Musings From A Demented Mind (8 page)

                        Outside of Chicago

Rick and Marilyn sat at the counter of the Queen’s Diner. 

“Can I get you two something?”  the heavyset, blonde waitress asked.

“Two coffees,” Rick said.

She brought over two coffees and placed them in front of them.  “So, who are you looking for?”

“How did you know we’re looking for someone?”  Marilyn asked.

“Your clothes.  You are both wearing black suits.  Business men don’t normally eat in a dive like this.  You are definitely FBI.”

“Good observation,” Rick said with a smile.  “We were wondering if you saw this man.  He was traveling with a couple of women.”  He placed his tablet on the counter which had Dave’s BMV photo on it.

       “Yes, I was working when they were here.  They sat at the table in the far back away from everybody.  Is he dangerous?”
       “He’s a person of interest,” Rick answered.  “Did you happen to hear any of their conversation?”

“When I brought over their food, they were talking about some machine.  I didn’t hear anything specific.  He was with four people: two men and two women.”

“Can you give us a description?”  Marilyn asked.

“Even better.  We have cameras.”  She pointed at the camera pointing toward the register and the one pointing toward the front door.

Rick looked over at Marilyn with a smile.

          On I-80 Near The Nevada State Line

“I see the welcome to Nevada sign up ahead,” Dave said.

As they drove closer to the Nevada state line, they could hear a humming noise getting louder.  In the rearview mirror, Dave could see a large military transport chopper heading for them.

“We have company,” Dave said.

The chopper flew past them.  It was very low to the ground and turned around and landed in the middle of I-80 ahead of them.  Soldiers climbed out of it and pointed their weapons toward their van.  Dave slowed the van to a complete stop as the soldiers moved closer.

“Get out of your vehicle now with your hands up!” somebody said through the chopper’s loudspeakers.

“Don’t worry. I got this,” Garth said as he slowly opened the door and got out.

The rest of them got out of the van as the soldiers drew closer.  Garth walked a few steps away from the van toward the soldiers.

“Don’t move another foot forward,” one of the soldiers ordered.

“Memory wipe,” Garth said as he pressed the button on the device that was in his pants pocket.  The soldiers stood still in a state of complete confusion.   They all dropped their weapons as their hands went completely numb.  He pointed the device at the chopper disabling it.

“What did you do to them?”  Dave asked, concerned.

“Don’t worry. The effects are temporary.  They won’t remember what happened the past several hours.  The paralysis will wear off in an hour or so.  We better get out of here real quick.”  Garth spotted the drone as it moved closer.  He pointed the device toward it and pressed the button.  The drone crashed to the ground exploding on impact.

“As soon as we can, I suggest ditching this vehicle,” Jepkins said.

“Go to the first town we see and we’ll find something there,” Garth ordered.

                Edwards Air Force Base

                     Area 51, Nevada

Malcom and Wayne stood stunned after watching the events on I-80 take place through the drone’s camera.

“What sort of weapons do they possess?”  Malcolm pondered.

“Sir, I lost control of the drone!” Kyle shouted.

The screen went blank as the drone crashed.

“Contact Sergeant Whittaker!”  Malcom ordered.

Wayne tried contacting the chopper, but no response.  He looked over at Malcom who also looked worried. 

“An EMP?”  Malcom asked.

“Whatever it was also took out our soldiers, as well.”

“We need to come up with some sort of plan,” Malcom said.  “We can’t just let them barge in here and steal the J’onn 6.”

“What do we possess that can stop technology from the future?”  Wayne asked.

“I don’t know.”

Malcolm grabbed his cell phone out of his pocket and called Agent Venable.  “I’m sending you a video of what just transpired on I-80.  I need you to get there ASAP.”

                        Oasis, Nevada

Dave stared at his van for the last time as Garth started the black 2015 Dodge Grand Caravan sitting in the driveway of one of the few houses in the small town.  He pulled out of the driveway and drove away before the owner realized the vehicle was being stolen. 

“I calculated a new route for us to follow.  I suggest staying off of I-80.  They probably will be looking for us on there,” Jepkins instructed.

“I’m going to miss my van,” Dave said sadly.  “It was my mom’s.  She passed away from a heart attack a few months after purchasing it.”

Melinda grasped his hands.  “I know how it feels to lose a loved one.  Everything left of my husband’s possessions were on the compound.  I’m not sure I’ll ever see any of it again.   As long as I keep his memory in my heart, he’ll never be forgotten.”

“I have plenty of great memories of my mother,” he said reflecting back on all the good times.

Melinda kissed his right cheek.

“Thanks.”  David said blushing.  He stared at the van for one last time as they drove away.

           On I-80 near The Nevada State Line

Sergeant Whittaker felt a tingling sensation throughout his body as the paralysis began to wear off.  He tried to remember the events that transpired on I-80 recently, but the last thing he could remember was eating a bowl of maple cinnamon oatmeal for breakfast.  He tried calling the base, but none of the equipment in the chopper was operational.  He could see a black helicopter heading in his direction.  He slowly climbed out of the chopper.  The soldiers were talking among themselves trying to figure out what had just transpired.  None of them could remember anything.

The helicopter landed and Agent Venable walked over to him.  “My name is Agent Rick Venable.”

“None of us can remember what happened?”

“Maybe this video will refresh your memory.” 

Sergeant Whittaker watched the video in amazement.  Even though he was watching what had happened, he still had no recollection of being a part of it.  He looked at the soldiers and then back at Agent Venable.  “I have no memory of this.”

“They’re heading for the base.  We must stop them before they get there.  We’ll send a transport to pick up you and your men.”  Agent Venable walked away and a few seconds later the black helicopter took off.

“Their short term memories were erased,” Rick said as he talked to Malcolm on the phone.

“Any ideas?”  Malcolm asked.

“They most likely ditched the van by now.  Does Dave Alexander have a cell phone or a laptop we can track?”

“Wayne is checking now.  Yes, he has a tablet and it is active.”

“We’ll be able to track him.”

“Sir, what about the device he used?  Won’t we be vulnerable to it, as well?”  Marilyn asked, concerned.

“We’ll have no choice but to wait for them to make their move on the base.  We’ll have to catch them off guard.”  Rick answered.

                Edwards Air Force Base

                      Area 51, Nevada

Malcom and Wayne stood next to the J’onn 6 waiting for Mason Parsons to finish disabling it.  He opened the hatch and climbed down the side.

“It’s done.  I disconnected the computer mainframe.  It’s not going anywhere without this.”  He showed them a small component about the size of a thumb drive.

“Now what?”  Wayne asked.

“We find a way of defending ourselves from that weapon of theirs.  If we could learn how to replicate their technology, we would possess the perfect weapon to defend this country from future terrorist attacks,” Malcom answered.

“And make a fortune in the process,” Wayne added.

“Of course,” Malcolm said with a greedy smile.

Mason stared at Malcolm suspiciously.  He didn’t get assigned to Area 51 to develop weaponry.  He was only interested in technological advancements to better mankind, not destroy it.  He looked at the J’onn 6.  Space exploration was the future.

“If we possessed their time traveling technology, we could go back in time and rewrite history for the good.  Stop terrorist attacks before they happen.  Imagine the possibilities,” Malcolm said, his greedy smile getting bigger.

Mason stared at him.  He pondered the dangers Malcolm could cause with that type of technology.  He would have to be stopped.  He looked back toward the J’onn 6.  He would have to devise a plan for when the time travelers were captured.

“Mason, is there something wrong?”  Wayne asked.

“No, just imagining the possibilities,” Mason said and walked out of the hangar.

                    Groom Lake Road

“Restricted area.  No trespassing beyond this point,” Dave read as he stood in front of the sign on the road leading to Groom Lake where Area 51 was located near.

“We should be close enough for me to hack into the tranzer’s computer,” Garth said as he hacked into the base’s computer via the tablet.  He looked confused.

“What’s wrong?” Melinda asked.

“I can’t access its systems.”

“They must have prepared for this,” Jepkins said.

“Now what?”  Kendra asked.

“We only have one option,” Garth said sadly.  “We must get captured.”

“Captured?  Are you crazy?”  Dave looked at him angrily. 

“If we can get inside the base, we can get to the tranzer.”

“Insanity.”  Dave leaned against the sign, shaking his head in disbelief.  “Do you have a plan?”

“First, we let them take us,” Garth said as a black helicopter landed on the road behind them.

“I guess we aren’t left with a choice,” Dave said.  “I hope it’s a good plan.”

                Edwards Air Force Base

                      Area 51, Nevada

“Agent Venable has them,” Malcolm said excitedly.

“They didn’t put up a fight?” Wayne questioned.

“Not at all.  They must have realized they were beaten after we disabled the J’onn 6.”

“Seems too easy.”

“Wayne, don’t worry.  We’ll keep a security detail on them. We’ll take all the necessary precautions with our guests.”

“Our guests?”

“I’ll try to extract their knowledge politely at first.  If that doesn’t work, I’ll resort to using drastic measures.”

“And their weapon they used on I-80?”

“Agent Venable has it in his possession.  You can relax.  Everything is under control.”

“Malcolm, I sure hope so.”

Mason opened the door leading to the vault containing the crashed spacecraft from Roswell.  All the lights in the vault came on as he entered the hallway.  He walked over to the spacecraft and admired its design.  The J’onn 6 was almost an exact replica of it.  For several years, he studied it learning everything he could about its technology in order to design the J’onn 6.  Several of the systems on the crashed spacecraft were beyond repair.  He suspected the system used for time travel was also destroyed in the crash.

He walked over to the glass casing which housed the metallic uniform the pilot was wearing and a small flat device damaged in the crash. 

“Something bothering you?” 

Mason turned around to acknowledge Russell White. “Just thinking.”

“I’ve always wanted to take this one out for a test flight.”  Russell put his left hand on the spacecraft.  “Knowing it can travel through time, I want to pilot it even more.”

“If Malcolm has his way, you may get your chance.”

“That bothers you?”

“Yes, it does.  Nobody should possess the technology to go back in time and change history.”

“Apparently somebody already possesses it.  We are standing in front of the proof,” Russell said as he stood next to Mason.  “In a few minutes, we will get the honor of meeting real time travelers.”

“I do have a lot of questions for them.”

“And they will have a lot of answers.  Come on, let’s go meet them.” 

Malcom and Wayne watched as Agent Venable, with a security detail, led the travelers toward them.

“Agent Venable,” Malcom acknowledged.

“Malcolm, it’s been awhile. I don’t believe you’ve met my associate, Agent Marilyn Austin.”

  Malcom shook her hand.

Agent Venable continued the introductions. “I want you to meet Melinda, Kendra, Garth, Jepkins and Dave.”

“Welcome to Area 51.  My name is Malcom Teller and this is Wayne Harris.  If you’ll follow us.”  Malcolm led the group to the conference room.  “We are eager to hear about how you arrived here.”

Melinda told the tale of the compound and time traveling to 2015.  While she told the story, Garth glanced down at the J’onn 6 in the hangar below.

As she finished the story, Malcom addressed Garth.  “I see you are eyeing the J’onn 6.”

“It’s a beautiful ship,” Garth responded.

“Yes, it is.  I’m assuming you know a lot about it.”

Garth nodded.

“We are going to be launching it on its first mission soon.  I’m assuming it will be a successful mission.”

Garth nodded.

“I’m glad to hear it,” Malcom said with a smile.

“I would love a tour of this facility,” Garth said.

Wayne looked at Malcolm concerned.

“In due time.  I propose an exchange of knowledge.  There’s a lot about your technology we are interested in learning about.”

“You want to know how we can travel through time,” Melinda said.  “You can understand why it would be unwise for us to divulge that information.  Any knowledge you learn from us can alter our timeline.”

“Your timeline was altered the moment you traveled back in time,” Wayne pointed out.

“He’s right.  If you were to travel back to the future, would it be as you left it,” Malcolm added.

Garth looked over at Melinda.  He never thought about what the ramifications to the timeline were from them traveling to the past.  The future they knew may not even exist anymore.

“Whether you give us the information or not is your choice.  I’m only asking if you would meet with our scientist and answer some of his questions.  It could be beneficial to all of us.”

“No promises, but we’ll meet with him,” Garth said.  He needed to buy some time to devise a new plan to get him access to the J’onn 6.  Until then, he would play along with Malcolm’s curiosity.

Malcolm and Wayne stood up.  “We’ll send our scientist in to speak with you.  Agent Venable, I’d like to speak to you in private.”

Malcom and Wayne walked out of the room followed by Rick and Marilyn. 

“Let me see the weapon they used on I-80,” Malcom requested.

“This way.”

He led them to the desk in Malcolm’s office where a black metallic case was sitting.  Malcolm opened it and his eyes widened as he saw the device.  It looked similar to the one in the glass casing in the vault.

“You’ve seen this before?”  Rick asked.

“Yes, we have it here.  Our scientists could never get it to work due to how damaged it was.   Modified on a greater scale, this weapon could disable all our enemies.”

“And make us billionaires,” Wayne added.

“Billionaires,” he repeated with a big smile.

Mason and Russell walked into the conference room.

“Mason!”  Melinda, Kendra, Garth and Jepkins said in shock.

“You guys all know me?”

“Yes, you are the leading scientist at our compound,” Melinda answered.

“From the future?”

“You two were aboard the tranzer when it traveled to our time,” Garth answered.

“You guys are the first time travelers,” Jepkins added.

“You can help us,” Melinda said.

“How?”

“By helping us get to the tranzer, the J’onn 6, and pilot us to the ripple in the space time continuum,” Garth answered.

“You want us to take you to the future?”  Russell asked, excited.

“You did it before.  This time, we will accompany you,” Kendra said.

Mason looked at Russell.  The idea of traveling to the future sounded exciting and being a scientist, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity.  “You have a plan how we can get to the J’onn 6 without Malcolm stopping us?”

“Yes, I do.  I need the device Agent Venable took from us,” Garth answered.  “With it, we can paralyze everyone here long enough to escape in the J’onn 6 and wipe the memory of everyone here so there is no recollection of the past few hours.”

“We would have to erase all the files on you guys and the events of today from the base’s computers.  They will wonder what happened to the J’onn 6 when they recover from the device’s effects,” Jepkins added.

“Are you with us?”  Melinda asked.

Mason looked at Russell who nodded in agreement.  “Yes, we’re in.”

Mason walked into Malcolm’s office where Malcolm and Wayne were admiring the device.

“Did you learn anything useful from them?”  Malcolm asked.

“Yes, I did.  I have an idea how to modify the J’onn 6 for time travel.  They are explaining to Russell how to find the ripple in the space time continuum.  I want to take the device to my lab and run some tests.”

“Take it.”  Malcolm handed it to him.  “The sooner you can learn its secrets, the sooner we can replicate its technology.”

“Too bad, in a moment, you won’t remember its existence.”  He pressed the button on the device’s side.

“What…”  Malcolm began to say as his short-term memory was being altered.

Malcolm and Wayne stared at him emotionlessly as they were being paralyzed by the effects.

Mason walked out of the office and handed the device to Garth.  “I’ll head to the Systems Room and erase all the data relating to you guys.  I will rendezvous with you at the J’onn 6.  Reinstall this back into its computer mainframe.”  He handed Garth the component he uninstalled earlier.

“Mason, thanks,” Garth said as they split up.

Mason ran for the Systems Room.  He entered it and walked over to the main computer.  He sat down and began deleting everything about the travelers on file.

“What are you doing?”  Agent Venable asked as he walked into the room.  “I just found Malcolm and Wayne in a zombie-like state.  You’re helping them escape.”  He had his gun pointed at Mason.  “You’re not going to get away with this.”

“I’m doing this for our own good.”

“Are you?”

“We, in this current timeframe, are not ready for time travel.  It can only lead to disaster.”

“That’s not your decision to make,” Rick said as he walked over to the computer. 

“Do you really want this technology to fall into the wrong hands?”

Rick lowered his weapon as he thought about the consequences of the government in control of time-travel.  He thought about all the history he had read in school and how in one instance, somebody could completely change the course of history for their benefit.  He knew Mason was right and he decided it was in everybody’s best interest to help him.

“No, I don’t.  Did you erase everything?”

“Yes.”

“Good.  Now get them out of here.”

Mason looked at him puzzled.

“Mason, I’ve seen things over the years the normal person can’t comprehend.  I’m a strong believer in the greater good.  Nothing good can come out of us being able to travel through time.  Get the J’onn 6 out of here.  I’m going to destroy everything in the vault.  Now that I know what the ship in there is capable of, I know what a real threat it poses.”

“Thanks.”

“Mason, good luck,” Rick said and shook his hand.

“The J’onn 6 is fully operational.  I’m plotting its course,” Garth reported.

“I’ve looked over your data.  I should be able to navigate us through the ripple in space,” Russell assured him.

Outside the J’onn 6, Melinda and Dave waited for Mason.

“I’m going to miss this place.  Not Area 51.  I mean 2015,” Dave said.

“You’re going to love the future.”

Mason ran into the hangar.  “It’s been taken care of.”

“Shall we,” Melinda said as she climbed the ladder leading to the hatch on the top of the J’onn 6.

As everybody sat down, Garth gave the order to take off.  The J’onn 6 flew out of the hangar and headed for space.

“To the future,” Melinda said.

“To the future,” everybody repeated in unison.