The Big Ten: The First Ten Books of the Beginnings Series

by Jacqueline Druga

  Henry sat down and grabbed Ellen’s hand. “I’m so glad you’re O.K. El.”

  “Dean saved my life, Henry.”

  Henry smiled at Dean, “I owe you.”

  “You’ll pay too,” Dean pointed his finger.

  “Hey El,” Henry spoke upbeat, “guess who I saw when I was running down the hall?”

  “Who?”

  “Jenny Matoose.”

  “Aw Henry, what is she doing here?”

  “Staring at the babies.”

  “Henry.” Ellen squeezed his hand. “Have you seen the baby?”

  “Not since he was born. I’m kind of afraid.”

  “You should be. He still looks the same. He still looks like you.”

  “No.”

  “Yes, he does.”

  “Now see.” Henry lifted his hand. “I don’t get it. How did that happen?”

  Dean trying hard to contain his laughter or sarcasm couldn’t. “Seeing how I’m the most qualified medically to answer that question, I will. You see, Henry, I’ll tell you how it happened. You two were having sex back when you weren’t supposed to be.”

  Henry shook his head. “No, Dean, we didn’t. We never had sex.”

  Dean laughed. “Henry, come on, you are the only Asian man in this community.”

  Ellen added. “But we didn’t have sex. We never slept together. Ever. We’re very platonic.”

  “It wouldn’t feel right,” Henry said. “We were alone one time and that would be the closest we got. It was outside Beginnings after she and Frank broke up over her affair.”

  “We were drinking,” Ellen added. “I think we kissed, but I passed out drunk.”

  “No sex,” Henry said.

  Dean’s mouth dropped open. “Both of you were drunk?”

  “I was,” Ellen said. “The whole night is a blur. I was upset, crying. A mess.”

  Dean stared hard at Henry. “What about you, Henry? What did you do after she passed out.”

  “Went to sleep.” Henry said. “Like she said, we kissed, but in the middle … she was out.”

  Ellen laughed. “That had to be a blow for you, Henry, me passing out in the middle of kissing you.”

  “It wasn’t meant to be,” Henry said. “It didn’t feel right anyhow, El. Frank is my best friend.” His eyes shifted and he paused. “Why are you staring at me like that Dean?”

  “Nothing. No reason.” Dean inhaled deeply. “But the baby is yours, Henry. There’s a reason and that reason is sex.”

  Henry shrugged. “Maybe it was one of those time machine ripple things. Maybe in the time frame me and El changed, we fooled around.”

  Dean shook his head slowly back and forth. “That’s a Jason question. Something is not right.”

  Ellen asked. “I’m not lying, Dean. I would be honest, why lie now.”

  “I’m not saying you’re lying, El,” Dean told her.

  “So you’re saying I am?” Henry asked.

  “No.” Dean shook his head. “I’m saying something isn’t right.”

  Ellen opened her mouth to speak, but gasped. Her face drained of color. “Henry, hide. Frank is coming.”

  “No.” Henry shushed her. “He’s not coming. Joe has him.”

  “I’m telling you, Henry, he’s coming.”

  Dean nodded. “Listen to her Henry she has Frank sensors. That radar is going off. Beep--beep.”

  “For you information Mr. Smartie pants,” Henry took on edge, “A radar doesn’t make noise.”

  Dean indicated to the door. “Yeah, but Frank does.” “Shit.” Henry sprung up backing up. “Frank. Frank, I thought . . .”

  Frank ignored him, and moved to Ellen. “Hey.” He sat on the bed next to her. “How are you?”

  Ellen apprehensively accepted the kiss he gave her. “Scared at this moment you’re going to yell or hate me.”

  “Never,” Frank shook his head.

  “Are you going to beat up Henry?” Ellen asked.

  “No, I’m not going to beat up . . .” Frank swallowed. “…Henry.” He turned his head to the side and gave a hard to give smile to Henry. “I’ve calmed down a lot and done a lot of thinking.”

  “Frank.” Ellen took his hand. “There’s something you should know. Henry and I . . .”

  “Got married. I know.” Frank held up his hand.

  “What!” Dean blasted. “Married? When? What the hell, Henry?

  “Dean.” Henry remained calm. “It isn’t why you think. We thought it would just put an end to everything if she was married to me. It would end the you and Frank bickering and fighting and solve it with me. Don’t turn a blind eye, Dean. Think about it. And … the marriage …it’s platonic.”

  Dean shook his head. “You’re a real piece of work, Henry. Platonic before or after you got her pregnant.”

  “He didn’t get me pregnant, Dean,” Ellen said. “I told you, I never slept with him,” She looked at Frank. “We don’t know how this happened, Frank. Time machine? I don’t know. I swear.”

  Dean interjected. “I believe that’s what you believe, El.”

  “What are you saying, Dean?” Ellen asked. “Are you saying I’m lying?”

  “Nope.” Dean shook his head and stared at Henry.

  “You think I am?” Henry said.

  “Yeah, Henry, I do. I think this whole chivalrous act you have going is just that, an act.”

  “Stop.” Frank held up his hand and stayed calm. “If they say they don’t know how Ellen got pregnant with the baby, then we have no choice to believe them. And the marriage, well, we need to respect that. Whatever their reasons for being married, they are married now.”

  It started out as a simple hard breath of laughing air that escaped Dean, then it turned to several, and Dean started to laugh. “Oh shit. Henry and Ellen, you aren’t buying this act, are you?”

  Frank turned sharply to Dean. “Shut the fuck up, Dean. This isn’t an act.”

  “Yeah right.” Dean stood up. “I also believe you buy this marriage of convenience while, mind you, you buy the story that neither one of them remember conceiving a baby that looks just like Henry.”

  “It could happen,” Frank said.

  “No, it can’t.” Dean wildly threw out his arms. “I’m out of here. This is really disappointing. I expected much more of a reaction out of you, Frank. I’m going to work on a virus to give Henry and solve all our problems. You’ll thank me later, Frank.” With another shake of his head , Dean started to leave.

  Frank snapped his fingers. “Dean, can you stay here for another minute with her. I want to talk to Henry.”

  This made Dean smile and he sat back down. “I knew it. Sure I’ll stay Frank.”

  “Thanks. Henry?”

  Henry looked at Frank. “We can talk here.”

  “Henry. I need to speak to you alone in the hall. Now.”

  “Frank, can it just . . .” Henry shrieked as he was being led out. “Ow Frank, let go of my ear.”

  Still tugging on Henry’s lobe, Frank brought him in the hall and shut Ellen’s door. Less than gently, he released Henry.

  Henry rubbed his ear. “You could have found another way.” He shook off the pain. “I guess if you aren’t beating me up, I can’t complain.” He watched as Frank just stared at him. “Why do I get the feeling that this isn’t a friendly talk?”

  “Because you’re a smart man, Henry.” Frank stepped closer. “As of right now, resolve yourself to the fact that you will pick me as the understanding partner in this so called marriage that you and Ellen have.”

  “But Frank, that is Ellen’s choice. I don’t have a say so.”

  “Then get one,” Frank told him strongly. “You get one in it. You hear me?”

  “I didn’t think you wanted to be the secondary relationship.”

  “I don’t but just like you, I’m going to take it and then, just like you, I will be everything she wants and I will take her from you. You hear me? I will take her from you. I have loved her for over twent
y years and don’t think I can’t do it. You doubt me? Ask Dean.” Frank grabbed a hold of his arm pulling Henry with him. “See the baby, Henry.”

  “Frank I don’t . . .”

  “Look.” With force Frank pulled Henry to the window. “Look at his name.”

  Henry swallowed. “Nicholas Robert Slagel? You gave him Robbie’s name? I hate Robbie, Frank. I hate him.”

  “He’s my brother, Henry.”

  “But it’s our baby Frank. you really shouldn’t have named our . . .”

  “Stop.” Frank held his hand up. “My baby. Didn’t you just say you and Ellen don’t know how that happened.”

  “Well, yeah but …” Henry lowered his voice. “Look at him.”

  “I did. Maybe somewhere in my genes I have an Asian uncle. Who knows. ” Frank blew slowly. “Trust me, he’s my baby Henry. I don’t care what you and El say about not knowing how it happened. It happened while I was married to her, so … there are rules about that. Right? What’s the rule on kids being born to a married woman?” Frank asked. “Do you know?”

  Henry stuttered as he saw the look in Frank’s eyes. He was so serious, is eyes were glazed over.. “It says whoever is the primary relationship, when the kid is conceived, is the father.”

  “Conceived, Henry. I was married to her when you and her conceived this kid. Time machine or lie, it doesn’t matter. The baby is mine, Henry, not yours.”

  “What are you getting at, Frank?” Henry asked nervously.

  “What am I getting at?” Frank leaned his face close to Henry and spoke in mean whisper. “You fucked me, Henry. You fucked me over big time. You took my life from me. People may think I’m dumb, but I’m not stupid. I don’t buy this ‘I wanna help you out, El, so let’s get married’. You did it for selfish reasons. All this is an act. I see it. Dean sees it. El will too. See that baby boy in there. Nick Slagel? Mine, Henry, mine and under the understanding rules, I have the say so to dictate who raises the kid. Isn’t that right?”

  Apprehensively Henry swallowed and answered, “Yes.”

  “So I dictate this. I will raise my son, me and Ellen alone.”

  “But that’s not fair, Frank.”

  “Fair!” Though Frank’s volume level was low, his words were hard enough to go through Henry. “You wanna talk fair to me. Look at all that has happened and then we’ll talk fair. So listen to me. You will not be a part of that kid’s life. You will not raise him, I will. He will not call you Dad. He will not look up to you. You will not see his first step. You won’t hear his first words. You won’t have a thing to do with him. Got that? Enjoy him while he’s here because once he’s with me, Henry Kusakari will be nothing more to him than the fuckin maintenance man in Beginnings.”

  Henry’s eyes closed tightly when he felt Frank harshly brush by him. Tilting his head as it laid pressed to the glass, Henry watched Frank walk into Ellen’s room and then stared at the incubator. The name ‘Nicholas Robert Slagel’ burned a painful reality through him.

  CHAPTER TWO

  In need of a good oiling is what George Hadley thought when he hit the third sub-basement level of the lab were the scientists worked. The sound of squeaking wheels and mice filled the long room that looked more like a greenhouse than anything else. “How’s it going?” He approached a worker who watched one cage. Six or seven mice ran rampant inside.

  “Good.” He set down his clipboard, took off his black rimmed glasses, and placed them in the pocket of his lab coat. “Almost ready to move on to phase two with these. Should we go ahead?”

  “Not yet.” George shook his head. “Can you hold off for a while?”

  “Sure.” He shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”

  “Good. Walk with me.” George began to lead the shorter, balding man out of the lab. “My contact in Beginnings said they hadn’t heard from Robbie and his merry men. I’m going to assume that Mr. Slagel walked into our little set up, which is good. My contact should let me know as soon as he starts his shift what they heard. My guess is Robbie will tell them what they saw and, knowing Beginnings as well as I do, they won’t let Robbie and the men in until they show no signs of the virus.” He continued to talk as he walked. “Since our squirmy Dr. Hayes has figured out one strain and pin pointed a four or five day incubation period, he’ll safely recommend six days to Mr. Slagel for his men to stay out. Six days will pass with no signs of the virus and once they are in Beginnings, it should hit them.”

  “Say something goes wrong?” The doctor asked, “and they get sick perhaps beforehand. Do we move on them then?”

  “We have to. They’re a smart bunch.” George shrugged. “But I don’t think they are gonna be smart enough to see this coming. We have to get Beginnings back. We need that communications room and quickly. Too much time has passed and there is a whole another world on the other side of the ocean that is gonna catch up to us technology wise. They’ll be here before we can get to them. We have to start tracking what they’re doing.”

  “It’s a scary thought.”

  “Not yet. Like us, I don’t think they quite have what it takes to get over here. They’ll get there, but hopefully not before we can gain the technology back and manpower to do so.”

  “Maybe if you told Beginnings the reason you need the communication center...”

  George scoffed loudly, “They won’t give up their land and they certainly won’t want any part in rebuilding the world that brought them down. They’re happy and content peons in there. Nah, I’d rather wipe it clean and have a fresh start. What the hell, it’s only a hundred or so people, maybe more now. We have more than that being created in biology for workers and that’s not to mention the nice little community building and changing down at Quantico.” He glanced down at the time. “Speaking of those two divisions, I’m heading out to Biology then we’re taking a vehicle down to visit the C.L.B. lab and Dr. Gafsky in Behavioral. They’re making progress. It seems we don’t have the zombies like we used to.”

  The little scientist smiled at George. “I did enjoy when they didn’t have thought process.”

  “Yeah, I kind of did too.” George moved to the door. “Thanks for your help, Stan.” George nodded. “Don’t forget the department head meeting this evening after dinner.” He started to leave again and stopped, snapping his fingers. “Get Dr. Heinz in Agriculture. I forgot to tell him the change in time. He’s been so wrapped up in the growth formula he knows nothing but seeing how fast he can grow a string bean...” Chuckling some, George moved down the lab. He peered up to the ceiling and the lights that seemingly were brighter by the day. Power. It took what he had--personnel wise--to get the power back up and it was building now. Just like the bulbs above his head in the tunnels that ran below the former White House, George and his world were growing stronger by the day.

  CHAPTER THREE

  In Beginnings uniform--US military stockpile--Greg looked so official as he barked his orders to the men who loaded up the trucks just outside of Boise, Idaho. “Don’t start the vehicles yet.” He marched from the two trucks. “Conservation of gasoline, gentlemen.” Shaking his head at the anxious group, he walked to Robbie who sat on the ground just over the hillside. Greg knew upon his approach to Robbie that his demeanor said more than any words could. Robbie sat against the tree, a knapsack beside him, and the tote bag for the cellular phone in front of him. The radio was nearby. “Robbie. The men are waiting.”

  With his knees brought close to his chest, Robbie dropped his arms and let them dangle over his legs. “They’ll have to wait a bit more. I’m uh . . . waiting on a call.” He lifted the phone some.

  “What’s wrong?” Greg lowered his body and his voice.

  “You saw it, Greg.”

  “Yeah, so what’s that got to do with us?”

  “That’s the future all those time trips were trying to avoid.”

  “I thought of that but Robbie, it’s way out here.”

  Robbie gave an emotional chuckle. “Yep, and so are we.”
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  Called to the communication center for a meeting? Dean thought it odd. Why Joe would need to see him? Actually he would have rather not made the long trip down through the tunnels, but he had to go to the cryo-lab to get some of the files he and Ellen stored there. He needed to start working with her, sick or not and there was a special file he had hidden there that he was bringing to her attention later that evening. There wasn’t much more Dean could do on this day. He needed to be close to Ellen and the baby in case there were any problems. He had Johnny working on anti-serums of the virus at the mobile lab and he had all the kids on this evening. Dean headed to the communication center. Joe was the only one there. “Hey Joe.” Dean walked in and set his files down on the counter. “What did you need to show me?” He looked around the center. “Not that I understand this place much.”

  “Talk, Dean.” Joe swiveled his chair from the monitor slightly. “I need to talk to you. We’re waiting for Frank and . . .”

  “Frank’s here,” Frank announced himself as he walked into the center with heavy steps and a heavier voice. “What’s up?” He saw Dean. “Aw Dad, don’t tell me we’re gonna have to listen to boring Dean stuff?”

  “Well, Frank.” Dean sat down. “What I usually have to say is only boring to those who have failed to get past the play dough creativity stage of their lives.”

  “Now see.” Frank held out his hand. “You always have to have something smart to say.”

  “And you didn’t start it?”

  “No,” Frank quipped. “I was observing the situation.”

  Dean rolled his eyes. “How can you take him, Joe?”

  “A strong imagination, Dean,” Joe told him. “It starts when your children are young. You make them out to be more than they are and, unfortunately, you still find yourself doing it even when they’re old men with gray hair.”

  “Hey.” Frank ran his hand over his short black hair. “I’ll have you know I’m not gray or old.”

  “Sit down, Frank,” Joe instructed. “We’re waiting for one more. And we wait no more.” Joe smiled. “Henry’s here.”