Dulce Truths

Mark had nodded. “That’s how we’ll go after their soul catcher. Stu will lead that team, and Donlon will be on it… once Stu informs him of that fact.”

Mark had looked up and Stu had nodded his understanding so Mark continued.

“The second team — with Bobbie in the lead — will go back to Blue Lake in the here and now, picking up those men that know of our plans and are eager to help.”

“And they are?” Turn had asked.

“Well, so far we know that we’ve still got Chargin’ Charlie, Emil, John, Fred, David and Moses at the base and on our side… though not all of them know it.”

“Many are just like you, Turn — from another time and not in on all the details of what’s going on, what the true story is.”

“But we’ll tell ‘em,” Bennewitz had said, a crazy smile coming across his face. “And when we do, we’ll be ready for the second prong of our plan… Russia.”

“Russia?” Turn had said. “What the hell’s in Russia?”

“An old, crashed UFO that came down in ’91,” Mark had said before scoffing, “1991, that is.”

“So it hasn’t even happened yet,” Turn had said.

“Well, not in this time,” Mark had answered, “though from your own time period, it’s been there for 12 years.”

“And inside her we’ll gain the answer to an important secret,” Bennewitz had said.

The third and final team would also be heading back to Blue Lake, getting there just as the Dutchman was about to be killed. The hope was to figure out who the traitors in their midst were.

“I’d like to be leading that team,” Mark had said, then sighed, “but I’m the most trained for the moon so that’s what it’ll be.”

“We’ll find the bastards that are responsible for your father, don’t worry,” Walter had said, and no one had argued with that. Still, if anyone was going to find out who had killed the Dutchman, it’d most likely be his son. That’d be awfully hard to do when he was 239,000 miles away, though.

The six men continued down those smooth tunnels and finally came to the place they’d been seeking — the base’s time shed.

“There it is,” Mark says, pointing at the nondescript door on the otherwise nondescript tunnel wall. It said “storage room” and that was it.

“It’ll go faster if we’re not all inside, blocking the magnetic resonances,” Stu says as they stop in front of it.

“You’re up first,” Bennewitz says, a bit of impatience in his voice. “Then it’s you, Bobbie.”

“You ready?” Walter asks, looking to Stu.

Stu lets out a whistle. “Hope so, but I gotta say… it’ll sure be weird heading back to Blue Lake just shortly after the mission debriefing.” He chuckles. “I hope my better half is up to it.”

“He better be,” Mark says. “You know the Soul Catcher is the first stage of the plan, and which everything else depends on.”

“I’m up to it,” Stu says as he looks down at the floor. He takes in a deep breath before letting it out slowly, then looks back at Mark. “I just hope Tommy is.”

“He was trained for it,” Walter says, “and he knew what he signed-up for.”

“Yeah, but in the training he was never…”

“Dead?” Bobbie says, then looks to the others. “Because Tommy is dead, ya’ll know that, right?”

“Hell, Bobbie,” Turn says with a laugh, “if time isn’t a boundary for these guys then I don’t think death will be either.”

Mark chuckles at that and claps Turn on the shoulder. “If you only knew the half of it.”

“What, is there another one of those flash sticks I missed out on?”

Everyone has a good laugh to that, and then when things quiet down the attention goes back to Stu.

“Well, this is it,” he says. “We’ve trained for this for some time.”

“And we’re ready,” Mark says, then, “And one more thing, Stu… remember to tell someone what time Aaron gets back from that Gray mothership he fled to.”

Stu nods. “Will do. Now… good luck, everyone.”

“Good luck, Stu,” they all say, and with that the astronaut opens the door and heads inside.

Part VI

32 — Past and Future

Blue Lake

Friday, May 25, 1979

4:32 AM

Colonel Stu Roosevelt, the commander of the Material Acquisitions Team that’d destroyed Dulce Base with his CED device — or at least everything living inside of the base — walks down one of the Blue Lake hallways. The post-mission debriefing that Ellis just gave is on his mind, though not as much as getting some sleep is. He rounds another corner and there’s his room’s hallway. He moves past a few doors until he gets to one marked “107,” takes out his keys, unlocks it, and steps inside. He swipes his hand against the wall where the light switch is, illuminating the small quarters. He’s so caught-up in his thoughts that he doesn’t notice that the rocking chair next to the bed is occupied. As he moves to the desk on the other side of the room, however, he’s made aware of it.

“Ahem,” comes a clearing of the throat.

Stu stops dead in his tracks and for the first time looks up and over. There, sitting in the old wooden rocking chair, is… himself.

“Stu, I’ve got to tell you something and I’ve got to tell it to you fast,” the man that looks just like him says to Stu.