by Saxon Andrew
The young man she had seen earlier that day looked up and said, “Yeth, this one is herzzz.” He squinted and looked at Jillian and said, “Why arth the two of youz staring at, at ,at me?”
Jillian walked around and took out her badge, then put it in front of the blonde’s face where she could see it, “Are you sure you aren’t going to let me cut in?”
The blonde glanced quickly past Jillian and saw the two armored Alpha Agents walking up in full combat gear staring at her. She also noticed both the dance floor and the bar were now empty. She and Dr. Connor and the loud playing music were the only ones remaining besides the three that had just walked up. She decided it was time to disappear along with everyone else, including the three bartenders that had already lifted in their skimmers. She lifted Christopher’s arms off her shoulders and Jillian stepped in and caught him before he hit the floor. The blonde stared at the Alphas as she moved slowly past them. They briefly glanced at her, as she ran out the front door. Jeff listened to his readout, “Dolly Sierra, doctorate, ancient languages, chemistry, physics and Citizen of Australia.” He glanced over his shoulder at the blonde as she left. Wow, who would have thought it? He stepped up next to Jillian and the Professor.
Christopher watched his former dance partner moving quickly toward the exit and then looked at Jillian, “Was ith somethin I said?”
Jillian smelled the alcohol and leaned back, shaking her head, “No, she probably didn’t want to risk being incinerated if you had breathed on one of those tiki-lanterns.”
He looked at the lantern and laughed, “She would…wouldn….wouldn’t. I tried it already.” Then he laughed out loud.
“Are you Christopher Connor?”
“I think I am. Who’s askin?”
Jillian smiled and said, “Will you come with me? I have something I want to show you.”
Christopher leaned back and looked at Jillian, “Well…look at you. You must be burning up in all those clo, cloot, cloothes. I’d love to see more but, No! I don’t want to miss my dance. Do you mind if I lead?”
Jillian leaned back again and shook her head and sighed, “Ok, have it your way.” She nodded to Jeff, and the two Alpha Agents came forward on each side of Christopher, taking his arms off Jillian, and held him upright.
Jeff said, “Say good-night.”
Christopher smiled and said, “Is it bedtime?”
Bob shot him with a stunner and said, “Yes.”
The two agents held on to the unconscious young man to prevent his fall, and carried him out of the building. Jillian followed, and hoped Doctor Connor was not a drunk. That’s all she freaking needed. There were already too many problems to solve on the project and a drunk wasn’t something she wanted to deal with. She pulled her remote and looked at the unconscious Professor with disgust on her face, “Take him to the center and put him in the clinic. See if Ben can sober him up.”
Jeff and Bob carried the Professor outside and lowered the unconscious young man into a large military vehicle that had just dropped to the street, “Yes, Sir. We’ll take him in the carrier.”
“Notify me as soon as he’s alert.”
Jeff nodded, saluted, and moved forward and sat in the pilot’s seat. Bob strapped Dr. Connor in and Jillian watched as the carrier lifted, rotated, and accelerated over the buildings lining the street. She sighed and punched her remote control.
The Blonde stood on the other side of the street in the shadows and watched the Alphas leave. She immediately turned on her communicator and began talking.
Jillian moved back as her military skimmer lowered from five thousand feet above the street. She looked around and saw that the huge crowd waiting to get in had disappeared. Alphas were always bad for business. She sighed and knew the owners were going to sue for the loss of revenue. The project would probably have to pay it because they were not there apprehending a criminal or preventing a crime. She climbed in the skimmer and said, “Take me to the port.” The small craft lifted and flew in the opposite direction from the two Alpha Agents. She didn’t want to take the Alphas but now she was glad she did. The Professor was too inebriated to discuss anything rationally. The meeting was scheduled and she needed him present to answer questions. She would just have to handle the money demanded by the bar through Arnold. Jillian hoped she was not placing false hopes in Doctor Connor because of her desperation. She knew, at this moment, he was her only chance of success. She shook her head and decided to worry about it later.
The skimmer climbed through the heavy traffic overhead and rose above it to twenty thousand feet. It was a cloudless night and the city was beautiful below and sprawled as far as she could see. The street lights looked like thousands of campfires on the ground and the heavy traffic between her and the streets reminded her of fireflies chasing each other across the sky.
The skimmer banked right and she saw the spaceport ahead. She took the car off auto and slowed to two hundred miles per hour. She was heading toward a giant building located at the far end of the field. As she moved lower she saw a space shuttle lift from the far end of the space port lighting up the night as it left to deliver supplies for the colony on Mars. Another shuttle was landing on the far runway and she heard the sonic boom as it approached. She sighed and wondered if all of this was still going to be here in ten years.
Christopher refused to open his eyes anticipating the excruciating pain that’s usually associated with one of his major drinking binges. He gritted his teeth, slowly opened one eye and then both eyes and squinted at the lights overhead and waited for the on rush of pain, but felt normal. Wait a minute, he didn’t have ceiling lights!
“You’re wondering about the hangover?”
Chris turned his head to his right and saw a man in a white jacket sitting beside him on a stool. He had salt and pepper hair and looked to be fortyish. He was also built like an athlete. “Actually, I was realizing I don’t have lights on my ceiling. If you’re a doctor, I must have really tied one on last night. I’m not at home.”
“Well, yes, yes, and no.”
“You’re a doctor, I tied one on, and I’m not at home?”
“Yes, you did. I’m Doctor Ben Keenan, and I’ve been charged with getting you back to normal as quickly as possible. I think you’ll find your motor functions are working properly. Why don’t you try to stand up?”
Chris sat up and put his legs on the floor. He saw he had been lying on a gurney in an area that’s normally found inside an emergency room. He looked around and noticed the blood pressure module on the wall as well as the various needles and sponges on the table next to the doctor. He stood and felt fine. He smiled, “How long have I been here, Doc.?”
“About six hours.”
Chris lowered his head and stared at the Doctor, “There’s no way I could have metabolized all that alcohol that quickly.”
“You didn’t; I gave you a shot to remove it from your system. I’ve already received a thank you card from your heart and liver. They requested I have a long talk with you about your drinking habits.”
Chris smiled, “I have got to have some of whatever you gave me for medicinal purposes. I know of numerous occasions I could have partied a lot longer if I had something like that. It’s hard to party from the floor.”
“Sorry, it’s reserved only for the military.”
Chris tensed up. He quickly looked around and noticed through the curtain around his gurney that soldiers were passing outside the cubicle, “Is this a military facility?”
“Relax, you’re a civilian.”
“But is it military?”
“Yes, it is.”
“How did I get here?”
“Two Alpha Agents stunned you and brought you here. It seems you wanted to dance some more, even though you just really weren’t up to the task. Gravity was about to claim you.”
Chris thought hard and tried to remember what happened. “The last thing I remember was dancing with Dolly.” Chris looked at Ben and smiled, “You should see Dol
ly.”
“I have. One of the Agents shared his recording and you’re right; she’s something to behold.”
“You have no idea, Doc. She’s also a Suma Cum Laude graduate of Cal Tech.”
“What’s she doing with you?”
Chris shook his head, “I have no idea.”
“Is she one of your students?”
Chris smiled, “Perhaps.”
“Well, there you go. It seems things haven’t changed much since medical school. The professors always did better with women than us peons.”
Chris smiled, “No, no, Doctor! You have it all wrong. She likes me for my cooking.”
Ben’s eyes narrowed and he leaned in with a small smile, “Now Mr. Connor, you know as well as I do that you don’t even have a stove in your home.”
Chris’ smile disappeared and he stared at the Doctor, “How do you know that?”
“The Agent’s video. They went there to fetch you before going to the bar.”
Chris looked around and began to feel nervous, “Am I free to go?”
“Well, not really. We have someone who wants to discuss some issues with you, and they won’t arrive for another hour. Why don’t we go to the cafeteria and you can cook us something while we wait?”
Chris chuckled, “She really just likes me for my looks.”
Ben laughed, “Now that I might believe. However, most twenty-somethings that look like her don’t line up for men in their mid-thirties. You look ok, Dr. Connor, but she could pretty much have much prettier men than you.”
“How did you know I was that old?”
“I looked at your teeth.”
“Oh! And?”
“You take good care of them, which is surprising considering what you’re doing to the rest of your body. It appears you’re on a mission to die young and you take it seriously. It wasn’t only alcohol we found in your system. But let’s not talk about that. We’ll just keep that to ourselves, shall we?”
Chris sighed and said, “Where is this cafeteria, and I’m beginning to think something is rotten in Denmark.”
Ben stepped back with mock horror on his face, “Of course it is, the King abdicated last year to his mother.” Ben leaned in close and said, “I’ve been worried about that family for years.”
Chris shook his head and suddenly noticed the Special Forces troops that were moving around the building were stopping and saluting the Doctor. That was not good. He tapped his communicator and it didn’t even turn on.
Ben leaned back in, “The field around this facility blocks all electronic devices. Sorry.”
Chris looked at Ben and said, “What’s your rank, Doctor?”
Ben smiled, “I’m a Major General, why do you ask?”
“I just wanted to see how deep the crap is I’ve stumbled into. I thought I was up to my neck but now I know it’s over my head.”
Ben laughed and slapped him on the back, “You’re a very funny guy.”
Chris almost fell over, caught himself, and again noticed all the Special Forces stopping to salute as they passed. This was not good in a very big way. He wished he could call John, but even he might not be able to extract him from this situation.
Arnold looked at Jillian, “Ben tells me our boy is awake and conscious.”
“Notify everyone that I’m on my way.”
“Good luck.”
Chris looked at Ben as they sat down at a table in the cafeteria, “Why are you personally here with me?”
Ben smiled, “What do you mean?”
“Come on, Ben. If you’re a Major General, there’s absolutely no way I could ever get the attention of anyone with that rank. If I remember, Major Generals are usually one of the Joint Chiefs aren’t they?”
“You have a good memory.”
Chris stared at Ben. Finally Ben said, “You are going to be asked to take part in an exercise, and I wanted to see for myself what kind of person you are. I decided to see to your recovery from last night’s binge personally.”
“Are you going to have to approve this, uh, exercise?”
“No, the decision has already been made by higher authorities.”
“Higher than a Major General?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“Then why are you wasting your time?”
Ben looked across the cafeteria at the troops eating their meals and said, “You see those young men?”
Chris looked at the soldiers and nodded.
“I want them to have babies and grow up with their families. I’ve read the report on you, and it seems to me that you’re only concerned with partying or having a good time.”
Chris didn’t say anything.
“I had to confirm for myself that there was more to you than a raging libido coupled to drug and alcohol addiction.”
“And?”
“The jury is still out. You at least don’t panic easily. Most people in your current situation would be exhibiting a great deal more nervousness than you’re showing. I’m not sure if it’s courage or just stupidity.”
Chris tilted his head to the left and said, “You know, Ben. You really don’t have to sugarcoat it. You can tell me what you really think.”
Ben laughed out loud, “Maybe there’s more to you than I think.” Ben suddenly got a faraway look and stood up, “Looks like the cafeteria food will have to wait. We need to go now. The group has arrived.”
“What group?”
“You’ll see.”
“I was afraid you were going to say that. Can you give me a clue?
“No.”
“Have I met with them before?”
“No.”
“Do they have a sense of humor?”
Ben had started walking out of the cafeteria and suddenly stopped and looked at Chris, “Now that is a question I didn’t anticipate.” He turned and continued to walk.
Chris followed the General out of the cafeteria and watched as every soldier saluted him as they passed. How do I get out of this? Chris thought a moment, how the heck did I get into this?
Ben continued to walk.
Chapter Two
They arrived at a door with two Alpha Agents on each side. They opened the door and Ben motioned Christopher to enter. He stepped in and froze in the entrance. There were three people at a table in the center of the room, and he immediately recognized two of them; Chen Suh, the current World President and James Carlyle, the President of the United States. Ben gave him a push from behind and he stumbled into the room. The Two Alpha Agents stepped in behind him and locked the door.
Chris noticed that the third person at the table was a striking woman. She was beautiful and he felt like he had seen her somewhere before. She was staring at him with obvious distaste. Well, she just didn’t know him. If she did she wouldn’t be acting like that. He saw Chen stand, indicate a chair in front of him, and say, “Please come in and join us, Doctor Connor.”
Chris thanked the stars he was sober. This was much more serious than he thought. He collected himself, walked forward to the chair, and sat down. Chen took his seat and said, “I apologize for bringing you here without a formal invitation, but I want to keep this meeting out of public view. I hope you’ll use discretion in talking about anything we discuss here.”
Chris nodded and glanced at the woman who was still staring bullets. He looked back at Chen and said, “Why all the secrecy, Mr. President?”
“We have been informed that you have created a device that is capable of viewing events that happened in Earth’s past. Is there any truth to that?”
Christopher shrugged and leaned back in the chair, “I received a patent on it yesterday and yes, it is capable of viewing past events. However, there’ll be no way to trial it until someone develops a faster-than-light ship.”
Chen looked at President Carlyle and turned back to Chris, “If such a ship was developed, how far back in the past could you view events?”
Chris just stared at Chen and wondered what was going on. The woman s
aid, “You were asked a question!”
Chris looked at her and said, “I don’t know if that scowl is your normal feature, but he asked it; not you. I’ve been trying to make a quick determination and without a calculator it takes a few moments to figure out. Why don’t you behave yourself and not show such discourtesy to the President by interrupting our conversation. He was talking to me.”
Jillian turned red and Chris saw her anger. Good. She didn’t know who she was fooling with.
Chen looked at Jillian with a stern expression and she sat back fuming. “Do you need us to bring you a calculator, Doctor Connor?”
“No, Mr. President. I find that question difficult to answer.”
“Why?”
“Well, it depends on which direction you chose to take to view the light that left Earth. There are stars, planets, quasar dust, and other objects that could block it out if you chose the wrong path to follow.”
Chen smiled, “Just a rough guess would be fine. Could you see a hundred years ago?”
Chris smiled, “Well, if you went took a path out into empty space to view it, you could go back more than a million years. I’ve theoretically proven that the absolute limit is about a billion years.”
Even the woman was stunned. All three looked at each other and Chen continued, “Tell me, Doctor Connor, how you would be able to capture only the reflected light that came from our planet? Surely there would be much more than just the light from Earth?”
“Yes there would be, however, the light leaving Earth is reflected through an atmosphere composed of eighty percent nitrogen and twenty percent oxygen. Of course there are other trace gasses, and taken as a whole they would make that light different from other light sources. The frequency of that reflected light would fall into a very specific range, and only Earth’s light reflection would be on that frequency. The sensors of the system would scan for and capture only light on that waveband.”
President Carlyle said, “You say you can focus that light such that you can see individuals on the planet’s surface?”
