To Wake the Living (The Time Stone Trilogy Book 2)
Page 40
Jim watched the bearded man as he stood and smiled. “Go on.” He looked at his sons who also stood silently with the same bland smile. “I’m waiting. What happens next? Direct conquest or subtle infiltration?”
The man remained silent. Jim walked a zigzag path toward him. His light blue eyes followed him and his expression didn’t change. He reached out and felt the beard then the battered suede vest and filthy checkered shirt.
“I wonder what would happen if I hit you?” Jim said, leaning forward and staring directly into his eyes. “Better not, it might remind me of a nightmare I had once. Kept hitting some guy I hated and all he did was stand and smile at me.”
He took a pace toward the mule and patted its wet nose. “Why have you stopped talking?”
Jim pivoted around to look at the three. They had all turned and were still looking at him. They weren’t watching because that implies a mild concentration on the part of the watcher. They were just looking at him. No effort or thought seemed behind it. “So that’s it. You’re going to drive me crazy with silence.” There was still no reaction, so Jim laughed. “Remember, for fifteen years I was a professional soldier. I’ve stood guard for hours with no one to talk to but a fence post. I’ve stood at the position of attention for hours with nothing to look at but the back of the head of the guy in front of me. I can wait you out.”
Jim walked over and sat on the hood of the truck looking down at the rock and sand. A few minutes later he looked up and out of the corner of his eye spotted a jackrabbit as it scampered from cover to cover.
Half an hour passed and he glanced back at the three still standing where they were before. “Hey, if you don’t mind, I’ll take a stroll back to the freeway and see if I can hitch a ride into Phoenix. Hitchhiking on a freeway is illegal, it might be fun to get picked up by the cops; I’ve never been arrested on Earth before.”
As there was no reaction, he set out at a fast walk. The road was exactly as he remembered it. Half an hour later, he was at the onramp which he climbed to the freeway. He thought that it could be fun to stand in the middle of the road and let a car run over him but there was no traffic for miles in either direction.
He remembered that Phoenix was to the west so he set out toward the setting sun.
“What’re you doing?” asked the gruff, official type voice behind him. “It’s illegal to walk on the road.”
Jim turned to see a uniformed Arizona State Trooper. “Arrest me then,” he said as he continued to walk.
“Are you Mr. Young?” the State Trooper called to his back.
“Yep,” Jim said without turning.
“Would you please stop Mr. Young?”
“Please? First time I’ve heard that from an Earth cop,” Jim said as he broke into a run.
The sun was going down. A number of passing cars failed to stop for his outstretched thumb. Jim didn’t care; he was enjoying the evening air.
“Jim, did ya see the 3V?” the voice of Sam said.
Jim turned. Sam was walking beside him so he slowed to a sedate stroll.
“Now I know that’s a load of shit. They didn’t have 3Vs in the twenty first century.”
“Uh... Jim, get in the navigator.” Matt said.
Jim looked past Matt and Sam. On the freeway was a bright blue grid navigator. He stood staring at it and then looked up as a small Toyota passed at well over the speed limit.
“Listen; if I can’t take my Corolla on the Batalavian throughways you can’t take this thing on one of my freeways. This is my illusion. No matter who you throw into it I won’t say which one of them has the camera and where the meeting place is.”
“Just get him in the navigator,” Matt said.
“Hey, I’ve been hitching on this road for an hour, can’t turn this down. Are you going to Phoenix?”
“Yes,” Matt said, “where do you want to be dropped off?”
“Nearest bar where I can play a little pool?”
“You got it, jump in.”
Jim sat watching the Arizona countryside pass by the transparent dome of a vehicle that was totally out of place. It didn’t bother him because the entire circumstance was out of place. What did bother him was that he had left the apparitions of his two sons in the desert. He knew they weren’t real but he still wished he had found a way to make them come with him.
“Bar coming up on the right,” Matt said.
“I guess it wouldn’t hurt if I asked questions. You’re here, Sam’s here, where’s Dan and what’s his name?”
“We think they’re down in the sewer system. Someone saw them crawl through an inspection hatch and we haven’t seen them since. There’re over a hundred Home Guardsmen down there now looking for them.”
“Who saw them go down there?”
“A local resident. Sam asked the public to look for us during his 3V broadcast.”
“Beautiful sunset,” Jim commented.
“Sunset? That’s a sunrise. Would you get out, I’ll wrack ‘em up if you get the beers.”
“Ok,” Jim said as he walked across the sidewalk and into Sally’s bar.
It was a quiet little place. Country music played from a jukebox in the corner. Several bearded patrons played pool at the tables in the middle of the room.
Jim walked straight to the bar and took a seat. He patiently waited as the pretty barmaid served another customer.
“Jim,” Dr. Ellison said, “they tell me you’re acting damn stupid. What have you got to say for yourself?”
“Hey doc, how’s your tushy? It was cold when we woke you up on the Lydia. I’m buying, what do you want to drink?” Jim raised a finger to catch the barmaid’s attention.
“Dr. Chin told me this would settle you out. Hold still while I give you a shot.”
“Shot? Gin, rye or bourbon, it’s all the same to me. You’re one grouchy old reprobate.”
“Flattery will get you nowhere, I’m already married. Save the love talk for your wife. Just keep your hands by your side and stop pushing me.”
“They are by my side and I haven’t pushed you. I don’t want to push you anyway. I wish I could figure out who I can shove in this hallucination, who’s real and who isn’t.”
Chapter 21
“I wish you could have left me under that drug for a little bit longer. I’m sure I had the money in my pocket to fly to Miami and see my brother.”
Ellison gave one of her rare smiles. “From what I’ve been told that’s why they outlawed the drug. Everyone wanted to get a little bit further into the dream. Suppliers increased the price for repeat visits.”
“So, how did you get your broadcast through, Sam?”
“Oh I was so proud of him,” Joan said.
“Ah calls New Hope on ma pen phone and ah told a network station there that there was a bomb planted at the 3V station here. Ah knowed that the station here listen to the networks for news. They all left the building leaving the hookup already ‘stablished. The whole thaing was broadcast before they knowed what was a goin’ on.”
“And you called for the rebellion?”
“Ah declares martial law, calls in the cadets and asks the population ta arrest and disarm the police.”
“Yep,” Matt said. “I didn’t know what was going on. I saw crowds of people coming from their houses and go up the street in the direction of police headquarters. That was just before a Cab Company cornered me outside the main pavilion at the park.”
“And Darlison, where’s he now?”
“Ah has him in custody. He’s requesting exile ta the Bund, but the Bund won’t have him there.”
“And the other two on the camera, have you identified them?”
“One was Hilda Schultz. Peter says she is a spy lady. “
“A Casian?”
“Yep, ah has ordered her off the planet. The other we didn’t hear or see. The camera showed only the center of the room, he was off ta one side.”
“How did you know someone was there?”
“They
kept glancing over ta him for approval, but he must’ve only nodded. He didn’t talk.”
“You know it was a him?”
“Yep, that’s what them there Commonwealth analysts say. Is he important?”
“Not any more. I think we have a handle on things.”
Matt slapped Jim on the shoulder. “The people are indebted to you again.”
“What did I do? I got myself caught and took a mental wander through Arizona.”
“Ya did cause quite a traffic jam a walkin’ down the middle of Bench Street. That fellah must a let ya go when he heard the broadcast. What ya did for us was ta organize, and the people recognize your abilities in that. Ah has dissolved the council and it has been suggested that if’n y’all move here they would vote for ya as Prime Minister. What da ya thaink on that?”
Jim smiled and shook his head. “Thanks, but no thanks.”
Third Book of the Time Stone Trilogy
Victim of Circumstance
Other Books by the Author.
The Time Stone Trilogy.
The Time Stone To Wake the Living Victim of Circumstance
Victim of Circumstance
Sequel to The Time Stone & To Wake the Living: Jim finds himself in a position where he can guide future civilization. An action adventure cliffhanger with a detailed exploration of a future society.
Adult Language and Situations.
The Mediocracy Trilogy.
The Mediocracy
Of Mud and Time
Counting Comets
The Mediocracy
The new human colony on the planet Pollux 4 is a disaster. Barry, a new arrival to the planet, suspects the leadership is to blame. Mismanagement is rampant amongst the entrenched leadership clique. Something is drastically wrong with the way the colony was assembled.
Persecuted as malcontents by the governing body, who see them as a threat to their positions, privileges and especially their egos, Barry and his fellow dissenters have to escape this rule by the mediocre. They decide to leave the main colony and brave the hazards of the newly terraformed, alien planet on their own.
An action adventure and an exploration of an alien world.
Adult Language and Situations.
www.WhiteOaksProductions.com
About the Author
Robert F Hays – Retired from the military in 2001 with a total of 28 years in service. As a member of both the U.S. and Royal Australian Army he served in Vietnam, Sarawak, Panama and the first Gulf War as well as UN peacekeeping in the Sinai. Brought up in Australia, he has traveled extensively. Degrees in Mathematics, Earth Science, History and Education.