The Third Ten

by Jacqueline Druga

  “Maybe you should have gone with your sons on that road trip today.”

  “What the hell for?”

  “They’re getting suits.”

  “It’s ridiculous. They’re ridiculous. Their brother just died and they’re out drinking one night, having fun with Killer Babies and taking a road trip.”

  “What would Robbie have done?” Danny asked.

  Joe shook his head. “I don’t know. But I do know this. They’re getting suits and making this whole thing into an old world ritual, funeral home and all.”

  “What’s wrong with that?” Danny asked.

  “No one cares,” Joe said. “Yeah, they cared about Robbie, but that way of life, that way of living, the ritual is done and gone and has been for a while. They’re gonna find out, all their efforts are for naught. No one in Beginnings gives a rat’s ass about going to a funeral home.”

  <><><><>

  The soft, organ predominant music played softly in the clinic lab, Andrea shut off the player. “What do you think?” she asked Dean and Ellen.

  Ellen bobbed her head. “Too churchy.”

  “That’s what I was thinking. Harv asked me what I wanted playing during the viewing.”

  “Andrea,’ Dean said. “You don’t need to make these decisions.”

  “Yes, Dean, I do. I want to. I want it to be perfect. My sons are out there getting suits, we are going to pay tribute to my Robbie.”

  “What about acoustic,” Ellen suggested. “Like the acoustic guitar songs they used to play for montages on TV shows.”

  “That’s not a bad idea,” Andrea said. “And then I do want to give Father Michael and Elliott Ryder some suggestions as well. I’m not used to Catholic church rules.”

  Dean smiled. “Andrea, I hardly think Father Michael is going to stick to the rules.”

  “If Father O’Brien is sober, he will.” Andrea nodded. “I like Father Michael. He has such a Godly presence, you can just feel the spirit move through you when he is in the room. Makes me want to go to Catholic Mass if he is preaching.”

  “Father Mike is pretty hot,” Ellen said. “I’m sure he can move the entire female population back to church.”

  “Like Robbie,” Andrea said. “Oh, so you remember his first service.” She placed her hand to her chest.

  A guitar draped across the back wasn’t the normal attire for a minister of the cloth. But Robbie swore it was not just an instrument of music, but an instrument of confidence, because he couldn’t appear before an audience without it.

  It did come in handy when he and Paul ripped into the rocked up opening hymn of ‘Walking with Jesus’. Everybody tried to sing the song they were ill familiar with. Andrea hummed and added her typical ‘Sweet Jesus’. Things were off to a good start. A new start in the new ‘Rev. Robbie’ Church of Beginnings. Then Robbie took the pulpit.

  “Morning.” Robbie grinned his boyish smile at the packed chapel.

  “Morning Reverend.” They all chanted in unison.

  Robbie snickered. “Cool. O.K.” He nodded to the people. So impressed at everyone who came to see him. So many didn’t have a seat it was like one of those Christmas masses where people came out of the wood work.

  After getting a proud look from Andrea, Jess and Hal, then an embarrassed look from Joe. Robbie smiled again. “Let us pray.” He lowered his head as did everyone in the chapel. “God . . . thank you for you know, everything. Help us to uh, be nice and do good things. And you know, guide us this week. Amen.”

  The congregation responded with a strong ‘amen’.

  Robbie looked up. “Church is ended. Don’t forget to pray. Have a good day. Paul?” Robbie stepped back, looked at Paul, nodded his head in a four count and they broke into a religious tune.

  Andrea gasped loudly in pride as her hand laid firm on her chest. Her eyes glossed over and tears formed in the corner of her eyes as she listened to Robbie and Paul. “Sweet Jesus, how strong he was up there. Mm-mm-mm.” She tossed her head in a rhythmic manner back to forth. “The good Lord blessed him with the Good word. Aren’t you proud of our boy Joe?”

  Joe covered his eyes. “Christ.”

  Hal tilted his head. “I think he did well for his first time up. Frank?” Hal leaned forward to peer around Andrea and Joe. “What do you think?”

  “I love it.” Frank nodded. “Man, I’m coming to church every week. I can be like a real church going guy with Robbie as pastor.”

  “I said it then and I’ll say it again,” Andrea said. “That boy could preach. I am going to miss him so much.”

  “Me, too,” Ellen lowered her head. “There’s so much around though that will always remind us of him.”

  “And, Frank doesn’t know this,” Dean said. “But apparently, Robbie was recording an album for Frank’s birthday. Elliott is going to finish it for him.”

  “Robbie will have another number one hit,” Andrea boasted proudly.

  “Another?” Dean asked.

  “Yes, The Silly Song,” Andrea replied.

  “Ah,” Dean nodded. “How did I forget that?”

  “You shouldn’t, catchiest tune in Beginnings.” Andrea gathered up her things. “I must go, I have things to do for the service. Call me if you need me and keep me posted on Patrick.” After getting agreement from Dean and Ellen, Andrea left the lab humming The Silly Song.

  Dean tapped his fingers on the counter. “How much Drapax did you give her today?”

  Ellen shook her head. “None. Unless she took it herself. I think she’s just focusing. I need to focus, I’m getting antsy waiting on the autopsy results.”

  “He said soon.” Dean walked across the lab to the coffee pot and paused. ‘Hey, when did this get here?” he lifted a cloth covered small box. It has a piece of paper on it with a note.

  ‘To Dean, from Frank. I want to be your first subject.’

  “What is it?” Ellen asked.

  “It’s from Frank. Bet it’s my souvenir he got me from the future.”

  “Wait. Frank brought you a gift. Aw, now I’m jealous. Open it.”

  Dean excitedly unwrapped the box and opened it. He reached in and pulled out the gun like object. “What the hell is this?”

  Roy’s voice entered the lab. “Oh wow. Oh my Goodness. It’s a Hoi-stractor.”

  “A what?” Dean asked.

  “It’s a simple way to extract blood from anywhere on anyone and anything. May I?” Roy reached for it. “Wow, much more light weight. I didn’t think Danny invented this yet.”

  “He hasn’t,” Dean said. “Frank brought it from the future.”

  “So it’s a case of the chicken and the egg again,” Ellen said. “Like the invisa-suits. Did Danny invent it or was it invented and Danny took claim,”

  “Either way, it’s pretty cool. Can you show me how to use it?” Dean asked Roy.

  “Oh.” Roy gasped in shock. “I would be honored to show you something. Thank you for asking.”

  “Here’s another question.” Dean said. “Do you have the autopsy results?”

  “As a matter of fact, yes, I do. Robbie had a bacteriophage, it quickly started to do its damage, causing his organs to shut down because his body was using every resource available to fight it. 9B’s platelets helped fight it, allowing his organs to return to full function. However, even if Robbie was completely healthy prior to the virus, unless we had found a viable source to defeat the bacteriophage, he would have succumbed to it in a matter of days, at most a week. That’s the time frame we have right now with Patrick. You were incorrect in your hypothesis about the flower.”

  “Okay,” Dean said. ‘But what about …”

  Roy cut him off. “The origins of the flower show genetic manipulation. It was designed in a lab, probably centuries earlier. Designed to be some sort of immunity booster.”

  Dean nodded. “I said that.”

  “You did. But people evolve. Mainly it was for LEP. The plant doesn’t attack the low immune system, the plant attacks bacteria in th
e body. Hence, bacteriophage. It’s a virus that infects bacteria. Depending on the bacteria, depends on the intensity of what happens to the body. Patrick was dealing with a bacterial strep infection. Robbie had bacterial infection from dirt from the future. Patrick is shedding the microbes everywhere, he is highly contagious. The only positive thing is, if the virus doesn’t find a host bacteria to infect, it dies within a day.”

  “So if anyone exposed is not sick by now …”

  “They won’t be.” Roy nodded. “Yes.”

  Dean exhaled.

  “Wait. Wait.” Ellen interrupted. “You are forgetting one thing. And I’d like to go back to it. You said even if Robbie was completely healthy, he would have died within a week. Are you referring to the wound, what?”

  “No. I’m referring to Robbie. The infection, the illness didn’t kill him. It was a catalyst for a condition that from examination was already unstable. Robbie had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. It went undetected and grew worse over the years. My guess is when he joined the military he never told them or they never discovered about his rheumatic fever, or else they would have required testing for rheumatic heart disease, which... is what started it.”

  “Holy shit,” Dean gasped in shock. “We never checked his heart prior to this.”

  “Why would you?” Roy asked. “He appeared strong and healthy. The virus caused fluid, which in turn caused pericarditis. With a healthy heart, this could have been treated, with Robbie’s heart, he went into sudden cardiac failure. The sad truth is, I examined the heart, it was bad, it was very advanced and he may have had symptoms and never showed it or mentioned them.”

  Ellen closed her eyes. “He did.”

  Dean looked at her with question. “What do you mean?”

  “He was always tired, always sleeping and resting,” Ellen said. “We dismissed it as lack of sleep or laziness. Or his arm.”

  “We never had reason to check his heart,” Dean said.

  “In my opinion,” Roy said. “And you can back this up if you wish to examine, but ... even without the virus, Robbie most likely would have passed away within a month. He was one overexertion away from heart failure. His heart was just not working.”

  “We need to share these findings with his father,” Dean said. “Joe needs to know this.”

  “Then I will,” Roy said. “I will type up an official report.”

  “Thank you.” Dean glanced Ellen’s way. “What are you thinking?”

  “It’s final,” she replied. “You know, Beginnings suffered a lot of losses, some we know about, some we don’t, because that time machine changed it. You, Jason, even Joe was saved by the time machine. But it wouldn’t matter, we could go back and, stop Robbie from going to the future, whatever. It would make a difference. Sadly this is one death that can’t be changed,” she said. “Beginnings was meant to lose Robbie.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  “Eat the muffin, Frank,” Jimmy told him. “You know you want to.”

  “She probably poisoned it. I saw Sleeping Beauty.”

  “And what does that have to do with it?” Hal asked.

  “Uh, it’s an apple muffin, wicked old lady, my luck, I’ll eat it, fall into some poisonous sleep and have to have some prince kiss me.”

  “You’re ridiculous,” Hal said. “Jimmy and I both ate the muffins.”

  “Fine. But if I fall into some deep sleep, you have to find the prince.”

  “I’ll do that. He’s probably slaying that dragon you chased for a while,” Hal said as he drove. “You know, we still have about twenty miles. We should talk about dad.”

  “Think not.” Frank said.

  “What’s there to talk about?” Jimmy asked.

  “I’m concerned. I remember when our mother died. He wasn’t like this.”

  “Yeah, well, we were kids,” Frank said. “It would be a dick move to be a dick to us then. Now it doesn’t matter.”

  “He lost a child,” Hal defended.

  “So did I,” Frank argued. “I lost lots. Jimmy lost a child, and if you weren’t a virgin you would have too.”

  “Oh, nice, very nice.”

  “I’m just saying, losing a kid is the worst pain you can fucking imagine. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. You look for someone to blame, some way for it to make sense. But it never does. It won’t make a difference if we talk about or to Dad.”

  “So you’re going to be angry with him for him blaming you?” Hal asked.

  “No. I’m not mad at all. He’s hurt and angry, and the more we push, the worse he will get.”

  “He has a point,” Jimmy said. “Dad has to come to terms on his own. This is his way of working through it. No matter how bad he seems or is.”

  “I just …” Hal searched for the words. “I wish he came with us. I want him with us to talk about Robbie, to smile about him. Cry. He’s just shutting us out. That’s why I think we need to keep on him.”

  “For what? For him to shut us down again? I don’t want to resent him,” Frank added. “The more he strikes out, the more I’ll resent him. I don’t want to do that. He’s a great father. He’ll come around, and when he does, we’ll be here. And …” Frank hit his hand on the dashboard. “Fuck. You fucking got me talking about Dad and I didn’t want to. Fuck.”

  “Okay, so let’s do round four …” Hal said. “What would Robbie say?”

  “About?” Frank asked.

  “About the situation with the way Dad’s acting,” Hal replied.

  “He wouldn’t,” Frank said. “If Robbie were here to say anything, then Dad wouldn’t be acting this way, because he’s only acting his way because Robbie fucking died.”

  “Okay, okay,” Hal held up his hand. “Let’s say it was Jimmy who died. What would Robbie say?”

  “Probably nothing,” Frank answered. “Dad wouldn’t be acting this way if it was Jimmy who died.”

  Hal tossed out his hand as if to give up.

  “Gee thanks,” Jimmy said.

  “No.” Frank turned to look back at Jimmy. “Dad wouldn’t hold me responsible for you. Dad is being this way because he held me responsible for watching out for my little brother.”

  “Alright, then let’s take the game a step further,” Hal said. “If Robbie could reach out to dad from the other side, and before you ask, ‘other side of what’, I’m talking heaven or wherever Robbie is.”

  “Oh, man you suck,” Frank said. “Saying our little brother went to hell.”

  “Oh my God!” Hal blasted. “I said no such thing.” He lifted his eyes to the rearview mirror to look at Jimmy.

  “What?” Jimmy asked.

  “I’m waiting,” Hal said. “Waiting for you to say, ‘You did, Hal,’.”

  Jimmy smiled. “Nah, that was Robbie’s thing.”

  “Thank you for that.” Hal returned the smile. “So, if Robbie could talk to dad from heaven … what would he tell dad about the way he is acting?”

  Jimmy answered first, “I think he would tell dad, that it’s okay, that’s he’s fine and happy, and to not worry.”

  A pause.

  Hal laughed. “Sorry.”

  “What?” Jimmy asked.

  “That’s so corny.”

  “Fucking really corny. No…” Frank said. “Robbie would say, ‘Dad, don’t blame Frank …. It was all Hal’s fault.”

  Hal shrieked out a ‘yes’ as he hit his hand on the wheel. “Yes. He would. You are so right.”

  “Wow,” Jimmy added. “Every time we play this, you nail it. You’re the man, Frank.”

  Frank tilted his head toward the window and looked out.

  “Come on,” Hal said. “You know you want to say it. Go on.”

  Frank shook his head.

  “You can do it, we won’t mind,” Hal told him. “It’s been at least twenty-four hours, we can’t let you slip into post mortem nice, polite intelligent Frank mode. Jimmy said, you’re the man. Frank says …” he held out his hand.

  Only slightly did Frank s
mile, then with a flick raise of his eyebrows said, “I am.”

  <><><><>

  George had an uneasy feeling as he stared up at the map board in the communications room.

  “See,” Danny said. “All clear. Nothing in the Atlantic, nothing in the gulf. Our twenty-four hundred are still positioned same area. No change.”

  “Yes, I see that. That is my concern,” George said.

  “This is insane. “Joe barked. “What are you looking for?”

  “I’m not seeing it. Let me see the schedule of men who worked in this room,” George requested.

  Danny handed him the clipboard.

  George flipped a page. “Just as I thought. Fort was a daily monitor down here.”

  “He learned the system,” Danny said.

  “Exactly. Fort was the one trying to kill Frank. For what reason? What motive? Do we even know? The only reason I can think of is to stop Frank from stopping the Great War.” He pointed to the board. “When was the last reboot?”

  “Three days ago,” Danny answered.

  “I mean full system.”

  “What? Drop connection from the satellites and then reconnect?” Danny asked.

  “Yes.”

  “George that’s risky,” Danny said. “We may not reconnect.”

  “We still know the war is coming which is a step ahead of where we were history wise before we knew about the war. In that history I was dead. No ALS3. I have a bad hunch. Reboot it all.”

  “No!” Joe yelled. “Absolutely not. This is a waste of time and totally unnecessary.”

  “You think?” George asked. “I’ll make you a deal. If I’m wrong. Wrong in any way, shape or form. I’ll step away, never say another word and get my top guy on the reconnection if need be. But if I’m right, and I know I am, you, Joe, need to go home, step away from work and be with your family.”

  After a moment, Joe huffed, then nodded approval to Danny.

  “Okay,” Danny placed his hands on the computer. “Here we go.”

  The entire system reboot took an hour and they connected to the satellites again without trouble.

  The board lit up. Blips and bleeps as dots of activity information slowly poured in, East Coast. North. Beginnings …