“What are you talking about?” Dean asked.
“Today,” Frank replied. “When you were tearing apart your lab . . .”
“I tore apart my lab?”
“Oh, yeah, but El checked. There’s no damage. Anyhow, can I tell this?” Frank held out his hand. “You were rambling about curing the plague and how you were running out of time. And then you went on to say you’re the world’s only hope. How you’re the only brilliant . . .”
“Frank,” Ellen stopped him. “He did not.”
“Yeah he did, El, remember?” Frank winked drastically at her to get her to go along with him. “Remember. Ask Jason.”
Jason snickered. “I think I heard that.”
“Both of you are screwed up.” Ellen shook her head. “Dean, you did think you were fighting the plague again . . . Frank stop laughing. But you didn’t praise yourself.”
“I don’t remember,” Dean said. “I thought Frank just left me to go to work. That’s the last thing I remember and it was night.”
Ellen stroked Dean’s hand and leaned closer. “When’s the last time your chip had a maintenance check up?”
“Huh?” Dean was confused. “They don’t need maintenance.”
“There you have it.” Ellen sat back. “Yeah they do, Dean. Henry and Danny said so. If they don’t, they get all screwy, like yours, and it affects your mental capacity. Look at what happened today.”
“Wow,” Dean spoke in awe. “All the work I did and I don’t recall hearing that.”
“Neither do I,” Jason spoke up.
“Fuckin Henry and Danny,” Frank snapped. “They probably forgot to tell us all and now they’re pretending they told us.”
“No, I remember knowing,” Ellen said. “I think. But . . . let’s get Danny over here with the stuff to check. It won’t hurt. Have him run a diagnostic. Maybe he can fix it without having to remove it.” Ellen stood up. “Jason? What do you think?”
“I really don’t think they need maintenance,” Jason stated. “But anything is worth a shot to try to avoid surgery again.”
“Good. Let’s go get him.” Ellen leaned down to Dean. “I’ll be back. Just rest,” she spoke softly then walked from the room with Jason.
Frank waited for a second. “Dean, don’t do anything gross because I’m still in here.”
“I figured as much. Hopefully this will work and I’ll get my sight back.”
“Dean, you fool.” Frank rushed over to the bed. “Man, I would like play the blindness part some more.”
“Frank . . .”
“No. Really. Tell them you want your brain to heal or something. Right now, you got El wrapped. You could easily play the pity role and get her right back, like that.” Frank snapped.
“Frank, that is low. Not to mention so wrong to . . .” Dean paused and smiled sneakily. “Really?”
Frank nodded, forgetting Dean couldn’t see him.
^^^^
It fed through at a pretty good speed, which was favorable for Joe who grew antsy. He couldn’t recall ever moving so fast to his office. One phone call from George’s right hand man saying merely, ‘Sending something. George says grab Robbie.’ told Joe it had to do with going somewhere. Robbie meant flight. Joe had to read the fax twice. It couldn’t have been so simple that even the best of minds missed it. Joe could have kicked himself for not seeing it and for Frank and his simple mind for not figuring it out first.
“Dad,” Robbie said, walking into Joe’s office. “What’s up?”
“This.” Joe walked to Robbie and handed him it. “Feel like hitting the air?”
Robbie read the words. “Oh, wow, yeah.”
“That’s a good fifteen hundred miles.”
“Not long,” Robbie stated. “I’ll work on a flight plan. Can you get a hold of Hal or Elliott while I do and tell him to send a man with the tanker down to one of our reserve pools? There’s still a few pretty stocked on Route fifty-nine.”
“All three tankers in New Bowman are out?”
Robbie nodded. “I’ve been flying a lot.”
“All right. How many more flights do we have before we’re going to have to make a tanker run? I hate doing it with the Savage crisis.”
“We’re good for a while. I’ll give ample warning.” Handing back the sheet, Robbie moved to the door. “You may wanna fax George back and tell him that I’ll be in the air in about . . .” Robbie looked at his watch with a bobbed head. “An hour.”
“Answer in three?”
“You got it.” He opened the door. “Dad, save me dinner.”
“You got it.” Joe nodded as Robbie left and then he looked back down to the fax. “Come on.” He beckoned in a whisper. “With all that’s going on, let this be right.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Beginnings, Montana
The sound of the sweeper had to be the reason Ellen didn’t hear him knock, Henry thought. That struck him as odd but not as much as the smell of sauce that filled Ellen’s home. “El?” Henry called out as he stepped inside. “El?” He moved to the sound of the vacuum then heard it stop. “Jess?” Henry stopped at the end of the hall when he saw Jess by the bedroom wrapping up the cord of the vacuum.
“Hey, Henry. This is a surprise.”
“Um, yeah.” Henry scratched his head. “I stopped by to see if El was here. Danny is ready for her at the clinic.”
“She was at the cryo-lab feeding Bub.”
“I didn’t look there.”
Jess pushed the vacuum and placed it in the hall closet.
“So what are you doing? Are you helping El?”
“Sort of.” Jess smiled. “You can say I’m helping Frank too. Robbie and I barely used any of our meat rations this month.” Jess walked to the kitchen. “I wanted to cook it off. I figured. El’s gonna be hungry after working all day and Frank could use the leftovers for the kids tomorrow when he has them.”
“How, uh nice.” Henry stepped to him. “Jess?” A crooked, suspicious grin hit Henry. “What are you doing?”
“I just told you.” Jess opened the oven and took out the pan.
“You know, if you want to make enemies, this is the way to do it. It’s a good thing you’re not straight.”
Confused, Jess turned around and faced Henry. “What do you mean, make enemies?”
“This thing you’re doing with El. I mean, Robbie’s your roommate. I thought we were becoming friends. If I didn’t know better, I’d be pissed that you’re trying to make move on what someone else maybe had the first chance.
“First chance? I’m not understanding. Like a game, a lottery? Who has first chance to what?”
“Me, Frank, and Robbie, to El.”
“I see. And why . . . just explain to me, Henry.” Jess stayed calm. “Why you guys have ‘first chance’? Especially you, Henry. I know your history with El. You keep pounding for an understanding that just will never happen. Just because El is nice to you doesn’t mean she’s forgotten. Nick is a reminder.”
Henry paused and stared. “I’m gonna pretend you didn’t say that.”
“Whatever. You know what really kills me, Henry? The mentality of the men in Beginnings toward women. It’s almost like the men don’t give them a choice. The women . . .” Jess shrugged. “What they want doesn’t matter. Dean wants Ellen. He says he’ll only have an understanding with Robbie so if Ellen wants to have the understanding with Frank, then she’s out of luck. Ellen would be stuck being with Robbie when she really wants to be with Frank. That doesn’t make sense.”
“Yeah it does,” Henry said. “Dean will be sleeping with El. Why would he want her sleeping with someone he hates?”
“Who says Ellen has to sleep with Frank. For example, why couldn’t Dean say he’ll give Frank the understanding and allot him time with Ellen, but they can’t sleep together?”
“Jess, what’s wrong with that? Women are rare. If you have the chance to be with a woman why not . . .”
“Embrace the time instead of using her as just a body.
Women are rare so why do the men not treat them as such. Women here are treated as possessions men should have and the men of Beginnings wonder why their women are looking at the Bowman men.”
“You’re not realizing that understandings are not bad. They started for the good of the community, by the women. You weren’t around. Too many men, not enough women made for a tense situation. Men started sharing when the women gave their O.K.,” Henry stated the facts. “You’ve got two, sometimes three men, with one woman getting what they need regularly. And the rest, well.” Henry shrugged. “Jenny’s network takes care of them on occasion. Everyone’s happy. No one is tense. No bitterness. No rape.”
“New Bowman doesn’t have rape either.”
“Their women are locked up in a house turning into lesbians.” Henry laughed.
“Not anymore they aren’t.”
“Hal has severe consequences.”
“So does Joe,” Jess argued.
“They’re afraid of their women so they treat them like that.”
“It’s called respect, Henry. That’s how they treat their women and ours too, for that matter. They aren’t afraid of ours.”
“Jess,” Henry chuckled. “You are way too uptight about this. You’re taking this too personally and really, if you think about it, it doesn’t matter or affect you.”
“Why not?”
Henry widened his eyes. “Think about it and . . .” He checked out the time. “I have to go. Joe bitches if I don’t show up on time for my son. I didn’t come here to argue with you, although . . .” Henry moved to the door. “I found it great trial practice and enjoyed it. Thanks for the conversation.”
Jess stood speechless on the other side of the breakfast counter, watching as Henry left. He tilted his head in wonder. “Why did I even bother?”
^^^^
Danny placed the small earpiece inside Dean’s ear. “All hooked up.” He backed up to the lap top near the bed.
“I was thinking,” Dean said. “Maybe I should give my brain a couple of days to heal before we reload the chip. Jason? What do you think?”
“I don’t think you have to worry about causing any more damage. If this works, it should be fine,” Jason answered.
“Dean.” Ellen tapped his hand. “I’m telling you it’s not your brain, it’s the chip. Right, Danny?”
“Absolutely.” Danny worked on the computer. “Dean, you never came in for maintenance.”
“You never told me I had to,” Dean stated.
“I’m sure I did,” Danny said. “Because I know if the chips are not maintained they can cause problems and shoot out shock waves, affecting the area surrounding it. O.K.” Danny set back. “I’m ready. This should take a second. We’ll down load what’s on the chip, wipe it out, and reload. About two seconds.” Danny pressed the button.
Ellen counted in her mind. “Seems like a long two seconds.”
“Whoa.” Danny leaned close to the screen. “What the hell?”
“What’s wrong?” Jason asked.
“The optical program Henry and I designed is small. I’m downloading a ton from your chip.”
Ellen shook her head confused. “I don’t understand. What’s that mean?”
“It means.” Danny twitched his head and watched as the chip continued to download. “Dean really needed a tune up. From the size of this file, he must have picked up data from every and all sources. Dean, man, your chip is a vat.”
Jason looked curiously at Danny. “Is that . . . still downloading?”
“Oh, yeah. It’s only at fifty-three no, sixty, percent.”
“How big is the optical program?” Jason inquired.
“Barley under three meg. Done.” Danny moved the mouse. “Oh shit, Dean, no wonder you cracked up. I downloaded three gig from that tiny chip.”
Jason tossed his hands up. “There you have it. All that information in that chip was trying to be sent out to somewhere so it sent you into a tailspin. You should be fine now.”
“Sounds good to me,” Danny said.
“Me too,” Ellen commented. “Are you gonna make him see now, Danny?”
“Yep. I’m getting that program ready. Let me delete this download first.”
“Danny?” Dean questioned. “You said I had a ton of data. What is the data?”
Before Danny clicked to delete the information downloaded from Dean, he stopped. “I don’t know.” He moved again to delete, but instead decided not to. He saved the file under a different name, then proceeded to get ready to give Dean back his sight.
^^^^
New Bowman, Montana
The sound of jet engines starting always filled Robbie with excitement. He looked forward to flying, especially at night as he was just about to. He flipped the switched to his controls and set the computer in order. Helmet on, he adjusted the mouthpiece to the radio. “This is Eagle One. Ready for . . . wait.” Robbie reached into his chest pocket and pulled out Ellen’s note. With a grin, he pinned it on the overhead of his plane. “O.K., this is Eagle One. Now I’m ready for takeoff.”
Robbie closed the shield to his helmet.
^^^^
In the Clinic lab, Ellen spoke on the phone to Jess as she placed things in a box. “Where are you now?” She let out a gasp. “Why?” She heard the sound of a heavy breath released and it didn’t come from the phone. She turned around and walked to the lab door. “I mean, you did all that for me?” At the door, Ellen flashed a smile to Frank who stood there then using her foot, she closed it. “Don’t stay home alone.” Ellen turned around when she heard the buzz. “Shit. No not you. Frank again. What do you mean wear out your . . . hold on, Jess.” Huffing with the phone braced between her ear and shoulder, Ellen shut the door on Frank again. “Sorry. Wear out your welcome? No way. I’m leaving in a couple . . . shit!” The door buzzed again and that time, Frank just walked right in. “I’m not taking no for an answer, Jess. I’m leaving in a minute. I’ll see you there? Good bye.” With a beep Ellen hung up the phone. “What, Frank?”
“I’m walking you home.”
“I don’t need an escort.” Ellen checked out the box.
“So you were talking to Jess.” Frank snickered. “Setting up a little romantic date tonight?”
“If I was, it’s really none of your business.” Ellen closed the flaps on the box and took off her lab coat in her walk to the door.
Frank followed, still snickering. “Kind of barking up the wrong tree, aren’t you?” He drew a quick serious face when Ellen took a fast look at him before she walked out of the lab. “That’s O.K. with me. To me, Jess is safe.” Frank trotted to not only catch her, but pass her in the hall, and he did. He opened the Clinic doors for her.
“Frank, why are you following me?”
“Because I have the opportunity of a lifetime for you.”
Ellen stopped walking. “This should be good. Go on.”
“Me.”
Ellen laughed.
“No, I’m serious. I know it sounds too good to be true, but I’m gonna give you another shot at a date with me.”
“I have news for you, Frank. I don’t want another date. You blew it, pal. You blew it big time with me by choosing your new buddy over me. In fact, I’m done with you and Dean.” She started to walk again. “I’ve moved on.”
“To who?” Frank laughed. “Jess and Elliott?”
“What if I have?”
“Oh, good choice. I’d go as far as to say that you chose them because no other man can compare to me sexually and you don’t want to be disappointed.”
Ellen’s mouth dropped open and she spun to Frank. “What? Do you and Dean sit around and discuss the arrogant things you can say?”
“No.”
Ellen grunted. “Frank, for your information, sex isn’t everything to Jess and Elliott. You could learn a thing or two from them about being a gentlemen. Do you know . . .” Ellen began her walk again. “Elliott is perfectly content talking to me, walking with me, and holding my hand. He do
esn’t need any more from me. He’s a true gentleman.”
“Yeah, until he goes home and jerks off to the thought of you.”
“Frank!”
“What! He doesn’t even like you anyhow.”
“Frank, go away. Leave me alone.” Ellen picked up her pace.
“El . . . El . . . El . . . El.”
“What!” Ellen blasted.
“You’re crushing me, El. El, you’re crushing me. I love you. El, respond. I love . . .”
“Frank, leave me alone, all right! God!” Ellen tossed her hands up and then nearly ran away from him.
Frank stood with one hand on his hip and watched Ellen move further away. He smiled. “Oh yeah, progress made.” Biting his bottom lip with a sneaky grin, he pulled up a much rolled up collection of papers from his back pocket. “Chapter seven. Helen and Bobby.” He tilted his head as he walked in a different direction from where Ellen went. Happy his pestering got him the next installment, Frank actually contemplated if when he got back with Ellen, how upset would she be with him if he gave her a few chapters so she could learn some pointers from the ‘Helen’ person.
^^^^
With her hand upon her tiny tummy, Bev giggled. “Johnny, you should . . .” She was silenced when Johnny held up a quieting hand to her while he was on the phone. Enjoying the feel of her kicking child immensely, Bev turned to Johnny’s baby who sat on the couch propped up next to her. “Wanna feel?” She grabbed the little girl’s tiny hand and laid it on her stomach. “Oh. Did you feel that?”
Johnny rolled his eyes as he hung up the phone. “She’s eight months old, She’s doesn’t know what you’re doing.” Johnny lifted his baby. “I told you to leave her in the walker.” He put her down in her walking chair.
“Johnny, children need to feel love and affection or else they turn out cold.”
“My father showed me no love or affection growing up. Look at me.”
“Point proven. My father was very affectionate when I wasn’t in boarding school. Speaking of fathers, what did mine say?”
The Next Ten: Beginnings Series Books 11 - 20 Page 117