Justification For Killing

by Larry Hunt

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  HOMECOMING

  The haze and smoke slowly dissipated in the basement laboratory of SCAR headquarters. Pegasus sat in the middle of the launch facility.

  “Push the service platform up next to the hatch - I believe our time travelers have returned,” instructed Mike Watkins, Pegasus’s Flight Director.

  Wiping a tear from her eye, Baba rushed up to Mike and asked excitedly, “What’s happening Mike, why didn’t the time-machine leave? And listen, there’s that sweet hymnal music again. Tell me what’s happening Mike?”

  “Oh, Pegasus did leave Baba. What we are witnessing and hearing is its return from the Dallas mission plus a minor detour it had taken.”

  “But it’s only been a few seconds since Bob kissed me goodbye. I know I’m not dreaming, my handkerchief is still wet from my tears.”

  “Baba, without getting into a lot of Astro, Quantum or Theoretical physics just let me say time as we know it, is not a straight line. Moving from one Parallel Universe to another is similar to opening a door and going into another room. Yes, to you and me, Captain Scarburg has only been gone a few seconds, but he has physically spent the last three days in or around Dallas, Texas; however, he spent this time in another universe. In fact, he actually spent time in two different universes.”

  The sound of the bagpipes was beginning to fade, and the hissing sound of escaping air had diminished signaling the hatch was about to open. “Hurry up fellows, get that platform up to the hatch so we can get our voyagers back on this good old terra firma.”

  One by one the time-travelers exited Pegasus onto the service platform. Each, in turn, stepped outside and as if in a dream looked around the room. The first ones to come out were Bud and Lou supporting the wounded Rocky whose shoulder had been dressed and bound by the Comanche medicine man. Rocky had his arm in a makeshift buckskin sling.

  Baba looking at Rocky slowly being helped down the service platform, “Bud, what’s wrong with Rocky?” Baba asked. “He is hurt!”

  “Hey, Baba...” answered Bud, “Yes, Rocky needs a doctor, but we believe he is going to be okay. I’ll explain later.”

  Olive Marie was next to come down the steps… Baba was beside herself as she ran to the bottom of the metal platform and embraced her granddaughter. Forrest was next to last to exit. Finally, all were outside standing at the foot of the service platform, looking back toward Pegasus’s hatch. Waiting... waiting for... suddenly all Baba could see was the brim of an old, brown, sweat stained, tattered cowboy hat poking out from the open hatch. It was the Captain. The Captain was home, but wait, what was he carrying? A dog? Yes, a beautiful, miniature sheepdog.

  Baba greeted the Captain with a big kiss, but she was puzzled... where was Lonnie Joe? He did not come down the steps. She was especially worried after seeing the wounded Rocky coming down the steps. Was Lonnie Joe dead? Was he left behind wounded? Looking to the Captain, without explanation, he just replied, “He did not make it back.”

  The time was 2:57:30 p.m., Wednesday, December 7, 2012.

  EVERYONE TO THE CONFERENCE ROOM...AGAIN

  The excitement in Captain Scarburg’s conference room could be hardly contained. It seemed as if all were talking at the same time. Each had his or her own story to tell, and it seemed, surely, there would not be enough time to allow everyone to explain, in detail, his or her part in the Dallas mission.

  The Captain walked to the podium and rapped his hand down on the top with enough force the room suddenly became quiet as a church mouse walking on cotton. “Okay, listen up everyone. There will be sufficient opportunity for all to speak, and I know everyone will have an exciting story to tell. Rest assured, you will all get your opportunity to talk. Our escapade back to Dallas was an enormous success as far as I can see. That is why we all are assembled this afternoon. We must find out what our next step will be with the information we found concerning the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Krissy is recording our entire meeting so everyone will get a chance to brief the group, but before we begin I see we have someone missing.”

  Glancing around the room everyone wanted to see whom the Captain was talking about.

  “Mike, why didn’t Mr. Rousseau come upstairs for this meeting? I thought he would understand the outcome of this meeting could concern him and the future flights of Pegasus. I especially want to question him about the wrong setting on the main flight computer and his involvement with MK-ULTRA and the CIA, and last, but not least I want to introduce you all to Lady.”

  Motioning with his hand the Captain continued, “Lady is this beautiful, little dog. She didn’t have a ticket, but obviously she wanted to stow away with us on our return trip.”

  Lady was lying at Captain Scarburg’s feet and wasn’t much interested in the meeting, or her part in it, but at the mention of her name she raised her head and her two ears popped up as tho’ she was expecting the Captain to involve her further. Seeing she was not going to receive any more of the Captain’s attention she dropped her head back down to the floor and resumed her nap.

  Someone in the group made the remark that she sure was a perky little beauty to be forty-nine years old, and in dog years, she would be roughly over two hundred years old!! “Gosh,” they said, “that’s got to be a world’s record.”

  “Yes, no doubt... but a record Guinness will never hear about nor get to publish in their book. Only those of us in this room will ever know how we came to get Lady. Now Mike what about Rousseau?”

  “Captain, you keep speaking of this man you call Rousseau - who are you referring to? We don’t have anyone by that name working in the laboratory. In fact, there is no one working for SCAR with the name Rousseau.”

  “Oh, come on Mike, I’m talking about Ryan. Mr. Ryan Rousseau, SCAR’s Chief of Experimental Design and the Flight Director for Pegasus. What’s the joke Mike?”

  “Joke? Joke Captain? There isn’t any joke. Captain you of all people should know I have been the Chief of Experimental Design since SCAR was founded, and the Flight Director from the day we first developed the Lightning Bolt or Pegasus as we now call her now. I don’t know what to tell you Captain, but there is no Ryan Rousseau in the lab. Do you suppose the time jump, somehow, has affected your memory?”

  “Wait a minute... by-ned wait a minute. Sam Lin, Si Lei I know you remember him! I sent you to Bangkok to do background research on Ryan Rousseau. You brought back detailed information on his involvement with the MK-ULTRA mind-control experiments and his work with Lee Harvey Oswald. Surely you both remember this? You don’t deny this do you?”

  Sam Lin answered, “No Captain, you are correct we did investigate Mr. Rousseau – we never really understood why, but we found out he left the CIA at the end of the Vietnam War and went to work for the Secret Service guarding the President here in Washington. Our report further stated he had always wanted to be a Secret Service agent ever since his brother was killed in Dallas at the time of the Kennedy assassination in November 1963. He was ashamed of his conduct while working for the CIA and wanted to do something worth while for his country to honor the memory of his slain brother.”

  Captain Scarburg quickly answered, “You must be mistaken! There were only two people killed in Dallas in November 1963 – President Kennedy and Officer J. D. Tippit. There were no Secret Service agents killed!”

  “Ryan Rousseau was assigned as one of the Agents guarding President Ronald Regan on Monday, March 30, 1981 when John Hinckley, Jr. attempted to shoot President Regan after a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton Hotel right here in D. C. Mr. Rousseau threw himself between John Hinckley’s bullet and President Regan – he was killed instantly. The country declared him a national hero and buried him with honors at Arlington National Cemetery. Captain, he has never worked a day for SCAR.”

  “This can’t be... this can’t be...” the Captain bowed over the podium and placed his head within his hands... saying... “How can this be?” Looking up from the podium he spoke to
the group but to no one in particular. “Am I going crazy? Does anyone else remember Rousseau? Or is Mike right, did my time-leaps erase part of my memory.”

  Forrest was the first to speak. “Grandpa, you are not nuts, well maybe a bit,” he said smiling, “but you’re right there was a Ryan Rousseau in charge of the Pegasus launch facility when we left. Those of us on the Dallas Pegasus flight knew him; however, it’s obvious we returned to a different Universe, a Universe in which Mr. Rousseau led an entirely different life. Remember when we were sitting around talking at Clem and Penelope’s house back in 1963, uh... well actually, a couple of nights ago... and we were all explaining how you and Anhur rescued Sis and me from the basement of the Clint Murdock mansion? You talked about how saddened you were over the Secret Service agent you had just killed, remember?”

  “Yeah, never will forget that man’s death... his name was... uh... uh... oh no!! It was… was… Rousseau!! Don’t tell me... that was Ryan Rousseau’s brother?”

  “I’m afraid you are probably right Captain. Have you forgotten your constant warning to us before we jumped back to 1963 - ‘small changes in the past may affect large changes in the future?’ I think this is exactly what happened, you killed Ryan Rousseau’s brother!”

  “Well that means we did not jump back to the Universe in which we left. We arrived in another Universe in which President Kennedy was killed also. A Universe in which those of you who remained behind did not know Mr. Rousseau, but we really do not know what caused this time shift, nor which Universe we were in, do we?”

  Before anyone could answer, his mind drifted back to that dark, snowy night in the basement of the Murdock mansion - the flash of blue light that had occurred when the Secret Service agent fell down the steps to the concrete floor. Yes, he thought, Anhur saw it too, the flash of blue light – at that moment the Universe switched courses. Yes, of course - that was it! But wait, there was another Universe change at the time we left from the camp of Two Buffalo.

  “Oh,” said Captain Scarburg. “That last Universe shift – is President Kennedy alive or dead?”

  Someone answered, “Dead”.

  “Well by-ned, thank goodness, I really do not know which Universe we ended up it, do any of you?”

  “No,” answered Spook. “It really does not matter Captain - someday we may know what caused the space-time-continuum to shift but for our purposes, we can satisfactorily live with the Universe we are presently in. Lets continue I would love to hear more about you and the teams Dallas exploits and your discoveries.”