A Loop in Time

by Clark Graham

  Chapter Five

  It was in the early hours of the morning when Phil made his way back to the hangar where the wreckage was being kept. Major Stubbs wasn’t there yet but the on-duty Lieutenant let the Corporal in. The Corporal made his way to the shelves where he picked up several of the electrical boxes and set them on the table. He made sure they had the information that he needed to show the Major. Phil wanted to be there in person to see the look on the Major’s face when he told him what he had found out.

  Major Stubbs had gotten breakfast before he headed into the hangar. He didn’t know what to do with all of the wreckage, just guessed that he should piece it together the best that he could. When he entered the hanger, he was surprised to see Corporal Mortenson standing there.

  The Corporal saluted and said, “Good morning, Sir.”

  “Good morning, Corporal. I suppose that you being here means you have figured out something.”

  The Corporal smiled. “And then some, Sir, and then some.”

  “What have you got for me?”

  “We will start with that box you gave me. Not only is it a computer, but it is more powerful than all of the computers we have on the base combined. It has more memory and more computing ability.”

  The Major’s eyes got big and round. “Is it Russian, or is it alien?”

  “Neither, Sir. It was built right here in the good old United States of America.” The Corporal smiled.

  “How can that be? We don’t possess that kind of technology, do we?” The Major was very confused by this point.

  “No, we don’t, but we will.” The Corporal was really enjoying himself.

  “We will? What are you talking about? Just tell me what is going on.”

  “Come over here, Sir,” the Corporal said as he led the Major to the components he had taken off the shelf. “Look at the manufacturing date on these boxes.”

  “Jan. 17, 2012. That’s impossible!” The Major looked at the Corporal to size up the man. He wanted to check if he was being taken for a fool.

  “I spent all night researching that box you gave me. It has microcircuit technology that is light years ahead of what we possess. I was totally stumped so I looked at the manufacturing data on the serial number plate. The box had been built in 2010 in Akron, Ohio. So when I saw someone in the hanger I ran over here to see if I could find any other dates on this stuff. I have a range of them from 2009 to 2012. This is all state of the art stuff, from around forty five years in the future.”

  The Major was stunned. He tried to form words around his thoughts, but the words just did not come. He just kept looking at the plates and the manufacturing dates. “How is this possible?” he finally managed to stammer out.

  “I don’t know, Sir, but this is some pretty interesting stuff. Too bad it’s all busted up. I could have had a lot of fun with this.”

  The Major got his wits about him. “I must swear you to secrecy. You must not tell a soul about this.”

  “Yes, Sir. I pretty well figure that no one is going to believe me anyway, so I am okay with that.”

  “I, on the other hand, must find a way to tell the Colonel. I want you there when I do. Bring me that box back. It and all of this stuff are now going under guard. No one must find out what we have here.”

  “Yes, Sir, right away, Sir.” The Corporal went straight over to retrieve the box.

  Sergeant Johnson woke up to find the orderly, who had a message from the lieutenant, standing over him. “Here,” the man said.

  Andy looked over to see that John was still sleeping so he read the note.

  ‘You have not talked with the Russian yet. You are supposed to be getting to know him and finding out about him. Talk about sports; see if he knows who won the World Series. The sooner you get the info the faster you can get back to your wife and family.’

  The note was signed by Lieutenant Granger.

  The nurses were just bringing breakfast around when John started to stir. He sat up in bed when Susan handed him a tray. “Good morning, mystery man. Here is some food,” she said.

  He sat up and looked around, “Good morning, Beautiful.”

  Susan blushed a little. “Goodness, I knew I should not have given you that James Bond book. Already you are flattering the ladies.”

  “I’m enjoying it, I must admit. Maybe I’m picking up a pointer or two. The story is very familiar though. Have they made this into a movie?”

  “It’s brand new; of course not. They don’t make every book into a movie, you know.” She smiled at him and then patted his hand as she left. When she got to Andy’s bed she just plopped the tray down, scowled at him and then walked away.

  He shrugged but it did no good. She wasn’t looking by that point. Andy turned towards John and asked, “so what do they have you in here for?”

  “Amnesia. I don’t know what they are going to do about it,” John replied. “How about you?”

  “Um,” Andy hadn’t made up a story yet and he was horrible at impromptu. “Ah, head injury, oh and the arm too.”

  “What happened?” John asked.

  “Ah, Vietnam somewhere. I, uh, was in combat. Um,” He was having a hard time with this. “Grenade concussion. Yep, that was it. Grenade concussion.”

  “Sounds like you are having a little memory problems too,” John replied.

  “Yeah, boy, I’ll say. So how about the 1965 World Series? What do you think about who won?” The question came out very jumbled and completely random. Andy felt foolish asking it the way he did.

  “I don’t even know who won last year,” John admitted.

  Andy looked puzzled. “1965 was last year.”

  “It was? No way. You’re kidding! That doesn’t sound right.”

  With a serious face Andy replied, “It’s 1966. I’m not kidding.”

  “Oh.” John was deep in thought for a few minutes. “Who won then?”

  “The Dodgers.”

  The conversation had ended. John seemed upset by it so Andy didn’t pursue it. He just turned onto his side so that John could not see him write and scribbled down a note saying that John did not know who won the World Series, nor did he even know what year it was.

  John was still very troubled. When Susan walked by he motioned her over. “What year is it?”

  “Now you are a silly man; it’s 1966 of course.”

  “Then why does my class ring show that I graduated from the Air Force Academy in 2010?” He showed her the ring.

  She stared at it for the longest time. She was utterly shocked at what she was seeing. “Don’t show this ring to anyone. I am sure that there is a perfectly good explanation but there’s a lot of rumor and mystery surrounding you. We don’t want to add fuel to the fire. Hide that ring.”

  When she stood back up she looked over at Andy and saw he was busy writing down notes. She had already let the cat out of the bag. She felt really bad, but she didn’t say anything to John as she walked away. She went to pick up Andy’s tray and accidentally spilled the rest of his food all over him. “Whoops, sorry.”

  Major Stubbs called Lieutenant Granger. “I need a guard on the hanger where the wreckage is kept. No one is allowed in there except for myself and Colonel Rodgers until further notice.”

  “Yes, Sir. It will be difficult since I am a man down, but I can double shift a man.” Granger replied.

  “No need to do that. We have found out that our guest is a red blooded American, so you don’t need to spy on him any longer. You can get your man out of there.”

  “Yes, Sir, I mean, are you sure, Sir?” Granger was still thinking he was a Russian.

  “We have absolute proof of it.” The Major didn’t mind Granger’s hesitancy. It was good for the head of security to double check everything.

  “Yes, Sir.”

  Granger marched straight over to the hospital. When he got to Andy’s bed, Andy was waving a note at the side of the bed so John could not see what he was doing. Granger walked over and grabbed the note and read it
. Then he went over to John’s bed and said,” I want to see that ring.”

  “What ring?” John asked. He was sad because he thought that Susan had told everyone about it.

  “Your class ring from the Air Force Academy. Don’t play stupid with me.” The Lieutenant’s high voice showed his impatience.

  John reluctantly handed it over. Granger looked at it. Shock showed on his face. Then he looked back at John and then back at the ring. “Is this some type of joke?”

  “You tell me. I have amnesia, remember?”

  Granger turned to Andy. “Your assignment is over. Get that silly looking dressing off your head and get a nurse to cut off the cast. I need a detail to guard the hanger where the wreckage is.”

  Andy got out of bed a little sheepishly. “Yes, Sir.”

  “You were sent to spy on me?” John was incredulous.

  Andy just shrugged; he had not liked the assignment and he still had milk all down his front. He saluted Granger and marched out of the ward.

  Granger turned to John, “I must show this to the Colonel. I hope you understand.” He marched out.

  John was happy that Susan wasn’t the one who told on him. He wondered why Granger was suddenly showing him some respect. Was it because he was a fellow serviceman, or maybe he now believed he was an American? Maybe it was both?

  Chapter Six

  When Granger arrived at the Colonel’s office, Dr. Ralston, Major Stubs and Corporal Mortenson were already there. Granger was hesitant to enter, but the Colonel said, “Come on in, Lieutenant, this involves you, also.”

  The office was sparse as the Colonel did not like a lot of clutter. There was one window to the side of the desk that let in light, and two florescent lights hanging from the ceiling. One bookcase on the opposite side of the desk from the window and one M-16 rifle was leaning against the corner within easy reach.

  “Yes, Sir,” Granger said as he entered the room.

  “As I was saying,” Ralston continued. “There is a major push to reopen Route 13. That is going to mean casualties and a lot of them are going to be sent here. I am going to need all of the beds that I have and I see no need to have a healthy amnesiac or a spy taking up space.”

  “Excuse me sir, but Sergeant Johnson is no longer taking up space, and before you release the prisoner, I need to show you this.” Granger put the ring on the Colonel’s desk. “Please notice the year on the ring.”

  The Colonel picked it up and read out loud, “2010. Is this some type of a joke?”

  “2010 fits our timeline very well. Four years out of the academy and he could be flying test planes. They like the test pilots young,” the Corporal said.

  “What time line?” The Colonel’s cheeks were starting to get red.

  The Major put the equipment ID plates on the desk. “Sir, we found interesting things when we went through the wreckage. I brought the Corporal here to explain them to you.”

  “If you look at the equipment tags, you will see manufacturing dates ranging from 2012 to 2014. Having a class ring with a graduation date of 2010 makes sense. This craft somehow has transcended time and crashed. We can only assume the pilot was looking at something in our time and then was going back to his time when the crash occurred. If you will also note, all of the parts were made in the United States. We do not think there was any hostile intent to these actions. The man is possibly trapped in our time, but they might send a rescue mission for him.”

  The Colonel just stared at Phil for the longest time. He was gauging the man. When he finally spoke he said, “Do you believe that, or is this just part of an elaborate ruse?”

  It was the Major who answered. “Sir, we sent a box for the Corporal to look at. His conclusion is that it is a fully operational computer, more powerful than our whole computer lab. Yet it was small enough to fit in the control panel of an airplane.”

  “Yes, Sir,” the Corporal said. He sounded enthusiastic. “They have managed to miniaturize everything. The chips they have in that thing have more memory capacity than ten of the computers that we have here on base. If I were to replicate the amount of memory that one of their chips have, I would have to use up two entire rooms. I’m not talking about small rooms, either.”

  It was hard for the Colonel to believe so he turned to the Doctor. “Is there any way that this John Doe could be faking amnesia, or could he be a plant?”

  “Sir, no, to both questions. He was honestly hurt ejecting from that plane. You can’t fake that. As for the amnesia, I brought in a specialist to look at the patient. He is suffering from amnesia. He has all of the classic signs and symptoms.”

  The Colonel looked at the ring again and compared it to his own. Then he looked at the equipment ID plates. He scratched his head.

  “Begging your pardon, Sir,” Granger cut in. “There would be no reason for someone to fake all of this. It would cost thousands of dollars, maybe millions, to make a plane and then crash it. The patient, although not exactly cooperative, shows every indication of being an American.”

  The Colonel looked up at Granger. “You, of all people, I thought would be the most skeptical.”

  “I saw the look in the man’s eyes when he handed me that ring. He looked extremely worried about what he was revealing. I have seen the look before. It’s a look you cannot fake.”

  “Well,” the Colonel said. He stopped. He looked around his office and then sighed. He kept silent for the longest time. When he finally did speak he said, “How am I going to put this into a report?”

  They all started talking at once.

  The doctor said, “Don’t do that; they will euthanize and dissect my patient.”

  “That is a good way to end all of our careers,” the Major protested.

  “No, the technicians will take all of these fun gadgets, then I will never be able to figure them out,” replied the Corporal.

  “It would be a security nightmare,” said the Lieutenant. “If the press gets word of this, the base will be inundated twenty four seven.”

  The Colonel waited for the group to stop its protesting before he asked, “Are you suggesting that I don’t report it?”

  All of them replied, “Yes, Sir.”

  “What do I tell the General about the wreckage recovery?”

  “Why don’t you tell him it was a weather balloon? It worked at Roswell,” the Major suggested.

  “It didn’t work in Roswell because nobody believed them,” the Colonel reminded him.

  “Begging your pardon, Sir,” the Lieutenant replied. “What if we turn all of the wreckage over to them, less the electronics, and say that it looks like someone piled a bunch of scraps in the shape of a plane and then exploded it to make it look like a plane crash. Then add that this stuff could not have come from a real airplane, obviously. Then say that the man we found was from a separate incidence. We believe he was part of a skydivers club, but we can’t say conclusively because he has amnesia and nobody has reported him missing yet.”

  As the Colonel contemplated what Granger had said, the others were nodding their heads in approval. “It just might work. The truth is impossible, so we can give the General something that sounds possible as the truth.”

  Everyone was in agreement. They all sat down and got their stories together so they could present the same exact story to anyone who would ask in the future.

  Major Stubbs and Corporal Phil went back to the plane where they would purge the wreckage of anything that could reveal its real origin. Phil would store the stuff in a closet at the computer lab that only he had access to. It would give him time to look at it all, piece by piece.

  The Lieutenant went to check on his security detail and the doctor went back to the hospital to prepare for the new load of casualties that were going to be shipped in from Vietnam.

  The Colonel sat down to type out his report. He could have his assistant do it, but this was too important and had to be worded just right. It was up to him to pass off the lie. They had to keep the truth hidden f
or the rest of his and everyone’s life time who had been in that room. The truth could simply not get out.

  Chapter Seven

  “Release him? Where is he going to go?” Susan asked. “He doesn’t know who he is. How is he supposed to find his family?” The doctor had come back to the hospital to ask Susan to get the patient ready to be released.

  “I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have any immediate family yet.”

  “What does that mean?”

  The doctor realized what he had said. “I mean, um, never mind what I mean. He will have to get a job, I guess. I have casualties coming soon and I need the bed. He is perfectly healthy, except for his amnesia. I guess he can do some yard work around my house. I don’t know otherwise.”

  Susan was frustrated. Men were so insensitive. She was going to have to handle the situation herself. She went to grab John’s clothes out of the closet and started to bring them to him. They were burned, so she thought better of it. There was a small bit of a fabric ID badge on his flight suit. It only had an ‘R’ on it. The rest was burned too badly to read. She then realized that the flight suit had some type of flame retardant on it. It had burned, but he had not. The retardant had saved his life.

  She went to the supply Sergeant. “I need some clothes for a six foot two male, average build.”

  “This isn’t Montgomery Ward’s, Lady, you can’t just order clothes,” the Sergeant shot back.

  “May I remind you, Sergeant, that I am a Lieutenant in the United States Army? I have a patient whose clothes were burned and they are unusable. He is to be released and I don’t want him leaving here in his underwear and a hospital gown. Is that clear?”

  “Yes, Ma’am. Crystal clear.” He always tried to intimidate people who came into the supply hut. Sometimes it worked. This time it didn’t. He grumbled under his breath, but when he handed over the clothes, he managed a smile. “Here you go, Lieutenant. If they don’t fit, come back and we will fix it.”