave.

  She handed Marty a radio. “I have another in my purse. Call me if you have any problem.” She knew Marty was a good captain but after the last time they had sailed, she wanted to make sure everyone was safe.

  She kissed Marty’s cheek and met with Poe in the lobby.

  “How sick is your mother?” Jennifer asked as she put her hand on Poe’s shoulder.

  “I don’t know what the illness is. She goes to her local doctor, who is actually a male nurse at the clinic.”

  “How far is your mother’s home?”

  “It’s about a thirty-minute walk.”

  “Let’s walk! It is a beautiful day,” Jennifer said.

  They walked from the hotel, past the Bay of Taiohae, which was filled with many boats. Most of them were sailing yachts from all over the world, but there were some fishing vessels, working boats, and tourist boats that were also moored in the harbor. As they walked, Jennifer gave Poe a brief history of her adventure on Moruroa and of the cave-in. Poe spoke of childhood memories that she’d shared with the other Jennifer, sure as everyone else that enough stories would make her remember her life before.

  Jennifer felt uncomfortable, as though she was wearing another woman’s skin. She couldn’t remember being the Jennifer that Poe remembered so fondly.

  Poe seemed to sense that Jennifer was tense and changed the subject, asking about Jennifer’s studies as they walked through the quaint town center.

  “What are you studying?” Jennifer asked.

  “I want to be a doctor and practice in Nuku Hiva. We have no local doctors here. I’m taking online undergraduate premed courses but no real labs.”

  They stopped at an older bungalow that looked freshly painted.

  “This is my home, please come in,” Poe said. “My mother is on the couch. She has had a cough for over two years and it keeps getting worse. Mom, this is Jennifer, Jennifer, this is Tika Ata, my mother.”

  “I’m sorry you cannot remember me because of your head injury,” Tika lamented in French. “Poe told me of your amnesia.” She coughed as she spoke.

  Jennifer liked her face. Her skin was remarkably smooth and she had kind dark eyes. But she was rail thin and pale from illness.

  “I’m sorry also,” Jennifer told her in French. “I came to the Marquesas to help remember but it didn’t work the first time. I’m here this time to learn. I want to learn about my parents, their love for the islands, and its people. Perhaps you can tell me something?”

  “Yes, I would be happy to tell you about your mother and father. Your mother was a strong and beautiful woman. She looked a lot like you. She had a very kind heart. She loved the Tiare flower and its fragrance. She promised me once that she and your father would help with Poe’s education once she grew up. Perhaps your guardians can find out if they set funds aside for her?”

  “I promise to ask them,” Jennifer said. Of all the uses she had found for the Heros’ money this one was the first to feel legitimate. If Colette Heros had promised to help them financially, it must be done. She stayed with Tika for a while, asking her questions about Tika’s time with her parents.

  She called Jules while sitting next to Tika on the couch, making good on her promise. They spoke in French too, like Tika and Jennifer had.

  “I think your father intended to start a fund for an education grant for those of Marquesan descent who wanted to study to become a doctor and practice in the Marquesas,” he said. “Let me get to the computer and get you more information. I’ll get back to you.”

  He called back as Tika was offering fruit and drink to Jennifer.

  “I think we can help Poe and her mother,” he reported.

  “Tika is sick with a serious cough and I want her flown to Honolulu for medical care,” Jennifer told him. “Can you arrange to help her get to Honolulu for treatment?”

  “Yes. Is Poe ready to enter U of H?”

  “I think she’s already taking courses online.”

  “Good. I’ll need your signature on several documents, but we can do it.”

  “Can you get Poe a student visa for staying in the USA so she can attend U of H?” Jennifer asked.

  “Yes, I’m sure we can.”

  “That way I can look after her and her mom. I don’t want them separated for long, as Poe knows some English but her mom only speak
s French and Marquesan.”

  “I understand. Colette was a person of great integrity, and if her employee was made promises, I’ll make sure they are fulfilled. Now that we know it is an obligation to the trust fund, which is worth some serious money, this will not create any problems.”

  “Thank you very much, Jules, see you soon,” Jennifer said as she put away her cell.

  “Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Jennifer!” Tika said, clutching her chest.

  “Tika Ata, thank you so much for bring this obligation to my attention. We’ll make it good, and if any other person from Nuku Hiva wants to study in college to be a doctor, please let me know, as I will try to help them.”

  “Thank you for being the person like your mother in the heart, not just looks,” Poe declared, hugging Jennifer. “How can I ever repay you?”

  “Study hard and do your best. If you become a doctor and practice in the Marquesas, you will be a model for every other person in the islands. That would be my best reward. It is what my mother would have wanted.”

  Helping Poe and Tika would also make them less suspicious of her. She wanted to help them but she also wanted to keep her cover. Jennifer felt guilty for the subterfuge but she had to survive.

  Tika told her, “I will write down my memories of André and Colette and you, my blonde angel.”

  “Thank you!”

  “I’ll make you this gift of my memories. It will take me some time, as I have many memories.”

  “It would be wonderful to have someone else’s memories of my parents,” Jennifer acknowledged. “I want to invite you tomorrow for dinner. Can you both come?”

  “Yes, I can, but Poe will be working,” Tika said.

  “Marty and I will pick you up at six then. When are you off next, Poe?”

  “Only Monday evenings.”

  “Can you join us for breakfast in our room tomorrow? I want to introduce you to Marty.”

  “What time?” Poe asked.

  “What time is good for you?”

  “How about eight?”

  “Great, we’ll see you then. The kids will eat in their rooms and I’ll ask Jules to come in after breakfast so you can meet him and Eeva. He has a Tahitian wife and a daughter who looks a bit like you and your mom.”

  She stayed to have lunch with Poe and Tika, a native meal of baked local fish and breadfruit.

  * * *

  Marty and the kids met Jennifer, Poe, and Tika in the lobby when they arrived at the hotel a few hours later. Jennifer kissed Poe on both cheeks and bid her goodbye before changing for dinner.

  When the group went downstairs again, Eeva and Jules were at the bar having a glass of wine and some hors d’oeuvres.

  The kids told Jennifer how Mason fell overboard trying to touch a dolphin and how Amanda rescued him. Amanda showed Jennifer the video, along with pictures of the whales and dolphins they saw that day.

  The days after in the Marquesas passed by so quickly. Jennifer was glad to have met Poe and Tika and didn’t want to leave. Jules would arrange for both women to meet her in Hawaii shortly. She knew that she’d made a difference in their lives, which made her feel good inside. But what about the rest of her team, locked away in the twenty-seventh century? Were they alive?

  What positive difference had she made in their lives?

  CHAPTER 24

  Return to Tahiti Iti

  Rain poured down in thick sheets as the Albatross landed at Tahiti’s Faa’a International Airport. Jean-Yves, along with Ian and Erita, met the plane as it pulled up to Gate 4. They drove with Marty and Jennifer to their hotel before having a late drink.

  Jennifer watched Erita’s mouth as she drank, remembering the taste of her lips. Even though she missed Erita, she was glad when the couple left. She wanted to be with Marty.

  She tore his shirt off and pounced on him in their room as soon as Jean-Yves and the couple left, riding Marty on the bed until they both came. They fell asleep, exhausted.

  Early the next morning, Jules called.

  “Hello, Jennifer! Can you meet us at the restaurant at seven thirty?”

  “We will see you there.”

  Jennifer got the kids packed and ready before they needed to be down to see Jules.

  “Time to eat, kids!” she said when it was time to go downstairs.

  The kids ran to the buffet and loaded up while Jennifer and Marty sat with Jules and Eeva drinking coffee. Once everyone had eaten, they headed out to catch a shuttle bus out to the now large and well-known archaeology project site.

  Jean-Yves, Shinji and Kyoko Matsubara waved from the front seat of the bus. Jennifer hugged Kyoko as soon as they all got off the bus at their destination.

  “I missed you!” Jennifer said.

  “Me too!” Kyoko hugged her back tightly.

  Shinji coughed into his hand and Jennifer pulled away. She bowed in a traditional Japanese style and said, “Yoroushiku onegaishimasu.” She hoped she had the accent right.

  He bowed in return. “It’s wonderful to see you again. Kyoko has told her entire class how a French archeologist taught her, when she thought they were dying, to explore the unknown.”

  “I am very flattered by Kyoko’s story.” Jennifer smiled. She turned to Kyoko. “Jean-Yves kept your arrival secret from me so I was so surprised and happy to see the both of you. Where is your mother?”

  The girl beamed. “She came with us but will be at the hotel with my two siblings. I am so happy my parents are back together! It is the most wonderful feeling. Life has become something special again. I will enter the University of Tokyo in the fall. I am so happy I could get accepted so soon. This is because of our six papers and big discovery.”

  Jean-Yves took charge of the group and divided the visitors into four teams. Each would be escorted by a faculty archeologist on the project. Jean-Yves took Marty and Jennifer with him but no one else. Each of the other teams had at least four people.

  Kyoko went with Shinji, Captain Bligh, and Ricky. Jules and Eeva went with another professor and his two children. Marty’s kids went with someone else. Jean-Yves told them their guide had come onto the project from the prestigious Ecole Polytechnique in the Paris area.

  Jean-Yves talked to Jennifer and Marty using scientific terms and Jennifer appreciated that he spoke to them both as colleagues. He showed them a paper that detailed every result in the area where Jennifer and Kyoko had made the discovery.

  “We have located seven skeletons so far,” he told them. “Royal Tahitian chiefs and family based on the artifacts they were buried with, and over one hundred and eighty-nine artifacts were identified. We have learned that one large male died from a blow to the head but we do not know if this was in battle or not.”

  Lunchtime arrived and the groups reassembled to eat lunch and talk. Jean-Yves planned to take Jennifer and Marty below into the lava tube while the other groups went sport fishing.

  “Can we go fishing later?” Jennifer asked.

  “You will have your chance tomorrow in the afternoon to fish with Ricky, Kyoko, Marty and Captain Bligh. Jules has hired another sport fishing vessel, the Zdenka, because our boat the Blue Hole is up for annual maintenance in Papeete.”

  “That sounds great.”

  “In the morning, Jennifer, Marty, Kyoko, Shinji, and I will go to a new area of discovery,” Jean-Yves said. “You will be the first American to see this area.”

  “Where’s this new location?” Marty asked.

  “It is not far but it is about one mile north of where we were today.”

  Jennifer and Kyoko were very excited. They almost vibrated with joy.

  “New discoveries are the greatest things in an archeologist life,” Jean-Yves said.

  “What are you looking for?” Jennifer asked.

  “I want you to be surprised so I will not tell you about this find until you see for yourselves tomorrow. We will all have dinner tonight at the Restaurant Paul Gauguin.”

  Jennifer was full of suspense about the new d
iscovery and she talked with Kyoko and Shinji, who would not speculate. Kyoko wanted to talk about Ricky and how their romance was going. Jennifer listened, giggling at Kyoko’s blushes.

  “May I have your attention?” Jean-Yves said Marty, Jennifer, Captain Bligh, Ricky, Kyoko, and Shinji. “I want to announce a visit to Fenua Aihere tomorrow. This area is wild and rarely visited by tourists. It is sometimes called Pari cliff area. You will see several natural wonders including archeological sites, waterfalls, undisturbed rainforest, caves and more.”

  “How long is the hike?”

  “The hike could take three to four hours. Fenua Aihere is an exotic, unspoiled part of the Tahiti Iti peninsula. You will get an awesome hike into the local rainforest where you will see petroglyphs, visit caves, and see sunny beaches as well as the Te Pari cliffs. After we complete the hike, we will be picked up at the pier. We will head back to the hotels in the Papeete area.”

  The day went by like a flash for Jennifer and Marty.

  Early the next morning, Kyoko and Jennifer finished breakfast just before the dark blue mini-bus pulled up that would take the group to the trailhead. Marty, Shinji, Ricky, and Captain Bligh joined them at the curb. Everyone was ready with their backpacks and hats. Jules and Eeva had the older kids, Geoffrey, Mark, and Amanda with them on the fishing trip. Ian and Erita had Mason and Allison with their kids at the hotel.

  They all climbed on the bus and sat down.

  “What could the new find be?” Kyoko asked as she pulled both hands close to her face.

  “I have no idea other than more artifacts and bones,” Jennifer said.

  “If more bones are the new discovery, then why the secret?” Kyoko asked.

  Jean-Yves was waiting for them at the trailhead. After a couple of miles of walking, they came to a building guarded by three French soldiers.

  “What is that building?” Shinji asked.

  “The French soldiers are guarding the discovery until they can get local police to take over,” Jean-Yves said.

  A French officer saluted Jean-Yves and he returned the salute. The officer turned around and opened the outer door, which led to another door that looked like a bank safe. The officer and Jean-Yves both put in different codes.