Joe (24 page)

“No.” Jason took a calming breath. “Allow me to explain. The beam brought back at least this little fellow, and possibly more, to this time frame. In fact we saw tons of them, and barely escaped, this one flew through the time machine with us.”

“Who is we?”

“What?”

“You said we.”

“Oh. Your dad’s ghost came along.”

“Fuck he has to be in everyone’s business.” Frank’s head went to the right.

“Joe’s ghost again.”

“Bitching at me.”

“You’ll have that. So you see. The beam snatched up a ton of Killer Pubes, they are somewhere around beginnings, and in the near future. They get in.”

“Fuck.”

“Exactly, they may not eat you, but they’ll dine on all of us. Imagine what a hundred of those things can do.”

Frank turned around and looked at the Killer Pube enjoying the music. “Maybe we can get them all headphones.”

“I doubt that.”

“This explains the weird signals we’re getting from the Killer Baby region.’

“When did they start?”

“Last night. I have to get on this shit. Get a plan. Thanks, Jason.” Frank walked to the door.

“Um. Frank?”

Frank stopped at the door. “Yeah.”

“You forgot something.” Jason pointed to the adolescent.

“Shit. You’re right. Thanks.” Frank walked up to the child, snatched the headphones with a ‘Sorry’, and walked out.

The adolescent started growling again.

After a moment, Joe emerged from the closet. He paused only to zap the creature and shake his head. “Killer Pubes? Pubes?”

“What can I say?” Jason shrugged. “He’s your son.”

****

Bandanas off at the entrance, Elliott held the door for Hal as they entered.

“How are we going to determine this?” asked Elliott. “Do you think simply asking his name?”

“Absolutely. Why would he lie?”

“Well,” Elliott cleared his throat. “We had a gentleman in Containment who insisted he was Julius Caesar.”

“Oh, this is completely different. We have reason to believe . . .” Hal slowed down walking and talking when he saw Ellen speaking to Blue in the hallway. “Is this her day here?”

“No. No it’s not.”

“Then why is she here?”

“Working.” Elliott shrugged,

“Working. Thank you for that.” Hal just shook his head. Then placed on a smile when Ellen saw him. “Ellen, what a surprise.”

“Blue called me.”

“Really, for what?”

“For a pick up.”

“Pick up?” Hal asked. “Pick up what?”

“A patient for Containment,” Ellen explained. “Dan is here to escort us back.”

“I didn’t realize we had anyone that . . . that was new.”

“Not new,” Ellen said. “A little nuts. One of those Jordan people. Will fit in great. I just talked to him.”

“Who?”

“My new resident. Wanna meet him, he’s really nice.”

“Not right now,” Hal said. “I’m here for another patent. Will you excuse me?”

“Sure.”

Hal walked by Ellen and to Blue. “Hey, Blue, where is he?”

Blue pointed to the door. “Getting ready to leave. Got here just in the nick of time.”

Hal watched the shift of Blue’s eyes to Ellen. “What? You’re putting him in Containment.”

“Well, Captain he thinks he’s Elvis Presley.”

“He is.”

“And, since Elvis was born in 1935, and he died in 1977. How do you suppose that is?”

“Well, he . . . we . . . I . . . excuse me.” Hal grabbed hold of Elliott and pulled him aside. “She’s doing this on purpose.”

“What Captain.”

“Taking him.”

“Well, to Ellen, she thinks he’s nuts.”

“No, she does not.” Hal snipped. “She is claiming him for Containment so she can have him.”

“Why would she believe he’s Elvis?”

“Because my brother is telling her he is and asking for Elvis songs. Plus, she knows about the beam incident.”

“Maybe she’s just placating.”

Hal took a deep breath. He looked at Ellen she went into the room. “Let’s go find out.”

With a wave of his hand, Hal led Elliott into the room. He knocked once and entered.

Ellen was with Elvis, he stood in a pair of jeans in a tee shirt. She lifted his small duffle bag. “And we’ll get you more when we get to Beginnings. You won’t need many clothes.”

“I had a huge wardrobe,” he said.

“I bet you did. But, then again, this is the apocalypse now and you can’t splurge. No Cadillac’s here.” She said.

“How the heck did I get into the apocalypse?”

Hal cleared his throat. “Mr. Presley?”

Elvis turned around. “A soldier.”

“Yes. I’m Captain Hal Slagel and this Sgt. Ryder.”

Elliott shook his hand. “It is a pleasure to have you here in Bowman and in Beginnings.”

“Thank you. Thank you very much. I just wish I knew how I got here.”

“I’m sure we can sit with you and we’ll straighten this all out.”

“Good,” Elvis said. “Cause one minute I’m the bathroom reading, the next I’m on the street with some drunk guy asking if I’m trying to be crude.”

“That would have been Fr. O’Brien.”

“A priest.” Elvis whistled. “What the heck is going on?”

Ellen interjected. “We can all talk at Containment.”

“Ellen,” Hal said. “Can I see for a moment?”

“Sure. Excuse me, Elvis.” Ellen followed Hal to the hall.

Hal pulled the door closed. “What are you doing?”

“Moving him to Containment. Isn’t he convincing?” Ellen asked.

“Ellen, of course he’s convincing. He’s Elvis.”

“Hal, please, I know he’s good but he’s not Elvis. Elliott, you don’t believe it, do you?”

Elliott hesitated, then, “Well, yes, Ellen I do.”

She snickered. “Maybe you guys need to get into Containment.” She reached for the door.

“Ellen.” Hal grabbed her wrist. “You know about the time beam. You know we how he got here.”

“Yes, I do. Baby Boy Bryan Band member Kyle from Jordan drove him here and forgot him Kyle confirmed. He’s from Jordan, been thinking he’s Elvis since he hit his head on the jukebox. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” She opened the door and went in.

The door closed.

“Baby Boy Bryan Band.” Hal huffed. “She’s lying.”

“Yes, she is,” Elliott retorted. “But she has Elvis now.”

****

“Pack it up, Corporal Jay, last leg of the trip.” After a short whistle, Sgt. Reynolds tossed his sack over his horse.

“Sorry,” Jay did his buttons on his pants, and in a rush went back to where he had set his things.

His small tent was rolled up and so was the sleeping bag. They stopped late the night before, and after six hours of rest were well on their way. Sgt. Reynolds was part of the four man team that went north with Jay. Jay was captured, but quickly released.

He couldn’t wait to get back home to Bowman, to talk about his experiences. They were going to try to get that last 60 miles under their belt.

“One minute.” Jay gathered his things and started to jog to his horse. He heard the thump of something falling, and he looked back. His canteen lay on the ground. After securing his items on his horse, he went back for the canteen.

He was reaching for it was when he saw it.

An object. It looked like some video game, but none like he had ever seen.

About six inches long with lights. A thick metal like plastic that had an odd smell. He turned it over to see writing. Writing that he didn’t understand. It was more like hieroglyphics.

“I found something.” He called out, then hurried to Sgt. Reynolds.

A voice?

Chaka’s head cocked. It came from behind him. Quietly he turned and followed the sound.

Creeping through the woods the voices grew louder.

He wasn’t completely familiar with what they were saying, some sounded like words, other like noises. When he spotted them, he was more in shock than anything.

They looked odd. Dressed odd.

A strong sniff told Chaka they were male, but they had fur on their head. Straight fur. One covered his fur with a fabric.

He stepped back. Watching, he recognized the animal they mounted, their transportation. But it was much smaller than he was used to. And the males were also smaller. Five, six feet tall maybe. A good foot or so smaller than Chaka, not to mention thinner. They carried some sort of weapon as well. They didn’t pose a threat to Chaka not yet, at least.

But there were four of them, communicating, and leaving together.

Four. There had to be more.

Where there was more there was civilization. It wasn’t just the sense of civilization that made Chaka want to follow them, it was the fact that they had his communication device.

He was as fast, or close to as fast as the animal they rode, and keeping up would not be a problem.

****

The sound of laser style gun fire rang out, along with grunts and groans, and Frank knew someone was dying.

He stepped inside Danny Hoi’s office, and sure enough, there was Danny. Feet on his desk, game controller in hand, playing a game.

“Hey.” Frank called out.

“Hey.” Danny replied. “One sec.”

His hands moved about until a final explosion, and frustrated Danny set down the game. “What’s up?”

“Is this what you do all day?” Frank asked.

“Hardly. It’s ten am. Break time. Game time. I mean, Frank when don’t I work.”

“True.”

“What brings you here? Are we meeting?” Danny asked.

“You can call it that.”

Immediately Danny whipped out a pocket organizer and checked. “I didn’t mark it down. I can’t believe that. Sorry.”

“No problem,” Frank said. “Things happen. You get busy.”

“What are we meeting about? I don’t remember.”

“That’s Ok, I just thought about coming here, so you wouldn’t remember.”

“Ah.” Danny smiled. “An impromptu meeting.”

“Always, why would it be anything else?”

“Else than what?”

“Impromptu. I mean, I wouldn’t wear a tux.”

Danny chuckled. “No. So what’s going on?”

“If you can find one, I need an invisa suit.”

“For?”

“Me.”

“I figured that much. Are you playing a practical joke?”

“I wish.”

“What’s going on?”

“Ok, keep this under wraps.”

“Always.” Danny pulled out a chair and sat down.

Frank leaned against the desk. “We’ve been getting weird signals in the Killer Baby slash toddler region. Odd. Started last night. I thought there was a problem with the tracking.”

“Maybe there is.”

Frank shook his head. “No. Three beams accidentally shot out of the HG Wells when Dean and Roy were fighting over it. Well, one beam split in three I keep saying three and that’s confusing. Anyway … One went a thousand years into the future. One went back in time and grabbed Elvis.”

“Presley.”

“Yeah.”

“The King? The beam brought Elvis to where.”

“Bowman.”

“Elvis is in Bowman?”

“No. Elvis right now is in Beginnings.”

“Holy shit, I thought you were joking.”

“Nope.”

“So anyhow, if you don’t mind.”

“Go on. Sorry. Just excited. I can’t wait to meet him.”

“You have to make an appointment. He’s in Containment.”

“What?” Danny blasted. “Why is he in Containment?”

“Because he’s telling everyone he’s Elvis and Blue labeled him nuts.”

“But he’s Elvis.”

“Yep. And without knowledge of a time machine, what would he be doing here.”

“True. Back to the Killer Baby region.”

“So, yeah. The beams, brought something else back.”

“What?”

“Pubes.”

Danny choked. “Pubes?”

“Yep.”

“The beam brought Pubes from the future.”

“Nasty ones, too.”

“I would think any that came back would be unsightly.”

“Like you wouldn’t believe.”

“Why is this a problem?”

“Uh, Danny, I don’t know about you, but I don’t want Pubes all over Beginnings.”

“It’s a fact of life. But how did the retractor grab Pubes.”

“I don’t know, but I think they are in the Killer Baby region.”

“And you know this how.”

“Weird signal. Plus I saw one. Jason had one.”