Bad Behavior (The Last Time Traveler Book 3)

by Aaron J. Ethridge

  “It is an unusual one,” she admitted. “At least, I've never heard of anyone else suffering under the delusion of being a time traveler.”

  “Are you certain his conviction is genuine?”

  “Completely,” she nodded. “He's been here for months and his story has never wavered, even in the slightest detail.”

  “Well, then,” Robert replied, “and keep in mind, I'm playing devil's advocate, isn't it possible that he's telling the truth?”

  “I suppose anything's possible,” she chuckled. “However, I think you'll agree that the odds are rather slim.”

  “They certainly are,” the traveler agreed. “But, has the case been explored from the angle that he's being completely honest?”

  “It has been,” she assured him. “After James Morgan the fourth went missing, and this man was discovered in his house, the entire estate was searched by the authorities. No trace of James Morgan or the supposed time-machine was found.”

  “This man does favor the Morgan family though, doesn't he?” Robert asked.

  “He does,” she nodded. “In fact, he looks just like James Morgan the first. On top of which, blood tests prove that he is kin to the family.”

  “That is odd.”

  “Odd, yes. Remarkable, no,” she replied. “James Morgan the fourth has countless cousins that range in age from newborn to eighty-seven. Some of them look almost as much like James Morgan the first as our mystery gentleman does. None of those we've managed to contact, however, claim to know this man. All the information he could give us about himself was either common knowledge or things he couldn't substantiate. All the people who knew James the first well enough to positively identify him have been dead for a matter of years.”

  “What do you make of the case, then?”

  “I suspect that he's a poor relation of the family,” she explained. “He's convinced himself that the wealth and prestige of the family should be his. That would be common enough, if it weren't for the time traveler aspect. For instance, he also favors James Morgan the second, who was killed in a crash just a few years ago, and whose body couldn't be recovered. He would even be right around this man's age. It would make a lot more sense, at least from a psychological angle, for him to have convinced himself that he had survived the crash and found his way home to his grandson. I can't understand the fixation with time travel, though.”

  “I think I can,” Morgan replied thoughtfully.

  “You do, Doctor Fine?” Robert asked, raising a single eyebrow.

  “I do,” he nodded. “I feel that an overly assertive ego, combined with a mild form of megalomania would explain it.”

  “Care to expound on that?” the traveler asked.

  “Absolutely,” Morgan replied confidently. “You see, this gentleman wants to be more than he is. He wants to feel that he's something, not just special, but unique. Obviously, he has to be a man that wealth means nothing to, and a man of true genius. This, however, isn't enough for him. His sense of self-worth demands that he achieve things that no one else can. He has to travel in time. In fact, considering the apparent size of the ego, I'm surprised that he didn't make false claims about being the last time traveler.”

  “You may be right,” Doctor Burrman nodded. “Still, you'll be able to get a great deal more insight by speaking with him yourself.”

  “Very true,” Robert replied, shifting his gaze from Morgan to the doctor. “When can we see him?”

  “Now, if you’d like.”

  “We do.”

  Doctor Burrman rose and led the pair out of the office.

  “That was pretty good, Morgan,” Robert whispered as they followed the doctor down a long hallway. “In fact, it was the best bluffing I've ever seen you do. To be honest, I was a little nervous at first. Where did you come up with all that?”

  “It's basically what I think about you,” the young man smiled.

  “Very funny.”

  “This is it,” the doctor said, stopping in front of one of the doors that lined the hall.

  “Is the room under any kind of surveillance?” Robert asked quietly.

  “Not at all,” she replied. “Whoever he really is, he's not dangerous.”

  “That's excellent,” the traveler smiled. “I find it's always easier to get a patient to open up when they're confident that they're not being spied on.”

  “James,” Doctor Burrman said, knocking on the door. “You have some visitors. May they come in?”

  “I suppose so,” the old man replied.

  The doctor opened the door and waved them inside.

  “Mister Hood!” James exclaimed as soon as Robert stepped into the room.

  “I beg your pardon.”

  “You're Robert Hood!”

  “I'm afraid you're mistaken,” the traveler smiled. “I suppose I just have one of those faces. Doctor Burrman, could you leave us alone for perhaps half-an-hour?”

  “Certainly,” she smiled. “Enjoy the visit, James. And, let us know if you need anything.”

  Having said this, she closed the door and headed back down the hall.

  “Now, James,” the traveler said at full volume before lowering his voice, “of course I'm Robert Hood! But, that's no reason to go shouting your head off about it.”

  “I'm sorry, Mister Hood...”

  “Call me Rob. And, this is Morgan.”

  “I'm sorry, Rob,” the old man replied. “It's just that I didn't expect to see you here. Although, I'm very glad you are. You have to get me out of here.”

  “We're going to,” Robert smiled. “That is to say, we're going to make sure you never end up here in the first place.”

  “How?”

  “Before I explain that,” the traveler said shaking his head, “let me ask you a question: why did you ignore my message?”

  “I didn't,” the old man replied. “Well, I didn't completely ignore it.”

  “Why did you ignore it at all?”

  “I'd just built a time-machine,” James explained. “Then, the next thing I know, I get this video message from this man I've never heard of before, telling me not to use it. How was I supposed to know you were telling the truth? You might have been anybody. For all I knew, you could have been working for one of my competitors, who was working on a time-machine of their own.”

  “I suppose I can see that,” Robert nodded.

  “Not to mention the fact that you...” the old man continued before pausing. “Forgive me but, it seems to me that you exaggerated a good bit about my great-grandson.”

  “He sure did,” Morgan agreed. “The fourth is a complete jerk.”

  “So it would seem,” James sighed. “Under the circumstances, I felt I had to know whether or not the machine actually worked. After a couple of days' consideration, I decided that going to see my great-grandson was probably the safest thing I could do and I hadn't gone the morning you warned me not to.”

  “Alright,” Robert nodded, “It seems I should have been more direct and, possibly, more honest. Either way, my current plan is to send you a second message that you'll absolutely listen to. I want you to explain to yourself exactly what happened in such a way as to make sure to stop you. Do you think you can do that?”

  “I know I can,” the old man replied.

  Just minutes later, Morgan had recorded the message and the pair were on their way out of the asylum. As a matter of flourish, Robert stopped by Doctor Burrman's office to explain to her that they had made a video to 'send to the past' to stop James Morgan the first from coming to the future. He claimed that it was his hope that it would help snap him back into reality. This done, they headed for their car and then for their ship.

  They then went back in time, grabbed the video equipment, put together the new video, complete with some admonishing commentary from Robert about James ignoring the first message and begging him to stop so that they could have a night off. They moved forward a few hours, dropped off the equipment, and headed for Never Never Land.
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br />   It was with a certain amount of trepidation that Robert gave the order after they had dropped back into real-space.

  “Cleo,” he said, taking a deep breath. “hit it, I guess.”

  “Alright,” she replied, pressing a series of buttons before turning to him with a wide smile. “That did it!”

  “Thank everything good!” he exclaimed. “How much time did it net us?”

  “None,” she said shaking her head. “But, we stopped him. As a result, James the fourth lost his entire fortune...”

  This statement caused Celeste to shake her head.

  “However,” the green maiden continued. “After he hit rock bottom, he got a doctorate, started a business, made a fortune, bought back all his family's property, and become one of the richest men ever to live on... Kreple... I guess we're calling it.”

  “Rob,” Doc said, “you knew that was going to happen, didn't you?”

  “Of course,” the traveler laughed, turning his eyes to Celeste. “And, there's a lesson to it. If James the first had just minded his own business, his great-grandson would never have become a jerk. Well... yes, he would have. But, he'd have also outgrown it.”

  “That's not really a lesson, Rob,” Celeste replied, rolling her eyes. “It's a coincidence. More often than not, parents help their offspring, not hamper them.”

  “We can argue about it later, Mama. I mean, Sis,” he chuckled. “Right now, we all have to get ready for date night! We're all going out tonight. Even Doc.”

  As he said this, he stepped over to Cleo, pulled her out of her seat, wrapped his arms around her, and gazed down into her eyes.

  “That is,” he said, with just a hint of a smile, “if you're ready for that.”

  “I think I am,” she replied before gently biting her lower lip.

  “Good!” he said. “Because, I am more than ready. Now, you girls go buy new dresses and whatever else you want, and leave us here to get ready. In order to increase the anticipation, we shouldn't see each other again until we all meet at Paris on the Half-Shell in say, three hours.”

  “Where are we supposed to get dressed?” Azure asked.

  “Vox's house,” Robert replied. “I mean; that house they rented is still in their name isn't it?”

  “It is,” Doc nodded. “I leased it for a year. I wasn't sure how long it might take to fix the ship.”

  “Perfect,” the traveler smiled. “You girls can get ready there. Plus, it'll give Celeste a chance to air it out. When we do manage to take a few days off, you don't want to spend them on the ship, do you, Ma... Sis?”

  “I certainly don't,” she agreed with a smile.

  “So, that's all worked out, then,” Robert said, releasing the green maiden. “We'll meet you girls in three hours.”

  “That's not much time, Rob,” Cleo pointed out.

  “It's as long as we can stand to wait,” he assured her.

  “Then, I guess, we'll just have do the best we can,” Cleo replied, running her hand down his chest. “Don't keep us waiting.”

  “You do not need to worry about that.”

  Less than a minute after the ladies were off the ship, the men were gathered around the conference table.

  “Alright,” Robert said, looking at each of his three companions in turn, “we have three hours. What have you found out?”

  “Not quite three hours,” Morgan immediately interjected. “We have to get ready and get there on time.”

  “Good point! We have two hours and fifteen minutes. So, let's not waste any more time. Doc, you first.”

  “There weren't any notable anomalies in her DNA,” Doc replied. “Although, her cell structure was designed for extremely fast growth.”

  “Conclusions?”

  “Considering the fact that there were no anomalies,” he said, “the cloning system our opponent used had to be cutting edge. Meaning that she was either grown in Never Never Land or sometime within, say, twenty five years of time stopping. Considering the fact that she was put to use here, I think it's safe to assume that she was made here.”

  “I agree,” the traveler nodded.

  “Her cell growth was accelerated to the point where she could have been completed extremely quickly – possible in a matter of hours – but, that also meant that she probably wouldn't have lasted for more than a few days.”

  “She didn't need to.”

  “No, she didn't,” Doc nodded. “Which is more evidence that she was grown here.”

  “Agreed. Vox?”

  “Although there are a number of cloning facilities on the island,” Vox replied, “only a few of them are technologically advanced enough to grow a clone of Miss Summers' caliber. The most notable one is in the research laboratory that Sturm is director of.”

  “Now, there's a shock,” Morgan chuckled.

  “It's not Sturm,” Robert replied.

  “Maybe not,” Vox said, “but, someone using that facility could have grown the clone.”

  “What about the other facilities?”

  “They're all in medical centers. Even if someone managed to grow an unauthorized clone, they'd never have been able to get her out without getting caught.”

  “Unless they were nearly as clever as me. Which our adversary almost is or, much more probably, our adversaries almost are. At least, when working as a team.”

  “Granted,” Vox nodded.

  “How smart is Sturm compared to you?” Morgan asked.

  “It's not Sturm,” Robert again asserted. “I think we can safely assume that there's a cloning facility hidden somewhere on the island.”

  “Almost certainly,” Doc agreed.

  “Which may mean we're going to need help looking for it,” the traveler replied. “Still, before we get into that, what have you found out, Morgan?”

  “As far as I can tell,” he replied. “Martha Summers is a fairly average young woman. She's been working for the history department for fifty years, she's never been in any kind of trouble, she has a tiny little dog and three cats, and goes out for a girl's night once a week with some of the other ladies from the fan club.”

  “That's not much,” Robert observed.

  “It's not,” Morgan agreed, “but, there's more. On the morning of The Great Slapping...”

  “The Great Slapping?” the traveler asked.

  “That's how I think of it now.”

  “Yeah... I guess I can see that.”

  “I'm glad,” the young man continued, “Anyway, she took a personal day off from work that day.”

  “She'd have had to,” Robert replied. “All the ladies...”

  “All of them did take the day off,” Morgan nodded. “However, all the rest of them called in, or left work, within an hour of catching us coming out of the hardware store. However, Miss Summers didn't go into work at all that day.”

  “Meaning....” the traveler began.

  “Meaning,” the young man interrupted, “that whoever sent the clone in didn't want Martha going to work. They were already planning to send her, and the fan club, after us. Whoever it was had to know that we were heading back to Never Never Land that morning. And, they had to have some plan for trying to delay us for a while. Such as trying to pull us in front of the council again.”

  “Sturm didn't manage to do that,” Robert pointed out. “Our ending up on the island that day was a complete coincidence.”

  “I agree,” Morgan replied. “But, Sturm didn't know that we were going to succeed that morning or that the council wouldn't consider having me, or any of the rest of us, arrested. He did his best to make it happen, he just failed. I think after that, our going to the island played right into his hands.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “Right as we left the ship,” the young man explained, “Susan Montgomery got an anonymous offer of a free bus ride to take the fan club to meet Robert Nathaniel Hood, provided they could all meet in an hour. She actually called the bus rental place to make sure it wasn't a practical joke
before she got the girls together.”

  “Who rented the bus?”

  “As it turns out, Miss Summers. Or, more probably, Miss Summers' clone.”

  “That was smart.”

  “It was,” the young man agreed. “I also had Sister contact the bus driver. Miss Summers was the one who told him where to go.”

  “How did she know?”

  “I have no idea but, originally, she told the driver to head to Ramón's. Before they got there though, she had him turn off to go to the hardware store.”

  “Someone was tracking us.”

  “Or, following us, yes.”

  “Anything else?”

  “That's all I've managed to find out so far. However, I think it's blindingly obvious that Sturm is capable of having done all of this.”

  “He undoubtedly is,” Robert agreed. “But, it's not him. Either way, you've really, truly, genuinely impressed me, Morgan. Well done, bro. However, that's beside the current point. The current point is that, we're going to need some help. Either Miss Summers is working with whoever it is, which I doubt, or she was got out of the way for a few hours, so her clone could do its job, and then she had her memories rewritten. I'd like to get the street camera footage from around her house that morning but, we don't really have a legitimate reason to requisition it.”

  “Just have Cleo hack in and get it.”

  “That's against the law,” the traveler pointed out.

  “Like you care,” the young man laughed.

  “As a general rule,” he replied. “I don't ask Cleo to break the law. At least, not the law of Never Never Land.”

  “Then, lie up a reason. You're the lying-est thing that ever was. You may as well make use of it.”

  “If I had to, I probably could,” Robert nodded. “I just think, in this case, considering we've broken one of the laws, it would be better to stick to the truth if at all possible. So, we need to find real evidence that we can safely share with the council.”

  “What do you suggest we do?”

  “We're going to go over that clone video again and look for anything she might have left behind, even if it was a single skin cell. Then, we're going to scour the areas of the ship where she went with hand-scanners in search of any trace of her DNA.”