“I wonder how old he is now,” Mel whispered.
Donnie heard the sorrow in her voice and turned his chair around to face her. “Hey.” He maneuvered her around and took her hands.
Her chin quivered and she lifted her face to his.
“Babe, it’s okay. I miss them too.”
She nodded. “There are days I think I will die. My arms ache to hold them.” She left her chair and crawled into his lap.
Donnie gathered his wife into his arms and pressed his chin to the top of her head. “I know, babe.” He held her for a few minutes and they shared the burden between them.
Two hundred and twelve years they had lived in Jewel City. They had raised 68 children over that time. Mel, pregnant with their 69th, lost the baby when they jumped back to the village. The DNA replicators reset jumpers back to their prejump DNA pattern when they returned to home dimension (Earth) in the Quantum Home Room. Mel had not been pregnant going into the two century jump, so she reset to that physical state. It was supposed to protect the jumpers from bringing home disease and injury obtained in the alternate realities. Also, they weren’t supposed to be in those realities for more than a few hours. When things started to go wrong, those security measures ceased to protect and became a source of great pain and anguish.
Devastated and 20 years young again, Donnie and Mel chose to remain married in home dimension too. Kids were definitely in the future, but Mel wanted them both to finish college and work the village a few more years before they settled down.
Donnie agreed, though he loved being a dad and wouldn’t mind if they started to work right away on their next 68 kids. Mel shut him down pretty quick when he mentioned it to her.
“Three, tops!” she’d insisted.
Mel took a deep, shuddering breath, kissed Donnie on the cheek, and said. “Thanks, Babe.”
He hugged her again before she returned to her own chair. “My lesson plan is almost done. Yours?”
Mel typed a few more words into the compad holo keyboard, then swiped her hand over the projection. It recorded her thumb print, saved the document, and shut down. “Done!”
“We’ve got about an hour before dinner. What do you want to do with our free time Mrs. Dudgeon?” He nuzzled into her neck.
Mel laughed. “Not that, Mr. Dudgeon!” She stood and stretched. “Let’s walk to the atrium and talk shop.”
Donnie followed her, grumbling. “I miss Jewel City and our big house on top of the mountain.”
Mel cut her eyes at him. “Don’t you mean you miss our private bedroom inside of the big house on top of the mountain in Jewel City?”
“Yeah. That.” He tucked her under his arm as they moved into the hall and started toward the center of the underground facility.
“Poor you,” she said with little sympathy and poked him in the ribs. “Hang in there, Babe, only a few more days and we’ll have our very own boathouse.”
“Ouch!” He rubbed at his rib, then flung sarcasm at her. “Can’t wait, if that’s the treatment I’ll get,” he teased.
They turned down several long corridors. Mel lapsed into deep thought, gnawing on her thumbnail. Donnie walked alongside her in silence, watching her grow anxious as she contemplated something.
The last hallway opened into a large commons area with a vaulted ceiling and a fountain that shot into the heights of the ceiling, then tumbled to splash into the circular pool surrounding it. Planters were strategically placed around the area to give it a park feeling. Though how they grew in fluorescent lighting, Donnie had no clue.
They started a lap around the fountain before Donnie broke into Mel’s reverie. “Melanie, you’re gnawing that thumbnail to the bone. Talk.”
“What?” She pulled the thumb away from her teeth and frowned. “Ugh! You’re supposed to stop me from doing that,” she groused.
“You were engrossed. I didn’t want to disturb you.” Donnie pulled her over to a park bench and sat her down. “What are you thinking?”
“Just thinking about how all the safety protocols have failed and what that could potentially mean.”
“What specifically?”
“We could get stuck in another dimension, Donnie. We might be separated from our families.” She snapped her eyes to him. “Well, I mean my family. Sorry.”
“Your family is practically mine, Mel,” he said softly.
“Right! What if we got stuck somewhere for thousands of years? What if we died there? What if time accelerated here and they all got old and died while we were in a jump?” Her thumbnail snuck between her incisors.
Donnie gently reached up and took her hand between his. She made a guilty face and clasped her hands together in his.
“You’ve been jumping a long time, Mel. You’ve always known these were possibilities.”
“Yeah, but that was before the safety protocols malfunctioned.” Her voice lowered to a whisper. “Before we lost everyone in Jewel City.” She stared ahead at the fountain, lost in memories.
“Are you sure you are ready to do this? We are going to be in danger all the time. I’m sure Mama Ty would give you a leave of absence.”
“No!” she cried. “You go, I go. Period.” She pierced him with a stern gaze. “Got it. I’m not losing you, too.”
Donnie intercepted the fierceness and fervor of her insistence. “Got it.” He squeezed her hand.
She nodded once and turned back to the fountain. “Good.”
DONNIE AND DIRK slept soundly in the bunks above us. Trip lay on his back on the bottom bunk at my head.
“Are you sure about this, Corey?” he spoke into the darkness in a hushed voice.
“What?”
“This whole thing with Kate.”
“Are you talking about our agreement to keep her safe?” Trip and I had agreed on a plan of action. In order to figure out which Inner Circle member was causing all of this trouble, we had to go into the jumps and try to discern who the saboteur was. Because Kate had an uncanny sense of figuring out things in the jumps, we knew she would be in particular danger if the saboteur realized her skill. Trip and I agreed that was enough for her to worry about. We wanted her to feel free to become as close as she needed to every team member, so her intuition would be heightened. It was our way of protecting the team. Keep Kate safe and the team had a better chance of survival.
“Yeah. And…” he paused. “You know, her getting close to all of us?”
I stilled at the tone in his voice. Not exactly sure what he questioned, I waited.
“You know, her getting closer to me?”
“Why are you asking, Trip?”
“Well, you know we were kinda on a path to being together before your Scriptorium. I just think there is some unfinished business between us, you know?”
I sensed we treaded on thin ice. The wrong thing said here could cause a rift in the team before we ever got started.
“Can you tell me what you’re feeling, exactly?”
“I don’t know. It’s pretty personal. I don’t really go for the touchy feely conversations, you know? Heh,” he laughed nervously.
“Yeah, but you brought it up, so what is it you want to say?”
“I just feel kinda weird is all, getting closer to another guy’s girlfriend.”
“Well, I’m pretty close to your girlfriend, you know.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” he huffed. “Can’t really get much closer than a 200 year relationship, right?”
“Technically, I was with Tara and the team for a hundred and sixty two years. Eunavae was with me the other fifty.”
“Jeez, I can’t even wrap my brain around that Corey.”
“Well, if you think that is close, try spending a thousand years with the girl of your dreams and come out of that with any type of realistic insecurity.”
It was his turn to be silent. It took him so long to respond, I thought he had fallen asleep. He finally rolled over and put his chin over his crossed arms. I wrenched my neck up to look at him.
“You aren’t worried at all are you? You are solid in your destiny to end up together.”
“Yeah, Trip. I am.”
“So you don’t think she has any feelings for me? In that way, I mean.”
“I think Kate has a never ending potential for love. She loves unconditionally and without reservation. I know she loves you. But it doesn’t change anything. Our time together and connection puts me at a great advantage. I’m not overly worried about who else she loves.” Overly being the operative word, but I didn’t say that to Trip.
“You really are an arrogant ass, you know that?” Trip laughed.
“So your girlfriend loves to remind me.” I smiled into the darkness and rolled into my blanket thinking of all the times Tara and I had said those words to each other.
Trip fell silent again. Dirk rolled over and the bunk creaked.
Trip whispered into the night. “I swear I will do everything in my power to protect her, Corey.”
“I know you will, Trip. I trust you to put her safety above all else. I’m glad you are on this team. We couldn’t do it without you.”
“Me? What about you and your secret Ninja moves?” he teased.
I popped him in the head with a pillow. “Go to sleep.”
He took my pillow and shoved it under his head as he rolled over. “G’night.”
This night stood out as a defining moment in our friendship. Somehow just talking about it, getting it out on the table eased the tension between us. Over the next three weeks, we had many late night talks and solidified our plan to keep Kate and the others safe. By the end of our training, Trip, Dirk, and of course Donnie, became my best friends. I’d never trusted a group of guys as much as I trusted them. We trained side by side, day after day, and formed a bond like I imagined brothers had. Even the Jewel City Clan paled in comparison. We’d been focused on survival there. Here we focused on pushing one another to become the tightest and most skilled team imaginable. We each shared our skills to train the others.
Kate spent individual time with each of us and we opened up to her in ways that we’d never opened to anyone before. She became the keeper of all our secrets, wishes, hopes and prayers, until she knew each of us better than we knew ourselves.
It was a grueling pace. During our “free time” Kate insisted on working with her whip or combing through the files. We had everything memorized about each of the Inner Circle members, so I wasn’t sure what she was looking for exactly.
“Kate, you know these files forward and backward. Why are you still digging through them?”
She slid her compad onto the table beside her. “I don’t know.” She started chewing on her lip nervously and I could see her mental gears clicking away.
“Let’s take a walk. You can talk it through and maybe come to some answers.” I took her hand, pulled her up, tucking her under my arm.
We sauntered blindly without a goal through the corridors, arm in arm.
“There is something more, Corey.” She glanced at me. “I know we are missing something. I can’t put my finger on it.”
“Are you feeling something?”
“No, that’s just it. I don’t ‘feel’ like I know them. I should, we have studied every detail of their lives, but the Inner Circle are still strangers.”
“Maybe it’s time to meet them.” I stopped suddenly. “Let’s go.”
“What? Go? To the Inner Circle?” Kate questioned me as I dragged her down the hall.
“Why not? We have security clearance. Let’s use it.”
We moved quickly, I didn’t want to talk myself out of it. I found the corridor that led to the inner chamber, we swiped our id cards, and the door opened. “That seemed a bit easy.”
“Well, we already came through 3 or 4 levels of security with Mama Ty.”
“Yeah.”
We walked into the chamber, the antiseptic smell burning my nose. Monitors hummed and beeped, accompaniment to the medics weaving in between the beds. One of them looked up at us, startled.
“Are you sure you are supposed to be here, Mr. Chastain?” the head medic asked.
I just cocked an eyebrow at him. He took a step back and held up a palm in apology.
Kate furrowed her brow at the exchange and cut me a questioning glance. I urged her over to the first bed. We looked down into the peaceful face of Reverend Liz Robertson, Phd. The facts on her dossier ran through my brain. American, lives in L.A., highly acclaimed faith healer, author, and prophetess. She served as the spiritual link in the Inner Circle.
“Hello Dr. Robertson.” Kate touched her hand. “I am Kate Wilson.” She stood there with her eyes closed, listening, feeling. I don’t know what she was doing, exactly. After a few moments she opened her eyes and scanned the body in front of her, searching, memorizing. We moved to the next person.
“Dr. Akio Fujitani, of Kyoto, Japan,” I quoted his dossier from memory. “Specializes in Extraterrestrial tectonics and Atmoshperic Physics. Geophysicist and Meteorologist.”
Kate didn’t seem to hear me. She just stood at his side with eyes closed and rested her hand on his arm. She did same with all twelve of the Inner Circle members. When we would leave one, the medics would close in behind us and continue their ministrations.
“Dr. Gregorvitch Mattovdzky, PhD, Quantum Mechanics,” she whispered as we drew up beside the last bed. Kate snapped her eyes open and turned her head to make eye contact with one of the medics, an exotic dark skinned woman with large soulful eyes. She reminded me a bit of Taylia, my Darchori wife. They peered into one another’s eyes in some silent communication, then the medic smiled at Kate. She nodded and we exited.
“Well?” I asked.
“Hmmm.” She was pensive as we strolled back to our side of the facility. “Yeah, I think that was what I needed.” She simmered into my eyes. “Thank you, Corey.” Kate squeezed my hand.
“Now, can I have a few moments of your attention, Kate Wilson?” I slipped into an alcove in the hallway and welcomed her into my arms.
“Have I been neglecting you, my Corey?” She pressed her body against mine and wrapped her arms around my neck.
“No, just preoccupied.”
“I can fix that.” She lifted her face and her eyes were full of longing and love.
The familiar tension ricocheted between us and suddenly I was back on the platform in the Darchori night sky with the huge silver moon as our back drop, Kate in my arms, finally. “My Kate,” I whispered and closed the distance to her lips.
The kiss was so powerful that we fell against the corridor wall. She wrapped her legs around me and I lifted her into my arms and burned for her. Our kisses became urgent. We hadn’t ignited to this degree since the night under the willow tree, when we were interrupted.
I ran my hands down her back found the skin where her shirt separated from her jeans and felt her passion spike. She moaned and it nearly drove me insane. I couldn’t get enough of this beautiful, desirable girl in my arms. I carried her into an empty office that was shut down for the night and we stretched out on the couch and continued our make-up-for-lost-time kisses.
Tomorrow we would move back to the campus, descend into the Scriptorium, and our lives would change forever. Tonight was ours and we spent the whole of it in our favorite activity, kissing, talking, floating on the memories of pink clouds and eternal love.
Through the discovery of intellectual streaming of Quantum Mechanics, we have perfected the interactive matrix linking individual imagination to a hive imagination to produce creative molecular cohesion.” ~ Dr. K. Pazicni, December 2022
THE VAN LURCHED to a stop. I eased the blindfold over my right eye, then took it off. The old covered bridge stood near the parking lot where we sat. I took Kate’s blindfold off and opened the door. Seven of us poured out of the van and blinked in the harsh sunlight. Three weeks of underground training in florescent lighting made the sun seem unnaturally bright.
The van crawled away and clacked over the planks of
the bridge, then sped off. We squinted at each other, the Keepers. Kate rescued a lady bug off of Mel’s shoulder and shook it into the wind. Mel wrapped her arm around Kate’s waist and they put their heads together, brunette and blond, in a private conversation ending in giggles. I turned to Mel’s husband, the tall lanky Donnie Dudgeon, and we shook our heads. Kate and Mel seemed destined to giggle when they got together. Trip shifted reaching for the sword normally strapped to his side, his fist closed on air. He let out a frustrated huff and gazed over the hills, ever vigilant. Tara, a goddess-like creature, squared off at his shoulder, scanning the opposite direction. Dirk swung his backpack onto his back, then cracked his knuckles.
Our mission firm in our minds, we were the task force trained to save the village from the mysterious saboteur; four teens and three barely out of their teens, with thousands of years of life experience shared between us. We would enter quantum jumps to ascertain which of the 12 Inner Circle members had gone rogue and started sabotaging the jump therapy sessions.
“I guess that’s our ride into the village.” Dirk pointed, his muscled arm flexing beneath coffee colored skin, to a large hay-stuffed wagon hitched to a pair of charcoal-tinted mules.
Kate stretched and shifted her backpack, cutting her eyes to me in a playful grin. “I am so glad to be outside again." She spun in a circle and fell into my arms.
Donnie howled and tossed Mel over his shoulder. She squealed like a child while he pranced around the parking lot. We hooted at them and moved toward the trailer.
“Hey, Gladiator G.I. Joe!” Kate released my hand and skipped forward, calling to Trip.
He stopped and turned a baleful glare onto her. “I told you not to call me that, Katie girl.” He cracked a smile when she jumped onto his back.
“I just want a piggyback ride to round out the whole farm-slash-hay-ride experience.” She roughed up his hair and he locked his arms under her legs and trotted off.
The Keepers Files 1.5 A Holding Kate Series Book Page 5
