Musings From A Demented Mind Page 8

  “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.

  The Compound, 2684

  “They are breaking through are defenses!” Jepkins reported.

  “The tranzer’s ready,” Marty reported.

  “I’m ready,” Garth said as the tranzer spun faster producing a large gateway.

  The door to the compound burst open. Garth jumped through the gateway followed by Kendra and Jepkins.

  “Melinda, go now,” Marty yelled as he was shot in the chest by a laser blast.

  “Marty!”

  A tall muscular man in red metallic armor pointed his laser rifle at her. She jumped through the gateway before he could fire the blast.

  Before the man could jump through the gateway after her, he was shot in the chest. A group of soldiers led by Garth and Jepkins rushed into the compound and shot all of the invading soldiers. As the enemy was defeated, Melinda and Dave walked into the room behind them. Melinda ran over to Marty.

  “You made it back,” Marty said.

  “Don’t move” she said as their doctor tended to his wound.

  “Who is this?” Marty asked, looking at Dave.

  “This is Dave, my husband.”

  “Husband?” Marty asked.

  “It’s a long story,” Melinda said and told him the story about going back to 2015 and returning to 2068 months before the events that just transpired in the compound. “We didn’t know who the enemy was so we had to wait for them to attack the compound. During that time, Dave and I fell in love. Now we are back in time, meeting for the first time and falling in love all over again.”

  “Now that’s a time loop worth being stuck in,” Dave said and kissed Melinda.

  “Agreed,” Melinda said with a smile.

  Musings From Derek’s Mind

  BUZZ KILL

  “Julianne, I need you to take these garbage bags to the dumpster out back,” Antonia Martinez, the grocery manager of Super Savings grocery store, ordered.

  Julianne gave her a dirty look as she walked away from the sink in the backroom where she had just dumped a bucket of dirty mop water. She was very short with long blonde hair with orange highlights. With her tiny frame and
fair pale skin, she was constantly hit on by customers and her co-workers. She didn’t mind, because she loved all the attention. It helped with her low self-esteem. She walked over to Antonia and grabbed the two garbage bags. She walked out the receiving door without acknowledging her.

  She walked down the concrete ramp leading to the dumpster. A guy was standing in front of the dumpster digging through the garbage looking for food he could salvage.

  “Can I help you?” Julianne asked.

  “I think I found what I needed,” the man said, never looking at her. “I was just leaving.” He got in his truck and drove away.

  “Damn freegans,” she said as she threw one of the garbage bags into the dumpster. A bee flew out of the dumpster causing her to run backward in fear. It chased her for a second and then flew away in the opposite direction. Her heart beat fast with fear. She was allergic to bees and normally she would carefully throw the bags into the dumpster without incident. She cautiously walked back to the dumpster and threw the second bag in. When she was finished, she walked back through the receiving doors.

  “Are you ok?” Marlena, the receiving clerk, asked. “You are breathing heavily.”

  “Yes, I just had an encounter with an angry bee.”

  “If you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you.”

  “That is just a myth,” Julianne said angrily as she walked past her.

  Jason, the stocker working in the organic section, waived at her as she walked out onto the sales floor. She walked over to him. “Hey, slacker!”

  “Me? A slacker? I never see you stock anything.”

  “That’s because I’m a bagger.”

  “Definition of bagger: one who stands around and does nothing all day,” he joked.

  “And gets paid the same as you,” she said, laughing as she walked away.

  Jason watched her walk away. She was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen. He was obsessed with her. All the walls in his room were filled with posters he made of her from pictures he downloaded off of her Facebook page. He spent every night dreaming what his life would be like if she was his wife. He had a sinister smile on his face as he fantasized making love to her in the back of his red minivan. One way or the other, she would be his; willingly or unwillingly.

  Julianne walked over to the dairy department and faced all the product on the shelves making the department appear to be full. As she heard her name on the intercom, she walked to the front to bag some groceries.

  “Julianne, Jason’s staring at you again,” Roberta, the cashier for the register she was bagging at, warned.

  “Him, he’s harmless as a kitten.”

  “I think he’s creepy. With his hairstyle and the way he walks and talks, he reminds me of Norman Bates.”

  “More like Napoleon Dynamite,” Julianne laughed.

  “Girls, we’re here to work, not chit chat. We don’t have conversations like this in front of customers,” Deana, the front manager, warned.

  “Sorry,” Julianne said to the customer waiting in line.

  “It’s ok. I thought it was amusing,” the elderly lady, buying a lot of Fancy Feast, said.

  George Thomas watched as the dock loaders of Kellville Bees filled the back of his open semi-truck with boxes of over four hundred bee hives. He was going to transport millions of bees to Mason’s Blueberry Farm. It was taking them longer to carefully fill the truck with the hives. If he was going to get the delivery to its destination on time, he would have to drive a little faster than normal when he got on the interstate. He hoped the traffic wasn’t going to be backed up due to the construction they were doing on the left lanes on the interstate.

  “We’re almost done,” one of the loaders assured him.

  “It’s about time,” he said impatiently.

  “Be careful transporting them,” the loader warned.

  “I will.”

  After eight long hours of bagging groceries and facing up all the aisles, Julianne’s shift was over. She was exhausted. Except for the two fifteen minute breaks, she was on her feet the whole time. She wanted to get home and take a long soothing bath. As she was walking out the store, she spotted Jason standing nervously by her car. Was he going to ask her out? She went over all the reasons why she couldn’t go out with him and decided which reason she would kindly give him. She didn’t want to date him, but she also didn’t want to hurt his feelings. After a minute of thinking, she walked over to her car.

  “Julianne,” he stuttered.

  “What’s up, slacker?”

  “I was wondering if you would go out on a date with me.” He was staring at her feet, never making eye contact with her as he asked. She felt nervous as he asked her out because the way he did it reminded her of Norman Bates.

  “Jason, you’re a nice guy and I like you as a friend.”

  “A friend?” He seemed very agitated by the word friend.

  “Besides, I’m seeing this guy. He’s a freshman in college.” As she was speaking, she was fumbling for her keys in her purse.

  “I see,” he said sadly, still staring at her feet.

  “I’m sorry,” she said as she pressed the unlock button on her keypad. As she reached for the door, he grabbed the back of her head and slammed it into the driver’s side window of her car. She fell to the ground unconscious.

  “Get out of the fast lane, granny!” George yelled as he drove down the interstate. He could see the sign directing traffic to move to the right lane. The cars in front of him were slowly merging into the right lane almost causing a bottleneck ahead. The car in front of him stopped abruptly to avoid hitting the car ahead of it. He swerved to avoid a collision and forced the car to the right of him into the railing. He lost control and jackknifed his truck. As the cab of the truck hit the concrete barrier on the left, the trailer slammed into multiple cars spilling all the boxes containing the bee hives all over the interstate.

  Blood was trickling down the side of George’s face as he slowly climbed out of the cab. He was covered in bees and his skin was beginning to swell. He felt the bees stinging him. As he screamed, several bees instantly flew into his mouth stinging his tongue and the inside of his mouth.

  As all the cars stopped to avoid the massive pileup building up ahead, they were being covered with bees. Those who unfortunately had their windows down or vents open were being swarmed by bees.

  Julianne slowly opened her eyes. She had a massive headache and was having a hard time adjusting to the light. She tried to move her hands but she could barely move them. As her vision cleared, she could see her hands were handcuffed to an old wooden bedpost. To the right of her was a dirty window with a rotten frame. In front of her was a large metal door with a small wooden desk in front of it. The ground was concrete. She could barely lift her legs a few feet, because they were tied down with rope. To the right of the bed she could see light shining through a golf-ball sized hole in the middle of the wall which was rotted. She could smell motor oil. She was in someone’s garage.

  “Help!” she screamed.

  No response.

  After a few minutes of screaming, she gave up. The last thing she remembered was trying to get into her car after the awkward encounter with Jason. She looked around the room hoping to find something close she could free herself with. She was secured tightly. Even if there was something she could use, there was no way she could get to it. She tried listening, hoping to hear somebody outside the room, but the only thing she could hear was the humming from the fluorescent light above her.

  She thought about all the horror films she watched over the years. None of them ever had a happy ending. She pictured all the graphic scenes from the Saw movies and began to cry. She tried to regain her composure. She didn’t want to go into a panic attack while handcuffed to the bed. She looked down and realized she wasn’t wearing the uniform from work. She was wearing a fancy red dress. Jason had undressed her and put her in the dress while she was unconscious. She tried not to imagine what else he did to he
r, but she had a vivid imagination.

  “Stop it,” she said, trying to erase the images from her mind. “You have to be strong. You can get out of this.”

  “This is Randy Pacini reporting from I-80/94. As you can see from the wreckage behind me, a truck carrying millions of bees jackknifed sending swarms of bees in every direction. I’ve been stung once and my camera man has been stung twenty times. We are now reporting from a safe distance. As you can see, bee keepers are trying to salvage as many of the hives as they can. They are urging people to stay away from I-80/94 and to those stuck in the traffic jam to keep their windows up and vents closed.”

  “Jason, that’s not too far from our house. You should stay inside where it’s safe.”

  “Mother, I have to go to work soon,” Jason said as he brought his mother a cup of herbal tea.

  “Did you put enough milk in here? I don’t like it when it’s bitter.”

  “I made it exactly the way you like it. You should turn the news off. It will only give you nightmares,” Jason advised.

  “I will after the weather report. Now give your mother a kiss before you go to work.”

  He kissed the side of her right cheek.

  “You are such a good boy. You’ll make some lucky woman a great husband.”

  “Thanks, mom.”

  Julianne tried sliding her tiny right hand out of the handcuffs with little luck. She heard a car door slam. A few seconds later, the door ahead opened and Jason walked in carrying an old, red plastic lunchbox. He walked over to the side of the bed and sat down on the metal chair next to it.

  “I brought you some food. I know you’re probably hungry.”

  “Can you take off the handcuffs? I promise to be a nice girl.”

  She was staring at him seductively.

  “Nice try, Julianne. I’m not that gullible.” He opened up the lunchbox and pulled out a small juice box. He put the straw in it and put it in front of her mouth. “Drink. I don’t want you dying of thirst.” She willingly sucked the juice through the straw. “Now I want you to eat.”