“No, Mrs. Remke. It’s just . . . well, that’s how Uncle Jeff got hurt. He was downtown when it all happened.”
She darted her head around Jennifer again and bore her beady, dark eyes at Jeff. “Well, that was a stupid place to be! Why on earth were you down there?”
Jennifer looked over at Jeff, then back to Mrs. Remke. “Well, Mrs. Remke, didn’t you know that Uncle Jeff is a police officer?” She looked again at Jeff, then back. “They called him in.”
“A police officer?” She darted again. “Is this true, Mister Trent?”
Jeff, who had just lain there watching the confrontation unfold in front of him, nervously said, “Ah, well, yes, Mrs. Remke . . . I am.”
“Mister Trent, why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”
Jeff was a little dumbfounded, glancing over at Genghis, who sat with his eyes glued to the TV. “I, um, guess . . . well, it just kinda slipped my mind,” Jeff said.
“Well, partially my fault for not inquiring, but I should have been informed. But that being said, it’s a very admirable profession, Mister Trent.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Remke.”
Mrs. Remke turned from the door, but stopped, then looked back to Trent and sympathetically said, “Get well and good luck with the search for that man, Mister Trent. He’s a menace.” She then machine gun fired, “And, when you find him, shoot him in the head! I don’t want my tax dollars wasted.”
Chapter Fifty-One
Jeff and Jennifer pulled into the garage after a shopping trip to the Food and More. It had taken a full week for Jeff’s leg to heal to the point where he could stand on it without limping or feeling much pain, and by then they were so low on nearly everything that a trip to the store was necessary. Jeff, as always, was impressed by the way Jennifer searched for the best deals and thought up meals on the spot. The backseat of the Thunderbird had several plastic bags filled with the fixings for lasagna, beef stew, and spaghetti with meatballs, along with chicken and frozen pot pies, desserts, snacks and, of course, coffee.
Jeff and Jennifer entered the apartment through the backstairs. They were laden down with the bags from their grocery expedition. Genghis met them in the hall, tail wagging and ears folded back, just like a good human canine. Jennifer placed her bags on the floor of the kitchen while Jeff placed his on the kitchen counter and started to remove canned goods, stacking them neatly into the cupboard. Jennifer was putting pot pies and ice cream sandwiches in the freezer when she reached down for her phone on her belt. It was gone.
“Oh, shit! My phone’s not here.” She started looking on the floor where she placed her bundle. “I hope I didn’t drop it in the store. I’ll never see it again.” She started looking into the bags in the hope it fell in one.
“I’m sorry, Twinkie,” Jeff said. “Check the backseat of the car. You did stretch in to get that coke bottle that rolled out of the bag.”
“Yeah, that’s gotta be it. I'm going down to the Bird and check. I’ll be back in a second.” She left the kitchen and went down the backstairs to the garage. Genghis waited until he heard her going down the stairs, then reared up on his hind legs and placed his front paws on the kitchen counter. “You guys get any of those chicken nugget things?”
Jennifer opened the passenger door of the Thunderbird, climbed into the backseat and started looking around for her cell phone. “There you are!” It was wedged in between the seat and back cushion. She put her hand on the top of the back cushion and leaned in reaching for her phone. Just then, the back cushion moved and she lost her balance, falling onto the drive train hump on the floor of the Thunderbird. “Oh, great!” she said, as she got to her knees. “Nice move, bowels.” The back cushion was still in her hand and pulled out at a forty-five degree angle. She said out loud. “What’cha got in the trunk Uncle Jeff?” She then pushed the back cushion all the way down.
At first, all she saw was darkness. Then something came into focus. It had to be an optical illusion, something too close to her face or too far. It just couldn’t be. She blinked a couple of times trying to get her eyes to adjust. Reaching her hand forward into the void, the object then became very clear. She got out of the Thunderbird with wide eyes and got on her hands and knees. She could feel the cold of the concrete as she bent low peering underneath the car. She saw the Thunderbird's undercarriage and below that the oil-stained concrete slab of the garage floor and nothing else. She straightened up, still on her knees, and thought to herself, “What the hell?” She then cautiously climbed back into the backseat and, kneeling on the seat cushion, she looked at the metal staircase that descended in front of her. She heard a low hum and could see a faint light coming from below. “What the hell is this?” she said out loud, and was answered by her own words echoing back to her.
Jeff and Genghis were in the kitchen. Jeff was still unpacking groceries when an alarm tone was heard coming from their computer on the coffee table. The tone was something they were not familiar with. “What’s that?” Jeff asked.
“Not sure,” Genghis said as he put a pack of hot dogs in the refrigerator and closed the door. “I don’t recognize it.” He walked over to the computer and looked at the screen. “That’s gotta be wrong,” Genghis said, as Jeff came in and looked at the screen over the Doberman’s shoulder. “It’s the motion detector alerting us that someone’s below decks.”
Jeff and Genghis shared a look, then said in unison, “Twinkie!”
Jennifer was moving very quietly, slightly in shock. She could not believe her eyes. Her mind was reeling and her heart was pounding. The stairs led to a large dimly-lit room, in which computers were humming, small lights on equipment panels were blinking. She warily walked further into the science lab of the Interstellar Police Force cruiser.
There were many strange-looking objects on tables and shelves. Several of the computer screens were on, and a couple showed the same logo that looked like three planets orbiting a distant sun. She got closer to a long wall console. Under its computerized touch screen glass were digital switchers, moving dials, and bar graphs rising and falling. She tried to make out what the words printed on the screens read, but they were all in that same odd hieroglyphic text that she saw on Jeff’s laptop upstairs. Jeff’s laptop! She began to feel lightheaded.
She scanned the room as she slowly backed up toward the stairs. She saw another room that looked sterile, with shiny equipment like a hospital operating room and another that looked like it could be a kitchen. There was a large sealed door toward the back of the room that had odd symbols printed on it with more of those hieroglyphics. She took in the surroundings, trying to comprehend what she had stumbled into.
“This can’t be real!” she said, as she thought to herself that she’d seen things like this before in the movies. The computer systems, the strange objects, the odd writings, none of these things she could explain. There was no possible explanation at all . . . Except one.
“Is this . . . is this a space sh . . .” Just then, she heard voices and footsteps running down the metal stairs. She panicked and ran toward the back of the room, hoping to find a way out. There was none that she could see. If she didn’t take control of her fear she was going to start hyperventilating. Jeff and Genghis suddenly appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
“Twinkie!” Jeff said, with eyes wide. “It’s okay, we can explain.” Her street instincts kicked in. She quickly grabbed the first thing she saw off the table in front of her. It was long, gray, and cold to the touch. It had a glass cover on the front and what looked like a push button trigger on the top, she pointed it at Jeff.
“Whoa! Twinkie,” Jeff said with hands slightly in front of himself, not sure of what she had in her hands. Genghis ran to his right against the perimeter wall and came within ten feet to Jennifer’s left. She swung around and pointed it at Genghis. It was shaking in her hand. She swung it back toward Jeff.
“What is this?” Jennifer asked, her voice quivering. “What’s going on? I heard voices. Who else is with you
?” She pointed the trembling device again at Genghis, then back toward Jeff. “What the hell is going on?” Genghis took a step forward, and Jennifer quickly swung the weapon toward him. Genghis stopped, surprised at how fast she moved. She looked at Trent, but kept the device trained on Genghis. “I’ll kill your dog if he comes any closer, I swear it!”
“Jennifer,” Jeff said, trying to calm her. “No one is going to kill anyone.” She looked toward the Doberman. “Twinkie, look at me.” She did. “That’s Genghis. He’s not going to hurt you . . . you're family.”
“I don’t give a shit!” Her heart started to race as she felt panic creeping into her bones. “What the hell is going on? Where the hell am I?” She swung the device in her hand from Genghis to Jeff and back again. “What is this place?”
“Twinkie, it's fine, we can explain everything.” Jeff took a tentative step forward. “I just want you to calm down a little bit. Just take a seat and we’ll tell you everything.”
“Why do you always say that?”
“Say what, Twinkie?” He took another step forward. “Jennifer, I . . . I don’t understand, say what?”
“You always say that! We! We are going to do this. We are going to do that. We’re going out patrolling. We, We, We! It’s never, I’m gonna to do this or that, or I went here or there, it’s always We! You always say that.” She looked at Genghis, then back to Jeff. “You act like he can understand you. Like you and that damn dog can talk to each other.” She looked again at Genghis and this time when she made eye contact with him, she saw for the first time behind his eyes. Comprehension!
“Oh, . . . my . . . God!” Her eyes started to well up. “He can understand everything, can’t he! He can understand what I’m saying.” She looked back at Jeff. “Can’t he? You really can talk to him, can’t you?” She slowly looked at Genghis and asked, “Can . . he also . . .”
“Twinkie!” Jeff got her attention and with arms slightly spread in a submissive fashion said, “No, of course not! He’s just a canine . . .”
“Stop THAT!” she nearly shouted. “No one uses the word canine!” She thrust the device forward toward Jeff, and this time it was no longer shaking in her hand. “What the hell is going on? What the hell IS THIS place? What’s happening to me? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?”
“TWINKIE!”
The strange voice came from her left. Jennifer slowly turned her head in the direction of the voice, the device still pointing at Jeff. Her month was slightly open, eyes the size of saucers. She stared at Genghis Khan, who was looking at her with one eyebrow cocked as if admonishing her. Then, to her utter surprise and amazement, the big Doberman Pinscher said in an authoritative voice, “Relax!”
The blood rushed from her head. She felt hot, and little sparkles of light erupted in front of her eyes. She turned to Jeff. “What . . . the . . . ?” Trent had his hands on his hips and looked annoyed. She started to sway back and forth, her eyes began to lose focus. And as the black veil of unconsciousness started to cover her eyes, and as she swayed one more time and began to fall to the floor, she could hear Jeff say . . .
“Andddd . . . there she goes.”
Chapter Fifty-Two
Jennifer Winkles was dreaming. She was playing with her dog. He was a puppy again and running after that yellow tennis ball he liked so much. She was the age she was now and laughed at how he would run up to the ball and pounce on it like it was trying to escape. He then grabbed the ball in his little jaws and shook it vigorously.
Then, there was a loud gunshot.
Jennifer’s eyes popped open, back to reality. Where was she? She blinked a couple of times and realized that she was upstairs in the apartment lying on her bed. She propped herself on her elbows and saw something wrapped around her right arm. It was similar to a blood pressure cuff, but had a small computer screen on it. Obviously, a newer model. She glanced up and saw Jeff sitting on a chair to her right. He had his coffee mug in his hand and calmly asked, “How are you feeling?”
She was still a little lightheaded and said as she began to sit up, “Okay, I guess.” She then looked to her left and saw Genghis sitting on the floor next to her bed. “SHIT!” She started frantically kicking at the covers that seemed to refuse to give up their hold on her. Kicking and crawling, she attempted to get as far away from the dog as possible, but wound up pushing herself into a fetal position against the headboard of her bed.
“Twinkie.” Jeff got up and put a hand on her shoulder. “Twinkie, you're alright. Calm down, you bumped your head.”
Jennifer looked at Trent, then over to Genghis, then quickly back to Trent. “He talked to me!” She started to breathe heavily. “He talked. When I was in that spaceship.”
“Talked! Spaceship? Whaaaat? ” Jeff said, throwing his head back and putting on an overly fake laugh. “Oh! Come on now, Twinkie.” He said while sitting back down. “Spaceship!” and wiped away a non-existing tear. “Now, Twinkie, that’s just ridiculous, there’s no such thing. And you know as well as I do that human dogs can’t talk.” He fake-laughed again, sounding a little like a demented Santa Claus, and slapped his knee for good measure. “Oh, that’s a good one,” he said while shaking his head. “You must have been dreaming, Twinkie. We, ah . . . that is, I found you on the floor of the garage. You must have struck your head getting out of the back seat of the car after you found your phone. You're fine now.”
Jennifer gave Jeff a skeptical look and said, “A human dog?”
Jeff just stared at her with a frozen look on his face and then said, “Yes . . . I, ah, No! What I meant was . . .”
“Don’t deny it. That wasn’t a dream,” Jennifer said while slowly turning to look at Genghis, who was still just calmly sitting there like a good dog. “He can talk. I heard him as clear as day.” Jeff took the opportunity to give his partner a scathing look.
“Jennifer, please,” Jeff said. “That’s just . . . crazy talk. You were dreaming the whole thing.”
“It wasn’t a dream!” she said, swinging her head back to Trent. “You know it, and what was that place I was in? What was all that weird writing? And all that computer stuff?”
“Twinkie, do you think for one minute that something that outlandish could possibly exist?” Jeff leaned back in his seat and took a sip of coffee. “Sounds to me like your subconscious mind made up the whole scenario when you bumped your head. You know you do watch a lot of space movies on the television.”
Jennifer lay back down, resting her head on the pillow, and rubbed her eyes. “Perhaps you're right.” Jeff looked over at Genghis and gave him a wink. She stared up at the ceiling and continued, “But it seemed so real. The sounds, the smells. I remember panicking and grabbing a ray gun off a table and pointing it at you and Genghis. Well,” she said, not sure of anything anymore. “Maybe it wasn’t you, it’s all still kind of fuzzy.”
“Oh, it wasn’t us, that’s for sure,” he smirked. “Maybe you saw the robot from the movie Robot Monster. You know the one, big black gorilla suit and wearing a space helmet.” Trent took his index fingers and pointed them up from his head. “With the long antennae.”
Jennifer laughed, thinking back to the bad black-and-white 1953 movie they all watched three nights ago. Jeff and Genghis had seen it before. It was one of the many movies they studied before leaving Ashlar on their mission.
“Yeah, I guess you're right. Pretty stupid, huh? But I tell you, I was so gonna go medieval on someone’s ass and hurt them with that gun!”
“Oh, come now, Twinkie,” Jeff said while taking a sip of coffee. “You couldn’t even hurt a fly and you know it. Nevertheless killing someone like Genghis.”
Jennifer looked over at Trent and saw that the coffee mug was frozen in front of his lips. His eyes were wide and slightly darting back and forth.
“I never told you that part of my dream,” She said.
The coffee mug was still frozen in Trent’s hand. He glanced over at Genghis, whose eyes were closed in exasperation. Jeff slightly lowered the
mug, “I . . . ah. Well . . . ahh, YES you did!”
“No, I didn’t!” Jennifer said, while sitting up. “I never told you that part.”
“Yes . . . you did!” Trent looked at Genghis, then back to Jennifer. “You must have. I mean . . . sure you did.”
“No, I didn’t! It was real! You were there! How else could you know that?”
“You must have been talking in your sleep.”
“No, I wasn’t!” She started to raise her voice. “It was real, you and Genghis were both there with me!” She turned to Genghis and almost in a whisper said, “He talked. It really happened!” Then she turned back to Trent. “What was that place? A spaceship?”
“No, Twinkie,” Jeff said. “There was no place, no spaceship. There’s no such thing as a space . . . he, he can’t talk! It was just a . . . dream, a . . .”
Genghis dropped his head and sighed loudly. He knew this was going nowhere.
Jennifer quickly looked over at Genghis. “See! He does understand what we’re saying.”
“No, of course he doesn’t.” Jeff said using a hand to gesture toward the Doberman. “He’s just a big, dumb, drooling canine – I mean dog!”
Genghis looked up with annoyance at Trent and thought, “Really! I mean . . . really!”
“Okay then,” Jennifer said, knowing that something unusual happened to her. “I say it really happened. You say I hit my head and it's all just a dream, so where's the bump?” She took her hands and started rubbing her head. “No bump, no scar, no pain! If I hit my head hard enough to get knocked out, it would have left a mark!” Jeff just gave her a blank stare. “Then go ahead, Mr. Psychoanalyst, explain it to me. Why did it feel so real? Huh? Explain that.”
Jeff Trent was quiet for a moment, then said, “Yes, I can do that.” Another pause. “That’s easy and easily explained . . . of course, ah, due to the blow to the head . . . ah, that you suffered,” He paused again. “You see, dreams . . . no wait!”
The Interstellar Police Force, Book One: The Historic Mission Page 24
