Musings From A Demented Mind

by Ailes, Derek

  I could see Nancy standing by the side of the road. I looked over at Mike and slammed on the brakes. He pulled the trigger. I felt a pain in my chest as the bullet penetrated my heart. I grabbed my gun from out of my jacket and shot him in the head.

  Mike was dead and soon I will be too.

  Travelers

  Valparaiso, IN

  Dave watched as the birds ate all the bread he had thrown from the park bench. From behind him, he could hear a girl playfully giggle. He turned around and watched a young couple rolling around in the grass. He shook his head. He turned his attention back to the birds. He thought about the time back in high school when Jack, Lonnie, and he had gone to the drive-in movie to pick up some girls. Jack and Lonnie had found a couple of cute girls for themselves but not for him, which was just how his luck with women always had been. He could never find anyone interested in a loner like himself. He wasn’t someone who could ever be a cover model for GQ magazine. For what women looked for in a man, he was way below average. His hair receded when he was in his teens and now, in his sixties, he still hadn’t found anyone. Every now and then, the loneliness would overtake him making his heart ache for someone to love him. The sound from the young couple giggling snapped him out of his deep thought.

  “Get a room,” he mumbled.

  The couple, while holding hands, walked out of the park, and he watched them drive away in a black corvette. He resumed his bird watching. Suddenly, all of the birds flew away as if something had just startled them. He looked around expecting to see some cat trying to make one of the birds its afternoon snack, but he didn’t see any predators lurking around anywhere. He could smell something foul in the air reminding him about the time he returned from a trip to Russia. He won the trip for being a top salesman for the insurance company he worked for. He opened up the refrigerator and found the eggs had become rotten because the refrigerator stopped working while he was away.

  He was blinded as he was engulfed in a large ball of bright yellow light. He was knocked to the ground as someone collided into him.

  “Garth, watch where you are going!” someone shouted.

  “How was I supposed to know the tranzer would put me where someone was standing,” Garth said. He grabbed Dave’s arm and helped him to his feet. “Sorry. It wasn’t intentional.”

  “Don’t mention the tranzer. No one here would understand it,” a woman said.

  Dave stared at the man wearing a shiny, metallic uniform as his eyes adjusted to the bright light. He looked like he was from some science fiction movie from the fifties.

  “Mom should be coming through any second now,” the woman said.

  Through the light, an older woman with long, dark hair with blonde highlights appeared. She was wearing a shiny, metallic dress.

  “Melinda, where’s Marty?” Garth asked.

  “He didn’t make it. He gave his life so we could transport through the tranzer,” the older woman said. She looked at Dave suspiciously. “Who is this?”

  “He was here when we jumped through,” the woman said.

  “My name is Dave,” he said. He looked at the four in shock. They all were wearing shiny, metallic clothing. His first thought was they had appeared through some type of gateway from the future.

  “My name is Melinda. These are my two sons, Garth and Jepkins. This is my daughter, Kendra.”

  “Are you from the future?” Dave asked.

  “That depends. Is this the past?” Jepkins asked. He was muscular and had spiked, blond hair. He had tattoos running down both of his arms.

  “Jepkins, it’s not nice answering a question with a question,” Garth said. He was a husky man with reddish hair. He was shorter than Jepkins with thick glasses reminding Dave of something a nerd would wear. “We can’t answer that question. We’re not even sure where or when we are.”

  “Valparaiso, Indiana. 2015,” Dave answered.

  “We are definitely in the past,” Kendra said. She had long, curly, blonde hair with reddish highlights. She was very short and looked like she could be in her early twenties.

  “I suggest a memory wipe.” Garth pulled out a small device that looked like a cross between a smart phone and a laser gun.

  Dave stepped backward in fear.

  “Garth, stop,” Melinda ordered. “He looks harmless. Besides, we are unfamiliar with this timeframe. We’ll need a guide to survive. Will you help us?”

  Dave looked over at Garth and then at Melinda. “I have nothing on my plate as of right now.”

  “I’m assuming that is how they say yes in this timeframe,” Kendra said.

  “I would suggest ditching the metal outfits. Devo hasn’t been popular since the eighties. I suggest getting some clothes at the Goodwill. I’ll drive you there and on the way you can tell me how you ended up here,” Dave said.

  “Thank you,” Melinda said as Dave led them toward his vehicle.

  “What’s Devo?” Garth asked, looking at Kendra who shrugged her shoulders.

  Edwards Air Force Base

  Area 51, Nevada

  Sergeant Malcom Teller watched as their latest secret aircraft, J'onn 6, successfully landed after its first test run. The craft was designed based on the alien spacecraft that crashed in Roswell back in 1947. They had developed several different aircrafts based on that technology over the years, but the J’onn 6 was the crowning achievement. It was the first aircraft that could successfully leave Earth without the need of heavy rockets launching it into space. In theory, it was fast enough to reach Pluto in a matter of days instead of taking unmanned spacecraft twelve years.

  “Thing of beauty isn’t it?” Mason Parsons, the lead scientist on the J’onn 6 project, asked.

  “Yes, it is.”

  It was a very large spacecraft ten times the size of any of the other crafts on the base. There was room for at least eight people in it. It was designed for long exploratory missions. Personally, Malcom thought it was too cramped in there and couldn’t imagine traveling long distances in it.

  “Imagine the solar systems we can visit thanks to its speed.”

  “We first have to launch it into space. Anything can happen. If something goes wrong up there, it could take us years to retrieve it,” Malcom said.

  “I know it’s a gamble, but one worth taking.”

  “Mason, I agree with you on that point. Unfortunately, our investors aren’t interested in a failed mission. This mission has to be a success. There’s too much riding on it financially.”

  “It will. I have faith.”

  “Faith from a scientist?”

  “Even a scientist can have faith.”

  “We need more than a miracle if we want the funding to continue.” Malcom walked over to the craft as the pilot exited the hatch on the top. “How did it handle?”

  “Sergeant, it purred like a kitten,” Russell White said as he climbed down the side of the craft.

  “Sergeant! Sergeant! Sergeant!”

  Malcom turned around as Wayne Harris ran down the hallway leading to the hanger. He stopped in front of him trying to catch his breath.

  “What is so urgent you’re about to have a heart attack from running like a madman?” Malcom asked.

  “The satellites just picked up a massive energy spike,” Wayne said, still out of breath.

  “Where?”

  “Valparaiso, IN.”

  Valparaiso, IN

  “These shall do fine,” Melinda said as Dave handed her several dresses off of the rack in the Goodwill.

  Several people were staring at them.

  “We just got back from a sci-fi convention,” Dave said loudly. “Go back to what you’re doing.”

  “Thanks again for helping us,” Melinda said as she grabbed several dresses for her daughter. “Kendra, you’ll look cute in these.”

  “Really, mom, flowers. When have you ever seen me in flowers?”

  “Kendra, we have to blend in.”

  “I found several flannel shirts for your sons,” Dave s
aid. “I hope they are ok out there in my van.”

  “They’re checking the database from this timeframe. Hopefully they can find a way to send us back to our time.”

  “Melinda, why did you come to my time anyway?” Dave asked.

  “Our compound was under attack. By whom, we don’t know. If it wasn’t for our friend, Marty, we would have never been able to escape in time. We didn’t have time to adjust the year to travel back to. This is where the tranzer decided to send us for some reason.”

  “Why go back to it then?”

  “We’re planning on traveling back before the attack and hopefully stop it from happening,” Kendra answered.

  “Do you have a plan?”

  “Hopefully, Garth and Jepkins can come up with one. I think we have enough clothing. Can you afford all of these?”

  “Trust me, with their prices, this is nothing.”

  After paying for the clothing, they walked outside and over to the van. Garth had the passenger window down and was waiving at them.

  “Did you find something?” Melinda asked.

  “I think I found a way home,” he answered excitedly.

  “That’s good news,” Dave said.

  “There’s a problem. This won’t be easy. Dave, do you know how to get to Edwards Air Force’s remote base in Nevada?”

  “Area 51?” Dave looked at him stunned. He knew he was getting himself involved in a suicide mission. “You just don’t walk onto that base.”

  “That’s why we need to come up with a clever plan. We’ll discuss it on the way there,” Garth said.

  Melinda stared at David with a look which made his heart almost melt. “I guess we’re going to Nevada. We better stop and get something to eat first. We have a couple of days drive ahead of us.”

  Edwards Air Force Base

  Area 51, Nevada

  “What do you think could have caused an energy spike of that magnitude?” Malcom asked.

  “Sir, I’m not sure.” Wayne stared at the computer screen sorting through all the data the satellite had transmitted. “I have a drone en route to Valparaiso. I hope that whatever the source of the energy spike is it’s still there and we can find it.”

  “Imagine the possibilities if we could harness that type of energy,” Mason said, looking at the data on his laptop. “The energy there could be the key to making the J’onn 6 go even farther into space at a faster speed.”

  “Then finding this energy source is a top priority. Wayne, contact Agent Venable and send his team to Valparaiso. Have them poke around and see if anybody witnessed anything out of the ordinary,” Malcolm commanded.

  “Right away.” Mason rushed out of the room.

  Malcom looked out the window of the conference room toward the J’onn 6 sitting in the hangar below. He looked back over at Wayne who was on the phone with the mission control center at NASA. He looked concerned.

  “Wayne, what’s wrong?”

  “Jennifer Perez at NASA just informed me the energy readings the satellites picked up match the ones we detected in 1947 before the spacecraft crashed in Roswell.”

  “Put the base on high alert,” Malcolm ordered. “I’m going to contact the Pentagon.”

  “Sir?”

  “I think we have some unwanted visitors,” he said as he rushed out of the conference room.

  Queen’s Diner

  Outside of Chicago

  “They won’t let us onto the air base. It’s a government installation, not a tourist attraction,” Dave warned as he bit into a potato wedge.

  “That’s not the plan. I found a conspiracy theorist website that had an article about a top secret spacecraft spotted flying around Area 51. There is a sketch of the spacecraft and it’s definitely the tranzer. This must be the year the tranzer went fully operational, which is why it transported us to this timeframe. I can hack into its system using your tablet and pilot it out of the base and directly to us,” Garth explained.

  “How did it end up in your timeframe?” Dave asked.

  “On the tranzer’s first mission, it traveled far out of our solar system and hit a ripple in the space time continuum and ended up in our timeframe, 2684. Our scientists were able to develop a way to make time travel possible from the data it collected. It sits in a hangar at our compound and when it’s activated, it spins around at a speed so fast it creates a gateway through time.”

  “That is why we think the compound was attacked. Our enemies wanted possession of the tranzer,” Jepkins said.

  “If they took control of your compound, wouldn’t they be able to travel through time also?” Dave asked

  “It will take time for them to figure out how to use the tranzer, which gives us a few days to complete our mission. We are going to travel to a few hours before the compound was attacked. We will have our forces defeat whoever was behind the attack. We’ll need to fly the tranzer out of the solar system and through that ripple in the space time continuum. I’ve memorized the data it collected on that mission when I was at the compound. I’m sure I can travel its exact course. For this to work, our future selves still have to travel back in time and encounter you, Dave,” Garth explained.

  “Sounds like we’ll be in an endless time travel loop,” Kendra pointed out.

  “Unless this doesn’t work,” Jepkins said.

  “It will,” Melinda assured. “Garth’s plans always do.”

  Edwards Air Force Base

  Area 51, Nevada

  “Sir, I think you should see this YouTube video someone from Valparaiso recently posted,” Wayne suggested.

  Malcom stood behind Wayne as he played the video. It was filmed off of someone’s cell phone. He could see two females in silver metallic uniforms grabbing clothes off of a rack. An older, balding gentleman, wearing a blue flannel shirt and black slacks, was handing a dress to one of the females.

  “Can you enhance the audio?” Malcom asked.

  “Yes. Give me a second. Let’s replay it.”

  “Our compound was under attack. By whom, we don’t know. If it wasn’t for our friend, Marty, we would have never been able to escape in time. We didn’t have time to adjust the year to travel back to. This is where the tranzer decided to send us for some reason.”

  “Why go back to it then?”

  “We’re planning on traveling back before the attack and hopefully stop it from happening,” Kendra answered.

  “Do you have a plan?”

  “Hopefully, Garth and Jepkins can come up with one. I think we have enough clothing. Can you afford all of these?”

  “Time travelers?” Malcolm ordered him to replay the video. After watching it a second time, he leaned over Wayne’s shoulder. “Pull up the files from Roswell 1947. I want to see the clothing the pilot was wearing.”

  Wayne turned toward him in shock after looking at the photos from the Roswell files. “They are wearing the same clothing!”

  “I know.”

  “I’m confused. I thought little green men were piloting the spacecraft that crashed.”

  “No, Wayne, it is what the government wanted people to believe. The pilot was actually human.”

  “Human?”

  “Apparently from the future. Which means the ship from Roswell had the ability to travel through time.” Malcom looked at the paused video. “Run the facial recognition software and get me a name on the guy who was with them.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  After a couple of hours of running the facial recognition software, the computer matched his image with the image from the Indiana BMV database. Wayne rushed out of the conference room and into Malcom’s office. “I have a name.”

  “Who is he?”

  “Dave Alexander. He drives a green 2010 Ford E-Series Van. He recently used his debit card at the Queen’s Diner outside of Chicago.”

  “Check all the traffic cams around the diner. Maybe one of them picked up his van. Have our team head toward Chicago. Once we have a visual on the van, send the drone to follow it.
We need to know where they are heading,” Malcolm ordered.

  Valparaiso, Indiana

  Agent Rick Venable watched two older women walk on the sidewalk at the Bicentennial Park in Valparaiso, Indiana. A large family was having a party at the shelter in the middle of the park. He was checking the radiation levels with his small Geiger meter while Agent Marilyn Austin stood next to him. They were both dressed in blue t-shirts and sweats and also wearing sunglasses to blend in with the rest of the people at the park. Even with her reddish hair tied back in a ponytail, she still looked like she was a federal agent.

  “Radiation levels are a little high, but nothing to cause alarm.” He kneeled down pretending to tie his left shoe and inspected the grass that had a black outline from being burnt by something. “I think this was made by the source of the energy surge.”

  “The black outline goes all the way over here,” Marilyn said as she followed the black outline toward the backside of the park. “Whatever it was, it was massive.”

  Rick snapped a few pictures of the ground and emailed them to Malcolm. A few seconds later his phone rang. “Malcolm, yes we are at its location. Time travel? If what you say is true, we’re standing where they came through. No, there are no traffic cameras around the park. The park is away from the main road. Yes, sir.”

  Marilyn walked over to him, trying to listen in on the conversation. As he ended the call, he looked at her puzzled. “Apparently, we are dealing with time travelers.”

  “What’s our next move?”

  “A diner in Chicago.”

  On I-80 Somewhere in Iowa

  After a several hours drive on I-80, Dave and his group were heading through Iowa toward Nebraska. Melinda was telling Dave about growing up in the future, meeting her late husband, and working with her children at the compound.

  “Sounds like you’ve had a very interesting life,” Dave said. “I think the most interesting thing I’ve ever done was to travel through Russia when I was younger.”