Chapter 25 - Endings and Beginnings

   When they were on their little road trip from Space-town to Joe's big research university campus, they had time to decompress and talk. Both had left with one thinking it was suicide mission and the other thinking it wasn't suicide, but it would be a one way trip. After all, radio waves were passing from earth to alien planet. Radio waves weren't coming back out. Radio waves, were having a one way trip. Then the probes, were on one way trips through. Then themselves. It had been rational to assume it was a one way trip. Ben needed to die to provide for his family financially, and Joe? Had figured while it wasn't suicide, he wouldn't be coming back.

   Now? He was.

   They were separate in their reactions. Ben was ecstatic. He trusted and believed he was no longer terminally ill. He wanted to stop anywhere and everywhere. Take pictures of things, stop and smell the roses. Joe? Wanted to drive straight through, and get home. Joe could easily remember standing at the computer desk, seeing that back home it was thousands of years later, and Ada's bones were dust. He could imagine her state when she learned he had disappeared into the anomaly.

   "Joe? Question."

   "Just the one?"

   "Ha. I just thought about something."

   "What."

   "They sent us back, and we arrived back home, before we even left."

   Joe sighed.

   "T, is time. In the equations. When we plug in speed and distance and everything else, then solve for T... when you get a negative value for T, the time? Yeah. I guess I can accept it easier, because its just a value of a variable. Still having trouble with that, I guess."

   "Actually, no. I'm all practical about things. From the moment we popped back out, right near our own station? I realized it was just like you said. We came back, something like 25 minutes before we left. I could tell that, the way station one said they just talked to us, and we were on the other side of the grid of all the stations. Then boom, how did we get all the way over here so quick. No, I know it happened. Not what I'm getting at."

   "What, then."

   "We left close to 4 in the morning, by our ground time."

   "Yeah."

   "We got back? Somewhere in the neighborhood of... like, 3:30 in the morning."

   "So?"

   Ben sighed.

   "Originally? Everyone was going to think we took the bogie down. I mean, we were going to be... what. Heroes. I, uh, kinda thought? That was going to be fitting. For a carer military combat pilot? To go out like that. Let my... kid, my wife? They knew what I did. I liked that idea."

   Joe grinned.

   "Going to miss your ticker tape parade, huh."

   "Yeah. But I tell you. My wife, my kid... ticker tape parade? The hero parade would be nice, but..."

   Joe's grin went from a grin to a smile.

   "Its what's important. I got that. And that? Is why I can't wait to get home. To my little Ada."

   "Are you calming down some now, Carp? I mean, realizing you don't have to explain how you came back from the dead, disappearing into the bogie like that."

   "Hmm. Some, yeah. But remember. You came back 25 minutes before we left. Me? I was missing with no good reason, for two weeks. I have more explaining than you do."

   "Ah. We went over this. You, are friends with a shuttle and orbital pilot. You had a chance, to get a G ride. How could you say no, to a summer G ride. Its technically not legal, so your ride had to be a secret. Or you get your pilot friend into trouble. I mean, she'll buy it. Sure, she'll think you spent a two week fling with some girl, but... you have me. With you. She can go to the corporation's website? See my picture, on the pilot's pages. Its... why you took the summer off, from teaching. No one, could pass up the chance for a G ride. The story? Seems perfect to me."

   Joe sighed.

   "The cover story? No, that works."

   "What is it, then."

   "I have to imagine, what it was like. For you. Finding out, you were no longer going to be terminal."

   "Christ. You saw me, buddy. I was dancing around, and didn't even know I was coming back home yet. You go from a walking dead man, who knows he has to kill himself? To knowing you're a whole man again... wow. Happy? Doesn't cover it."

   "Well. I was like that, Ben. I looked on that computer, and saw it was 4,000 years later. I just, all I could imagine? Ada had really loved me, and... her laying there crying. Day after day. Being alone, depressed, cranky her whole life. Dying alone. I mean, the hero stuff. Its fine and all, but. You think your wife wants to see two guys in uniform at her door, when you're flying into combat every day? Your husband? Big hero. By the way, here's your medal you can show people."

   Joe was quiet for a few seconds.

   "You snapped. I remember. They had to restrain you, give you a shot. I remember it."

   "It was horrible. But, when I figured out we were going back. And before we left? Wow. Just... I get my life back, and I get my life with Ada back, too."

   Ben waited, then put it into perspective for him. Ben was highly practical, it was his primary trait.

   "You know how I don't get my... ticker tape parade?"

   "Sorry. I know you wanted your... retro action movie, parade at the end of the movie moment."

   "You get your ticker tape parade, Joe."

   "How. We're not the heroes that gave our lives, and took the anomaly down, not anymore. We came back a half hour before it diappeared. Before you gave your cool little speech."

   Ben grinned.

   "My... ticker tape parade? Is just... the fantasy ending. To my, daydream. But, you have your own... version? Yeah. Version. You, have your own version. Of my ticker tape parade. And yours? Isn't a fantasy."

   "Huh?"

   "Joe? Earth to Joey, come in Joey. You have what you wanted. Your equations. You still get to be, the guy that... discovered it."

   "Oh."

   Ben chuckled.

   "Yeah. Oh. So? Are you still going to want to hang out once in a while, with your pilot buddy. When you're on the cover of science magazines, and all that."

   Joe smiled now.

   "I honestly wasn't thinking about, all of that. I was just... Ada was gone. Forever. Died alone... and now? Just... wow."

   "Hell. Just enjoy it. And you deserve it, you know."

   "How's that. Anyone could have figured out my equations and my idea, eventually. I just ran across it first, that's all. Could have ended up anybody."

   "Well? It didn't. It ended up, it was you. And you know what? I was just trying to protect my wife and kid, and their quality of life after I was gone anyways. But you? You gave that up. Not knowing you'd be coming back. To save your universe, and all the people in it? That you never met. I wanted to be gone. But you? You gave more than I did. And I'm being honest with you. If I wasn't terminal? I don't think I'd have given up my life, my wife and kids... to save people... what? Billions of years in the future? I'm too practical, for that."

   "Yeah. I guess I'm more of a dreamer."

   "I'm just saying. You earned it. Your... success, this brings you now."

   "I'll see how enjoyable it is, after I've been back a few weeks. I missed Ada. And, my career? Its not like I get handed a medal next week. Its a long, uphill battle. To convince everyone in my field? My numbers work, I'm right. But, eventually, I guess."

   "Yeah, but no matter how long it takes, how much work it is? You know you're right, from the get go. You already know, going into the super bowl? You're getting that ring at the end of the game."

   "I guess. That's something."

   There was a break in the conversation, before Ben burst out with it.

   "Oh, god. I just thought of something."

   "What, Ben."

   "My bogie. Your anomaly. It was there when we got back."

   "Well, we arrived back, almost a half hour before we left. It closed after we left, so... it makes sense."

   "You said, they were closing it at 4:00 am. After we went through."

   "Yeah."

   "Is it still closed, then. Or, is it up there."

   Joe mused.

   "According to my calculations. The anomaly? Should... still close just after 4:00 am. Listen to me. I mean, it closed, at 4:00."

   They looked at each other.

   Joe yelled at Ben to keep his hands on the wheel, and his eyes on the road. That he would handle the news feed, just drive and don't glide path us. But they soon heard that Joe had calculated correctly. The anomaly did indeed wink off just after 4:00 am. It actually happened. Ben tried to understand it, and Joe tried to explain as best he could.

   "Ben? Like I said. Its easier for me. I... just figure out the T, and I'm okay with that. For you? Hmm. Here and now, its the year 2048. When I say... there? You know where I mean. By our frame of reference, from here? They, are over 4,000 years in the future. That's... just how we see it, the way we keep track of time."

   "How do they see it. There."

   "Hmm. They see this? The here and now for us. As... over 4,000 years ago. Our years, not their years. That's... just their frame of reference, on this event."

   Ben wagged his head.

   "You make it sound like... we crossed time zones..."

   "Hey! Great way to phrase it, Ben. Yeah, think of it like a time zone. If you talk on the phone to your friend, in another time zone? Yeah. He thinks its an hour later, you think its an hour sooner. But... you both have the same phone call, at the same time. Same deal here."

   "Did I hear you and Brack right? You guys have a way to communicate now."

   "Well. I can leave him a message. He knows how to find me and my stuff on the internet. I have a random code to put on my internet message. Makes it easy for him to find it. They can monitor internet and TV easily. They open an anomaly? A tiny one. No one would notice it. They just open one up, right by a communications satellite. Why. You want to sign my Christmas card I send him on the internet, huh."

   Ben was quiet now.

   "No. I... just wanted to, ask them something."

   "What?"

   "Its about my son."

   "What about him. He's waiting for you. At home. Just like Ada's waiting on me. Its great."

   Ben sighed.

   "Its great right now, sure. But, I'm going to live to old age now. In, oh, about 25 years from now? My son. Is going to..."

   "Oh. He... what you..."

   "Yeah. If your space buddies are all happy with us, and all. You think you could put a good word in for me? For my kid."

   Joe nodded, and patted his friend's shoulder as gently and as with as much emotional warmth as he could muster. Ben, had been treated genetically. He no longer had his condition the men in his family were born with in his genealogical line. But his son? Did. If Ben lived to be old? Hell. Ben might now have to watch his own kid die from what he would have died from. Young. He wanted to see if he could get his kid treated.

   "Ben? I'll do everything I can, to try to make it happen. I swear it. None of this? Could have happened. Without you. I won't quit trying. But remember. We have time."

   Ben sighed, then grinned.

   "Thanks, Carp."

   Joe thought about it. We have time. What had his voice told him, early on when he started communicating with him.

   Time? Is the one thing, that we have plenty of.

   Joe got a kick out of driving the expensive sports car. Ben let him drive on the highway, in the middle of the night when traffic was lightest. It was a long drive, and Ben wanted to stop and get a motel room and a few hours sleep? But no. Joe just offered to start chugging large black coffees and drive through the night. Ben got what little naps he could in the passenger seat of his own sports car.

   Ben woke up with the car parked.

   "Hmm. Its light out."

   Joe was sitting quietly, hands on the steering wheel though fully parked.

   "We're here."

   Ben looked around. Joe pointed up the slight grade from the lot they were in.

   "That's me. My apartment's around the back side."

   Ben nodded.

   "Am I coming with?"

   Joe grinned.

   "I hope. I disappeared without an explanation, for two weeks. My girl? Has to choose between two explanations. One, that I went for a two week G ride. Two? I ran off and was banging some other girl somewhere. Without a pilot, and even then. Which story, is easier for her to believe."

   They got out, and stretched. It was just before first light. Joe punched the code to his locked door, then went in with Ben behind him.

   "Honey! I'm home! You here, Ada?"

   Adelaide came tearing around the corner, and about fell over. She sputtered and stammered. Starting and stopping whatever she was trying to get out. She looked as if the inner battle inside her, was whether to slap Joe silly or to hug him and be glad he was back. Hugging him won out, but it looked touch and go for second there. Joe buried his face in her neck, and inhaled with a hiss.

   "God, I missed you, honey. You have no idea."

   "Well? Where the hell have you been. I've been back and forth to the police station, I'm worried sick, I don't---"

   "I'm back. And, I'm not going anywhere, anymore. I'm here."

   "And, where were you?"

   Ben waved and smiled.

   "Guilty."

   Ada shook her head, and held her hand out.

   "I'm sorry. I'm so rude. I'm Adelaide. Ada. Nice to meet you."

   "Ben. And yeah, he was with me."

   "Okay. And, where was that."

   "Uh. Me and Joe? We, have a mutual friend of a friend, and... well. Joe got a, G ride."

   "What?"

   "I'm... a pilot. Shuttle pilot, and orbital pilot. I mean, everyone knows G rides happen, but... not like its strictly legal. So yeah, that's why it was a big secret. Till he got back."

   Ada just eyed him, a little suspiciously.

   "You're serious. You, got to take a G ride?"

   Joe nodded.

   "Holy shit. You got pictures? Show me!"

   Joe about shit himself right then and there. When he had taken the G ride and left? He hadn't planned on coming back. There was no point in making vacation photos and movies to share. Now? It seemed silly to claim he went on a G ride for a vacation, and didn't take videos and photos, galore. Ada had gone through metamorphoses. Angry he had left with no warning for weeks, but happy he was back home safe and sound. Excited he had such a great vacation? Now getting angry and suspicious again. This was sounding to her, like some elaborate con job now.

   Occam's razor, was about to cut Joe in half. Everything else being equal? The easiest explanation, will tend to be the correct one. Without G ride photos and videos, like absolutely anyone would have taken, him cheating somewhere for two weeks was looking like the much easier explanation to buy. Ben saved him.

   "Whoa! Joe? Forgot until now. I bought you a little something. Here..."

   "What is it?"

   "Open it. Souvenir."

   Ben had bought him one of the expensive replica flight suits, from the big gift shop where he worked. People paid good money just for tours of the space facility, and the gift shop did a brisk business. You could get replica flight suits, in different grades. From see through plastic that looked like a little kid's Halloween costume? All the way up to a real replica of the real ones. Like any gift shop collectible? It wasn't cheap.

   "The only thing you can't get, with the good flight suits? No patches. But, don't worry. I have a sneaking suspicion, you'll get a few patches. Real ones, in the mail. Soon."

   Ada calmed down quickly, at Ben producing the flight suit. He also showed her his ID's. To help convince her, that he really was a pilot. Joe popped his index finger in the air? And showed her on the internet. Ben in his flight suit, posing for his pilot's photo on the corporation's internet pages.

   She hugged him more.

   "I was, worried honey. You were acting strange, you told me you made your will out. Talking strange, how you loved me if you ever went away. I... thought maybe, you... you know. Went, somewhere else. You know what I mean."

   Joe sighed.

   "Ada? I did go on the G ride. I did get to ride shotgun on orbital shuttle deliveries. I got to see the big resort in the sky? From the delivery garage there, anyways. That much is true."

   She held him at arm's length, and eyed his face suspiciously.

   "And, what else is true. Hmm?"

   "Honey? You can say it. In front of Ben here. He knows."

   "About..."

   "My voice."

   "Oh. And, your pilot buddy, doesn't think you're a raving nut-ball? How nice of him."

   Ben grinned.

   "Ada, right?"

   "Yeah..."

   "Ma'am? Just wait until you see our vacation photos."

   "A G ride, and a vacation?"

   Ben chuckled.

   "Yeah. Our vacation? It... was honestly. Out of this world."