“Well, ask him yourself!” Hal pointed behind her.
Ellen spun around. “Elliott,” she said his name in surprise to see him. She hurriedly tucked her hair behind her ears, then spun on her heels back to Hal. “Fucker. You knew he was standing there.”
Hal, tilted head and whispered in question, “Fucker?” He looked so puzzled. “Fucker?”
“Quit that!” Ellen barked then with a schizophrenic change of personality, she faced Elliott with a smile. “Hi.”
“Dr. Hayes.” Elliott closed the office door. “Captain, I had a few items to pick up from Security and thought I’d leave Frank’s two day reports here.”
“Thank you.” Hal took them.
“Elliott.” Ellen stopped him. “We have to talk.”
“I’m afraid we don’t.”
“Yes, we do,” Ellen insisted. “Talk to me. Please.”
Elliott stared for a second, then turned to Hal. “Captain, do you mind?”
“No, go right ahead. Talk.” Hal leaned back in his chair.
“Hal,” Ellen said, “I think we’d like you to leave.”
“I think not.” Hal crinkled his face. “I’ve work to do and I must admit I’m curious. I’ll be quiet.” He lifted a pencil. “Resolve.” He lowered his head to his work and smiled.
“Elliott? Would you like to go outside to talk?” Ellen asked.
“No, this will be fine. I don’t mind the Captain knowing.”
Using the pen to fake-write against the paper, Hal listened. He chuckled in his mind thinking it had to be good. He immediately came up with a list of things that transpired to cause the silence between the friends.
“Ok.” Ellen lifted her hand. “About what I said. You have to know I didn’t mean it.”
“You didn’t mean it?” Elliott asked. “Tell me, Ellen, how you can not mean to imply I am physically no competition for Frank.”
“Ouch,” Hal commented then smiled when he saw the looks they gave him. “Sorry. It slipped out. Continue.”
Ellen did. “Elliott, that’s not what I meant.”
“What did you mean?”
“Well I meant . . . I meant . . . shut up, Hal!” Ellen snapped at him.
“What! Go on explain to the man,” Hal stated, “not that I’m listening.”
“What I meant, Elliott . . .” Ellen peered up to Elliott whose head was tilted, waiting. “Frank . . . he performs these astronomical feats, things normal men like yourself can’t do.”
“Sizzle, burn, ouch,” Hal whispered then quickly lifted his hand with an apologetic look.
Frazzled, Ellen tried to continue. “I mean, he jumps from helicopters, Elliott. He’s taken on multitudes of Savages, SUTs, you name it.”
Elliott nodded. “And does Frank . . . fly as well?’
Hal laughed.
Ellen grunted, “No. Not yet.”
Hal laughed harder. “What!”
“I mean . . .” Ellen gathered herself. “He’s just at times, most of the time, he’s . . . unbeatable and . . .”
Elliott cleared his throat. “Captain, I think . . .”
“Elliott,” Ellen tried again. “Look, all I’m saying is the only person I know that can come close to taking Frank is Hal. And really, do you think you can take Hal?” Ellen cringed when realization hit with another sizzle sound from Hal.
“If.” Elliott lifted a finger. “There is a point to all of this, please inform me.”
“The point is, I don’t want to be at odds. Elliott, right before this all went down, I was going to let you touch my breasts.”
Crash.
Both Ellen and Elliott looked to see Hal straightening the pencil holder.
“I’m just a bit shocked,” Hal said. “Wasn’t that wonderful of her to allow you to touch her breasts.”
“Hal!” Ellen yelled. “You aren’t helping.”
“I never said I would.”
“Elliott,” Ellen spoke quietly. “Can we stop? I’m sorry. Let’s just go back to the way we were.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that. I’m sorry, Ellen. I think not only should we not come close to crossing boundaries, I believe you and I should curb the close friendship as well.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I’m not Frank. I will never be Frank. God knows, I can never stand up to Frank . . . in your eyes and romantically involved or platonic, in your eyes I want to be more.”
“You’re serious,” Ellen stated.
“Very.”
“Ok.” She reached for the door. “Fine. Fuck you.” Opening the door with hard swing, Ellen stormed out.
Elliott jolted at the slam.
“Hmm.” Hal peered up. “She said fuck you. I wonder what she meant by that.”
“Captain,” Elliott grumbled and took a seat.
“So the reason you are at odds with Ellen is because she insulted your ego?’
“Yes. Your brother and I were close to going at it and she implied it would be foolish to even try.”
“I see,” Hal nodded. “This upsets you.”
“Yes,” Elliott snapped. “It burns my ass she thinks that way.”
“It . . . burns your ass? Burns your ass. Hmm.” Hal leaned back in the chair. “Eloquently put.”
Elliott rolled his eyes.
“In her defense, think about it. She has a lot on her mind.” Hal folded his hands.
“So you think I’m wrong?”
“No, not at all. You made the choice. I just think your timing is a little off. Seeing how your former friend, the one who told you ‘fuck you’, the one whom you are abandoning, is pretty much facing excommunication from her home land,” Hal’s voice dropped to a truthful whisper. “That happens in less than a week.”
^^^^
“Now . . . Now let me see . . .” Joe held up one hand in a calm understanding manner. Laying in an upright position in his hospital bed, he stared at Frank. “Let me see if I have this right. Your psychic ability told you a meteor is coming. You saw your deceased mother. Sigmund Freud gave you licking lessons. You met God.”
“Who looks like John Wayne.”
“Of course.”
“A lot. He sounds like him too.”
“That’s who I would want to be, Frank, if I were God.”
“Him or Clint Eastwood.”
“Absolutely,” Joe nodded. “Going back. Meteor. Your mother. Freud. God who looks like John Wayne. Darth Vader.”
“What?” Frank laughed.
“That’s who you said.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Frank, you told me the evil leader in Star Wars came to visit you.”
“Um, yeah.” Frank spoke as if Joe were less than intelligent. “But, Dad, that’s Captain Kirk.” He winked.
“Captain Kirk is from Star Trek, you idiot.”
“Same difference.”
Joe grunted. “Trying this again. Meteor. Your mom. Freud. God. Captain Kirk and now after meeting and speaking to all these special people . . .”
“Kirk wasn’t all that special.”
“Whatever, Frank.” Joe’s voice raised some. “After meeting all these people, you’re gonna tell me that you can read minds too.”
“Absolutely.”
“Get the hell out of here,” Joe sneered.
“I just got here.”
“Frank!”
“What!”
“There’s no goddamn way you can read minds.”
“Dean said.”
Joe mocked. “Dean said. Dean’s an asshole.”
“I’m telling.”
“Go on, tell but it still doesn’t make you able to read minds.”
“Bet me,” Frank said arrogantly.
“I’ll bet you.”
“What do you wanna bet?”
“I’m not betting anything.”
“You can’t just say ‘I bet’ and not back it up,” Frank argued.
“Frank . . .”
“You have to bet something.”
“Frank!”
“Leader for a day.”
“What! Are you out of your goddamn mind?” Joe snapped.
“No, I’m actually in tune with my mind. Bet me.”
“All right. I’ll bet. I’ll make you leader for the day but I say when and that’s if, if you can read my mind.”
“And if I do, I’m leader for a day?” Frank asked.
“Yes, but on a day I pick.”
“No welching?”
“Frank!” Joe yelled. “Just read my mind!”
“Fine.” Frank looked at him with one closed eye.
“Christ, you look constipated.”
“Nah, I’m fine. Been eating lots of roughage. Thanks for asking though.”
“What am I thinking?” Joe blasted.
“Dad!” Frank raised his voice. “No! I’m not a moron.”
There was a slight beat of pause, but only slight. “Lucky guess,” Joe said.
“What!?”
“Lucky guess! Try again. Something a little more obscure. Go on.”
After a ‘hmm’, Frank nodded. “Uh!” Frank screamed. “That’s just not right. Jason having sex with Josephine?”
“You guessed,” Joe disbelieved.
“How can I guess that? No, Dad. Unfair. I won.”
“You did not, Frank.” Joe was adamant.
“No way could I guess that.”
“Yes you could. You know me and knowing me, you would know what I would think.”
“Huh?”
“Forget it.” Joe waved out his hand.
“No, I will not forget it. I want to be leader. Try again. Ask me a question. Any question.”
“Fine.” Joe took a couple irritated breaths, folded his arms, and looked at Frank.
“Robbie wears a size twelve boot.”
Joe’s eyes couldn’t hide his surprise.
“A-ha!” Frank gloated. “I won. I won. I’m leader . . .”
“Knock it off. You guessed again!” Joe yelled. “You can’t read minds.”
“No! I didn’t guess. Why won’t you believe me?”
“Why? I’ll tell you why, Frank,” Joe said. “I don’t believe you can read minds because you just aren’t smart enough.”
“I’m not saying I’m smart, just telepathic.”
“And don’t forget psychic,” Joe said with sarcasm.
“Oh, yeah.” Frank grinned. “Psychic, telepathic, and now leader for a day. Watch out, Hal. Oh! Speaking of Hal and being psychic, I have brother training.”
“Brother training?” Joe asked.
“Yeah, me and Hal are gonna work with Robbie. Work on his fighting skills and stuff. He only has one arm now, you know.”
Joe closed his eyes. “Yes, Frank, I know.”
“I better get there. I’ll stop by later.”
Grumbling an ‘oh joy,’ Joe caught a glimpse of Frank leaving and wondered curiously why his oldest son looked like he had foliage growing out of back pocket on a rear end that looked distorted.. No sooner did he think that, Frank’s boots squealed as he stopped.
“Oh.” Frank reached out and pulled out a carrot. “Carrots,” he explained. “That’s what they are. I’ve just been eating a lot of them lately, that’s all. Want one?”
Stunned, Joe just shook his head. Just as the shock started to leave, panic set in. Frank reads minds!! But the panic didn’t last long at all. Being the virtual wheel of emotions, Joe spun to the next one. Humor. He laughed because he couldn’t help but think it didn’t matter if Frank could read minds, because Frank didn’t understand what people said as it was, In a way, Joe couldn’t wait to hear the Frank interpretations on people’s thoughts.
^^^^
Buzz!
‘What!’ Dean thought as he looked up quickly from the cryo-lab counter.
A double bang against the door rang out, then another buzz.
“Shit. Ellen.” Dean looked at his watch. “Oh, shit, it’s that . . .”
Bang. Buzz.
There was no time to hide his test. Dean hovered over the objects on the counter to cover them as best as he could.
Ellen entered with an exhale of relief. “Oh, good. You are here. I need to talk to you.”
Dean smiled, leaning awkwardly. “Sure.”
“Elliott hates me.” She walked to the counter.
“Oh.” Dean nodded. “Too bad. So, uh, what are you doing here?”
“Looking for you.” Ellen tried to peek at what she knew he was obviously hiding. “What, uh, are you doing here?”
“Working.”
“On.”
Dean sung the first word. “Well . . .” He smiled. “I’m working on the cryogenics process. I want to rework it before we bring Brian and Caroline out of stasis.”
“You’re working on that?” Ellen asked.
“Yes.”
“Liar.”
“What! I’m not lying.”
“You are too.” Ellen folded her arms. “There are no lights on in the freezer room.”
“So, that doesn’t mean anything.”
“Oh, yeah. So why are you hiding that dead bunny?”
“Shit.” Dean lifted up. “I didn’t think you’d notice.”
“I wouldn’t have if you weren’t hiding it.” Ellen walked over to the counter and pulled up a stool. “So what’s going on?”
“Oh my God, El,” Dean sounded desperate. “Oh my God.”
“What?” Ellen asked. She locked into Dean’s eyes and could see how badly his mind was spinning.
“It . . . we . . . you . . . I . . . this . . .” Dean grunted, held up his hand, and calmed down. “Here. I’ll show you.” He pushed the microscope forward. “Slide ‘A’ Subject One. Our jackrabbit or rather one of them.” He put it on the stand. “DNA.”
Ellen peered and shrugged. “OK.”
Dean removed the slide and lifted another. “See this. This is a smear from Subject Two.”
Ellen checked out the name. “Yeah, what . . .”
“Examine it. Say nothing.” Dean laid it on the stand of the microscope. “We’ll call this Slide ‘B’. It was taken two months ago. It’s all I had.”
“Normal.” Ellen exhaled. “What’s the . . .”
“Watch.” Dean placed the slide on the stand. “Slide ‘C’ from Subject Two taken . . . this morning.”
Like it didn’t matter and it was rather inane, Ellen peered. As soon as she did, she shrieked and her head popped up. “Oh, shit.” She looked again.
“Exactly.”
“This can’t be right.”
“Oh, but it is.” Dean nodded.
“How . . .”
“I haven’t a clue.” Dean shrugged. “Hence the reason we keep things secret, right?”
Whistling, Ellen took one more look then raised her head again. “Is this caused from . . .?”
“Yes,” Dean answered.
“But, I don’t understand how this could have happened.”
“Neither do I.” Dean held back his bangs.
“Since this has happened, did you check . . .?”
“Normal. His is completely normal.”
“Then it has to be the individual.” Ellen’s hands tapped on the counter. “OK, so since that’s established then you have to find out why this happened.”
“I’m trying,” Dean said. “I’m at a loss. We’ll have to runs some experiments. I don’t want to say anything, yet.”
“No-no. Not yet,” Ellen agreed. “It’s not deadly, right?”
“No.” Dean shook his head. “Not at all. Just some minor changes can, have, and probably will occur.”
“So we have to find out what it is that caused it in this one case. We have to.”
“I agree. It’s a must.” Dean looked at her.
“Dean?” Ellen brought her finger to her lips when she caught what she believed a twinkle in Dean’s eye. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“I think.” Dean said. “It would be pretty . . .”
&
nbsp; “Awesome,” Ellen finished his sentence, “if we could do this again.”
Letting out a ‘whew’, Dean smiled. “Tell me about it. I thought you would be mad.”
“Mad?” Ellen grinned. “No way. This is a break through. I mean,” she cleared her throat, “in all seriousness, it could be considered fucked up for Subject Two, but it is pretty funny.”
“Not only that.” Dean nodded. “It’s phenomenal. Feel like working on it?” he asked excited.
“Without a doubt.”
Dean pushed forward the totally open and exposed dead jackrabbit. “I was getting a good view of internal organs so we can see if there were any anatomical changes in Subject Two. That could match up.”
“We’ll have to get a full body scan.”
“We will.”
“Dean?” Ellen waited until he looked at her. “Thanks. This is just what I needed to brighten my day.”
“Nothing like a successful genetic experiment,” Dean spoke with a hint of a chuckle.
With a smile, she kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll say.”
^^^^
In a slow manner with his hand on Robbie’s wrist, Hal guided Robbie’s left arm in an upward swinging motion of the sword. “See what I mean?” Hal asked. “You want to feel that the blade is moving toward the direction, not see it. You want to slice your opponent, not annoy him with a whap.”
Robbie chuckled. “Can’t kill them if you’re hitting with the flat side of the sword.”
“Exactly.” Hal stepped back from Robbie.
“So where am I going wrong?” Robbie took a practice swoop.
Hal nodded impressed. “Very good. Inconsistency is where you are going wrong. Seventy-five percent of the time, you’re doing it right but the rest of the time, you’re turning your wrist.”
“Like I used to do with bowling?”
“Yes. Yes,” Hal said as if Robbie were the student giving the correct answer. “Exactly. How did you solve that problem?”
“I concentrated on two things at once, my target and I wore that thing on my arm.”
“Just concentrate and soon enough it will come naturally.” Hal inched Robbie to the next bush. “Now step into this one, pretend this is your enemy, and gut it. Dagger in and . . .”
“Rip upward?” Robbie questioned.
“Yes. Fast though.”
“I can’t do the full smooth swing?”
“No. You have that one. This is the one you turn your wrist. You do that in battle. The upward disembowelment will not be easy because the flat of the blade will lift your opponent more than melt through the flesh. Go on try.” Just as Hal stepped back, folded his arms, and took on that mentor look, he heard the sound of Frank’s approach.
The Next Ten: Beginnings Series Books 11 - 20 Page 251