No Future Christmas

by Barbara Goodwin

  “Your timing stinks.”

  “I can’t help my reaction to you.” Mike straightened in his seat. “As a matter of fact I don’t want to. I feel a connection to you, Shauna. I want you.”

  The simple statement hung in the air. Shauna glared out the windscreen at the setting sun. “Put it away for now, Mike. We’ll discuss this when there’s more time.”

  Mike studied the oranges, reds, yellows and faded pinks in the western sky. “We haven’t had a minute to discuss anything. We’re barely one step ahead of the Global Guardians. And where are we going, anyway?”

  “Well, since we can’t get to Simon at World Starbucks, we have to find someone who can. I have a friend who will help but he lives in Dallas.”

  Mike sighed. His body still throbbed from their kiss and he wished for twenty hours of sleep. This had been one hell of an introduction to the future. He’d had no sleep, one semi-decent meal and no time to process his growing feelings for Shauna. When he’d signed up to be a police officer he never expected to be chased by futuristic cops in flying cars. He’d expected to do the chasing, collar the bad guys. Save the world.

  When had it all gone topsy-turvy?

  * * * * *

  “Are we safe in this skycar?” Mike asked. “I figure if every car has a GPS system, we’re being tracked right now.”

  “We’re safe. This is an emergency vehicle, that’s why it’s gray and white. Anyone can call for an emergency vehicle at anytime for free. They have GPS systems but these skycars are old, with older systems. If the GPS isn’t broken it can be turned off manually.

  “The Global Guardians don’t like it but the citizens of the world argued, demanded and finally rebelled years ago. They wanted freedom not to be tracked everywhere they went. Commerce came to a quick halt and the Fearsome Foursome got a taste of the power of the masses. As corrupt as they are, they know that if the world united, they’d be sunk. I wonder why we haven’t had a worldwide strike against their oppressive policies yet. I guess the population isn’t angry enough to want that fight.”

  “So, let me get this straight,” Mike said thoughtfully. “The people hate the corporations who rule the world with mega-monopolies. The air is clean and fresh, nothing’s run by oil, thank God and Big Brother is watching every move we make. Right?”

  “Who’s Big Brother?”

  “Something from an old book, 1984, by George Orwell. Basically says that eyes are watching us where ever we go.”

  “Then your analysis sounds about right. We’re landing.” Shauna settled the skycar in a lot on the top of a building. “Skycar 58062, lock against intruders, code 11134.”

  “I like the voice activated stuff. Very high-tech and impressive. But will that really keep out intruders or the Global Guardians?”

  “Yes. Mostly. We’re pretty secure here, no identity theft, no skycar theft. But if the Guardians really want in, they’ll just smash their way in. Even now we can’t stop that. It’d cost too much to make vehicles and buildings smash-proof.”

  They climbed down some exterior stairs until they reached clear plastic doors to the interior of the building. Once inside Shauna headed for an elevator. “This is a supersonic elevator. Ready?”

  Mike sucked in a breath to steady himself. “I think so. So this build—”

  The elevator dropped out from under him as it raced to the bottom. Mike willed his stomach to stay in place. His white knuckles gripped the handhold. They were on the ground level in five seconds.

  “I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to that,” he said. But a wide grin split his face. “Look, Ma. A clean shirt!”

  Shauna threw back her head and laughed. “See? You’re already getting used to the twenty-second century. Let’s go find my friend.”

  They stepped out the front door and turned left. Mike looked right and grabbed Shauna’s hand pulling her back against a brown brick wall. “Guardians approaching,” he whispered. He held her close and rubbed her arms. A hot wind blew Shauna’s short hair making it stand up straight. Her earthy-sweet scent wrapped around him, made more powerful by the hot wind and their close proximity. When the Guardians were within ten feet Mike lowered his head and nuzzled Shauna’s neck. She moaned just as the Guardians strolled past.

  Mike didn’t stop when the danger was gone. He rubbed Shauna’s back, her arms and the small of her waist. He kissed her eyelids, her eyebrows and the upturned corners of her mouth. Since Shauna made no move to get away, Mike roamed her neck with his lips. “You taste so sweet. Hot and sweet.”

  Something nudged Mike’s leg and he jumped. A German Shepherd looked at him with soulful eyes. Shauna pulled away. Mike felt a gaping emptiness without her in his arms. “Well, boy, what do you want?”

  The dog nudged Mike in the leg again and looked up the street. Mike glanced in that direction and saw a group of Guardians milling around. They were staring at him and Shauna. “Time to go, Shauna. Thanks fella.” Mike patted the dog on his head and walked away. Shauna followed quickly and the dog trotted up behind them. They rounded a corner and ducked into a tan brick building. Shauna pressed a button on the wall next to apartment 5531.

  “Yeah?” a male voice boomed.

  “Winston, it’s me Shauna. I need your—” A lock clicked and the door to the elevator opened.

  “The dog is following us,” Mike said.

  “Nothing we can do about it. Let’s go.” Shauna and Mike stepped inside the elevator. The dog followed. “This building is part offices and part apartments. All the elevators are supersonic.” She pressed the button for the one hundred tenth floor. The dog lay on the floor in a corner. It leaned against the wall, braced its paws on the floor, heaved a loud sigh and put its nose between its paws. The elevator shot to the sky and reached the floor in six seconds. “You okay?”

  “Yep.” A smile lit Mike’s face. “Finally! A ride I enjoyed. Okay, fearless leader, lead on.” The dog followed Mike and Shauna down the hallway where they stopped in front of a door numbered 110-300. She had just raised her hand to knock when the door opened.

  “Get in here,” growled Winston. He hauled Shauna inside.

  “Stay boy,” Mike murmured to the dog. He pushed open the nearly shut door and entered the apartment.

  “Are you crazy coming here?” Winston shouted at Shauna. He stepped to the window and stared outside. Skycars whizzed past in a multicolored blur. “No green and whites, thankfully. Coverings close.” The curtains whooshed closed, darkening the room.

  “Winston, I need your help,” Shauna said. “We couldn’t get to Simon at the World Starbucks.”

  Winston’s head snapped up at Simon’s name. “What do you want with him? And who’s the cop-type in disguise.”

  Mike shook his head. Even a century later he was pegged for a police officer. “Mike Forrester, friend of Shauna’s.” He stuck out his hand to shake Winston’s.

  “Global Guardian?” Winston hadn’t taken the proffered hand. Distrust and disgust filled his face. He turned to Shauna before Mike could answer. “Why’d you bring that creep here?”

  “He’s not a Guardian. He’s safe. Look, Winston, I got a message from my parents. They’re alive.”

  Winston’s mouth fell open and his eyes widened. “Oh, thank God. The movement needs them. They’ve been sorely missed.”

  Shauna’s eyes filled with tears. “Thank you. What movement?”

  “They didn’t tell you?” Winston asked, astonished. “They head the underground group SubCorp. Short for Subversive Corporation. SubCorp wants to bring down the Fearsome Foursome.”

  “Oh my God. Why didn’t they tell me?” Shauna paced the small living room, head down, muttering to herself. “They wanted to protect me, that’s why.” She swiveled around. “Now will you help us find them?”

  “Yes.” Winston’s eyes flicked to Mike. “If he’s not military I’ll eat my shoes.”

  “I’m a police officer from the twent—”

  “He came from another country,” Shauna interrup
ted. She narrowed her eyes at Mike. “He’s not used to our ways and I’m getting him acclimated to our country.”

  “Why isn’t he accustomed to our ways? Every country in the world is the same. We all speak English, fly with the same rules of the sky, live in the same buildings. I don’t get it Shauna.”

  Shauna started to speak but Mike held up his hand. “Do us a favor and trust us. I’m on your side. Let me help.”

  Winston’s eyes narrowed. No one spoke for a few minutes. With a shake of his shaggy head Winston sighed and said, “Okay. But if I find you hurting Shauna, or getting any of us in trouble, you’re dead.”

  “Understood, Winston and thanks.” Mike flopped on to the sofa. “God, I’m beat.” He leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

  “Winston,” Shauna asked. “Can Mike sleep here for a while? He’s been up over twenty-four hours.”

  Mike raised his head. “I could use a few winks.”

  “Through the door. Bathroom’s beyond that. Clean toothbrushes in the cabinet below.”

  Mike hauled himself off the couch and headed to the bathroom. He made a detour to Shauna and kissed her. With a gentle stroke along her chin he left and headed into the bedroom.

  “What’s with you and the cop?” Winston asked.

  “Nothing.” Shauna didn’t want to talk about it. Her feelings for Mike were new, raw, exciting. She didn’t have time for them.

  “Right. The guy just kissed you.” At Shauna’s glare, Winston held up his hand. “Okay, okay. I won’t bring it up again. Did you leave any trace of where you went?”

  “No, I used an emergency skycar and left it on the roof of a different building.”

  “Good.” Winston dug through a drawer recessed into a wall and pulled out a document storage device. “Look at these and you’ll see what you’re up against. Your parents are warriors in a fight to regain our independence and bring about a less restrictive way of life. I’ll get you some water, you look parched.”

  Shauna realized Winston was right. She hadn’t had anything to drink since their coffee in Los Angeles. “Thank you.” She opened the storage device and a hologram popped up. File folders were labeled alphabetically and she clicked on one or two to get an idea of what she was looking at.

  “Drink up.” Winston plopped on the couch and put his feet up on a see-through table.

  Shauna absently drank the fortified water and felt better. Her tiredness faded away and a new resolve burned in her. She leafed through the files. “Where’s a good place to start?”

  “At the beginning.”

  Chapter Four

  “Ten years ago,” Winston began—

  The bedroom door opened and Mike came out. His hair was rumpled, his clothes askew.

  “What are you doing up?” Shauna asked. “You need your sleep.”

  “I couldn’t fall asleep. Too much going through my mind.” He dropped into a chair. “I’m exhausted. This time travel stuff is mind-numbing.”

  “Time travel?” Winston asked. He stared at Shauna for a long moment then a light came on in his face. “Oh, no. You’ve perfected it.”

  “Don’t get any ideas. It’s not perfected. It’s in the testing stage. Mike is a mistake I have to correct.” The minute she said those words she realized how it sounded. Shauna ran to Mike. “I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant. Oh, God, I’m screwing this up.” She stroked his face, his arm. Mike stared at her. She could see the hurt beaming from his eyes. “I meant that I needed to work on a way to travel even when someone holding the device is touching another person. I want only the device holder to travel, not the bystander…” she trailed off knowing she was digging a bigger hole than before. “Crap.”

  Mike threw back his head and laughed. “It’s all right, Shauna. I know you’re tired too. You’ve had as many shocks as I have. Come here.” He patted the arm to the chair he sat in.

  Relief flowed through her at the kind, forgiving look on Mike’s face and she sat down on the arm of the chair. She stroked his cheek wondering why she needed to touch him. The answer came to her in a flash. She wouldn’t be whole if she couldn’t touch him, smell him, see the chiseled planes of his face. Oh, God. How could she have fallen so deep, so fast? “Forgive me?”

  “Always,” Mike said. His strong, melodic voice wound through her, cooling her frayed nerves like salve on a hot wound. “Now what did I interrupt?”

  “Winston was telling me about my parents.”

  “I’m all ears.”

  “Your parents decided to do a little checking around,” Winston said picking up the conversation where he’d left off when Mike entered the room. “They weren’t happy with the Fearsome Foursome’s control over us. Being very careful they dug through old files, disks and even very old hand-held newspapers. It took them a year but a pattern began to emerge.” He ran a hand over his ruffled hair and down his face. “They began to implement a plan to expose the four CEOs. It seemed that Planet Energy Corp’s Donald Carson headed a very private club that included only the three other CEOs. Your parents slowly built an underground organization to infiltrate the Corporations, steal their secrets and expose the CEOs’ dirty laundry.”

  Shauna jumped up from the chair. “Ten years ago! Why didn’t they tell me?”

  “You were only thirteen. They didn’t want you hurt if they were ever captured and questioned.” A pained looked crossed Winston’s features. He ran his hand down his face, took a deep breath then said, “Five years later, just before they were arrested by the Global Guardians, they told George about their research.”

  “What?” Shauna spun toward Winston. “They trusted my younger brother with their secret and not me?”

  “Shauna,” Winston said, “at sixteen George had started doing research of his own. He hated the inconsistencies of his world and wanted to make a change. When he told your parents, they let him in on their secret and he began to do little jobs for them. That’s how he got started as a reporter.”

  A few tears slipped down Shauna’s face. She paced behind the sofa and muttered, “They didn’t trust me.”

  Mike patted the arm of the chair. “Come on, sit down and listen. I’m sure there’s more to the story.”

  Shauna stepped around the sofa to sit next to Mike but tripped on a throw rug and fell on the edge of the arm. She ended up in Mike’s lap. “Oh, sorry.”

  She started to get up but Mike clamped a hand over her wrist. “Stay.” When she settled next to him he wrapped his arm protectively around her shoulders.

  The low demand coursed through Shauna and washed away some of her hurt feelings. She sucked in a deep breath and decided to stop feeling sorry for herself. She couldn’t change the past and the present needed her immediate attention.

  Mike’s breath tickled her neck. Her arms and legs tingled with feelings she wouldn’t think about right now. She shifted in his lap and put her arms around his neck.

  Shauna pushed the hurt away and focused on her parents’ accomplishments. The beginnings of pride warmed her. “All right, tell me more.”

  “I was head of correspondents for The Real Truth. Our news reporters traveled the world on legitimate assignments searching for the truth behind any kind of corruption. Your parents decided to send the best of the best, the most reliable and most loyal reporters to ferret out information on the Corporations.

  “Some of those reporters were killed. Others captured and tortured. But over time the information grew and was filed away in secret vaults until it could be used to topple the CEOs.” Winston stared at Shauna. “What do you think so far?”

  She had to do something with her hands so she rubbed Mike’s shoulders. He stretched like a cat, rolled his head and moaned. The sound tore through Shauna. She stopped and wondered why she felt as if she’d heard him do that before. The déjà vu feeling unnerved her.

  Forcing her thoughts back to her parents and Winston’s question she said, “I don’t know what to think. On the one hand I’m impressed that my parents took on
such a big task. On the other I’m hurt that they didn’t confide in me.” Her face twisted in pain. “I grieved for them. The Global Guardians had sent me a harsh, no-nonsense, very brief letter telling me that Mom and Dad died. I was lost. At eighteen I thought I was grown up but really my world revolved around Mom, Dad and George. George was sixteen. I didn’t know what to do, had no one to turn to.”

  Mike pulled Shauna closer. He rubbed her back and murmured soft words.

  “Well, you moved on. Made a good career for yourself and raised your little brother. I’m proud of you and I know your parents are too.”

  “Winston, do you know where they’re hiding?” Shauna couldn’t stay seated. She strode to the couch and sat down. Eye to eye she waited for his response.

  Winston stared back but he didn’t hesitate. “No. They wouldn’t tell me. They knew the Global Guardians would come around asking questions. They didn’t want me to have to lie.”

  “And?”

  “I was hauled off to be questioned.” Anger radiated from Winston’s face. His eyes burned with hatred. “They tried to get me to reveal your parents’ whereabouts but gave up when they realized I really didn’t know. I was released and they set Guardians to watch me.”

  Mike sat upright. “You’re being watched? We should go.”

  “We can’t go!” Shauna stated. “I need more information. I have to find out where my parents are.”

  “Winston,” Mike asked. “Have you been visited by the Global Guardians recently?” Mike stepped to the window. This wasn’t a good development. He pulled the strange deep purple material aside and a beam of light shot to the floor. Skycars raced past, leaving behind contrails of varying colors. He shook his head as blue, yellow, green and orange streaks lined the sky.

  “Not lately. But I can tell you that I’m on their watch list. I think they call it the watch-out-for-radicals-who-were-associated-with-the-Wentworths list,” he said, and laughed.

  Mike grinned but knew it wasn’t funny. “What happens when you’re on a watch list?”

  “I keep getting bugged by the Guardians. They storm my apartment every so often, raid my office and generally make a mess. I can’t fly out of town without special permission. It’s a real pain.”