They could have been twins as it was difficult to tell them apart, except for their gender. They both wore a one-piece uniform that conformed tightly to their perfectly proportional Olympic athlete bodies. The female stuck out like a sore thumb.
Both were extremely graceful and portrayed a gentle, but firm expression. They could communicate both verbally and telepathically.
The female Warrior gave me a flirting smile and a suggestive wink when I looked at her. Her vibes suggested I might taste as good as a slice of grandma’s homemade hot apple pie. I sensed that we must know one another, but couldn’t quite put my finger on where or when. Could have been one of Tom’s memories since we share the same ones. I’m sensing we had a most enjoyable time together.
There were also two other beings on deck who resembled Monroe. They paid me no attention nor bothered with introductions, as they continued with their tasks.
I sat down on a chair that was the most comfortable chair I had ever sat on. It swirled around in a complete circle and relaxed every bone in my body. It wasn’t attached to the floor or a wall. It floated in mid-air. I couldn’t help to give it a swirl around and around, acting like a kid on a playground merry-go-round.
When I finally returned to reality, I observed I was sitting next to the time and date instrument panel. The upper half read 2019 (GMT) 10/12/2016, while the lower part displayed 2019 (GMT) 10/12/2228.
Well, I’ll be darn, it occurred to me it was my daughter’s birthday. I’ll have to remember to call her when I get back. If I get back? For some strange reason, I had a queasy feeling that this might be my final journey.
I sat there for some time pondering that thought. Something mighty important had prompted Monroe to retrieve me and another. My imagination started to run wild.
Have the Warriors gone rogue? They weren’t acting any different. Maybe Tom was getting homesick. But if that were the case, surely he would be here for the exchange. Is there something physically or mentally wrong with me or him? As you can see, my mind was racing a mile a minute.
Each minute seemed to drag by, the next slower than the past. The song Dragging the Line popped to mind.
...I’m draggin’ the line (draggin’ the line)...
Aside from the queasy feeling this would be my last journey, I was curious and anxious to know who this ‘other’ would be. I’m sure you are too.
One minute turned into two, which turned into three minutes. I started tapping my feet, biting my nails, and twiddling my thumbs. Darn if I wasn’t getting a urge for a smoke, a habit I had broken several years earlier.
Come on Monroe…Your draggin’ the line.
*****
This may be a good time for me to refresh your memory on Monroe and our future descendants.
Most humans, including Tom’s ex-wife, believed UFOs and their abductors to be extraterrestrial beings buzzing around in flying saucers. That couldn’t have been further from the truth. My shocking revelation was that the abductors were mankind’s future descendants, traveling to the past after conquering time travel. They were using their aircraft as time machines. Their vessels led folks to believe that they were alien spaceships from other worlds. Our future descendants’ desperate mission was to control the past to save their future.
Our future descendants did wonders to create a new world. They developed a perfect society that consisted of one race, one creed, and one government.
Through genetic engineering, humans had evolved and no longer physically resembled their ancestry. They became smaller in stature, with a pale, grayish body. They had no hair, larger eyes, a smaller nose and mouth, and no noticeable ears. They only had three fingers and a thumb on each hand. They all wore the same type clothing made of a gray, metallic cloth of very fine texture. They wore no jewelry or makeup.
Their manner, behavior, and personalities were basically the same. It was difficult to distinguish one from another or their gender. The females did have smaller eyes and were about an inch smaller in height. Their appearance was what led their ancestor’s to believe them to be alien beings of another world.
With everyone looking and dressing the same, hate, jealously, and racial prejudice was eliminated. The social environment had changed drastically, as love and marriage were forbidden, since they could invoke negative behavior.
There were no more wars, diseases, crime, or pollution, and consequently no more need for lawyers, police, or doctors. All negative human flaws were eliminated. It was an ideal society... or so they thought.
They had no monetary system as there was no need to exchange money. All services and materials were provided and shared equally. Everyone’s career was based on their specific abilities that were programmed during pregnancies.
Their cerebral capacity had expanded by twenty-five per cent, which lead to a vast leap in technology in a short amount of time.
Unfortunately, their evolution and technology caused some unexpected tribulations. Tribulations that could only be resolved by traveling to the past. However, in their travels they encountered communication problems.
During their genetic evolution, humans had developed telepathic abilities. Unfortunately, this caused them to lose the functional use of their vocal cords. If you don’t use it, you lose it. They could no longer speak, which meant they couldn’t verbally communicate with their primitive ancestors.
Tom had originally been abducted and given enhanced capabilities to help develop a communications device, that was used when the abductor’s made first contact with their primeval past.
During the Kid’s first abduction and examination, he was determined to be an excellent candidate for other evolution tribulations; reproduction and cloning.
Unintentionally, the generations of genetic engineering had caused sterilization. The human race was in danger of joining many other species on Earth that had become extinct. They hadn’t been able to procreate for several decades and the current generation would be the last of their kind. Our descendants were forced to develop a cloning curriculum to resolve this crisis.
The clones and their originals had a special connection, much like twins are known to share, except on a much higher scale. Not only did they have extrasensory perception (ESP), they shared a deep emotional connection that sometimes produced an intense sense of empathy.
It was intimate enough to generate strong physical sensations, usually through dreams (or nightmares), even though they were in different time frame’s. Their parallel worlds became tangled and intermingled in the same dimension. It was a complicated relationship, to say the least.
Cloning humans from the past was supposed to solve the problem. Unfortunately, the clones were also sterile. Surely, you say, technology could resolve this crisis. After putting two and two together, they came up with a solution. However, it didn’t exactly equal the proper answer.
The solution involved the clones switching places with their originals. The originals couldn’t disappear from their time frame, because it would alter the future. The originals that had been picked were known not to have had any more children and to have lived a normal life span.
After trading places, the originals would then procreate and help preserve the human race in the future. The clones would carry on with the originals life in the past. No one would know or suspect. Not even the clones who replaced their originals.
The clones were programmed with the originals personalities and memories. They were given specific memory blocks to block the memory of their true identity. A tracking device was implanted, and they were sent back to the past to continue the originals lives. But, wouldn’t you know it, not everything always goes according to plan.
*****
Finally… the bridge door sprang open, and I spun the chair around to see who this ‘other’ would be. Monroe stepped onto the bridge. All eyes turned and were glued on Monroe to see who would enter the room behind him.
In stepped the ‘other’.
Oh my God! My jaw dropped, as the shock a
lmost sent me into cardiac arrest. I bet the look on my face would have stopped all granddaddy clocks. They would surely be broke now, ’cause all of a sudden, time stood still.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Improbable
The other just happened to be…‘the love of my life’, my wife, Karen.
What in the world was she doing here on Monroe’s ship and in this part of the story? I’m not having another one of those dreams, am I? Bet you can’t wait to hear this rationalization, if there is one.
“Monroe says he needs my help as well,” were the first words out of Karen’s mouth.
She looked me in the eye, smiled, and walked up to give me a gentle hug. I gave her a happy face as I reached to smooth her short brown hair. But my smile soon faded as a troubled look appeared on her face.
Karen, bless her heart, was always one to help. I suppose this situation was one she couldn’t resist. But then again, she was probably like me and didn’t really have a choice.
“Monroe said I was additional insurance. My original seems to be involved in this situation too. So, as you can see, I am not coming along just for the ride,” she added, with a tiny bit of mockery in her voice.
Her words almost floored me.
“Your original? For cryin’ out loud, you mean to tell me that I’ve been sleeping with another clone?”
“Knock knock, SashMo. While you were fasting and abstaining…I was too. You weren’t the only one who had a revelation,” she replied, rolling her beautiful brown eyes.
SashMo was her nickname for me when she gets irritated with me or wants to make a point. Sort of like when you’re young and the parent shouts out your full birth certificate name.
Surprises never seem to cease in this story. But when you stop to think about it, duh, how could I have not known?
I had told Karen that I had a medical condition, and my doctor had advised me to fast and abstain from sexual activity for a while. Being a good wife, she supported me along the way. It never occurred to me that she would be going through the same conditions. And then, to find herself to be a clone too. Never in a billion years!
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.
“Probably the same reason you didn’t tell me. I was waiting for the right moment. I suppose this is that moment.”
Wow! Hadn’t seen that one coming. How about you sport fans.
“Okay. When were you abducted and cloned?” I was dying to know.
“Right after my divorce with Rick,” she said.
Rick was her previous husband.
“So, honey, what’s your clone name?”
“Caren,” she replied. “With a ‘C’, instead of a ‘K.’”
Now if that don’t beat all, I thought.
“So, Monroe plucked you from your Women’s Club meeting?”
“No, the meeting let out early because of the storm. I had just gotten back to the house and was closing the garage door. Next thing I know Monroe is introducing himself.”
Sorry to interrupt, but it is time to sit and fasten your seat belts. I am required to return as soon as possible, Monroe said, waving his hands over a instrument panel. Once we arrive, there will be sufficient time for the two of you to interact.
“You can’t even give us a hint as to why we are needed so badly,” I asked him out loud, as I wanted Caren to hear also.
In due time Tom-Tom. Patience is a virtue.
“Can you hear Monroe?” I asked Caren.
“Of course,” she replied.
Remember that Monroe can hear me when I speak out loud. There was nothing wrong with his hearing. He just couldn’t speak verbally.
“Well, Monroe, what would you say and do if we told you, we didn’t want to go with you?”
It’s not that I didn’t want to go, ’cause you know me and my restless spirit is on an endless flight by now. I just kind of like to see if I can get under his skin now and then. Being an agitator has always been a part of my nature. Sometimes it is referred to as ‘pulling one’s chain’ or ‘rocking the boat’. Monroe seemed so…what’s the word…stiff, or maybe I should say, straight as an arrow type.
We are family. Why would you not want to assist me? He asked.
“Excellent point Monroe,” Caren added her two cents worth.
I could only smile and shake my head at his question. He certainly got me with that one.
“Monroe, you are definitely a chip off the old block,” I chuckled.
I could see in his eyes and posture that that last statement went beyond his comprehension.
I figured this might be a good time to try and lighten him up by playing a little joke on him. I walked up to him and put my finger on his boring outfit, right under his chin.
“How did this speck get here?”
When he lowered his head to see what I was referring to, I raised my finger and poked him under the chin, running my finger up to his tiny nose.
“Got’cha,” I laughed, displaying my thumb through my fist, making it look like I had snatched off his little nose.
He looked at me as if I had to be the weirdest person in the world.
I fail to comprehend the humor in that gesture.
“Ah, come on Monroe, just trying to lighten you up.”
What is it that I am required to light?
“Hopefully, someday I will be able to get a smile out of you, and you will be able to understand what I say.”
“Don’t hold your breath,” Caren added.
“Okay…not to change the subject, but it’s time for some of the devil’s music…Let’s rock and roll,” Caren remarked, as she sat down and buckled up.
“Great idea, sweetheart. Let’s get this show on the road,” I said, sitting and buckling up.
Caren’s rock and roll remark got me singing:
...Still like that old time rock ‘n’ roll.
The kinda of music just soothes the soul…
...I reminisce about the days of old…Caren joined me in the last verse.
...Give me that old time rock and roll…
“Hey Monroe, do they still do Karaoke in the future.”
I am unfamiliar with that vegetable.
What? He thought Karaoke was a veggie? Now how could he ever think that?
Man, we got a serious generation gap here. Usually, it is the other way around. Grandparents not understanding the grandkids.
“I hope we won’t be gone too long,” Caren interjected. “You know I have a Women’s Club meeting next week.”
I reached over and squeezed her hand.
“Don’t fret honey. The Cardinals are in the playoffs. They have a good chance to go to the World Series again. Monroe surely knows I can’t be missing that, so he will have us back in plenty of time. We won’t even be missed. Right Monroe?”
I would not anticipate it, he said, as he waved his hand over the date panel to engage the time mechanism. Every single hair on Caren and I stood straight up and danced to the two step.
Before you could snap your finger, the time and date panels registered the same time and date: 2047 (GMT), 10/12/2228.
In a heartbeat, we were ‘back in the future’.
CHAPTER NINE
Back to the Future
What happened to the base at Easter Island? Didn’t you have to go there to initiate time travel? I thought to Monroe.
There is no further requirement for Easter Island. A time apparatus is currently installed on all our flying vessels. Modern technology, Tom-Tom, Monroe said, with a hint of pride in his thought. All our flying vessels can now travel through time and anywhere on the planet.
I gazed through the skylight dome atop the flight deck. It had a 360-degree view. I could barely make out the Lake Waukomis Dam, but there was very little water in the lake. Didn’t see any hyperactive squirrels navigating the barren trees, nor a dog chasing a cat, nor any irritating honking geese. Old ruined structures that we once called house and home were scattered about. Most were leaning badly and those that weren’t
, had collapsed in a pile of rubble. Rusted pontoon boats were scattered about by their decayed docks that were now sitting on dry land. It looked to be a pontoon boat graveyard.
There was not a living thing in sight. I was staring at a wasteland. My Lake Waukomis paradise no longer existed here in the future.
The Mothership accelerated as we flew into the wild blue yonder. In a jiffy, we were traveling above the horizon and approaching a Dome city.
Several terminals had been added next to the Dome since I was last here. One large one for the Mothership and several smaller ones for the smaller crafts. There were several above ground transparent tubes that resembled jetways, extending from each terminal that led into the Dome city.
“Which Dome city are we visiting?” I asked.
Same as before. What used to be the state Kansas, of the former United States of America, Monroe replied.
It was the former land of our rival Jayhawk, who has now become very extinct. But then, that funny, awkward looking little bird was never a real bird in the first place.
It was the most feasible location to build in this continent. Earthquakes had made California part of the Pacific Ocean. The East Coast was also under water since the ice caps melted. The middle of the country, even though it is a wasteland, was more protected from the elements of nature and past manmade disasters, Monroe added.
“See I told you that one day we would be able to buy ocean front property in Arizona,” I leaned over and whispered to Caren.
How about that, looks like the so-called environmental wacko’s were right after all. But I was to find out later, that there were other reasons for most of the Earth being a wasteland.
*****
Monroe, Caren and I departed the Mothership. Monroe led the way to a small three passenger vehicle stationed at the entrance to one of the large circular transparent tubes. The tubes were perhaps ten feet in diameter and led to the city inside the Dome. These futuristic vehicles didn’t require a driver. I couldn’t detect any controls whatsoever, let alone a steering wheel. The inside was large enough to seat three people. One in the front with two seats in the back. Reminded me of climbing aboard for a roller coaster ride.
The Abduction Chronicles Page 17