The Third Ten

by Jacqueline Druga

  “Frank…”

  “Want a picture of another man’s penis. A big picture.”

  “Frank …”

  “Is there something you are …?”

  “Frank!” Joe screamed his loudest. “Sit!”

  “Fine. Man, yell at me.” Frank said down.

  Danny asked. “Do you need a moment?”

  “No, I need to father a new goddamn son.”

  Frank scoffed. “Keep sending that picture of your penis out and someone will take you up on it.”

  Joe growled, rolled up the poster, leaned over the desk and hit Frank.

  “Ow.”

  “Alright,” Joe sat back down. “Let’s move on so Danny can do the reboot,”

  “What are we talking about?” Frank asked.

  “Danny and Roy are supposed to do a reboot of the scanning system and relink. Don’t ask me why I’m just finding out about this, too,” Joe said.

  “Didn’t we just do that?”

  Joe pointed at Robbie to answer.

  “Not in over a week,” Robbie said. “George is thinking the would be killer or killers are also using this as a diversion to the Great War. Maybe the system is on a loop. Not that he knows for sure it could happen, but his mind is spinning in conspiracy. Doesn’t hurt to check it out.”

  “Wait. Wait.” Joe waved his hand. “Diversion meaning kill Frank to stop his big decision and in the meantime, if that doesn’t work, throw us off?”

  Robbie nodded.

  “That would narrow the list,” Hal said.

  “Even more,” Frank added. “If we look to see who is a good shot. Because they may be a good shot.”

  Hal laughed. “How do you figure? He missed … twice.”

  “They hit Elliott.”

  “He nearly killed him.”

  “But they didn’t. They could have. They didn’t. Maybe they intended to hit Elliott all along. We don’t know.”

  Joe leaned back. “Six.”

  Hal tilted his head. “Excuse me.”

  “Six times Frank used the word ‘they’, yesterday morning it was ‘the killer’ or ‘he’, today it’s they. He either agrees with George’s assumption or he knows something.”

  Robbie asked. “Frank didn’t you say you know who Elliott saw.”

  Before he could answer, Joe did. “Yes, but he also paid Elliott a little visit to see if he could tap in.”

  Hal gasped. “You invaded Elliott’s mind.”

  “There’s no law against comatic minding reading.”

  “There can’t be a law when that isn’t even a word,” Hal argued.

  “It is too.”

  “Says who?”

  “Dean.”

  Hal laughed arrogantly. “Please, Dean would not say …” He noticed Frank picked up the phone. “What are you doing?”

  Frank held up the phone, it rang and played through the speaker.

  “Hey, Frank, what’s up?” Dean said about answering.

  “Dean, I’m here in a meeting. Can you please tell Hal comatic is a word?”

  “Comatic is a word.”

  “Oh, please,” Hal said. “What does it mean?”

  “In medical terminology the ‘I’ and ‘C’ at the end of a word means, pertaining to,” Dean explained. “Pertaining to a coma.”

  “Ha!” Frank pointed. “Ha! Ha!” He cleared his throat. “So, Dean, medically speaking Halsuckalotic would mean, pertaining to how much Hal sucks.”

  “That would be correct,” Dean said.

  “Thank you.” Frank hung up.

  “Are you done?” Joe asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Good, so it is safe to say you discovered something,” Joe said.

  “Yes.” Frank nodded. “I discovered that Halsuckalotic is actually a word.”

  “Not that! With comatic mind reading.”

  “I discovered it can be done.”

  “Did you learn anything when you did?” Joe asked.

  “Did what?”

  “Read Elliott’s mind!”

  “Yes.”

  “What is it?” Joe questioned.

  “While it isn’t illegal to read his comatic mind, it is a breach of confidentiality to reveal what I discovered without his knowledge.” Frank lifted a finger. “I will say, Elliott has a theory, so we’ll leave it at that.”

  “Fair enough,” Joe said.

  “Fair enough?” Hal asked sharply.

  “Yeah, Dad,” Robbie said. “Hating to agree with Hal, but why are we wasting our time with this investigation.”

  “You want to present facts to a jury based on Frank’s mind reading?” Joe asked. “No, he has to be caught in the act or confessing.”

  Danny raised his hand.

  “Yes, Danny?” Joe called him.

  “Why am I here?” Danny asked. “I haven’t said much.”

  “You will and … since you are one of the leaders in this community you will sit through this shit.” Joe made a notation on the paper before him. “One item done. Next …. If George’s theory and Frank’s little slip up is correct and there is more than one assassin, then it couldn’t cancel out George’s other theory and this point will be moot. But still, Hal, how’s Jason doing on that?”

  “Whoa. Whoa. Wait.” Frank made a ‘T’ with his hands. “What are we talking about? You guys have to fucking include me, this is ridiculous, I’m coming into these meetings blind. I feel dumb not knowing what you’re talking about.”

  They all just looked at him.

  “What?”

  Hal calmly explained “George believed or thinks that the reason the assassin is so sloppy is because he plans on disappearing …. And by that, he thinks he’ll slip through the time machine. Jason is working a safeguard. The internal system will override anything an escapee will put in. So no matter what they plug in, they’ll go to where the system sends them and can’t get back without the one pendant.”

  “What if they have the pendant?” Frank asked.

  “Jason will.”

  “Is locking the machine possible?” Joe asked. “I mean what if the person doesn’t need it and they have their own.”

  “They could,” Hal said. “But doubtful, all time access machines are accounted for that we know of. Again, that we know of. And yes, Jason can secure the machine. Fort gave him the idea.”

  “Would be awfully convenient,” Robbie said. “If Fort is part of the assassination team. I mean, one he came from the future, he has a device. Plus of everyone I know, he stands to benefit the most if Frank dies. If Frank stops the Great War or changes it, Fort ceases to exist.”

  “Fuckin disappears,” Frank added. “Like Marty McFly.”

  “You aren’t disputing that?” Joe pointed at Frank. “Why?”

  “Just because I know who Elliott saw on the roof, doesn’t mean that Fort isn’t involved It could be a team. We don’t even know if all team members were here in Beginnings when we locked it down.”

  Joe exhaled. “Let’s still secure the time machine. And speaking of which, we have that future trip to plan.”

  “Yes,” Danny said with excitement. “Finally something I can add to. The future trip is vital to see if we changed not only the course of the war but of humanity. With the future LEP here ….”

  “Chaka,” Frank corrected.

  “Yes,” Danny cleared his throat. “With Chaka here, we know the future is overrun with highly advanced LEP, they evolved. According to Roy, he won’t tell us me, but a chain of events caused you and me Frank to inadvertently start the LEP world.”

  “He told me,” Frank said. “A while back, he was betting chatty Cathy. I think he told you.”

  “I don’t remember.”

  “Maybe you’re senile. Talk to Roy about that,” Frank pointed to his temple. “But he did tell us. I’ll refresh your memory later, in case he doesn’t want the others to know.”

  “Sounds good. Tell me this, will we make the same mistake?”

  Frank shrugged. “We cou
ld. Our backs were to the wall.”

  “Excuse me!” Hal shouted. “May the rest of us be included?’

  “No, you suck,” Frank said.

  “Grow up.”

  “Enough,” Joe said. “Back to what you were saying about Roy, Chaka, and the future time trip.”

  “Yes,” Danny said. “Good news is, Roy won’t tell us what it is but will give the section of the book to us that tells about the future world.”

  “Yes.” Frank blurted out. “Awesome, like a fucking vacation manual, we’ll know what we’re gonna see.”

  “We can be prepared,” Hal added.

  “Which apparently is more than I was,” Danny said. “I guess I was shocked at what I saw.”

  “Have we determined he came a thousand years from the future?” Hal asked.

  Robbie nodded. “Yes. Roy said that’s the limit. That’s why Danny only went a thousand years. It can’t go more than that.”

  “I’ve been thinking about this,” Frank said. “You have Chaka, who is yes, is LEP, but looks different, more human traits.”

  “That’s because we know for a fact that they breed with humans,” Hal said. “Roy told us this.”

  “But look at him. He has all this technology. Advanced stuff that we don’t have,” Frank said. “If the Great War happens and wipes out our way of life, the LEP are still not in a state where they can understand technology so they are starting from scratch.”

  “Your point?” Joe asked.

  “My point is, according to Dean, when they went in the future, the LEPs were grown but still acted like the killer babies. Chaka is civilized.”

  Robbie laughed loudly. “What? How do you figure? He ate Hal’s men.”

  “He was hungry and ….he didn’t know. He uses eating utensils, cooked the deer for the killer babies. It just seems an awful big leap for a thousand years.”

  “Yeah, well, in forty years,” Joe said. “Man went from a rotary phone to storing things in a cloud. A hundred years man went from horse and buggy to cars and electricity.”

  “True but, for thousands of years before that,” Frank said. “Man was still rallying around the wheel as the big invention. A thousand years ago, man wasn’t animal, non-communicating beings.”

  Hal tossed out his hands “I’m lost. The last meeting we had you gave the Planet of the Apes technology. That Chaka was the Cornelius and his presence jump started the evolution process.”

  “And I stand by that” Frank nodded. Evolution being the key word. Yes, they can surge with technology in a hundred years, but can they walk, talk, reason and be fucking close to man in a thousand years.”

  “He has a point,” Danny said. “Even muddling with the gene pool, it took apes millions of years to evolve. The lowest estimate was fifty thousand years for man to become intelligent beings. Chaka’s presence would cause a skip in that. Jumping the evolution process.”

  “I argue that,” Joe said. “According to Roy, the future ‘you’ goes a thousand years in the future and sees intelligent LEP.”

  “We don’t know, Joe,” Danny said. “We don’t know what I see until Roy gives up that book. It’s conceivable that if Frank took a trip a thousand years into the future before Chaka’s arrival, then he would see a different future. Chaka coming brings the technology and the genes. Joe, we need to also face the fact that if Jenny is carrying a LEP, we don’t have much time to move on this.”

  “I agree,” Hal said. “We have to be proactive. But a part of me doesn’t think he jumps starts it, it’s something else. We know he only came from a thousand years.”

  Frank shook his head. “I don’t think he did. He came farther, a lot farther. Like with my Planet of the Apes outline, his presence just zoomed it forward. We need to go, find out, if it’s high tech, it’s not anything me and Danny did, it’s something else. We need to stop it. Because the LEP world starts sooner than we think now.”

  “How far do you think he came from?” Hal asked.

  “Five, ten thousand years.”

  “How?” Hal questioned. “The time machine only goes a thousand years.”

  “Yep.” Frank nodded. “But I have that figured out.”

  “Oh, please, big brother,” Hal said. “Enlighten us.”

  “Bite me, Hal, I know how.”

  “Bite you? Bite you? Mature thank you. And you wonder why I doubt you.”

  “Enough.” Joe said. “Frank, how do you figure the LEP came farther when the machine only goes a thousand years?”

  “The beam brought him in, right?” Frank asked. “Well, the beam bounced off a mirror. Ever hold a mirror to a mirror? You get infinity. That’s how.”

  Everyone groaned.

  “Fuck,” Hal said. “I hate when he makes intelligent points.”

  “Word for the day, Hal,” Frank said. “Halsucksalotic.”

  “Okay, okay.” Joe held up his hands. “Danny, focus on getting that section of the book. Robert, stay on the investigation. Hal and Frank, I want you two to work on getting things ready for the time trip ASAP. You’ll only be gone a few minutes in our time, so it shouldn’t interrupt much. But plan it. I’ll have Jason prep the machine. With Jenny pregnant, we don’t have time to waste. Agreed?”

  Everyone nodded.

  Frank opened a folder.

  “Final thing,” Joe said. “Lifting the lockdown. Can we do that?”

  Hal nodded. “Yes, there’s no reason to keep it up.”

  “Agreed,” Frank said.

  Joe got agreement from Robbie and Danny. “Frank is there something you want to add? You’re staring at your notes pretty intently.”

  “No, I’m good. I’m looking.”

  “Good.” Joe nodded. “And with that, I am adjourning this meeting. For the first time ever, we are adjourning on a calm, peaceful note and …”

  “Fuck!” Frank stood up.

  “What?” Joe asked.

  “Fuck.”

  “What?”

  “I fucking knew it. I knew it. I knew it I was missing something. I knew if I looked I’d see something I’d recognize.”

  “What the hell are you talking about Frank?”

  Frank flipped open the folder, showing the enlarged picture of the texted Penis. “This.” Frank pointed to the picture. “I knew I’d see something. I got it. I know who he is.” Dramatically, Frank closed the folder and walked it.

  Hal pointed backward. “Did our brother just say he recognized that penis?”

  “I believe he did,” Robbie replied.

  “Adjourning on a peaceful note.” Joe brought this hand to his face with a slap. “I spoke too soon.”

  TEN

  “This better be good,” Dean said as he followed Ellen into the cryo lab. “I have been taunting Danny for the last hour.”

  “Oh, it is.” Ellen closed the door.

  “Alright, I’m ready.”

  “Okay ….” Ellen opened up the man bag of the future LEP. “Healing agent, as you said.” She pointed. “These …” she lifted the beef jerky items. “Are not human. They’re rabbit. At least that’s what I got. Only his rabbits are huge. Dog size. And this …”

  “Wait.” Dean held up his hand “How do you know this.”

  Ellen lifted the earpiece. “By these. This is what Henry figured out. And these can tell us so much more. Chaka is a vat of information just waiting to be tapped. I know Frank will want to try it, but I wanted you to have the honors of asking first.”

  “Okay, but what do they do.”

  “Put it in your ear and make sure the blue tooth looking thing rests nearer to your temple.”

  “You want me to put this is my ear?”

  “Yeah. Like this.” Ellen grabbed one and inserted it in her ear.

  “It lit up.”

  “You’re will too. Go on.”

  “If I get an ear infection ….”

  “You won’t. Come on.”

  “Fine.” Dean placed it in his ear.

  “You ready?”


  “Wait, why do you and …?

  ” Dean cringed. “I sound electronic. I hear two voices. The normal voice and electronic sounding one.”

  “You’ll see.” Ellen took hold of his arm and led him to the back where Chaka was in the room. She knocked on the window and waved.

  Chaka stood up. He was wearing an ear piece as well.

  “Chaka this is Dean.”

  Chaka walked to the window. “When do you release me? I will cause no harm.”

  Dean shrieked in surprised, whipping the earpiece from his ear. “Shit. I heard whatever language he was speaking and an English voice in my ear.”

  “Yeah, that’s what they do.”

  “Holy shit.” He looked at the device then to Chaka. “Give me a minute.” He walked away.

  “Dean.” Ellen followed. “Dean, don’t you want to ask him something.”

  “Oh, yeah, I want to ask him a lot. But right now my mind is spinning. I think Frank will want to ask a lot of questions, too.”

  “Frank will. You first.”

  Dean stared down at the earpiece. “This is beyond what we do. I think it’s beyond Roy.”

  “I think it’s alien,” Ellen said.

  “Don’t tell that to Frank. Amazing. This is unreal. A translator. Henry is fucking brilliant for figuring this out. How? How did he do it?”

  “He asked Chaka.”

  “I’m sorry, he what?”

  “Asked Chaka. When I told Henry that Frank got his name, Henry played some game of charades with Chaka and was able to figure it out. I took one into him. He’s actually not that dangerous.”

  Dean shook his head. “Don’t tell Danny that’s how Henry figured it out.”

  “I won’t.”

  Dean lifted his phone.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Calling Frank. I want him down here for questions.”

  “Can’t we ask him stuff first?” Ellen asked. “I have been waiting to do that with you.”

  “Yeah, we can, while we wait for Frank.” He brought the phone to his ear. “Hey, Frank. I need you down in the cryo ….no, nothing died. I just have something to show you. It’s really important. No …. No one is going to die. Yeah, I suppose it can wait a little bit. Um … okay. Good luck.” He hung up.

  “Is he on his way?”

  “In a little bit. He’s about to apprehend the penis picture guy.”