The Third Ten

by Jacqueline Druga

  He had stated he had enough of Dean’s taunting and immediately following the meeting he took off to find Dean. Robbie, of course, had a choice. Go to sleep, find Frank and see who the penis person was or follow Danny.

  He was glad he followed Danny.

  The confrontation was smug and Robbie had never seen Danny show jealousy, but he did.

  He found a sort of demented enjoyment in Danny’s reaction.

  Dean was dramatic about revealing what it was that Henry figured out. Danny was in disbelief.

  “There is no way,” Danny said, looking at the piece he held.

  “I’m telling you, he figured it out and it works,” Dean said.

  “It’s beyond anything,” Danny stated.

  “It works,” Robbie reiterated. “You can try it. He wouldn’t talk much, said he is waiting for the leader of the primal, whatever that means.”

  “I think it’s us,” Dean said. “And the leader I think he means Frank. I called him.”

  “No way.” Danny shook his head. “Henry is smart, not smart enough for this.”

  Dean shrugged. “He figured it out. What can I say? Ellen said it was easy for him. One look and he knew.”

  “I wish you would have shown me first,” Danny said. “I would have liked the opportunity.”

  As much as Robbie enjoyed Danny’s dismay, his phone was ringing and it was Hal. Hal never called unless something was going on. “Hey,” Robbie answered the phone.

  “What are you doing?” Hal asked.

  “Dean just told Danny that Henry figured out something from the future LEP’s shit and Danny is having a fit. It’s so great.”

  “I’m sorry I’m missing it. Listen, before you say anything, I spoke to Jason, he already started prepping the time machine to lock up. So it’s a no go.”

  “You act as if I know what you’re talking about, Hal. I know Dad put you in charge of planning …”

  “No, that’s not it. I have a favor to ask and it is only to be between you and I. Okay?”

  “No Frank?” Robbie asked.

  “Not on this one. Not yet.”

  “Okay, cool, brother bonding. What is it?”

  Robbie listened to Hal explain what he needed, while doing so he kept looking at Danny. He was just about to take the call in the hall outside the cryo lab to come up with a plan, when the door opened and Roy walked in. “Hold on, Hal, I got an idea.” He covered the phone, “Hey, Roy what are you doing tonight?”

  “I was planning on reading,” Roy replied.

  “Oh, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out, do some male bonding, sing karaoke and look at women while drinking lots … and lots of booze.”

  “Would that be male bonding?” Roy asked.

  “Yes, like best friends do. Fonzie and Richie if they weren’t rated G.”

  “I would love that. Thank you.”

  “Cool.” Robbie returned to Hal. “Tonight it is the night. Call you back.” Robbie hung up and put the phone in his pocket. “What brings you here, Roy?”

  “Ah, Dean has been sending messages that I have been outsmarted.”

  “You too?” Danny asked. “I can tell you what it’s about. Henry figured out what this is?” He placed the ear piece down.

  “Ah, A CTD,” Roy said and lifted it. “My goodness, this is much smaller. How did you get it so small?”

  “Wait.” Dean lifted his hand. “You know what this is?”

  “Yes.” Roy nodded. “A communication translation Device. It allows us the boundary of language to be lifted. Why is it a big deal that Henry has figured this out? All you had to do was ask me. Of course, this is compact. The version I know is much larger. Where did you get this?”

  Dean replied. “The future LEP had it in his bag. It allows us to understand what he says and he can understand us.”

  Roy’s eyes widened. “Really? That truly transcends its original purpose and it came from the future. Danny, you must feel very proud.”

  “Why?” Danny asked.

  “Because to have your invention be a part of the distant future….”

  “Wait. Wait.” Danny held up his hand. “I invented this.”

  “Yes.” Roy nodded.

  “Oh.” Danny didn’t sound pleased.

  “What’s wrong?” Robbie asked. “I thought you’d be happy to hear that.”

  “Maybe if I figured it out, but … it just doesn’t sound like me to take credit. I mean, Henry figured this out, right? Why would I take credit for inventing it?”

  “Because that’s just you,” Dean said. “I mean, you are the inventor of the invisa suit. So same thing here. Something from the future drops in your lap and you get credit for creating it. So it comes early. And by the time we get it, it’s perfected for you.”

  “Dean, you’re a dick,” Danny said. “Frank and I figured out the invis-a suits. This … Henry did and I just can’t see me taking credit for the …” He looked at Roy. “What is it called?”

  “The CTD or the Kusakari enabler,” Roy answered.

  Danny’s eyes widened. “I didn’t take credit. I feel better. I did give it to Henry.” He smiled.

  Roy looked confused.

  Robbie clarified. “Kusakari is Henry’s last name. Weird. Was Henry dead when Danny came up with it?”

  “Danny told me the last name. He never mentioned the first. If it was indeed Henry, his fate is unknown. No one knows what happened to him. He was not around at all.”

  Robbie smiled. “Cool.”

  “You need to call Frank again,” Danny said. “Get him down here. We need to know what this LEP knows and fast. Every day that passes, Frank’s goofy Planet of the Apes theory is more plausible. Not only does Chaka jump the evolutionary process.” Danny laid the device on the counter. “He just sky rocketed technology.”

  <><><><>

  “Are you sure?” George asked Ellen.

  “I’m positive,” Ellen replied. “Beyond positive.” She laid a 3D sonogram picture down.

  “Oh, my.”

  “I don’t think he looks that bad, though. The 3D tends to distort, but he is an LEP.”

  “Growth rate.”

  “Surprisingly, nowhere near as fast as Melissa’s. But faster than normal gestation. I’m going to guess he will reach full term in about twelve more weeks instead of twenty-two.”

  “What does Dean say?”

  “Dean doesn’t know. I did the sonogram and told him I didn’t see anything yet.”

  “Does he believe you?” George asked.

  “No. But he’s not saying anything.”

  “Alright, let me rephrase. What does Dean say about the baby if it is LEP?”

  “The scientist in him is fascinated, the doctor and human want to abort. As soon as they find out if the baby is LEP they want to terminate. Here’s two facts that we face knowing happen in the future,” Ellen said. “One is a virus that causes infertility or rather, the babies to die at a point in gestation. We know this virus happens when a woman has relations with a LEP.”

  “Jenny.”

  Ellen nodded. “She vowed not to be intimate with anyone again to preserve that. I have been checking. She doesn’t have the virus. I saw this virus when I went to the future.”

  “Did they say if the woman who had the virus gave birth?” George asked.

  “No. But I’m betting she didn’t. And … what if she was pregnant, what if they aborted the baby and that caused the virus. Maybe the baby dies. We don’t know. All I know is that she is carrying a very unique strain of LEP. More human than even our future LEP. He has a good bit of human in him.”

  “So this baby,” George said. “May have only part LEP.”

  “Yes and we don’t know what kind of person or baby he will be,” Ellen said. “If Jenny wanted to get rid of the baby, then I would be all for it. But she doesn’t. She wants to carry him to term, raise him and love him. If Marcus can be domesticated and he is first generation LEP, then this baby surely can.”

  “I
don’t understand the dilemma. Jenny wants to keep it. Find a way to deliver the child early to protect Jenny’s life.”

  “That’s what I say. But they’re gonna push her to do this. Just looking at this scientifically, it’s a mistake not to learn about this child. However, they’re scared. Scared for the future. Frank keeps tossing out his Planet of the Apes theory. That it took three thousand years in that movie for apes to evolve and be the dominant species…”

  “And when Cornelius and Zera came through the time capsule. The baby Caesar was born and that jumped the time line, the apes were smarter sooner and took over sooner.”

  “Our LEP from the future is Cornelius and Jenny is Zera. That baby … Caesar.”

  “I understand. What do you need from me?”

  “I know you still have one geneticist that created the LEP.”

  “I do. He’s working on gender determination.”

  “You also have Lars out East. I want Jenny out there. Lars can deliver the baby, I’ll come out and check for the virus. Your doctor out there can check the LEP baby. But I don’t want her here when she starts to show, they’ll know.”

  “Joe will have to …”

  “Joe can’t know,” Ellen said. “No one can. We come up with some story on why Jenny needs to be out East and ….”

  “Ellen. Do you know how hard I have worked to get the trust of this community again? Your father.”

  “I will take full responsibility for the deceit. I got it figured out.”

  “Really, this will be interesting.” George folded his arms. “I want to hear how you are going to get Jenny out east without rousing suspicion.”

  “I want to go home. You have the ability to help me with that.”

  “Home?”

  “Ashtonville. I know it won’t be the same, I know it will be overgrown, but it’s been nine years. I need to go. I want a piece of my children there. That will be the story for us going east. Can you help?”

  George ran his hand over his mouth and exhaled. “I’ll help you get east. I’ll help you get home. But I won’t lie Ellen. I need to be trusted, especially now with this war. I get you there. It will be up to you to set everything up. Understand? Find Lars, talk to him. That’s on you.”

  “Deal. Thank you.” Ellen embraced George.

  “Why does this mean so much?”

  “I don’t know exactly. Aside from Jenny being my friend, I just think, if we don’t let this child be born, if we terminate,” Ellen said. “They were are losing a link in a chain that we are going to need in the future. This baby is vital. I feel it.”

  ELEVEN

  Frank had gotten call after call, text after text for him to get to the Cryo lab, by the time he got there, everyone had left, except for Dean.

  “Where did everyone go?” Frank asked.

  “They all had work,” Dean replied. “They said to let them know when you get here.”

  “Fuck that. They left. What’s happening?”

  Dean smiled. “Apparently Ellen and Henry are on speaking terms again.”

  “Oh, okay, thanks for letting me know.” Frank turned to leave.

  “Frank, no, that’s not what I wanted. Anyhow, she showed Henry the Man bag. And he figured out what something was.” Dean lifted the earpiece.

  “What is it?”

  “Put it in your ear and go talk to Chaka.”

  “What does it do? Translate his language so I can understand him.”

  “You serious?”

  “Was I right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Oh, yeah, the psychic skill still sets in. And it works.”

  “Really well. We all tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t talk until he spoke to you. I think he meant you. He wants to speak to the leader.”

  “Maybe he means my dad.”

  Dean shook his head. “I think he means you. If he doesn’t, then we can get Joe. This is your chance Frank, if he talks, to get all your questions answered.” Dean placed in his own earpiece. ‘Ready?”

  “This is gonna be fucking great.” Frank placed in the earpiece. “Let’s go.” He walked to the back room.

  Chaka stood from the bed and walked to the window.

  Frank indicated to his earpiece. “Can you understand me?”

  Chaka nodded.

  “Are you willing to talk? Answer some questions?”

  “Will you answer mine, as well,” Chaka said.

  Frank’s eyes widened. “If I can. We can have a conversation.”

  “Will you release me from this prison cell? I need to bathe, wash my clothes, it smells in here and I am treated like an animal. I will not run. I have nowhere to go, I am not dangerous.”

  “You charged me,” Frank said. “Like a fucking madman.”

  “You taunted me.”

  “That’s true. But you ate a person.”

  “I was hungry in a new world. If you were in my world, hungry, would you not eat one of us?”

  Frank bobbed his head. “I may. You have a point.”

  “Frank.” Dean scolded.

  “What?” Frank asked. “He made a point.” Frank looked at Chaka. “You seem reasonable.”

  “I am.”

  “That’s my line.”

  “Mine as well.”

  “Whoa. Okay, let’s let him out.”

  Dean inched to Frank. “You can’t do that. He’s dangerous.”

  “No, Dean, think about this. Think about Planet of the Apes. Charlton Heston, they all thought he was deadly, but he was just doing what he had to do to survive. Like Chaka. He’s Charlton Heston in a mutated way, you and me, Zera and Cornelius.”

  “Which one am I?”

  “You can be the man ape, he was less reasonable.”

  Frank reached for the door. “I’m gonna let you out. I swear to fucking God, you run, you try to do anything, I’ll hunt you down and kill you myself. If you don’t run, you act civilized, we have a talk, have a drink, maybe I’ll get Jenny down to visit you.”

  “I would like that.”

  While Dean backed up with a cringe, Frank opened the door.

  There were three things that surprised Dean when Frank released Chaka. One, Chaka didn’t run or get violent. Two, he went immediately into the bathroom, then calmly joined them in the main lab. And the third, Frank pulled out a bottle of booze. Perhaps that really didn’t surprise Dean.

  “Frank it’s not even noon,” Dean told him.

  “I know, but, I think this is a good gesture.” He poured a drink for himself and one for Chaka. Frank lifted his glass and drank, he gasped and smiled. “Good batch.”

  Chaka tried the beverage, acting the same. “We have similar in my world. We call it Courage.”

  “Yeah,” Frank said. “We call it that here, but stupidity as well.”

  “Many a Hubra enjoy the drink of Courage, some more than others. I was one. I became too attached. I had to stop to get back in control.”

  “Oh, yeah, me, too,” Frank said. “I got this now.”

  “Me as well. You said your world. You think you come from another planet?” Frank asked.

  Chaka shook his head. “When first I arrived, I did. But the moon is the same, same placement, I am just in a different time. Some phenomenon has brought me here.”

  Frank pointed at Dean. “Him and his clone. By accident. They brought Elvis as well, but that’s not all that bad.”

  “Chaka,” Dean interrupted. “Would you agree to testing? Nothing painful, but blood, skin grafts. I want to compare your evolution process against our Gen one LEPS.”

  “This term I do not know. I know this evolution term, not Gen One or LEP.”

  “First, generation LEP,” Dean explained.

  “Killer babies and pubes,” Frank added. “The ones you were feeding before we captured you.”

  “Ah, yes, prehistoric Hubra. There is much debate in the scientific and religious community.”

  “Hubra?” Dean asked. “Is that what you are?”

  �
��Yes. Chaka is Hubra. You are primal,” Chaka said. “Science believes that Hubra evolved from man. Religion teaches us that God made Hubra in his image.”

  Frank laughed. “Sorry.” He held up his hand and laughed again. “Sorry.”

  “I am confused. What is so funny?” Chaka asked.

  “Man made you,” Frank said. “In fact, some fucking scientist trying to make a better human being created our LEP. Wait ….you did evolve from Man.”

  “That can’t be. I’m in the future.”

  Dean shook his head. “Past.”

  “No, future,” Chaka argued. “Where are the two other suns? The small moon. Gone. Your technology is far advanced, your world is more modern.”

  “Stop.” Dean made a T with his hands. “This translation device is decades ahead of us. No, you are in the past. You are definitely in the past.”

  The news stumbled Chaka back and he sat down. “This just goes against everything I have ever learned. The reason I believed this is the future is because I kept telling my fellow soldiers that man was increasingly gaining intelligence and one day, we would destroy ourselves and man would take over. When I came here, our cities were burning, war had erupted. My friend and me, we escaped and were trying to make it Barter City. They are a place one where Hubra and men live in peace. Where you can find a lifetime pet.”

  “Okay, question,” Frank said. “Now, I know you want Jenny as a pet. I know you two …” Frank flicked his fingers. “We’re intimate. We call that sex.”

  “It is the ultimate pleasure and the dream of many male Hubra to have their own pet. So pleasure can be had all the time instead of once every three moons.”

  “Then there have to be instances of conception,” Dean said. “Where a human pet gives birth to a Hubra. What happens then?”

  “It depends on what form the child takes. If they look primal they go to a primal camp. If they appear Hubra they are taken and raised. They are born differently. They are not nested.”

  “Explain,” Dean asked.

  “Hubra’s begin reproducing very early, in childhood. Until a child reaches adulthood, internally they are neither male nor female. Once during a full sun cycle, nesting occurs. The eggs are released and a nesting begins.”