Justification For Killing (76 page)

The time was 6:30 p.m.,
Wednesday December 7, 1812.

GRANDPA, FORREST AND ROCKY
RETURN

“
Wake up Lou! Wake up!
Olive Marie is gone!”

Rubbing the sleep
from his eyes, Lou glanced around the interior of
Pegasus
and exclaimed,
“What? Where could she have gone? Is Lady still
here?”

“
Water,
Lou, water. She went outside to that pond. Come on we have to go
get her or Grandpa is going to kill us! I tried to call her on her
cell, but something is wrong with the
Pegasus
communication center. It is
not working, or she does not have her phone turned on, but we have
one piece of luck – Lady is lying asleep over by the
console.”

As the hatch came
open Bud and Lou could see off in the distance toward the pond a
group of people walking toward them.
Oh
no,
they thought,
the Indians had somehow had found them out!!
As they nearer, Bud was relieved; he realized it
was Grandpa and Forrest supporting Rocky between them. Following
closely, thankfully, was Olive Marie. Were the others a couple of
Indians and a Priest?

Scurrying down the ladder
Bud and Lou hurried to greet the returned group. As they neared
they could see Rocky was injured, and the wound seemed
serious.

“
Grandpa!” Bud yelled as
they got closer, “Are you all okay?”

“
We’re okay, but Rocky is
wounded pretty badly. All the rest of us are fine.”

Bud started to ask ‘who
the rest’ were, but taking the last few steps to greet his Grandpa
he could clearly see one was a young Indian, the other an older
Indian and bringing up the rear a brown robed priest. “What
the...?” Bud exclaimed as he approached the group.

“
Bud,
Lou this is Red Wolf. He speaks no English, but without his help we
would not have been able to obtain the gold we needed to make the
disc to repair
Pegasus
,” the Captain said removing a crudely made gold disc from
his pocket. “He is the son of the chief Two Buffalo the leader of
this band of Comanches. His actual name is “Ekapitu Tseena.”
Recognizing his name Red Wolf touched his left breast with his
clenched right fist. “This other Indian gentleman is the tribe’s
interpreter – I do not remember his Indian name, but it translates
to Long Rabbit.”

“
I am Soobe Tamu,” said
the interpreter bowing to Bud and Lou.

“
Red Wolf and Long Rabbit
helped us obtain the gold and they assisted in the making of this
golden disc. I know the object isn’t perfectly made, but I’m hoping
it is good enough to work in the computer.”

“
Where did you find this
priest Grandpa?” Bud said motioning toward the hooded
Padre.

We did not find him Bud –
I believe if the truth be known, he found us.”

“
What? I don’t understand
Grandpa.”

“
Look at this man
closely... this ‘Priest’ may be someone you know,” the Captain said
removing the large hood covering the ‘Padre’s’ head and face. A
beam of sunlight passing between the limbs of a nearby tree fell
directly on the ‘priest’s’ face, revealing a chubby face with a
pair of large, black almond eyes.

“
Greeting, my good
friends. It is good to see you again.”

“
Anhur!! Where in the
world did you come from...?”

Before answering Olive
Marie Anhur turned to the two Comanches. Speaking to them in their
native tongue the two nodded in agreement. “I have asked them to
join you inside your time-machine. They seem frightened but
agreed.” Turning back to the Captain Anhur spoke, “You know my
planet Sunev’s law prohibits me from becoming directly involved
with your destiny, but one thing I can say - your destiny was
decided long, long before today.”

MILLARAYH

The two Comanche
Indians were indeed frightened; perhaps amazed and awed would be a
better description; spell bound also might have been more
appropriate. Motioning with their arms and talking non-stop they
truly had never seen anything like the inside of
Pegasus.
They were
especially enthralled with Lady, the little sable and white
dog.

Anhur speaking again to
the two Indians calmed them down. He turned to the Captain, “Now
Captain, please try your fabricated golden disc. You need to get on
with the repair of your time-machine.” Anhur’s words to the Captain
hinted he doubted the success of their homemade by-pass gold
module.

Placing the gold
disc into the small computer slot, the Captain snapped the computer
switch into the ‘
ON
’ position and watched the instrument gauges to see if any
changes were evident. He could see no difference. The Captain
removed the disc, rubbed it to remove any dirt or debris that might
have been on it. Inserted again it once more proved to be
defective. “By-ned, now we are in for it! Our feeble attempt at
fabricating the by-pass module has failed miserably! This piece of
gold junk is not going to work. Bud call Mike and let him know our
situation.”

“
Sorry Grandpa, we tried a
little while ago – the communication system does not seem to be
working.”

“
I’m at my wits end. I do
not have another solution. Without talking to Mike, I’m afraid we
are doomed.”

Red Wolf watched Olive in
amazement. Approaching Olive Marie he began speaking so fast Long
Rabbit had a hard time following. When he finally stopped talking
Captain Scarburg looked to Long Rabbit for an explanation. Long
Rabbit explained Red Wolf was saying he had something he wanted to
give to Olive Marie.

“
Yes, what is it?” She
replied with anticipation.

From inside his buckskin
shirt Red Wolf withdrew a leather cord with a small pouch attached.
Slowly he removed the bead covered pouch and cord from his neck,
dropped to one knee he opened the bag and removed an object and
placed it into Olive’s hand, folding her fingers tightly over it,
and remained on his knee with head bowed, mumbling unintelligible
words.

“
What is he saying Long
Rabbit?” Asked Olive Marie.

“
He say you ‘Millarayh’
the one prophesized by ancient Comanche shaman many, many moons
ago.

“
What is the meaning of
this name?”

Long Rabbit
answered, “Name ‘Millarayh’ mean ‘
Golden
One’
. Ancient legend say Comanche shaman
got gold object from ‘riders from the sky’. The old shaman gave Red
Wolf grandfather’s, grandfather’s, grandfather leather pouch with
round gold object. Shaman say gold hair woman with fair skin like a
summer morning and eyes like the sky would appear after many, many
moons. The gold object was to be given to golden one with hair like
sunshine. Red Wolf say you are
Golden
One
.”

As the translation
finished Olive Marie opened her hand and looked down at a finely
crafted, round golden disc divided into four sections: The first
section resembled a man’s head, the second a lion, the third a bull
and the fourth an eagle. “Grandpa, look... this is similar to the
by-pass module you just made!!” She said handing it to Captain
Scarburg.

“
By-ned...by-ned... not just similar, it is
exactly
what we need.”
Slipping the beautifully crafted amulet into the computer slot, the
lights began to flash, a distinct hum could be heard coming from
inside the console and the communication system began beeping.
Quickly changing the setting on the ‘
DEPARTURE
’ and ‘
ARRIVAL’
gauges he turned to the
assembled group and said, “Everything’s working... in five minutes
we are leaving. Get Red Wolf and Long Rabbit out the hatch and back
to the ground. I don’t believe Washington is ready for these
guys... well actually I don’t believe these guys are ready for
Washington. Anhur you... whoa!!” Looking around the inside
of
Pegasus
,
“Where is Anhur?”

Anhur was gone.

“
Grandpa,” said Olive Marie, “it appears the master computer
has been reset, try removing Red Wolf’s golden amulet from the
console and determine if
Pegasus
will still operate correctly. If so, please let’s
give the golden disk back to Red Wolf by rights it is his. It has
been passed down at least five or six generations within his
tribe.”

Handing the golden
object to Ekapitu Tseena, Olive Marie asked Long Rabbit to
translate, “This is a token of friendship between you and I. Give
it to your son and he to his son and he to his son and let them
wear it for as long as the grass shall grow and the rivers flow.
Every time you touch it remember me – I am from the future, but we
will be friends always.”

Descending the
ladder to the ground Red Wolf and Long Rabbit quickly walked away
from
Pegasus
.
They stopped and watched in amazement as the winds began to swirl
and the static electricity began to crackle. The melodious notes
from the bagpipe’s rendition of
Amazing
Grace
filled the surrounding air of the
ancient cow pasture, which utterly astounded the two Indians. Even
the Indians in the encampment stopped and were amazed at the
beautiful sound as the pipes resonated through the trees and across
the water of the pond.

In a few
seconds,
Pegasus
disappeared into nothingness. Suddenly there was a brilliant
flash of blue light that temporarily blinded the two Indians. The
two Comanches stood silent and gazed at each other trying somehow
to understand what they had just witnessed. Long Rabbit rubbed his
eyes, but Red Wolf gently rubbed the round golden object hanging on
his neck suspended by the rawhide cord. Looking at the object in
his hand, he recognized the man’s head, the lion, the bull and the
eagle. It was his beautiful golden disc.

If Red Wolf had not been
admiring his neck ornament as he walked back to his encampment, he
could have looked into the nearby bushes and saw partially hidden
behind the branches two large, black, almond shaped eyes.
Underneath the eyes were the edges of a slight smile on the
upturned corners of his mouth.

The time was 7:30 p.m.,
Wednesday December 7, 1812.

Chapter
Fifty-Five

HOMECOMING

The haze and smoke
slowly dissipated in the basement laboratory of SCAR
headquarters.
Pegasus
sat in the middle of the launch facility.

“
Push
the service platform up next to the hatch - I believe our time
travelers have returned,” instructed Mike Watkins,
Pegasus
’s Flight
Director.

Wiping a tear from her
eye, Baba rushed up to Mike and asked excitedly, “What’s happening
Mike, why didn’t the time-machine leave? And listen, there’s that
sweet hymnal music again. Tell me what’s happening
Mike?”

“
Oh,
Pegasus
did leave Baba. What we are witnessing and hearing is its
return from the Dallas mission plus a minor detour it had
taken.”

“
But it’s only been a few
seconds since Bob kissed me goodbye. I know I’m not dreaming, my
handkerchief is still wet from my tears.”

“
Baba, without getting
into a lot of Astro, Quantum or Theoretical physics just let me say
time as we know it, is not a straight line. Moving from one
Parallel Universe to another is similar to opening a door and going
into another room. Yes, to you and me, Captain Scarburg has only
been gone a few seconds, but he has physically spent the last three
days in or around Dallas, Texas; however, he spent this time in
another universe. In fact, he actually spent time in two different
universes.”

The sound of the bagpipes
was beginning to fade, and the hissing sound of escaping air had
diminished signaling the hatch was about to open. “Hurry up
fellows, get that platform up to the hatch so we can get our
voyagers back on this good old terra firma.”

One by one the
time-travelers exited
Pegasus
onto the service platform. Each, in turn, stepped
outside and as if in a dream looked around the room. The first ones
to come out were Bud and Lou supporting the wounded Rocky whose
shoulder had been dressed and bound by the Comanche medicine man.
Rocky had his arm in a makeshift buckskin sling.

Baba looking at Rocky
slowly being helped down the service platform, “Bud, what’s wrong
with Rocky?” Baba asked. “He is hurt!”

“
Hey, Baba...” answered
Bud, “Yes, Rocky needs a doctor, but we believe he is going to be
okay. I’ll explain later.”

Olive Marie was next
to come down the steps… Baba was beside herself as she ran to the
bottom of the metal platform and embraced her granddaughter.
Forrest was next to last to exit. Finally, all were outside
standing at the foot of the service platform, looking back
toward
Pegasus
’s
hatch. Waiting... waiting for... suddenly all Baba could see was
the brim of an old, brown, sweat stained, tattered cowboy hat
poking out from the open hatch. It was the Captain. The Captain was
home, but wait, what was he carrying? A dog? Yes, a beautiful,
miniature sheepdog.