Tom squeezed the trigger of his laser and got nothing.
“I love you, Karen,” he said as he threw himself in front of her.
They both stumbled and fell to the deck just as Blair let out a yell of triumph, pumping his fists.
“Yes!”
All the Warriors froze in their tracks like statues. Time stood still.
“Are you hit, Tom?”
“I don’t think so. He did it? Blair found the deactivation code.”
*****
All went silent at home base. Pete slowly open his eyes and saw the Warriors standing stiff as boards. Cheers went up from the survivors in the cavern.
“They did it. We’re saved.” Pete was hugging Jason.
“That was too close for comfort,” Jason said as he wiped his brow.
“We’d better get in touch with the Dome and tell them we’re still breathing. Get someone to go out to the transporters and radio in.”
Pete staggered as the pain of his wound took hold.
“Let’s get you to the infirmary first.” Jason put his shoulder under Pete’s arm and directed him to the medical team.
*****
“Let’s get to the control room and see if we can make contact with home base,” I said.
“I just hope we made it in time.” Caren had her arm linked through mine.
“Not bad for old farts,” Tom commented.
“This calls for a fist bump, Bro,” I said jabbing my fist at him.
Tom stared at me blankly. He had no idea what a fist bump was. Then I remembered fist bumps didn’t exist when he left to go to the future. Back then they gave ‘high fives’.
“Let’s get you two mended.” Karen said.
“After that, we are going to have a talk with Monroe. He has a bit more explaining to do.”
We took turns transporting into the control room just as the message from Jason came through.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Veracity
“Why in hell did the Warriors go rogue?” Tom asked Monroe after he and Tom-Tom got patched up.
“Yes, I think we all would be very interested to hear what you have to say,” Karen said, more than a little agitated.
It may have been my fault. Monroe looked apologetically around the room. I had reiterated that, ‘Love is an emotion that promotes irrational and traumatic behavior. Therefore, love is forbidden’.
I was discussing the situation with some of my brethren regarding the fact that many of the originals and their offspring were forming emotional attachments. I stated that they had rebelled against the ‘forbidden love’ law and that it had reached a crisis point and that I did not know how to resolve it.
He looked around at the blank faces of our group.
The Warriors were programmed to repel a rebellion. Those present took my words to mean that a rebellion was taking place. When I discovered the flaw, I instructed them to stand down, but they refused. They had overridden their deactivation codes. That is when we lost control of them.
“All because you used the word ‘rebelled’? That’s unbelievable. That nearly got us all killed. As it is, there are three deaths and several serious injuries.” Tom was aggravated, to say the least.
“Fortunately, none of the deaths were an original or we wouldn’t be here now discussing this,” Karen added.
“Well, I’ll be hog-tied,” I said, with a grim look. “You never know what you’re creating with artificial intelligence, do you? They show no emotions and take things so literally. Sound familiar Monroe?”
I fail to grasp the meaning of hog-tied? Monroe blinked.
I just rolled my eyes at his question. Maybe someday we will be able to get on the same page.
“So where to from here?” I asked, because I suspected there were a few other things that Monroe had been keeping from us.
I have additional information to impart. It may be difficult for you to accept. Monroe smoothed the creases in his jumpsuit as he looked at both Caren and I.
“Surely can’t be any worse than what you have already put us through,” Tom and I said at the same time.
This concerns the clones, Monroe said as he took a deep breath. All have a flaw in their life span program that was implanted when they were created. We discovered the clone’s life-span is not the same as their original’s. They will terminate prematurely. Their premature death in the past will cause a time warp and change the future. Therefore, all the clones must be brought back to the future. Their originals must return to the same timeline their clones were in.
It took several moments for the info to sink in. When it did, everyone was shocked beyond belief. We were all having trouble believing what we just heard.
“You’re saying that all the originals are going to outlive their clones and have to go back to their past timeline. And that all the clones have to come back to the future because we are going to die before our originals?” I restated.
Yes, that is the essence of it.
“Therefore, you are aware of our exact expiration dates?” I asked, noticing tears forming in Tom and Karen eyes.
Yes...
“Don’t tell me...I just as soon not know.”
“Nor I,” Caren added.
“How long have you known this?” Tom asked.
To be honest, we knew from the beginning. We tried correcting the flaw to no avail. We thought it prudent to withhold the information when we first approached each of you to trade places. We were confident you would come to understand why.
Karen gasped. “You mean you knew that this would happen knowing that the originals would make lives here and would then have to leave them behind?”
That is the main reason we wanted the children raised in a communal environment. There would be no bond between parent and child. We did not factor in the emotions associated with family as it has been many generations since we have had such experiences. We can only ask for your forgiveness, with the thought that you could understand our decision to withhold this prudent information. After all, the existence of mankind was at stake.
To be honest, after the initial shock, we could see his point. Don’t know what decision we would have made knowing the truth. Guess we’ll never know.
That being said, there is one other difficult situation to comprehend, Monroe said as he cleared his throat.
“Don’t know if we can handle anymore,” Karen said with tears running down her cheeks.
All the originals’ offspring and their children born here in the future have to remain here as returning them to the past is inconceivable. You must comprehend why. Since they never existed in the past, taking them back to the past would cause a time warp that would change the future. As you are aware, by changing the past, all humanity might cease to exist in the future.
That started a river of tears flowing, but when we thought about it, it was a no-brainer. Disrupting the time line was not a scenario to mess with. At this point, there was really no other feasible alternative.
My brethren and I are aging. We are but a few and have not long to live. We are leaving the future to your offspring and their descendants.
“What about those of you who didn’t agree with the plan from the beginning? Are they onboard with all this?” I asked.
They have no choice but to corroborate. I apologize for the resistance you encountered. It was always our intention to leave the survival of mankind to your offspring.
In addition, for the foreseeable future six of the seven Domes will be mothballed as there are insufficient personnel to operate them. At some point in the future, they will be ready to be reactivated when the population reaches the size to repopulate them.
“What about you and your brethren, Monroe”? Karen asked.
We will live out our lives here in the Kansas Dome with the clones, your offspring, and their children.
“Who’s going to be running the place?” Tom asked.
We will transfer government to the originals offspring. With our gui
dance, they should be able to choose the type of government that will suit them. We trust that they will learn from history and not make the same mistakes as their ancestors.
I figured the first thing they would do would be to revoke the ‘Forbidden Love’ law. Second thing would be to disable and disassemble all the Warrior cyborgs.
*****
P.S. For your information, I have passed the baton to Tom to complete telling you our story. Monroe programmed him with my memories since I took his place back in 1978. So, from here on in, you will be getting the rest of our story from him.
*****
This might be a good time to tell you more about the children that we originals produced here in the future. When they were born, they had a unique appearance and developed special abilities. Their appearance probably wasn’t exactly the way God had intended and didn’t resemble that of their parents.
Physically they had larger eyes, with smaller ears and mouths than their parents. They were able to walk at six months. They were potty trained a few months later. They could speak and learn to communicate by the age of one. They could communicate both verbally and telepathically.
By the age of five, their cerebral capacity had expanded and developed far beyond their predecessors. Their intelligence had reached the level of a college graduate of their parents’ time.
Each male grew to be the same height of 68 inches. The females were a couple of inches shorter. All had very fine white-blond hair with a pale skin complexion. They were bred to be of the same race. All were physically as well as intellectually superior to their parents.
Monroe attributed their excelled intelligence and physical statue to the Dome’s clean air, water, and modern day nutritional habits. I didn’t quite grasp that theory. I’m thinking that with all their modern technology that maybe they fiddled with some of our DNA and mixed it with some of theirs.
But, I guess it doesn’t really matter how they developed the way they did because they are our children, and they are mankind’s salvation.
As you can see, there really was no other alternative but for the originals to return to their past and to leave their children here in the future.
*****
With heavy hearts and mixed feelings, Karen, I (Tom), Claudia, and the rest of the originals prepared for our journey back to our timeline of October 12, 2016.
But we have more pressing matters. In order to return the originals to their timeline we need to repair the Mothership. It was most inconvenient of you to have damaged it, Monroe stated.
“You can thank the Warriors for that. We were just trying to survive,” I reminded him.
In a few days the ship was repaired and we were ready for our final journey home.
Saying good-bye to one’s self, your children and grandchildren was not an easy task. As you can imagine, there were lots of hugs, tears, and emotional venting. It was especially difficult knowing that we would never see one another again. There would be no chance of having a family reunion someday.
Karen left our kids with some motherly advice:
“The best gift a parent can give to their children is roots and wings. Your father and I want you to raise loving, productive, and respectful adults. It is now your turn to pass on your roots and wings to your future generations. Soar to the horizons of the new universe you will create. I know you will make us proud.”
Karen and I had some gratification knowing that we would be getting back in touch with the children we had left in the past, and that we had participated and succeeded in preserving the human race here in the future. That in itself eased some of the pain of leaving the children we had birthed here in the future. Besides, according to Monroe, we would be receiving mind blocks and won’t remember a thing that has occurred here in the future.
I shook hands and fist pumped Tom-Tom. I couldn’t imagine what it would feel like to know your time is about up. Words came hard for me for someone whose life was about to expire?
“You’re so ugly mamma would of had to tie a pork chop around your neck to get the dogs to play with you,” was all I could come up with.
“Two peas in a pod,” he replied, giving me a wink and smile.
“Oh! By the way, thanks for subbing for me,” I added.
“My pleasure. I must say, it was an intriguing adventure.”
“Thanks for putting up with Tom-Tom,” Karen said to Caren as they hugged, knowing Caren was in the same predicament as Tom-Tom.
“He was a hand full,” Caren acknowledged. “But I enjoyed every minute.”
Then, of course, we would be saying farewell to Monroe. I had taken a bizarre liking to my little grandson, despite the grievances, lies, and language barriers. We had developed a unique bond, despite the many obstacles.
Monroe stated that after we were returned, the time travel program would be abolished. The time crafts and its technology would be mothballed. There would be no further need for the program since it had met its goal of preserving the human race.
After the heart-wrenching farewells with children, grandchildren, and clones, the originals boarded the Mothership for our final journey back to the past. We were each to be returned to the timelines of our clones. They had previously been picked up and returned to the future to live out their shorter life spans.
Now you might have thought this to be the ending of my story. But, does anyone hear the fat lady singing?
*****
There were about 150 of us plus Monroe and two of his assistants who boarded the Mothership for mankind’s final journey in time travel. An historical event in the history of mankind as was the first journey. Trouble was, it turned out to be almost as disastrous as the first journey.
Seat belts everyone, Monroe reminded us. It is still the law.
We flew to Lake Waukomis to engage the time mechanism. Karen and I were to be the first to be dropped off. As soon as Monroe did his ‘engaged’ thingy, I felt a slight bump in the ship’s movement. Having time-traveled before, I knew this was not normal. Then the slight bump became a major jolt and the cabin turned upside down and then jerked sideways. It felt like I was back on one of my favorite roller coaster rides. Only the screams coming from everyone were not those of a joyride.
Houston! I suspect we have a problem! Looks like the repairs didn’t go as planned.
The interior of the ship started coming apart. All sorts of objects flew through the cabin like we were in the eye of a tornado. Everyone threw their arms up to protect themselves from the flying debris.
Electrical sparks emitted from the dislodged instrument panels and danced around the interior of the ship, bouncing from wall to wall. A dense vapor sprayed from the ceiling, making it difficult to see and breathe. An alarm began to blast a disturbing and annoying sound. A bad situation kept turning worse. To put it mildly, it was total chaos. Then suddenly the chaos ended as abruptly as it had started.
Following the turmoil, a fine misty spray sprouted from the ceiling. The electrical sparks ceased, the ship cleared of the smoke, time suddenly stood still, and it got deadly quiet.
Stunned, we all looked at each other. Thank God we had been wearing our seat belts.
Everyone had the same provocative thought.
What the heck just happened?
Monroe read our minds.
In a despaired thought, he announced, We experienced a malfunction.
“No shit, Sherlock,” Someone spat out sarcastically.
“Has this ever happened before?” Claudia asked, trembling as she spoke.
Only once. Roswell. 1947. The initial time flight.
Shit. We all know that story.
“Is anyone hurt?” It was Karen who thought to ask.
It turned out both Monroe’s assistants weren’t so lucky. Both their bodies were crushed under a pile of rubble. Both hadn’t been wearing their seat belts. Everyone else escaped with just a few bumps and bruises.
The first thing on everyone’s mind was; Did we make it to our timeline?
Of course, the darn thing wouldn’t open. It was stuck. Someone gave it a kick and low and behold, it popped open. We looked out into a world that no one expected. What we saw was nothing anyone could have imagined. What we saw, no one recognized, not even Monroe. What laid before us was unbelievable, uncomprehending, and intriguingly fascinating.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Diversion
I can see it in your eyes that you are thinking that I probably had another head injury and I am having another hallucination. Maybe I shouldn’t bring this up here because it could take away some suspense. But I feel compelled to let you know that what just happened was not a dream, nightmare, or hallucination. The crash didn’t knock me out. The crash and what I experienced was for real. If you don’t believe me, just ask Karen.
*****
No way were we in the year 2017. There was absolutely no evidence of a lake or town. No hyperactive squirrels, no irritating geese, and defiantly no cranky old catfish.
We were either far in the past, far in the future, far on the other side of the world, or maybe far from Earth. My logical guess was that we were somewhere far in the past, as that was the direction we were headed in. We had to be on Earth, as time travel was not space travel.
What we saw was a dense jungle, with vegetation growing everywhere. So thick that it was impossible to walk and see through. So thick that you couldn’t see more than ten yards in any direction. Tarzan, the King of the Jungle, would have a difficult time navigating through that stuff. Jane’s not going to be too happy when her man couldn’t make it on time for dinner.
The malfunction had cleared a 10 yard radius around the ship. Looking up, we saw small fluffy snow white clouds dotting a pure virgin blue sky. The air had a clean and fresh scent. The scenery was remarkably beautiful, but at the same time somewhat frightening ugly.
The Abduction Chronicles Page 25