Joe

by Jacqueline Druga

  “And that is?” Frank beckoned an answer. “Who did we steal from the future?”

  “Not a ‘who’”

  “A thing? As in car?” Frank questioned “Couch?’

  Roy shook his head and simply stated. “If this machine worked, if this machine brought a subject back, knowing what resided in my future time, I wouldn’t be concerned with who … I would be concerned…” He peered with some trepidation to Frank and the others. “With what we brought back.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  It went from light to dark.

  The air went thin, almost unbreathable.

  One moment he was sitting in front of a fire, roasting his dinner over an open pit, sharpening his knife, and the next a huge light appeared and he no longer could breathe right.

  What happened to his friend? His fire? Dinner? The trees that had lost their leaves due to the change of season were suddenly budding.

  It wasn’t the same forest. No way.

  The trees were small.

  What happened?

  Had he consumed too much substance that it took him away? It was illegal for hunters to drink the drink, but he enjoyed it.

  It was strange, he felt strange.

  He blacked out for a second then ended up somewhere different. As if he were transported to another place. But that wasn’t possible. No way. He heard tales that at one time man could do that, but he shook it off. Man didn’t have that technology. No way.

  But other worlds, men from the stars, they had it. At least that’s what he and his people believed.

  Now he was alone.

  Completely alone.

  The sounds were strange, small chirping sounds he never heard before.

  He reached down to the ground and lifted a hand full of dirt, bringing it to his mouth to sniff.

  Different.

  There were minerals in there he didn’t recognize.

  But he did recognize hunger.

  He had to find food.

  His hunt was in vain as it seemed to vanish … or he did.

  A sniff. A hard sniff brought him a direction. To the left. He focused, waited; even in the darkness he could catch the scent. The blood.

  Yes. There.

  It was big, almost as big as he was. Covered in thick black fur. The animal was like none he had seen. It reminded him of a looper but without horns on its head.

  The creature bucked to its hind legs and growled.

  He growled back and the creature charged toward him.

  Was he sacrificing himself?

  Surely he was, because he didn’t know what he was up against.

  The animal or creature was stupid.

  He stood his ground waiting, and pulled forth his knife. A long object with a bone handle.

  The animal lunged out its paw and stomped.

  Too easy. Too simple.

  He slashed out quickly and the animal fell with a groan.

  He hovered over the creature, finishing it off with a thick slice to its throat. He turned it on its side to let the blood flow.

  As soon as it stopped breathing, and the blood stopped pulsating, he would gut it, skin it, and cook it. It should have enough meat to last a couple days.

  At least until he could figure out what was going on and where he was.

  Food first.

  Food was always first.

  And he turned to his hunter skills to eat.

  ****

  Frank was exhausted.

  He stayed at Dean’s, helped him pack, but something about what Roy said stuck with him. It must have stuck with all of them as well. Because about two hours after he left Dean’s, Jason called.

  He asked Frank if he was restless. Frank said yes. Jason described his feeling as if they were missing something.

  Frank had the same feeling. Ellen had come home a little tipsy and went straight to bed. Frank paced the living room. The call from Roy didn’t make things easier.

  “I was able to determine when the beams landed,” he said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Where each beam went.”

  “Oh my God, it went to three different time frames.”

  “Yes. The first is undetermined. The other, one hundred and thirty-two years from now, and hold on … seventeen hundred years from now.”

  “Is there even a world seventeen hundred years from now?”

  “There’s a space.”

  “Did anything come through?”

  “We can’t determine.”

  Frank sighed out.

  “Frank. Can we speak?”

  Frank was going to say yes, but something inside of him told him it wasn’t a telephone conversation.

  He met up with Roy.

  “Do you recall Dean and Ellen’s Aragon Window future?” Roy asked.

  “Yeah, or rather what they told me.”

  “They spoke of a world that was good, But with a problem with LEP?”

  “I remember that. That’s why I was wanting you to work on Harry the fetus.”

  “Frank, their nestings can contain up to a hundred fetus at a time. They reproduce within a year. That is how they got out of control. In that future.”

  “In yours?”

  “In ours it went out of control because we sought a solution to the infertility virus. Embryos were implanted and those embryos turned out to be …”

  “Killer Babies.”

  “Yes,” Roy nodded.

  “Have you ever thought about curing the infertility virus before it hits.”

  “I have. But it is impossible without a strain.”

  “Maybe we can put the HG Wells to good use. In both histories the virus hits.”

  “Do you know why?”

  “No.”

  “It started with the LEP when one had sex with a female of ours.”

  Frank’s eyes widened. “That would have been the same in both.”

  “Probably.”

  “Why are you telling me this?” Frank asked.

  “It is told, or Danny Hoi told me that he and Billy went to the future and saw. Saw a world he described as a Planet of the Apes world only with LEP.”

  “Oh my God.’

  “So I fear …”

  “If that is still the future, what we brought through could be …”

  “Very advanced LEP.”

  “No.” Frank shook his head. “I refuse to believe that we brought anything back. Refuse.”

  “Do you?”

  “Yeah, it’s a pot shot. A chance shot. It’s a dead world. Population will never be what it was. A wayward beam hit something or someone.”

  “So you think we’re worrying too much?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Roy seemed to take heart in that.

  But when Frank went his own way he sought out Robbie. He told Robbie what had occurred.

  And together, both of them, began a search.

  They took a jeep out beyond the perimeter and were gone until sun up.

  Exhausted. No sleep.

  When they returned both of them had a full day ahead of them.

  “You know Frank, it would be easier if Roy knew where the beam came back.”

  “He estimated it has to be within a few hundred miles radius of here.”

  “Then we search. We search until we know nothing came back in that beam.”

  Frank nodded.

  “What does your gut say?” Robbie asked.

  “It says something came back.”

  “Then I say put the towns on alert.” Robbie suggested. “Creedville, Jordan and Bowman. Put them on alert for anything strange. Obviously nothing occurred in the towns or we’d know. Right?”

  “Right.”

  “So if something arrived it arrived hundreds of miles away. And if they are LEP, how many, really came through?”

  “True.”

  “Ok, so let’s do an alert.”

  “How?” Frank asked. “What do we tell them?”

  “You can tell Hal the truth, t
he others won’t suspect anything. After all we could have brought back a dog, or little girl again.”

  Frank sighed out. “Thanks, little brother.”

  “You’re welcome. And good luck today with your Dean broadcast.”

  “I will.”

  “And I’m gonna sneak a nap.”

  “You do that.” Frank headed toward his office; Robbie got back in the jeep and drove off.

  Was he over reacting or was there a sixth sense about something.

  Frank knew the answer to that was uncertain, and ironically, only time would tell.

  ****

  It wasn’t the wake up he preferred. Hal usually was a pleasant person in the morning, but only after he had his coffee. That was why he had coffee at his own apartment before embarking to the mess hall.

  He sipped. Got dressed. Sipped again and enjoyed a cigarette.

  He even looked forward to the morning fare at the mess hall.

  Then his phone rang.

  “Yes, Frank.” Hal said.

  “You busy?”

  Something was in Frank’s tone. It wasn’t the usual aggravating tone he had. Or upbeat. It was concern.

  “What’s wrong?” Hal asked.

  “Hal, did you have anything unusual happen this morning?”

  “No, was something supposed to happen.”

  “I hope not.”

  Hal was on his way out, but stopped to talk to Frank. “What’s going on?”

  “I went to Dean’s last night to resolve everything. Figure out what I’m gonna do, how we’re gonna break the truth to the community. Well, Dean and Roy started fighting, then they started fighting over the time machine and one thing led to another. The HG Wells dropped, a beam shot out. It was a retractor beam.”

  “Did it bring something in?”

  “We don’t know.”

  “Do you know where it went?”

  “Don’t you mean when?”

  “The future.”

  “Yep. Over a hundred years. Three locations and one beam hit like a thousand years in the future.”

  “Is there a world a thousand years from now?”

  Frank chuckled. “That’s what I asked.”

  “So you’re concerned.”

  “Hal, I’ve been up all night.”

  “Worried.”

  “Searching.”

  “For?” Hal asked.

  “Anything. Anything that I could. Anything I could say may have come through the beam.”

  “Do we even know anything came through?”

  “No.”

  “Then listen. We keep an eye out. You issue warnings of strange occurrences and that’s it. Tell them to add security, but that’s all you can do. Frank, you can’t do or battle anything until you know what you are up against. You can’t even prepare.”

  “I know.”

  “Please don’t worry about it.”

  “I’ll try.”

  “I’m here.”

  “Thanks, Hal, I appreciate it.”

  “I know you do big brother. And did you resolve the Dean and Roy situation?” Hal asked.

  “Hal, they hate each other. You and Robbie were right.”

  “What are you gonna do?”

  “Have them both live in Beginnings. Nothing like a little excitement.”

  “Like Beginnings needs that.”

  “I’ll let you go. Oh, hey, Hal?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You’re a writer and all, if I brought you my script to Frank’s Day Out will you look at it and give me your opinion.”

  ‘Absolutely, Frank I’d be honored.”

  “Thanks.”

  After they hung up, Hal thought about what he had said. Honored to read Frank’s script? Although he enjoyed the book and audio tape, he really didn’t know how they were going to pull a major motion picture out of a ten page picture book.

  He checked out the time, he was already a few minutes late for his breakfast meeting with Elliott. He hoped that Elliot secured him a bacon portion. It’s not often they had bacon in the mess hall. Not like it was anything similar to bacon in the old world, they hadn’t accomplished that hickory flavor, but it was close.

  Hal left his apartment and walked to the mess.

  Elliott waved him over and as Hal hoped, he had retrieved his breakfast tray. Complete with bacon.

  “Morning Captain.”

  “Morning Elliott. Thank you very much.”

  “You’re welcome. The bacon was going fast.”

  “As I figured.” Hal brought this mug over. “And the coffee. Thank you.”

  “How was your morning?” Elliott asked.

  “Seeing how it just started, great. Elliott you worked last night. Anything unusual happen?”

  “No, it was calm. We didn’t even have an incident at the Hoot and Shout event at Hoi-Hoi on the Range. Although I thought it would spark one.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Well, Ellen went to the Hoot and Shout event with George.”

  Hal gazed up. “Ellen went with George?”

  “Yes, to try to spark some jealously with Margaret. Margaret got intoxicated but it seems nothing occurred.”

  “Why is Ellen spending so much time with George?”

  “Because her husband doesn’t spend time with her.”

  “My brother is very busy man with a lot of responsibility.”

  “I understand that,” Elliott said. “But there are times that Frank could be at home.”

  “Perhaps he just takes it for granted.”

  “The worst mistake.”

  “Speaking of mistakes,” Hal folded his hands on the table. “They had a little indiscretion with the time machine.”

  “I thought Jason’s time machine was broke.”

  “The HG Wells.”

  “I thought the HG Wells was broke,” Elliott said.

  “It’s not and I’ll explain later. But, Frank fears something came through.”

  “Something came through the HG Wells.”

  Hal nodded.

  “Do they know for sure?”

  “Not yet.”

  “How would something come through?” Elliott asked.

  “It’s beyond me. All I know is there is a retractor beam, and it went off when our Dean and Dean Clone were fighting.”

  “Oh, no.” Elliott sat back. “You feared that.”

  “Yes, I know. Clash of the Brainiac’s.”

  “Are they still moving forward with having them both in Beginnings?” Elliott asked.

  “As far as I know, Frank said it would add excitement.”

  “I can’t wait to see how he explains it to the community. I mean how will they handle it?”

  “Good God, Elliott, it’s Beginnings.” Hal said. “What do they care about? Frank will tell them. They’ll say, ‘oh’ and then move on to more important matters like Frank’s movie rendition of his children’s book, the newest sales in Bowmen and the Most Smartest Hero in Beginnings Contest.”

  Elliott laughed. “You know, I really hope I am voted into that contest.”

  “Really?”

  “That sounds like so much fun.”

  “And Danny thinks Frank is gonna win.”

  “Well …” Elliott hem hawed. “If you think about it.”

  “Think about what? Do you honestly think Frank would win?”

  Elliott didn’t respond.

  “Elliott, he may be hero enough but is he smart enough.”

  “Depends.”

  “You mean if they ask military questions?”

  “No.” Elliott shook his head. “It depends on whether or not the intellectual challenge is held in isolation or in front of people.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Frank. Captain, he reads minds.”

  “Oh … my … God.”

  Elliott nodded. “If he doesn’t know the answer …”

  “Someone around him might.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Fuck. Fuck.” Hal st
ood up. “He can’t win this. I want to win this.”

  “That’s easy. Think the wrong answer really strong.”

  Hal smiled. “That is a brilliant idea. I do hope you get voted to play.”

  Elliott was about to agree and he stopped. His eyes lifted and he looked beyond Hal.

  “What?” Hal asked then turned around to see Corporal Lewis enter.

  Lewis had a look on his face. Shock. As if someone died.

  “Corporal Lewis?” Hal stood. “Is everything ok?”

  “You briefed us on what President Slagel said. What his feelings were about our man that was taken by the Canadian mass, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “He’s psychic.”

  “Excuse me.”

  “Captain. I just received a radio call from our scout that was taken.” Lewis said. “They released him. He’s on his way home. He’s fine. Healthy, uninjured, and on his way home. Said he’d brief us when he arrived. I’ve sent troops to meet him. Escort him home safely. We had men about twenty five miles from his reported location.”

  Hal was shocked. Not that he didn’t trust Frank’s guess, but he didn’t think he’d be so right on.

  It took him aback. Hal was grateful. But on another hand he was worried, because Frank was calling the ‘Great War’ progress as if Frank himself was a futuristic guru, and if Frank continued to be right, the Great War was closer than they thought.

  ****

  Had Fr. O’Brien not been on an all-night drinking binge following a wild night at the Hoot and Shout, he may not have stumbled across the man. The good priest was wandering the streets on the extremely warm April night, when he saw the figure stumbling.

  He told Doctor Blue he thought it was a zombie, the way he staggered. Then he thought the man had to be drunk, until he drew closer.

  The man was ill, very ill, and he rushed him to the clinic.

  Thank God Blue was still there.

  He was sewing up Josephine after she fell drunk onto the bar at Hoi-Hoi on the Range.

  Blue couldn’t figure out what it was.

  “Hot damn that looks like the plague” Josephine stated. “Maybe it was a delayed reaction or something.”

  Blue took the rambling as that, but only for a moment.

  Each clinic in the provinces of Beginnings had a supply of the plague antidote that Dean created. Basically it was a souped up antibiotic, and to the best of Blue’s knowledge wouldn’t hurt.