“Are you sending us back?”
Justen thought he heard Oolax laugh at the question. It was a strange noise and he only could guess it was a laugh by his body language. He stood taller and stretched his neck. At the same time pulses of light travelled up his body.
The group watched in awe as the Alien grew taller and held his long thin hands out in front of him.
Justen watched as Oolax closed his eyes and a strange spherical glow formed between the aliens’ hands. The glow intensified and then a solid object formed where the glow had been.
To Justen, it looked like the device that his Father had; only it was much bigger. It was the size of a basketball.
Once the object had fully formed, Oolax opened his eyes.
“Come, all of you stand and place your hands on the orb and I will send you home.”
Epilogue
Three weeks had passed since the strange ordeal at the Homeless shelter.
Baxter had spent several days in his hospital bed drifting in and out of consciousness, He had been restrained in his bed for the first couple of weeks as he was convinced that he was scheduled for organ removal and on more than one occasion had attacked the Doctor and the Nurses who were treating him.
He took two pain tablets for his shoulder injury and then slowly chased a small blob of pudding around on his plate with a plastic spoon.
He tried to think about his current situation but struggled to piece together the events which led him to this hospital bed. Some parts of his memory were returning, however he had far more questions than answers.
What was even more puzzling was the fact that his brain tumour had completely vanished and in fact he felt healthier than he had done in years.
However, he still had a bit of memory loss, He could only recall bits and pieces of the incidence at the homeless shelter but he was confident that eventually the memories would return and he looked forward to his Doctor’s final visit to give him the all clear to leave.
He had finally given up on catching the pudding when he heard the sound of visitors in the hallway outside his room.
“Come in, come in,” he said as he moved his food tray off to the side of his bed and quickly sat up.
“Hey Boss when are you going to ditch this place and join us in the land of the living?” He heard Durning ask as he shook his hand.
He was pleased that the whole team was here, with the exception of Lisa of course which caused him a small ping of regret. He shook it off and concentrated on the assembled group.
Lewiston, the tallest of the group stood back slightly from the rest. Baxter noted that he still had that ruffled look; however he could tell that the loss of Lisa had caused him to age. His face had lost its youthful innocence.
He was gratified however from the reports he had been receiving from Durning that Lewiston had turned into a very good FBI agent.
He had unofficially deputised Thompson to head up his team during his absence, much to the chagrin of the Deputy Director who insisted that Durning take the lead.
Baxter had to admit though that Durning took the appointment of Thompson very well which went a long way to helping Baxter soften his stance somewhat with the agent.
He noticed that Durning held a report in his hands.
“The Doctor is clearing me to leave this afternoon. Is that the Baker case?” He asked as he held out his hand.
Thompson moved forward from the group and stopped Durning from handing it over.
“Yes Boss, it’s the report. We have it all under control so you don’t need to worry about it; you’re still off duty for another week.”
“Yes, thankyou Arnold I know that, but I have a lot of free time on my hands and I would really like to take a look at it, that’s why I asked you to bring it with you.” Baxter said and smiled at the group.
Alicia and Drew moved towards him and gently grabbed an arm each, being careful not to aggravate his shoulder wound.
“Come on Sir, why don’t you relax. We’ll help you get back into bed,” Drew said as she nodded at Alicia.
“I’m fine Drew, I’m not an invalid, I can get myself into bed,” Baxter said as he shrugged them off.
“Now please hand me that report Durning, I want to see it and that’s an order,” he said as he raised his voice slightly and grabbed the report out of Durning’s hand.
He reached for his reading glasses from his bedside table then spread the report out on the bed. He was hoping that by reading the report it would regenerate some of his memories of that particular day.
He knew that he had been wounded, but it was unclear to him who shot him or how he ended up in the hospital. So many things about that day confused him.
He flipped through the pages of the report. He had to admit that it was comprehensive and concise although there appeared to be a few inconsistencies.
“The report is very good. As a team you have done very well,” Baxter said as he glanced up at his team over the top of his glasses. “I do have a few questions however.”
“Yes Boss, what would you like to know?” Thompson said as he looked around at the group.
Baxter sensed that there was more to the report and he wondered why they would hold anything back.
“According to this, the homeless shelter was destroyed by a gas leak and that the Senator’s assassin, Edward Stringer and the other members of Mundus Nova were killed in the explosion.”
“Yes that’s right,” Durning said as he reached for the report. “Do you want me to take that from you and file it Boss?”
Baxter held his hand firmly on the pages of the report.
“Not just yet Durning, I’m not finished. I want to know what happened to the bodies. I also want to know why most of the buildings on Tenth Street have vanished. I don’t believe a gas leak would cause that much devastation and don’t tell me it was aliens Durning or you will be out of a job.”
He could see that the whole group appeared to be avoiding eye contact with him and were trying to stop from laughing. It was Agent Thompson who spoke up as he shot the group a serious look. He cleared his voice before he spoke. He flipped through the pages as he explained.
“As you can see by the photographs and satellite surveillance, the whole area has been cleared its true but don’t forget Boss that you have been in here for a few weeks. Obviously, the buildings that were damaged in the explosion have been demolished and the debris cleared away.”
“And the bodies, what happened to them and why are there no accounts from eye witnesses?” Baxter said as he pointed to the report.
“The fire was so intense that the bodies were pretty much reduced to ash and there were no eye witnesses, the homeless who were assembled outside of the shelter when we arrived had already dispersed and the EPA guys had packed up and left.
I’m sorry Boss I’m not sure what else to say. This is the report we produced and this is the report which we will file.”
“I see – is that how the rest of you see it?” Baxter asked as he took his glasses off and placed them back on the bedside table. He watched as they all nodded but said nothing further. He had to admit that they were working well together as a team.
He was starting to feel the effects of his pain medications so he decided to let it go.
“Very well Arnold you can file this report. I’ll be back at work in a week but if anything major pops up in that time I want to hear about it, is that clear?” Baxter said as he handed the report to Durning and lay back down on the bed. “Now off you go get out of here, I just took my meds and there beginning to take effect.”
“Yes come on you lot, let the Boss get some rest,” Drew said as she herded the group from the room.
Baxter did not see them exit the room nor hear them produce a collective sigh of relief.
* * *
Once the group were sure that they were out of earshot Lewiston was the first to break the silence.
“I’m glad the Boss did not ask us how we managed to escape.”
Dur
ning put his hand on Lewiston’s shoulder as they made their way down the long hospital corridor.
“You know what Bang Bang, that’s going to have to be our little secret.”
* * *
Meanwhile in the woman’s ward of the same hospital, Justen sat quietly beside his Mother as she slept soundly. Only the steady rhythm of the heart monitor disturbed the silence.
Justen felt relieved that the ordeal was finally over and his Mother was safe and secure and getting the medical attention and rest she needed.
He held the portable wormhole generator that his Father had created in his hand. It was the last thing his Father had given him and he stared at it often to remind him of his Father and he believed that somehow he could still be connected to him.
Oolax had let him keep the device because he knew that Justen did not possess the knowledge or the power to use it. He also said that the device would bring him comfort.
He marvelled at how smooth the surface of the device appeared and was just about to place it back in his pocket when he noticed a faint red glow emanating from the centre of the device.
He focussed on the glowing light and felt a slight tingle in the back of his mind.
He smiled as he sensed a familiar presence as the warmth of joy flashed through him.
Oolax was right – we are immortal, he thought as the soft voice of his Father gently touched his mind.
Hello Justen.
To find out more about this book or contact the author, please visit:
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The Immortal Harvest Page 32