Black Parade (19 page)

Jack had already brought the seventy people there and clean up had commenced. They began pulling weeds from the sidewalks and clearing the streets.

I was as excited for him as he was.

I transferred the call to General Allen who in turn took the coordinates for Begtana and would fly us out. He estimated a four hour trip.

Four hours seemed like a lifetime.

My stomach churned with excitement. Billy wasn’t as optimistic. He foresaw it as some old Indian reservation, perhaps even a museum.

But Jack was insistent it would work.

Billy’s lackluster attitude lasted only until the twin engine plane neared Begtana.

“Danny,” he gasped out, hands smacking against the small window. He turned in his seat like a child.

“What?” I asked.

“Begtana.” Billy grinned. “Begtana with farmland and water. Begtana. Danny.” His voice crept up. “Secluded. It’s clean again. It’s livable again. It’s full circle.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Look.”

I peered out of his side of the plane and lost my breath. “The sign must have been damaged.”

“Begtana.” He smiled.

I grinned in return. “Beginnings, Montana.”

“Dan, we’re home.”

Beginnings, to Jack, was a mythical place. It wasn’t talked about much at all. We mourned it. After all, it was poisoned and left to die.

I don’t know who was more thrilled, myself or Billy over the prospect.

See, when we left Beginnings, we left pretty much everything. And everything was tucked away, locked securely in the cryo tunnels of Beginnings.

Jason’s research, all the pictures. It was a time capsule of sorts.

No one really could appreciate it like Billy and I. Immediately we called Joey and anyone else who remembered Beginnings. Unfortunately, there weren’t that many of us left.

Perhaps it was selfish, I don’t know. But I wanted to go through everything in those tunnels with Billy. I wanted us to see it first.

Billy especially deserved to go into the cryo lab. A place where his father’s research was stored.

He was in awe. So was I.

I left him alone for six hours in that lab. When I returned he was in the back portion.

“God, this brings back memories,” I said upon walking in.

“I know. Ready to get it all back up and running?”

“Yes, I am. Old as these bones are, Bill, I feel thirty again.” I grinned

Billy was digging through an old freezer chest as he spoke. “Did .. Did you know the solar generators are still putting out power?”

“Yeah, for Dean’s cases.”

"They never turned off, Dan. In thirty years.”

“That’s good.”

“There’s research in here we can use. Stuff we need.”

I sighed in relief. “See, even from beyond the grave, your father still manages to help us,” I said.

“He does.”

“You know what’s a shame. It’s a shame he isn’t in this world. His mind was brilliant. His mind was one of a kind,” I said. “He could have solved a lot of the problems we have.”

“And those in the future.” Billy spoke in awe. “My father had potential that was only limited by life.”

I tilted my head curiously. “What do you mean?”

“Imagine if he were born today. If his mind was fed everything. Imagine the possibilities.”

I nodded. “Sounds like a savior.”

I paused when Billy lifted a small case. “What is that, Bill?”

“Disks. His research on cloning.”

My eyes widened. “But even Dean had a tough time with cloning.”

“Yeah, but he had some success,” Billy said. “He also designed the artificial womb that could work.”

“What are you …”

“Let’s resurrect him.” Billy spun around.

“What?” I laughed. “The time machine …”

“No, Danny, not bring him back. Not the time machine. Let’s have the second coming of my father.”

“Second coming?”

“Rebirth.”

“How? Cloning? Dean said …”

“Birthing.” Billy grinned widely and lifted another case. This one small. “The freezer never died.”

“What is that?” I asked.

“My father. His clone.”

It made me stumble backward. We found Dean? Maybe not the Dean we all knew, but the Dean who had the mind potential to unlock and solve the problems of the world.

We were back in Beginnings, and the possibilities that Billy held in his hand were limitless.

If we could do it.

If we could succeed in birthing that clone. My God ….

Jack was insuring the future of mankind by securing it away in Beginnings Montana. That was his solution to man’s future.

And I believed, in Billy’s hands was my solution.

There was no better way to come full circle.