Justification For Killing (56 page)

Back at the Jeep he
shifted into four-wheel drive and out into the snow he ventured.
The five or six inches of snow were no match for this Detroit made,
OD, four-wheel drive, Army Jeep.

The Captain vividly
remembered the Saddlehorn Gulch trail. By-ned did he ever remember.
He thought he still had a vertebra out of place, and a kidney,
which seemed to be out of sorts. Oh yes he could not forget Clem’s
uncanny ability to seek out every pothole. Clem also seemed to
never miss the opportunity to strike the plethora of large rocks,
which at times, could better be described as boulders; however,
Captain Scarburg knew he would have no problem traversing the same
route with his venerable M38A1.
What a
terrific machine
, he thought as he
marveled at the little Jeep.

The wipers were not
doing much good with the mountain of falling snow accumulating on
windshield. His inability to see the road ahead was compounded by
the fact the Jeep had no heater to defrost the glass.
I know dodging bullets will keep a soldier warm
enough without the need of a heater
, he
thought as his mind recalled his Army days in Vietnam. For a brief
moment, he was back in the jungles of Southeast Asia. He mentally
visualized, the days when he was Little S and Papa Scarburg was Big
S; however, reality was not the hot, humid climate of ‘Nam, it was
a numbing cold, blizzard on a barren, cow trail somewhere northwest
of Celina, Texas. Now he wished the little Jeep possessed at least
a window defroster.

Snapping from his
reverie, he slammed on the brakes and skidded to a stop in a level
place on Saddlehorn. Hands and fingers numb from the cold, he
forced himself to release the dashboard latch on the right
passengers and the left drivers side allowing the windshield to be
lowered to rest on the hood. Now the Captain could see where he was
going. It helped he was going south, and the bone-chilling wind and
driven snow was out of the north. This minimized the effect both
had on his face, and the straw hat - it wasn’t as good as the hat
Clem had given him, but in a blizzard who can be choosey? Gripping
the little Jeep’s steering wheel with all his might, a thought
occurred to him. It was the oft-told joke about north Texas. When
speaking of the cold Texas winter wind it seems the saying went
‘there was nothing between Texas and the North Pole but one barbed
wire fence, and there was a solid report it had fallen
down!’
By-ned,
he
thought, pulling his coat collar up tight against the back of his
neck
, that son-of-a-gun knew what he was
talking about.

The snow had gotten
deeper, and Saddlehorn Gulch was nothing but a notch above a cattle
trail; however, those were the conditions the Army had in mind when
it designed this sturdy 4x4 Jeep. In an hour or so the tires of the
little Jeep had clawed and dug their way to the main road. Turning
south, he knew he would be at the road leading to Clem and
Penelope’s in another mile or two.

The blinding snow made it
almost impossible to see, but he somehow spied the road to the
Ponderosa. Turning from the main road onto Clem’s snow covered
roadway Captain Scarburg kept a sharp eye out for the grove of
trees he knew hid their house from the view of the road. A mile
passed, then another. The snow was merciless and seemed to be
increasing in its intensity and fury. “There it is,” the Captain
finally said out loud, as if someone were accompanying him in the
snow covered Jeep. His core body temperature had fallen to the
point that hypothermia was beginning to set in. He was already
becoming delusional, but if he did not reach the Ponderosa soon his
condition would become critical and extremely dangerous; a missed
turn in the road and the Captain could end up in a ditch or worse.
Nearing the bend in the road next to the stand of hardwood trees he
said to his imaginary friend, “The Ponderosa is just on the other
side! Thank goodness, another mile and we both would have been
frozen to death!!”

The time was 3:47 p.m.,
Thursday, November 21, 1963.

Chapter
Forty-Six

“
ALL ABOARD”

As Baba began to
walk across the launch room toward Mike Watkins’s office, she
noticed the air beginning to take on a peculiar chemical smell, a
slight caustic smell hinting of chlorine bleach
. Is that from Pegasus as it disappeared just a few seconds
ago?
She thought to herself. Little did
she realize the smell was ozone? The air was beginning to stir as
though the wind was blowing through an open window right before a
storm. She turned and looked back toward the center of the
enclosure where
Pegasus
had been sitting. What was she seeing? Was that
exhaust fumes left after
Pegasus
disappeared? No, there was no exhaust; she
knew
Pegasus
had
no form of ‘motor’ capable of creating any type of fumes. Its mode
of operation was more akin to electromagnetism than to the internal
combustion engine, regardless the vapor was starting to take shape,
and rotate. What was that crackling noise? Are those sparks of
lightening?
Yes, it was,
she thought! Well, not lightening exactly but the
swirling, twisting wind did cause an excessive discharge of static
electricity. What was happening?
Was that
a church hymn she hears, yes... yes,
she
thought.
Amazing Grace - was she being
deceived by her ears?

Mike leaned against
the circular wall, arms folded with an ear-to-ear smile. Watching
Baba in all her amazement was causing quite an amusing show to the
watching group of
Pegasus
workers. From his office window, Ryan Rousseau
could be seen watching the developing event also, but there was no
joy on his face, only contempt for his failed efforts to
sabotage
Pegasus’
s flight.

“
What’s wrong Baba?” Mike
yelled above the wind and music to Baba who was now standing,
motionless watching in awe as the phenomenal event took place in
front of her eyes. “Have you seen a ghost?” he inquired
again.

“
Mike!
Mike! What is happening? Did something calamitous happen to
Pegasus
. Is something
wrong? Why didn’t it leave as it was supposed to Mike?” She asked
as she hurried over to where Mike was standing.

“
Leave
Baba? Leave you say? Baba,
Pegasus
is not leaving, it is coming
back!”

Not fully grasping
Mike’s explanation she asked, “What went wrong Mike? Is Bob inside
of
Pegasus
? Is he
okay?”

“
What
you are witnessing is
Pegasus
returning from Texas. The Captain should be fine
if he got out of
Pegasus
when it arrived in the cow pasture. In a second
or two
Pegasus
will be sitting right here where it was just a short while
ago – empty! Even though
Pegasus
has been gone for minutes, hours or even days in
the Universe to which it traveled, in our time it will only have
been gone a few seconds.”

As he spoke, the
rustling of the wind, the whining high-pitched noise and the soft
sound of the piper playing his pipes began to subside as
Pegasus
commenced to
materialize in all its shining glory – sitting right where it had
been only a moment or two earlier.

Baba watched in stunned
silence. She finally uttered, “Well I’ve never...”

“
Baba I
do not have enough time right now to fully explain the flight
peculiarities of
Pegasus –
just suffice it to say if the
‘
Departure
’
and
‘Return’
indicators are the same
Pegasus will de-materialize and re-materialize within seconds of
our current time; however, to the time-travelers it could be hours
or days to them.”

Mike reached for the
microphone hanging on the wall. Keying the switch he said, “Okay
gentlemen, it’s your turn, ‘All Aboard”. At this announcement, Sam
Lin, Si Lei, Bud and Lou emerged from the room where they had been
waiting and walked to the loading platform and stopped.

Mike walked up to
the assembled group, “Men, I just want to say a couple of
things:
Pegasus
is a scientific anomaly - we have attempted to time shift her
six different times, and she has only worked once. One time out of
six is not great odds; however, we must assume Captain Scarburg,
Forrest and Olive Marie’s last trips worked. Even if they did, that
only brought the odds up to only a fifty-percent chance of success.
This is just another way of saying we have a one in two chance this
thing will work correctly.”

One of group added, “Or a
one in two chance IT WILL NOT.”

“
Yes
your right. You must be one of those ‘glass half empty guys’, Mike
said laughing; “however, saying you are not going on a dangerous
mission would be an understatement. We think we can get you to the
roof of the Texas School Book Depository at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday
morning November 21, 1963. Remember I said ‘think’, and exactly
thirty-two hours later, at 6:00 p.m. Friday I, along with the rest
of the
Pegasus
flight control group, will attempt to move the machine from
the School Book Building to the cow pasture northwest of Celina,
Texas. One of the reasons
Pegasus
will remain on the roof for twenty-fours hours is
to provide the communication link so you can use your cellphones
while on the ground in Dallas; however, your phones will only work
if you are within five miles of the
Pegasus
roof base station. Remember
too, Captain Scarburg arrived on Thursday, so he should be
somewhere in the general vicinity. Forrest and Olive Marie
supposedly are around the Dallas area too, we think. The reason we
are moving it back to the cow pasture is just in case Forrest and
Olive Marie, for some reason, get an opportunity to return, they
will go to the place where they arrived. They will not know about
the landing on the School Book Depository.

“
Okay,
enough said, here are your options: there will be a five-minute
window Friday evening starting at 6:55 P.M. This will allow you to
enter
Pegasus
and
be transported to the cow pasture close to Celina. If for some
reason, you miss this narrow window of opportunity you must and I
repeat, you MUST physically be at the cow pasture no later than
11:55 on Saturday, November 23. As I said earlier, at best, we have
only achieved a success rate of fifty per cent. I might not ever be
able to get
Pegasus
to return to retrieve you if you miss this Saturday deadline.
You could be stuck in the 1963 Alternate Universe forever. You have
each been given a map pinpointing the cow pastures’ precise
location. I repeat, be there!! This is not a threat this is a
WARNING!!
Pegasus
WILL leave without you!! I cannot stop its return. Enough
said, LJ, Rocky, Bud and Lou please say your goodbyes and mount the
loading platform and get yourselves strapped in, we will
energize
Pegasus
for your departure in ten minutes.”

The time was 3:20 Friday
afternoon, December 7, 2012.

Chapter
Forty-Seven

HOW COME YOU KNOW’D
US?

Turning to his delusional
Jeep passenger the Captain mumbled, “Thank goodness! We made it!
Now you and I can get warm.”

Walking across the
Ponderosa’s front porch, Captain Scarburg could hardly feel his
fingers within the leather, work gloves. He was about frozen to
death. Approaching the front door he briefly wondered if he had
enough strength left to knock.

Summing up all the energy
he could muster, he slowly pounded on the door. It was only around
five in the evening, surely with this blizzard howling, Clem and
Penelope would be home. Once again he summoned up enough strength
to pound again. He heard voices inside, the barking of a dog and
was that footsteps coming toward the door? If someone did not come
to the door he did not believe he could muster up enough strength
to knock again. He was seconds from collapsing onto the frozen, ice
and snow covered porch. If Clem and Penelope were not at home,
Captain Scarburg final fate was to freeze to death on their front
porch!!

Suddenly the door slowly
began to open, there with a surprised look was the Captain’s old
friend Clem. Penelope was standing to his rear. Weakly the Captain
said, “Please, please… can I come in out of this storm? I have gone
about… as… far… as I can… go.”

“
Lands sake, don’t jez
stand there Clem, git that poor man inside. He’s frozen plum neer
to death.”

Once inside, Clem
began stripping off the Captain’s snow covered outer garments and
hanging them by the door to dry. The Captain made his way over to
the fireplace, and immediately he felt the warmth on his face from
the oak logs crackling and burning in the huge, brick fireplace.
Removing his wet gloves, he held his hands close to the heat from
the burning logs. At first he could not even feel the warmth in his
hands, but within seconds, the blood’s circulation began to flow
back into his fingers, and the effect of the soft glow of the
flickering fire was beginning to take place. “My-oh-my, this feels
good,” Captain Scarburg exclaimed. Looking down, he noticed the
beautiful little Shetland sheepdog sitting next to him, rubbing her
head against his leg and staring up, seeming to beg for a pet on
her head. He remembered this little dog on his first visit,
‘Lady’, what a magnificent animal,
he thought. Reaching down he stroked the dog’s
soft, white and sable head, “Hey Lady, you’re a beautiful little
dog.”