Justification For Killing

by Larry Edward Hunt

  “Yes, welcome home Captain Scarburg. Hope you had a pleasant trip.”

  “That is amazing, ‘a day plus a couple of seconds’ huh? Just simply amazing,” said the Captain. “Just amazing!”

  “Amazing!! I can think of other words that would be more appropriate,” said Mr. Rousseau.

  Turning to Mr. Ryan Rousseau, Chief of Experimental Design and also the Flight Director, the Captain asked, “What were you expecting Ryan? Anything less than returning would have been failure, don’t you think?”

  Captain Scarburg, stepped into the changing room, removed the red flight suit, red flannel shirt and the blue denim overalls. He now observed, what he believed, were the most beautiful blue and red colors he had ever seen. He grinned; he couldn’t help but think about Clem and the ‘overHALLS’. He removed the shirt and overalls, and placed them into a large bag to carry upstairs. He put on his dark blue three-piece suit, swung the black shoulder bag over his shoulder, and started toward the elevator.

  Passing the security guard he stopped briefly to inform him that what he had seen and heard in the past few minutes were to be considered “Top Secret.” After this conversation, the Captain strolled down the hall to the elevator. He was deliberately walking slowly trying to allow himself time to figure out what he was to say to the ones he had left upstairs in the conference room, besides the stench of cow manure needed a few minutes to dissipate too.

  And most of all would Bud be there? He wanted that more than anything.

  BACK TO THE MEETING

  The elevator door opened - Captain Scarburg stood there for a moment hesitant to make that first step, then he stepped into its interior. Five floors up the door automatically opened. Again he was hesitant - his destination was just across the hall.

  Into the conference room, Captain Scarburg walked. Old, brown, sweat stained, tattered cowboy hat and all. His boots made the same leathery sound on the tiles as they had when he left to go downstairs. Glancing toward the massive mahogany conference table, his heart sank!

  The chair next to Lou was still empty - Bud had not returned.

  ‘Why? What was the purpose of my travel into the past and my attempt to change history if it failed to do the one thing I wanted: to bring my grandson back, safe, sound and alive, he thought.

  “Grandpa,” said Gabby, “did you bring your information back upstairs?” There was no response. He just stood there, blankly staring at the empty chair. “Grandpa! Did you get the information you went after? I noticed you brought back a new fashion item. Is that decrepit item you’re wearing a hat?”

  Lou ventured an answer, “I believe it is Gabby, but I think it needs an oil change.”

  Gabby, laughing answered, “I think a flush would be better!! Grandpa that hat smells awful!”

  Deep in thought Grandpa answered, “Yes... yes I did - I surely did,” he said.

  Lou and Gabby looked at each other with a puzzled look, obviously their Grandpa had more on his mind than the old, brown, sweat stained, tattered cowboy hat.

  Stopping at the head of the table he just gazed intently again at the empty seat. Why? Why? He thought to himself. He did not even hear Lou or Gabby’s remarks - it was as if he were in a vacuum. He was so absorbed by the fact that his death defying time-travel effort did not influence the future. Obviously the Western Asia War did, in fact, happen after all. His mission had been a total failure!! Well obviously to the extent he did not change history enough to allow grandson Bud to live.

  “Grandpa? Grandpa? Did you hear me,” said Gabby. “Grandpa, are you all right?”

  “What...? What did you say, oh... oh yeah? Yeah, I’m fine just thinking. Thanks Gabby, I just went for some data, and I have all the information now,” he said. “Lou, Sam Lin and Si Lei would you please come forward and check the seal you put on my bag.” Each in turn, checked the seal. “Okay, tell the group, out loud, that the seal is intact and has not been tampered with or replaced.” All three confirmed the seal had not been touched since they secured it. As they were returning to their seats, Grandpa broke the seal and opened his bag. He removed a number of large, thick brown envelopes and walked around the table giving one to each person. “Don’t open this envelope until I instruct you to do so, okay. You all remember what we were talking about before I left?”

  “Durn right! I do,” spoke Gabby. “I said I was NOT going to get into that darn Pegasus thing, and I also said, ‘Grandpa, are you crazy? We don’t even know if the contraption works!”

  “Right you are Gabby, good memory.”

  “What do you mean my memory’s good Grandpa? It has only been a few minutes. You’re trying to tell me something aren’t you? What is it?”

  “Okay Gabby, you’re right. First can anyone tell me whom our current President is?”

  Always the comic, Gabby, holding up her hand said, “Me, me, teacher, call on me.”

  “Okay Gabby, who is it?”

  “Grandpa, this is a hard one, but I’m going to say Barack Obama.”

  “Very good my girl, you get an ‘A’, here’s a harder one - who knows the date President John Kennedy was assassinated?”

  Each around the table looked at each other questioning what was Grandpa up to.

  “Forrest how about the date,” Grandpa asked.

  “Sure Grandpa, everyone knows it was November 22, 1963.”

  “A brief few minutes ago we were all sitting here talking about taking a ride on Pegasus and one of you, I won’t call her name, but her initials are Gabriella Scarburg Friedman, said the ‘darn thing won’t work’, am I correct?”

  “Yes you are Grandpa, but I still say it probably won’t work - I betcha I’m right on this one.”

  “Sorry grand-daughter, but you are wrong - so... so... wrong, you...”

  Grandpa did not get to the end of his sentence when the rear door to the hallway swung wide open and in stepped a shadowy apparition. The figure entering just stood as if frozen, in the doorway silhouetted by the light in the corridor behind. It was too dark for Grandpa to make out the face. Who in the blazes is interrupting my meeting? he thought. Before he could say a word the shadowy vision spoke...

  “Hey folks, starting this shindig without me? What’d I miss? Hey Grandpa hit the lights, so I can find my seat.”

  If Grandpa’s heart were weak, it would have become apparent at that very moment - the person speaking was... his... his... HIS GRANDSON - it was Bud. Bud was alive!

  The time wa... wa... was... the time was... well the time was just perfect....

  Chapter Twenty-One

  THE MISSION

  Captain Scarburg literally ran across the room, threw his arms around Bud and squeezed him so hard they heard Bud grunt, “Easy Grandpa! Easy! What’s come over you? I just went down the hall to the restroom while you went downstairs.”

  “Just glad to see you Bud, just so glad to see you, please if you don’t mind, take that empty seat next to Olive Marie.”

  “Well, thanks Grandpa, I don’t mind if I do since that’s where I was sitting a few minutes ago anyway.”

  No, this isn’t the end of the story, but it isn’t the beginning of the end either. This meeting in the center of the room with the Captain and Bud is just the end of the beginning.

  Forrest sat at the table watching the heartfelt exchange; he could not understand why Captain Scarburg was so excited at seeing Bud.

  “Okay, now you are all here we can finally begin.”

  “I thought we had already started, Grandpa,” Gabby exclaimed.

  “All right Gabby - how about a meaningful synopsis of our meeting so far to refresh all our minds.”

  “Okay Grandpa -we came into the room a little while ago. You were standing at your board. We sat down at this table. Then you started talking about the forty-ninth anniversary of the attempted assassination of President Kennedy. Wait why did I say ‘attempted’ I meant the assassination of the President.”

  “You are doing good Gabby - where was everyone seated at the
table?

  “Why Grandpa! We are still seated right where we sat down a while ago. What are you getting at?”

  “Go on Gabby. What else?”

  “Well Grandpa, I know you talked about the Zapruder film that was taken the day Kennedy was killed. You explained how, you, Spook, and Tinker watched it in living color complete with sound. You all counted four shots while watching the actual shooting in Dallas, Texas instead of the three that had been officially determined.”

  “Good Gabby, you are on a roll - go on.”

  “Okay, then you mentioned Pegasus and you thought the SCAR facilities should explore the Kennedy shooting by going back to 1963. And you wanted us to go back to the Kennedy assassination on Pegasus. I certainly remember what I said then, ‘Grandpa! Are you crazy? We don’t even know if that contraption works!’

  “Next you asked about the information written on the board. You wanted to see if we agreed with the things you had written. After some discussion, you asked us to put our initials beside the facts with which we agreed, and we agreed with you on all your facts.”

  “You then took a picture of the board and a picture of all of us sitting around the table, and as you left the room to go downstairs to the lab you took another picture. As you left you also reminded us not to mess with your whiteboard. You said big brother was watching.”

  “You’re doing great Gabby – good, concise synopsis of the meeting up to now. Why did I leave the room?”

  “You said you had forgotten some information and had to go downstairs to the lab to get it.”

  “And Gabby, how long was I gone?”

  “Oh, I dunno, maybe five minutes or so.”

  “Pretty decent grand-daughter, now let me start trying to explain what I believe you have been wondering, ‘What the heck was I up to!’

  “Okay, let me start at Gabby’s last statement, she said, ‘I had to go downstairs to get some information.’ Well I got it! Did I ever get it! I’ll cover that in a minute.

  “Right now I want to dwell on Gabby’s outburst, ‘Grandpa! Are you crazy? We don’t even know if that contraption works!’ Anyone remember what I was talking about?”

  For once it wasn’t Gabby venturing the answer, it was Sam Lin. “Captain you had been talking about tomorrow, November the 22nd being the forty-ninth anniversary of the President Kennedy assassination. You explained in detail our involvement with the Zapruder film and the implication the four instead of three shots implied. We knew at the time when SCAR was started someday we would have to investigate the Kennedy assassination.”

  Si Lei added his comments, “After the return from Thailand we knew to follow the leads in the Kennedy investigation would require the entire resources of the SCAR facilities. And dealing with covert government agencies and possibly organized crime would exhaust a vast amount of time, and it could be dangerous.”

  Yes,” Lou added, “you said SCAR had developed Pegasus to travel back in time. Forrest asked if you wanted to send someone back to the Kennedy assassination. Pegasus was designed to travel from one Parallel Universe to another Parallel Universe, but Forrest thought this could be extremely dangerous to the person picked to be the first guinea pig. He questioned if we were even close to being ready to attempt human transport. Forrest also asked if it were your intention to send someone back to do some research on the John Kennedy assassination.”

  “And I’m going to say it again until you understand Grandpa ‘Are you crazy?’ Said Gabby. “Forrest is right – as I have already said - we don’t know if this gadget will ever succeed. An actual human trying to travel in that machine - it’ll be suicide.”

  Forrest added, “Gabby is right, we need to start with insects, move up to a rat, then, maybe, a rabbit. Later we can work with a larger mammal such as a dog or monkey. Then and only then can we even consider a human - we are years away from human testing! Remember we have never gotten one of our ‘time-traveling’ machines to return.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  THE CONFESSION AND VOTE

  “I don’t believe you are quite correct Forrest - we may not be as far away from success as you might think.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean Grandpa?”

  “I’ll tell you in a minute. Okay, I guess I have toyed with you all long enough. In front of each of you is the brown envelope taken from my previously sealed bag. I told you not to look inside the envelope - does everyone agree the contents are still secret?” All nodded yes. “Great... all right, each of you remove the material from your envelope.”

  Inside the large brown shipping envelope, they found a manila folder. The outside of this folder had the title:

  MISSION: JFK ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

  Removing the contents and placing them on the table, they found a front page of the local newspaper; a copy of a death certificate; a copy of a U.S. Army Certificate for the Award of the Purple Heart including a picture of the front and back of the gold heart shaped medal with a relief of George Washington on front; a picture of a President elected in 2008 captioned, ‘President William Dixon’; a newspaper picture subtitled, ‘Lee Harvey Oswald Applying for Parole’ and the last item was a book entitled the ‘Warren Commission’s Report on the Attempted Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, November 22, 1963’. The Report was dated September 24, 1964.”

  “What is the meaning of this Captain? This death certificate has Bud’s name on it - Buddy Edward Scarburg. What is this Captain? I don’t find this at all amusing.” Spoke Krista angrily.

  “Krista,” said Captain Scarburg sternly, “it is not supposed to be amusing. Just bare with me and I will explain.”

  Before Krista could respond, Bud shouted, “Grandpa, this Purple Heart in the picture has my name engraved on its back. I’ve never even been in the military!”

  Gabby announced, “Look at this photograph, it’s caption reads, ‘President William Dixon’, who in the heck is President William Dixon?”

  Lou holding up the blue bound copy of the Warren Commission’s Report said, “Grandpa this book says ‘...the Attempted Assassination of President John F. Kennedy.... why is it titled ‘Attempted...’?

  Sam Lin was the last to join in, “Captain, what’s this about Oswald trying to get paroled. This newspaper article is only dated a couple of months ago. We all know Jack Ruby murdered Lee Harvey Oswald in the basement of the Dallas Police department on Sunday, November 24, 1963. Oswald has been dead forty-nine years! What gives?”

  Gabby stood up, shoved all her material from the envelope toward the center of the table and turned to Captain Scarburg, “Grandpa why did you make up all this false information about the John Kennedy assassination? What was the purpose? What did you want to prove with these fake documents? Oh yeah, now I think I get it! You’re trying to get us to do something! You want us to travel on that blamed Lightening Rod thing, right?”

  “Pegasus Gabby, ‘Pegasus’... not ‘Lightening Rod’, please be seated, and I will try to explain. All the items you have lying in front of you have not been faked! At the time I placed the pieces inside the envelopes the various things and the data they contain were indeed real! I did not fabricate anything. If you will remember, those envelopes were in my shoulder bag when I left to go downstairs to the lab. I brought the bag back with me in the same condition, as it was when I left. You saw me break the seal when I returned; however, Gabby is correct, I suppose I AM trying to convince you to do something.”

  “Grandpa, please... make some sense,” said Lou.

  “Do all of you remember my actions the last few moments before I went downstairs? Remember I took a few pictures?”

  “Yeah,” Lou said, “The first one was of the board with your JFK notes and our initials beside the statements we all agreed on; another was just a picture of all of us sitting at this table, and as you were leaving the room you stopped and snapped another photo of the entire room.”

  “Well the word “all of us sitting at this table” is incorrect Lou. Krista, please i
nsert a cable to my Iphone then plug it into the projector controls. I will get the lights. Do you all agree I only snapped three photographs? Okay, that is good... everyone agrees. Krista please, hand me the remote control, and I will project the pictures myself.”

  Walking to the light switch Captain Scarburg dimmed the lights and Krista inserted the USB cable into the laptop computer controlling the plasma screen. The large, wall size screen in front of the room began to lighten – an image was beginning to form. In a second or two the image filled the screen for all to see. The screen displayed the picture of the Captain’s board sitting on the easel in front of the conference table. The image on the large screen and the writing on the small whiteboard looked, at first glance, to be the same. What was the Captain trying to prove?

  ‘Wait, something IS wrong with the picture’, Forrest thought. What is it? Look closer. Now he saw it.

  “Are you all having difficulty seeing the problem? Okay, let’s try this. Look at the screen then look at the whiteboard on the easel. Look at the easel then look back at the screen. I think then you can see the forest in spite of the trees. The whiteboard being projected onto the screen is the same board you all initialed as having statements that you agreed were correct, the same board that was here on the easel when I walked out a few minutes ago.

  “Grandpa”! Forrest yelled... literally yelled. “Grandpa, the list on the easel! It’s not the same as the photo. And look at the photo on the big screen, our initials are right there beside the statements we supposedly agreed on.”

  “You are correct Forrest, do all of you see it. Lou arose from his chair and walked to the wall to get a better view. Sam Lin also got up and walked closer. In a moment, they were all huddled in front of the screen.

  “Okay, a few minutes ago, as you said, you read and initialed the chart on the screen, you can see your initials after each item. You all initialed all ten items on my whiteboard.”