Justification For Killing (28 page)

Staring at the round disk
lying in the grass the Captain could not help but reminisce about
the time he heard Spook’s wife Tinker tell of her abduction by
Anhur and his fellow Sunev aliens. Fortunately for Tinker, Anhur
turned out to be a kind and understanding friend to Tinker. He
alone, kept her from harm when his fellow aliens accidentally
killed the other Pac Toul prisoners. The aliens, along with their
prisoners, were trying to flee the Captain, his father Big S and
Spook as the three stormed the stronghold at Pac Toul. Tinker
described in detail the ‘flying saucer’ the aliens used for
transportation, which included the Sunev symbol, embossed on the
front of the craft – the circle with the face of a man; the lion; a
bull and the eagle.

Much later the Captain
would discover the aliens had been coming to Earth for thousands of
years, in fact, the prophet Ezekiel in the Bible witnessed them. He
described them in detail. The Book of Ezekiel Chapter One, Verse
Ten, states: ‘Each had a human face in front, a face of a lion on
the right side, a face of an ox on the left side, and the face of
an eagle at the back.’

Funny, the Captain though,
this will all happen four years in the future... 1967!! (Papa
Scarburg, the Captain and Spook rescued Tinker from the aliens in
Cambodia in 1967.)

Shaking his head in
disbelief he stood at attention and executed a snappy military
salute to the sentimental object. Watching the hatch close and
seeing the trucks taillights fading into the distance, he said out
loud, “Thank you my friend.”

Clem watched in his
rear-view mirror as
Pegasus
disappeared. For a second he questioned his
sanity, was this all real? Did he dream the Captain,
Pegasus
, the
assassination? Contemplating these surreal events he was jolted
back to reality when he noticed hanging from his wench pulley on
the back of his wrecker: a white, dung smeared towel with the
letters S.C.A.R. embossed in the very center. Yes, it was real all
right.

Eight hours to
lift-off.
‘Think I’ve got enough time to
catch me a few zzzs. It’s been a really long day,’
thought the Captain.

The time was 4:30 a.m.
November 23, 1963.

Chapter
Twenty

RETURN TO THE
PRESENT

Mike Watkins,
working at his lab table was startled by the sudden sound of
rushing air. It reminded him of a flock of birds passing overhead.
Turning he could see something similar to a wispy mist of vapor
forming in the center of the room where
Pegasus
had been sitting. Placing
the instrument he was holding onto the nearby table he ventured out
of his laboratory room into the wide expanse of the Exit-Entrance
Portal room.

One step, then
another, the closer he walked towards the center of the room the
more the vapor began to take shape.
Well
I’ll be a monkey’s uncle
, he
thought,
the Captain’s made it
back.
“Yes sir! Yes sir?” he said out
loud, “That’s got to be him!” The employees in the surrounding
offices heard the commotion and began to assemble around the
interior stainless walls. They all wanted to see the fruits of
their accomplishment too.

Whoosh! It felt as
if all the air from within the interior was being sucked into the
vapor in the middle of the room. It was as if a miniature tornado
were trying to form inside the building. Louder and louder the
noise of the wind grew. Mr. Watkins, who at first was delighted to
see the Captain returning, was now beginning to become alarmed.
Maybe this wasn’t Captain Scarburg! This might be a tear in the
fabric of time - in theory everything, and he meant everything in
the entire universe, could be sucked into the hole if a tear had
occurred.
What can I do
, he thought? Nothing... nothing could be done if a tear
existed, it was too late; however, as his last nerve was being
tattered the winds began to subside. The blowing, whistling, wind
like noise began to subside, and the metallic form of
Pegasus
began to take
shape. Its silver outline became clearer and clearer. The fabric of
time was not tearing it was just Captain Scarburg announcing his
return home. Mike looked up on the wall to check the
clock.

The time was: 2:30:02 p.m.
November 20, 2012.

Twenty-four hour
plus a few seconds had since the Captain had left earlier, but in
the short period of time the whole universe had changed.
Pegasus
left Washington
in one Parallel Universe, arrived in Texas in another, allowed the
President to get killed, which changed the Universe again and
returned back to Washington. As Anhur had said: revisiting our past
could reap changes that can affect the future as well as the
past.

The sound of
escaping air was the same sound Captain Scarburg and Clem had heard
as they stood in the midnight darkness, miles from anywhere, in a
deserted cow pasture forty miles north of Dallas, Texas. Mike
Watkins could hear that very same sound; however, mixed in with the
noise he heard the soft, melodious sound of
Amazing Grace
playing on the
bagpipes. Slowly the hissing of air and the sound of music stopped;
the hatch on the side slowly opened and the first thing Mr. Watkins
saw was a head topped with an old, brown, sweat stained, tattered
cowboy hat. It was sitting atop Captain Scarburg’s head as he
sheepishly peeped outside.

“
Welcome home Captain...
hope you had a pleasant trip,” Mike said grinning from the bottom
of the entrance stairs hoping his heart would return to its normal
beat.

“
How long have I been gone
Mike?”

“
Hmmm... I’d say a day
plus a couple of seconds, maybe, at best.”

“
Yes, welcome home Captain
Scarburg. Hope you had a pleasant trip.”

“
That is amazing, ‘a day
plus a couple of seconds’ huh? Just simply amazing,” said the
Captain. “Just amazing!”

“
Amazing!! I can think of
other words that would be more appropriate,” said Mr.
Rousseau.

Turning to Mr. Ryan
Rousseau, Chief of Experimental Design and also the Flight
Director, the Captain asked, “What were you expecting Ryan?
Anything less than returning would have been failure, don’t you
think?”

Captain Scarburg, stepped
into the changing room, removed the red flight suit, red flannel
shirt and the blue denim overalls. He now observed, what he
believed, were the most beautiful blue and red colors he had ever
seen. He grinned; he couldn’t help but think about Clem and the
‘overHALLS’. He removed the shirt and overalls, and placed them
into a large bag to carry upstairs. He put on his dark blue
three-piece suit, swung the black shoulder bag over his shoulder,
and started toward the elevator.

Passing the security guard
he stopped briefly to inform him that what he had seen and heard in
the past few minutes were to be considered “Top Secret.” After this
conversation, the Captain strolled down the hall to the elevator.
He was deliberately walking slowly trying to allow himself time to
figure out what he was to say to the ones he had left upstairs in
the conference room, besides the stench of cow manure needed a few
minutes to dissipate too.

And most of all would Bud
be there? He wanted that more than anything.

BACK TO THE
MEETING

The elevator door opened -
Captain Scarburg stood there for a moment hesitant to make that
first step, then he stepped into its interior. Five floors up the
door automatically opened. Again he was hesitant - his destination
was just across the hall.

Into the conference room,
Captain Scarburg walked. Old, brown, sweat stained, tattered cowboy
hat and all. His boots made the same leathery sound on the tiles as
they had when he left to go downstairs. Glancing toward the massive
mahogany conference table, his heart sank!

The chair next to Lou was
still empty - Bud had not returned.

‘
Why?
What was the purpose of my travel into the past and my attempt to
change history if it failed to do the one thing I wanted:
to bring my grandson back, safe, sound and
alive
, he thought.

“
Grandpa,” said Gabby,
“did you bring your information back upstairs?” There was no
response. He just stood there, blankly staring at the empty chair.
“Grandpa! Did you get the information you went after? I noticed you
brought back a new fashion item. Is that decrepit item you’re
wearing a hat?”

Lou ventured an answer, “I
believe it is Gabby, but I think it needs an oil
change.”

Gabby, laughing answered,
“I think a flush would be better!! Grandpa that hat smells
awful!”

Deep in thought Grandpa
answered, “Yes... yes I did - I surely did,” he said.

Lou and Gabby looked at
each other with a puzzled look, obviously their Grandpa had more on
his mind than the old, brown, sweat stained, tattered cowboy
hat.

Stopping at the head
of the table he just gazed intently again at the empty seat.
Why? Why?
He thought to
himself. He did not even hear Lou or Gabby’s remarks - it was as if
he were in a vacuum. He was so absorbed by the fact that his death
defying time-travel effort did not influence the future. Obviously
the Western Asia War did, in fact, happen after all. His mission
had been a total failure!! Well obviously to the extent he did not
change history enough to allow grandson Bud to
live.

“
Grandpa? Grandpa? Did you
hear me,” said Gabby. “Grandpa, are you all right?”

“
What...? What did you
say, oh... oh yeah? Yeah, I’m fine just thinking. Thanks Gabby, I
just went for some data, and I have all the information now,” he
said. “Lou, Sam Lin and Si Lei would you please come forward and
check the seal you put on my bag.” Each in turn, checked the seal.
“Okay, tell the group, out loud, that the seal is intact and has
not been tampered with or replaced.” All three confirmed the seal
had not been touched since they secured it. As they were returning
to their seats, Grandpa broke the seal and opened his bag. He
removed a number of large, thick brown envelopes and walked around
the table giving one to each person. “Don’t open this envelope
until I instruct you to do so, okay. You all remember what we were
talking about before I left?”

“
Durn
right! I do,” spoke Gabby. “I said I was NOT going to get into that
darn
Pegasus
thing, and I also said, ‘Grandpa, are you crazy? We don’t
even know if the contraption works!”

“
Right you are Gabby, good
memory.”

“
What do you mean my
memory’s good Grandpa? It has only been a few minutes. You’re
trying to tell me something aren’t you? What is it?”

“
Okay Gabby, you’re right.
First can anyone tell me whom our current President is?”

Always the comic, Gabby,
holding up her hand said, “Me, me, teacher, call on me.”

“
Okay Gabby, who is
it?”

“
Grandpa, this is a hard
one, but I’m going to say Barack Obama.”

“
Very good my girl, you
get an ‘A’, here’s a harder one - who knows the date President John
Kennedy was assassinated?”

Each around the table
looked at each other questioning what was Grandpa up to.

“
Forrest how about the
date,” Grandpa asked.

“
Sure Grandpa, everyone
knows it was November 22, 1963.”

“
A brief
few minutes ago we were all sitting here talking about taking a
ride on
Pegasus
and one of you, I won’t call her name, but her initials are
Gabriella Scarburg Friedman, said the ‘darn thing won’t work’, am I
correct?”

“
Yes you
are Grandpa, but I
still
say it probably won’t work - I betcha I’m right
on this one.”

“
Sorry grand-daughter, but
you are wrong - so... so... wrong, you...”

Grandpa did not get
to the end of his sentence when the rear door to the hallway swung
wide open and in stepped a shadowy apparition. The figure entering
just stood as if frozen, in the doorway silhouetted by the light in
the corridor behind. It was too dark for Grandpa to make out the
face.
Who in the blazes is interrupting my
meeting?
he thought. Before he could say a
word the shadowy vision spoke...

“
Hey folks, starting this
shindig without me? What’d I miss? Hey Grandpa hit the lights, so I
can find my seat.”

If Grandpa’s heart were
weak, it would have become apparent at that very moment - the
person speaking was... his... his... HIS GRANDSON - it was Bud. Bud
was alive!

The time wa... wa...
was... the time was... well the time was just
perfect....

Chapter
Twenty-One

THE MISSION

Captain Scarburg literally
ran across the room, threw his arms around Bud and squeezed him so
hard they heard Bud grunt, “Easy Grandpa! Easy! What’s come over
you? I just went down the hall to the restroom while you went
downstairs.”