The Search for Cleo

by Aaron J. Ethridge

  The Search for Cleo

  The Last Time Traveler – Book 4

  By Aaron J. Ethridge

  Additional info can be found at:

  TheLastTimeTraveler.com

  Copyright © 2018 by Aaron J. Ethridge

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  First Printing, 2018

  ISBN ?

  Kindle Edition

  Ethridge Publishing

  2311 Lake Drive

  Williston, SC 29853

  Aaronjethridge.com

  Before You Begin…

  The Search for Cleo is the fourth volume in The Last Time Traveler series. Although you can certainly enjoy the books out of sequence, you may find it even more enjoyable to read them in the correct order. The previous volumes (starting with: The Last Time Traveler) are currently available on Amazon.com. If you’re interested, you can purchase the previous books using these links:

  The Last Time Traveler

  No Rest for The Weary

  Bad Behavior

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1: Much to Do

  Chapter 2: Love at First Sight

  Chapter 3: Real Today, Clone Tomorrow

  Chapter 4: Exterminate

  Chapter 5: Jurassic Lark

  Chapter 6: Back to the Basics

  Chapter 7: Advanced Primitive Technology

  Chapter 8: War of the Worlds

  Chapter 9: The Christening

  Chapter 10: Riding Along in the Morgan-mobile

  Chapter 11: Survivors

  Chapter 12: On the Road Again

  Chapter 13: One Man's Jewelry

  Chapter 14: Old Friends

  Chapter 15: The Game is Afoot

  Chapter 16: To the Rescue

  Thank You!

  Chapter 1: Much to Do

  “Here,” Robert said, offering his hand to Morgan, “let me help you up.”

  “Thanks,” the young man replied, taking the traveler's hand with one of his while gingerly touching his face with the other. “I think you broke my eye.”

  “Nonsense,” Robert chuckled, beginning to brush him off. “I barely touched you.”

  “Why?” Morgan asked, almost glaring at his friend with his good eye. “Why did you touch me at all?”

  “You were cheating.”

  “It's not cheating when I'm kissing my girlfriend, Rob,” the young man pointed out.

  “I mean,” his friend explained, “you weren't abiding by the rules of Cleo's program.”

  “Those rules are for the two of you.”

  “They're for all four of us,” Azure asserted, carefully inspecting his injury. “Rob, you may have broken his face.”

  “If I did,” he replied with a wide smile, “I'm sure it will be an improvement.”

  This statement caused Cleo to punch him in the arm and Azure to roll her eyes.

  “I happen to really like his face, Rob,” the blue maiden pointed out.

  “I'm sure Doc can fix him up,” Robert opined.

  “If Morgan cheats,” she continued, “it's my job to stop him.”

  “Which begs the question,” the traveler said with a knowing grin, “why didn't you?”

  “Because...” she said with a slight blush.

  “Yes?” he replied, doing his best to look sincerely curious.

  “I wanted to see if he would stop on his own,” she almost – but not quite – lied.

  “You wouldn't be trying to deceive old Captain Hood here, would you, swab?”

  “Let's get him to Doc,” Cleo interjected. “That eye really does look bad.”

  Having made this observation, she reached up and gently touched the young man's minor wound.

  “Ow!”

  “He's bleeding, Rob,” she said, showing the traveler her fingertip and gazing at him disapprovingly.

  “He's not bleeding,” Robert replied, grabbing Morgan by the chin and tilting his head so he could get a better look at it. “I just tore the corner of his eye a little.”

  “You shouldn't have hit him like that,” Azure said, shaking her head.

  “No,” Cleo agreed, “he shouldn't have.”

  “Morgan punches me in the face all the time,” Robert replied defensively. “I hit him once and you all go crazy.”

  “We're not going crazy,” the green maiden replied. “We're just pointing out that you really could have hurt him.”

  “Plus,” Morgan added, “you asked me to punch you in the face.”

  “You see,” Robert replied with a wink, “that's how good a friend I am. You didn't even have to ask.”

  This statement caused all four companions to laugh – three of them involuntarily, one as voluntarily as he possibly could. The moment this mirth ended, they headed for the medi-bay to have Doc look at Morgan's face.

  “This has to stop,” Doc asserted, as he stood attending to Morgan's injury. “You managed to crack his eye socket, Robert.”

  “It must have had a weak spot in it,” he replied, shaking his head and trying to look sincere. “Honestly, I barely touched him.”

  “Be that as it may,” Doc chuckled in spite of himself. “From now on, you're both under doctor's orders not to punch each other in the face.”

  “Unless it's an emergency, of course,” Morgan added. “I plan to keep my eyes open for any of those that might come up, Rob.”

  “Even in an emergency,” Doc replied, “which I admit, could come up, do your best not to break each other’s' skulls.”

  “We'll do our best,” Robert assured him.

  “That's all I can ask for,” Doc nodded. “There. Good as new.”

  With Morgan attended to, all five of them decided to head for bed. It had already been a rich, full day, and they would reach Never Never Land before the following morning. Robert assured them that they had enough to do that they would all want to be well rested. Somehow, they managed to believe him.

  After roughly eight hours of repose, Morgan made his way groggily to the bridge to find Robert already sitting in his usual seat, on the comm with Chairman Ross.

  “We're taking it slow, Rob,” the chairman said. “We can't risk scaring our quarry any more than we already have. It would have been much better to catch Doctor Sturm than to chase him off.”

  “I couldn't agree more, Joe,” Robert nodded. “There's no way he managed to do all this on his own. He was part of – probably the head of – a conspiracy. I doubt he loaded all his co-conspirators on his ship before he left.”

  “As do I,” Chairman Ross nodded. “Which means, we have traitors in our midst.”

  “Or clones,” Morgan suggested.

  “Or both,” Robert added. “So, what's the plan, Joe?”

  “Should we be talking about this on the comm?” Morgan interjected. “Seems a little slack on the security side of things to me.”

  “That's actually a fair point, Morgan,” Joe nodded. “We're on the most secure channel that exists in the universe, but I'm not positive that Sturm couldn't hack it.”

  “Cleo and I designed the protocol ourselves,” the traveler pointed out.

  “You also designed the software that runs the ship,” the chairman replied. “Assuming you were telling me the truth, Sturm still managed to infect it with a virus, however.”

  “That's not exactly the same thing,” Robert replied, rubbing his chin. “Still, I take your point. Well done, Mister Harker.”

  “Well,” the young man smiled, “I am head of security on this bird. On top of which, I'm not an irresponsible jackass who always thinks 'I got this'.”

&nb
sp; “Those are also good points,” Chairman Ross laughed.

  “You want breakfast, Joe?” Robert asked.

  “If I say 'yes', will there actually be any?”

  “There will be,” Morgan assured him. “I plan to cook it.”

  “Plan to cook what?” Celeste asked as she and Vox stepped onto the bridge.

  “Breakfast, Mama,” Robert replied, turning to her with a smile.

  “No,” she said, shaking her head. “This morning, I'm cooking.”

  “One way or the other, Joe,” the traveler said, glancing back at the monitor, “there will be breakfast.”

  “I'll be there in half-an-hour or so,” the chairman nodded before switching off the comm.

  Robert turned his chair to face his companions. “I've been meaning to talk to you about this for a while, Celeste. It just keeps slipping my mind.”

  “Talk to me about what?” she asked, taking up her now-usual seat.

  “As we're going to be doing this for the next... thousands of years,” he replied, “I assume you want to be an official part of the crew.”

  “I certainly do,” she smiled, “what does that entail?”

  “Signing a piece of paper saying that you know I'm in charge,” he answered, “occasionally wearing your uniform, following my orders pretty much without question...”

  “I ask questions all the time,” Morgan pointed out.

  “Which is why no one else should,” Robert said, shaking his head, “you eat up everyone else's 'question time'.”

  “They ask questions, too.”

  “I wasn't being literal.”

  “Is that it?” Celeste asked.

  “You also need a duty assignment, I guess,” the traveler shrugged.

  “She's Chief Engineer's Woman,” Vox laughed.

  “Undoubtedly,” she smiled, “but that's more doing my wifely duty than ship's duty.”

  “True,” he nodded.

  “Cleo has to pull double duty, as well,” Robert said with a wide smile as the green and blue maidens strode onto the bridge. “She's Chief Science Officer and Captain's Woman.”

  “You really do dream big, don't you?” Cleo said with a sigh while rolling her eyes.

  “I certainly do,” he winked.

  “And, Azure's...” Morgan began with a smile of his own.

  “Azure's what?” she asked, gazing at him from under a single raised eyebrow.

  “Azure's our Ensign,” he replied, having lost his nerve. “She helps out wherever she's needed, whenever she's needed. She's really good at it, too.”

  “She is,” Robert agreed, offering her a smile.

  “Doc is our Doc,” Morgan nodded. “Obviously.”

  “Obviously,” Doc agreed, having just come onto the bridge himself.

  “What are you, then?” Celeste asked.

  “Chief Security Officer,” he replied, “and Ship's Cook. I also have to pull double duty.”

  “Not anymore,” she said, shaking her head. “From now on, I'm Ship's Cook.”

  “That will be perfect,” Robert replied, “because it'll mean you outrank Mister Harker.”

  “Ship's Cook outranks Chief Security Officer?” the young man asked, obviously somewhat incensed.

  “It does on this ship,” the traveler laughed. “We do more eating than securing.”

  “Well, I called it first,” Morgan pointed out.

  “You can't cook,” Robert counter-pointed out.

  “I'm learning!”

  “True...” his captain said thoughtfully. “I suppose it would be a good idea for you to keep practicing.”

  “It would,” Morgan agreed.

  “That being the case,” Robert continued, “I have the perfect assignment for you. From now on Morgan, you're Chief Security Officer, as well as... Head....”

  “Yes?” the young man asked.

  “Scullery Maid,” the traveler smiled.

  At this, six of the seven companions laughed.

  “I ain't being no scullery maid, Rob.”

  “Call it whatever you want,” Robert replied. “I don't think it's fair for Celeste to have to do all the cooking and all the dish washing while you stand around securing things. Do you?”

  “Why don't you wash some dishes?”

  “I'm the Captain,” the traveler pointed out. “It would be bad for morale.”

  “Not my morale,” Morgan assured him.

  “Also, I always have a lot of other things I'm working on,” Robert continued. “Not to mention the fact that I'd be happy enough just eating MREs all the time. So, it's down to whether you ever want to actually do 'date night' on the ship or not.”

  “Alright, I guess,” Morgan sighed. “I wouldn't want Celeste to have to do all the washing up, either way.”

  “I'll help, as well,” Azure said, giving him a sweet smile.

  “Do you have any experience washing dishes?” Robert asked, sitting straight up in his seat.

  “Loads,” she replied, gazing at the ceiling and shaking her head.

  “Hmmm,” the traveler nodded. “That's interesting... Morgan, do you have any experience?”

  “I've washed a dish or two in my time.”

  “I see...” Robert replied thoughtfully. “In that case; Azure, you're Head Scullery Maid. Morgan, I'm demoting you to Assistant Scullery Maid.”

  “So, Azure outranks me now?” Morgan asked, nodding toward the maiden.

  “Only in the galley,” the traveler informed him.

  “Maybe she'll order me to kiss her,” the young man said, shaking his head.

  “Maybe she will,” Robert laughed.

  “I wouldn't count on it,” Azure replied, giving Morgan a coy smile.

  “Other than cooking,” Celeste interjected, “is there anything else I can do around here?”

  “Whatever you like, Mama,” Robert replied. “I'm sure as the eons pass us by, you'll pick up more and more. After all, you're brilliant, just not very experienced yet.”

  “Not at doing all of this,” she nodded, before climbing to her feet. “Either way, I'd better get breakfast started.”

  “To the galley!” Morgan cried, rising from his seat and offering his hand to Azure.

  The blue maiden accepted this, and the trio quickly made their way to the ship's kitchen. Just over half-an-hour later, Chairman Ross had arrived and Celeste (along with her scullery maids) had prepared a massive breakfast. Sadly, Azure hadn't ordered Morgan to kiss her, in spite of his many hints. Happily, however, Celeste did let him cook the flapjacks. In fact, she even taught him to add a little vanilla extract to them. As a result, they were even tastier than normal.

  As soon as they had finished eating breakfast in the conference room, they got right to work.

  “Alright, Joe,” Robert said, leaning back in his seat, “what's the plan?”

  “At the moment,” the chairman replied, “we're not sure who we can trust. Even Brother, or Sister, or myself for that matter, could have – theoretically – been part of the cabal. Although, that's not very likely, I've been checking behind them for any oddities of behavior. I'm sure they've been doing the same for me.”

  “A wise precaution,” Doc nodded.

  “At the moment,” he continued, “I'm basically positive I can trust them. Hopefully, they've come to the same conclusion about me.”

  “What about us?” Morgan asked. “I know you can trust us, but how do you?”

  “I've been a little slack there,” Joe chuckled. “I've just been trusting you on faith. I figured if Rob were the head of the conspiracy, I might as well go along with it – whatever it is – as there wouldn't be much chance of stopping it.”

  “None at all,” Robert agreed. “But, what have you actually done so far?”

  “Very little,” the chairman admitted. “The first thing we did was hush up the fact that Sturm was involved...”

  “Why do that?” Morgan interjected. “All his co-conspirators already know that he was involved. You can be sure tha
t – if any of them are still in Never Never Land – they know that we know that it was him, and that he's on the lamb.”

  “It's safe to assume they know that,” Joe said, “but, the general populace doesn't. We felt it was best to keep as many people 'acting normally' as possible. The co-conspirators – assuming there were any – know who they are and whatever it was they were doing for the operation. We want them to keep doing whatever it is so we can catch them at it.”

  “Makes sense,” Robert replied. “Go on.”

  “The three of us also discretely secured our offices,” Joe said. “Not only are they 'bug free', each of them now has a scanner above the door that will detect it if a clone walks through them.”

  “That's a good idea,” the traveler said. “Vox, add that to our to do list.”

  “Done, boss,” Vox nodded.

  “All we've accomplished up to this point,” Joe continued, “is finding out that a number of the counselors aren't clones.”

  “That's a start, I suppose,” the traveler replied.

  “It is,” the chairman asserted. “As I said before, we have to move slow.”

  “What's your next step?”

  “We plan to send a crew to search Sturm's house,” Chairman Ross replied. “We're just waiting until we have a crew we know we can trust.”

  “What about us?” Morgan suggested.

  “We need you back out there,” Joe replied, pointing over his shoulder with his thumb. “Like I said, we want as many people as possible acting normally. If Robert isn't trying to 'save the universe', the conspirators will know something's up.”

  “They certainly will,” Robert nodded. “I suppose, Joe, you should just keep up the good work. In just a few minutes, I plan to finish the Sharp job. After that, we've got to make a few more modifications to the ship. Once that's done, we'll get back to work.”

  “Sounds perfect,” the chairman nodded. “Can I grab a little more bacon before I go?”

  “Help yourself.”

  Mere minutes after Joe had left the ship, the crew was once again gathered on the bridge.

  “Cleo, love,” Robert said, “fire off my message to Miss Sharp, if you would.”