NIGHT SKY WHAT IF?

 

NIGHT SKY: WHAT IF?

What if Frank, and his wife, had been wrong about the portal leading to other planets?

What if Jude had not told the COMPLETE truth about WHERE the portals lead?

What if the following were true:

When Franklin, and his wife, approached what looked like the ruins of an ancient city, they would be stopped, and challenged, by what appeared to be some kind of security guards.

The couple knew that they must be “out of time” when they saw the device, which the guards used to scan them, then saying “This must be wrong, sir. I find NO chip reading.”

When another guard said “Search them”, the couple found their legs being searched, only to have the guard report “NO sign of insertion. They can NOT be…” To which the lead guard would shout “SILENCE!”

What if, when one guard ordered “bag them”, another asked “Why, they are so old. Who would believe them?”

The lead guard would say “Very well.” Then look at the couple, saying “Any resistence will be met with force, understand?”

When Frank would say “Lead the way”, the couple would be lead towards the “city”, by guards carrying some, unknown, type of weapon.

It would be only upon approach, to the city walls, that the couple would watch as a guard removed what looked like a version of Judes remote control, pressed some keys, then the couple would see a dazzling display of light, which would receed into the “walls”.

Once the group was through, the wife would look back to see the lights cover the opening, again.

When she asked her husband “WHERE are we?” Frank would say “I think the correct question would be “WHEN are we.””

When some more guards came forward, the outer guards would say “These two, to the Apostates Chamber.” When the new guards asked “Dangerous?” The outer guards would say “More like mistake”.

While, from the outside, the place looked more like an old west “ghost town”, it would be inside where it would look like nothing the couple had ever seen, before.

It would be in this chamber that the couple would see a man, who looked somewhat similar to Jude. The man would be wearing some kind of dark color uniform. There did not seem to be any rank visible.

When Frank would ask “Would you mind not only telling what we are doing here, but, also WHERE here is?”

The man would say “First things first. I am what you would call a Guardian. MY job is to prevent things, like your crossing, from occuring. I KNOW that you have used the portal, many times, however, until now, this has not been a concern, since you never ventured outside the portal. Result, both you, and this place, were safe.”

When Frank would say “Cut to the chase, mister. I want to know WHERE we are, and what happened to the man who came before us.”

The Guardian would say “First of all, you are wrong to ask WHERE you are. Your question, on the trail, about WHEN you are, is most correct.”

When Franks wife would ask “Next question. What have you done with our neighbor?” The Guardian would say “If you mean “Have we harmed him?” The answer is “NO”. In fact, once he found us, he seemed quite content to stay.”

Frank would say “Mister, I am not young enough to play games anymore. Tell us WHEN we are, or we are leaving.” The Guardian would say “You are free to leave, anytime you want. You are right, at your age, the memory starts to go, and no one, in your time, will believe you, anyway.”

When Frank would ask “What are you, NOT, telling us?” The Guardian would say “Mistakes have been made, and mankind is paying the price.”

When Frank would ask “Can you be any more vague?” The Guardian would say “Remember the days when nuclear war was the biggest threat, that mankind knew of?”

Frank would ask “What about it? It never happened. Called off, by Gorbachev, in the 1980’s.”

The Guardian would say “Yes, NUCLEAR war was called off, and the Cold War ended, but this did not stop weapons development.”

When Franks wife would ask “What happened?” The Guardian would say “Governments came up with an even deadlier weapon. No one knew how powerful it would be, until it was used. What you saw, beyond the portal, and outside this complex, is all that is left, after the detonation.”

When Frank would ask “Why build those things if you dont expect people to use them?” The Guardian would say “They are designed to be used, but not in the way they are used. The Apostate were working on making the portals work, towards other planets. Our hope was to evacuate to other planets.”

When Franks wife would ask “What do you mean WAS?” The Guardian would sigh, and rub his head, before saying “We have just learned that a Guardian did, with-OUT checking with us, kill off a person, from the time-line. A critical person.”

When Franks wife would ask “How critical?” The Guardian would say “She was the several times great-grand-mother of the lead researcher. A worker who was just on the verge of solving the problem when they dissolved from existance.”

When Frank would ask “What of the murderer?” The Guardian would say “He has been taken care of. No more mistakes, there.”

When Frank asked “What will you do, without your top researcher?” The Guardian would say “Either find another Apostate, or try to lure Jude back. We NEED that tech, in order to save what is left of Earth.”

When Frank would suggest “Maybe I can lend a hand.” The Guardian would say “That is very kind but, compared to us, you are a pre-schooler.”

This is when the Guardian would reach beneath his desk, then another guard would enter the room, to which the Guardian would say “Escort our visitors back to the portal. I will be monitoring.”

On the way back to the portal, Franks wife would ask “Did you notice how he would not tell us WHEN we are?” The guard would say “Ma’am, it is best you NOT know.” When the women would ask “Why?” The guard would say “To prevent nightmares.”

It would be grand-daughter, Denise, who would have the most amazing awakening of all.

This as she, and Jude, would roam what would turn out to be a Bangkok, of 300 years into the future.

Judes search, for his father, would come to an end, when Jude and Denise found a marker, which Jude recognized as being Guardian in nature.

When Jude ran his hand along the surface, a “menu”, of languages, appeared, to which Jude selected “English”

This is when a female figure, wearing the same, dark, uniform, would appear, and say “For anyone who finds this marker, know that the rebel Apostate has been found, via D.N.A, and dealt with. There is no need for further search.”

When Denise looked at a disheartened Jude, asking “What will you do, now?” Jude would say “I do NOT know. We are taught that the Guardians never lie. We are told that, to lie, means a death sentence, to them.”

When Denise would ask “Okay, we left that gadget, of yours, back in Fairfield. HOW do we get back?”

Jude would say “Unless we find another, this is home.”

Back in the present, the Guardians would take as many coins as they could locate, and return them to the female Guardians Bed and Breakfast.

Here, the coins would be placed on something, which even her resident tech-whiz knew nothing about. When he asked, she said “Trust me. You do NOT want to know.”

With that, she touched part of the device and, similar to an episode of Star Trek, the coins would dissolve.

The tech-whiz would say “Neat” then “Would you teach me?” The female would say “The less you know, the better.”

Still, the woman knew that she would have to attend a “special council”, regarding the un-authorized killing of a historical subject. The last thing she wanted was more of the same old banter about the time-line. After all, it was NOT she who had killed, without permission.

Now, the council would have to vote on changing the time line, to make it seem like the woman had come into enough money so that she would not have to SELL the information.

Of the few times when the female had asked the council “Instead of paying, why dont we just change the past, so that the person does not commit any crimes?”

When shown alternate time-lines, none of these had turned out well. No, the council would decide to make a “mysterious” sum appear, in the womans bank account, and she would live on.

While she was paid off, it would be “arranged” for the Guardians to find the information that they needed, in another way. Possibly, a flash-drive, in an envelope.

The time-line would be reset, and the researcher would continue their work, towards moving mankind OFF of this dead world.

When the Guardian put on her uniform, and the tech-whiz said “Awesome”, she would say “Dont ask me what duties come with the uniform. You dont want to know, and I dont want to have to kill you.” The tech-whiz would say “Its all cool. Just admiring the duds.”

In a moment, she would vanish, just as the tech-whiz had seen, so many times, on Star Trek.

Having shown her identification, the Guardian would enter the city, and, without any pleasure, would enter the council hall.

Just as predicted, the hall was full of talk about the time-line. How could it be repaired with the least interraction.

This was mixed with talk about the ancestor being a common thief. How could the future be protected from such a person.

About the only plan, which seemed feasible, was the one about taking the thief out of the time-line before she became a thief, then “deposit” her at the location, where she would meet her childrens father.

Problem was, this would leave a five year gap, in the womans life. A gap with nothing to fill.

This is why this would become one of the rare times when the council would agree to alter records, of the past.

The records would be falsified to show that she had been a nature hiker. Her brain would be re-wired, to implant the memories.

This is how the past would be “fixed”.

To the female Guardian, it seemed like only seconds had passed, before the “repair man” had been sent to the past, when he returned, saying “Task completed”.

Sure enough, on the monitors, the scientist was back at work, designing the way for evacuating the dying planet.

A terrible mistake had been corrected. The man, who made the mistake, would face years of punishment which no one dared speak of.

While the mother had warned her daughter that the girls father was “no angel”, still the girl wanted to know the man who left her mother, many years before. She wanted to ask him “Why?”

The Guardians had agreed to release the two when the council learned of the “supervisor” overstepping his authority, by killing the woman.

The agreement was that, once the man was found, and the girl had her information, the two would return to their own post.

They found him, living in a filthy trailer, with a bunch of other drunks. The mother almost did not recognize the man, until he did something which she had asked, so many times, NOT to be done, in public.

When he did this, she told her daughter who her father was.

The girl approached, carefully, as the man looked like he had not washed, in days. That and his belly was big enough to be a bath tub.

When she called his name, and he opened his eyes, the last thing she expected him to say was “Glad you could make it. I have been waiting for this, for hours.”

Ass he un-zipped his pants, she asked “Father?” When he asked “Who are you?” She said “I am your daughter.”

This is when he sat down, grabbed another beer, and said “Big deal”.

When his daughter asked “Dont you even want to know about me?” He suggested “Whats to ask. You a fine looking piece…” to which her mother said “Thats enough. I knew this was a mistake.” To this the man asked “Who are you?” She told him “I am the girl you promised to bring to America, 17 years ago. Right after I told you I was pregnant.”

When the man said “You sure look old enough. How about some…” and the mother would say “You pig.” With this, she rushed her daughter away.

Later, during a meal, at a restaurant, the mother would excuse herself, leave the restaurant, and meet with a man she knew from the past.

When the man asked “Was I vulgar enough. Did I make her question her desire to meet him?” Her mother would say “A bit “over the top”, but Gracias, anyway. Your acting convinced her.”

When the man asked “Anything else I can do?” The mother would say “For now, get rid of that drunk suit. And the make-up kit. We dont want anyone else finding out.”

When the man asked “Why dont you want her to know her father?” The mother would say “Thats MY business. Get rid of the stuff, and I will contact you, later.”

Back in Fairfield, Jude would agree to remain as caretaker, even as Denise would agree to inherit the land. As her grand-parents would remind her the “secret” was, now, hers to keep safe.

Both Jude and Denise, would have to come up with a story, for finding the time device, in a pawn shop. Thankfully, the owner spoke English.

While Denise and Jude had agreed with the lie, that the device was a television remote control, they did all they could to supress all interest, and just ask how much the dealer wanted.

When the dealer quoted $15.00, Denise had paid.

This is when Jude and Denise, had returned to the portal, where they found a note. One which said “Do NOT leave the “key” lying around. Make sure that, after you set coordinates, that you take “key” with you.”

When Denise asked “Will it work without the key inserted?” Jude would say “I have no idea.”

They found out when, after Jude put in the coordinates, the chamber activated, and he withdrew the “key”.

This is how they had returned to Fairfield Illinois, with a key.

With the savings Frank had created, over his years as a woodworker, Denise would have time to find a career which was correct for her. Jude agreed to help her.

As for what the future would hold, for any of them, who can say?