RESTORATION (a science fiction novel) (RESTORATION (the science fiction trilogy)) (48 page)

“Well, I was down stairs on the main floor and there was a medium build guy, about like me, he said you guys needed this stuff and he asked me if I could bring it up since I was headed this way.”
         “Oh, must have been the morning shift, just set it down there, thanks.”  As Toby walked away, he felt proud of what he had accomplished that morning, the oven plan was shaping up nicely.

Chapter 22
   
 
At the Kerrington house everyone was acting as normal as they possibly could.  Dodge had been going to work for the past several days at regular time and returning home on schedule as well.  He had taken a lot of time off and it had caught up with him at work.  He was struggling a bit to get caught up, but was making progress.  He tried to focus this morning but he knew that John had been loaded up at the farm last night and he was anxiously waiting on the call that everything was okay.  John had just ended his call with Jason, Caitlin, and JC, and was now calling Dodge.  When Dodge saw the caller id, he was instantly relieved.  He answered.    

“Hey buddy, how are you this morning?” 

“Well my friend I am completely weirded out right now because I just spoke to myself!”
         “Wow, weird huh?”
         “Yes, I had not even thought of that until it happened.”          “Do you remember anything yet? I mean, from the farm?”
         “No, not really I was only awake for a few seconds for that test they always perform when they load someone up, you know the one where they ask you a few questions to make sure you’re in there.”
         “Oh, yeah, I know what you mean,” said Dodge.
         “So did you? I mean the other . . .”  John interrupted, “confusing isn’t it?”
         “We took a vote and we decided that I’m going to go by John and my clone is going by JC.”
         “Ah, okay, that does help,” agreed Dodge, “It was getting a little tricky there.  So does JC seem like he’s all there and healthy, no issues?”
         “Yeah we had a nice conversation, I was all there for sure.” 

Dodge was trying to get his head around this, he thought that it would work but now that it had happened it was really making him stop in his tracks for a minute.
         “Hey ya know Dodge old buddy, in just two days you’re going to be in the same boat.”
         “Yeah, you’re right, it’s that time, isn’t it?” 

“Hey Buddy, what should we call your clone, DK?”  They both laughed.     

“Nah, it doesn’t sound good like your initials, we’ll have to come up with something else.”
         “All right Buddy, we’ll figure something out.  You have a good day at work and we’ll talk later.  I’ve got to get back to work on mapping out the compound in more detail so we can finish this with Cyrus.”
         “Okay my friend, I’ll talk at ya later.” 

As Dodge ended the call he realized that his regular job was beginning to stand in the way now of his safety and the safety of his family and even the futures of about 80 people that were working for Slade, or rather slaving for Slade.  Neither he nor John really knew how extensive Cyrus’s network had become but it was already too big. 

They knew that there were about 70 people at the compound all the time.  They were basically prisoners there and they were never allowed outside the walls.  There were also roughly 20 or so mules, tails, watchers, and the like, that Slade did let out but only for a few days at a time to carry out specific task, like Todd, Cheyenne, and blue car man.

The Black Ops team succeeded in tracking some messages in and out of the compound that were secret in nature and very well encrypted, none of which stopped in local servers. 
This certainly raised concerns that Cyrus might have remote operations scattered all over the place and even when they did take down the compound other activities might continue. 

This was something that would have to be addressed after the take down when John could get his hands on Cyrus’s systems.  That depended on taking Cyrus down with precision in one fell swoop.   Not leaving him any time to
fragg his drives or launch some sort of data wipe virus to cover his tracks would be wise. 

Dodge went back to work, he had a lot to do and he still needed to visit with Tim before the end of the day.  When he finally made it to see his boss he found Tim standing in the middle of his large office with a putter, concentrating intently over a ball that he was about to strike.  About two years earlier Tim had requested the carpet replaced in his office with a very specific color and texture of green.  Of course it was very similar to the grass of
a golf green.  He had the maintenance crew remove the old carpet and cut three holes in the floor for plastic cups, the exact same kind as those used on golf courses.  He hired a contractor to come in and create several subtle humps in the floor.  When the carpet crew arrived a few days later the foreman insisted that his men should level the badly warped floor before they installed the new carpet.  John laughed.     

“No I’m a golfer, you see this is my green, I just paid $3200 to have those humps installed.”  Dodge waited as Tim sank his putt and then rapped his knuckles on the door frame.
         “Nice putt my friend!  This is why you always beat me.” 

Tim looked up.     

“Ah my good man Dodge, how are you? I haven’t been seeing much of you since your big windfall.”
         “Yeah I know,” said Dodge, “It’s been crazy but a good kind of crazy.  Linsey is having a great time shopping for cars and planning great things for Bobby and Sarah.  Now that cost is not an issue they’re  looking at more choices for college.  You know Tim there is something that I would like to talk with you about, how about we go hit nine holes?”  Tim’s face lit up.    

“Hell yeah!
Let’s go.”
         “All right, I’ll meet you at the club in about a half hour or so.” 

Dodge went back down to his office, shut everything off and locked the door as he went out.   He liked his job but he needed more time now to dedicate to protecting his family and getting this Cyrus character put away.  It had to be finished and they had to be the ones to strike.  He had this gut feeling if they didn’t act soon Cyrus would act first and they couldn’t afford for that to happen. 

He jumped in the GTO, fired it up and headed for the club.  He liked driving the car and he liked driving it fast.  What’s the point in having a hot rod if you can’t get out and run it once in a while.   He used to get it out for a drive but he would just putter around in it.  Not now, life was too short, he felt like he wanted to go fast again, like he did when he was younger.  He didn’t know why, it didn’t make any sense because with Restoration as a means of immortality he didn’t need to feel like you only live once or that fun had to be indulged in at all cost while you still can.  He knew that he would probably live forever, but still he had this urge like a wild horse that had been pent up for too long in the stable.  He needed to run just as fast as he could, and he did.

He arrived at the club a few minutes before Tim so he decided to hit a bucket of balls to warm up.  It had been a while since he played and he thought that it might do him some good.  He started teeing them up and hitting them hard.  For some reason he felt stronger than usual or his swing was more fluid.  He couldn’t put his finger on it but tonight was special for some reason, everything felt right and aligned.  Tim arrived at the driving range with a cart and watched Dodge hitting a few balls. 

“Hey Buddy,” he hollered, “Nice ball!”  Dodge had just hit a really long one and Tim was impressed.
         “You been practicing in secret on me?”  Tim said as Dodge loaded his clubs onto the cart.
         “No, of course not, I just feel good today, you know, loose or something.” 

They went and hit the first tee.  Dodge smoked one right down the middle of the fairway about 295. 

“Whoa, what’s gotten into you?  I haven’t seen you hit one that far in a while.”
         “Yeah, I know, I guess I just feel confident today.”  On the way to the second tee, Dodge decided it was time to tell Tim what was on his mind. 

“Hey Tim, I really need to talk to you about something.”
         “Sure,” Tim said, “Anything, what is it my friend?”
         “Well as you know I’m pretty well set financially now and in just about four more years I should qualify for my bonus if I choose to retire.”
         “Yeah, that’s right.”
         “Well I was wondering if it would jeopardize my job in any way if I were to take an extended leave of absence.”  Tim looked at him for a minute.     

“Everything okay pal?
I mean with you and Linsey?”
         “Oh, yeah, absolutely man, better than ever, it’s just we’ve both been working so hard at being everything to everyone.  You know how hard I worked on this LifeTech project for so long.  I think it just sort of burned us out mentally and physically.” 

“Well sure Dodge, if you need to take some time I don’t think that will be an issue.  You’ve worked hard for many years and you deserve a break.  I’ve noticed how much you’ve taken Ross Middleton under your wing in these last couple of years are you grooming him to run things in your absence?” 

“Yes that is exactly what I’ve been doing but this was a lot sooner than I planned, do you think he’s ready to handle things?”
         “Don’t worry about that I think he’s ready and I’ll take extra interest in what is going on in your department to make sure he doesn’t make any major blunders, okay.  Now look, I can get this approved but you will have to go see our company physician.  I would suggest that you tell him you’re mentally stressed, that is the best way to get it approved. 

He will send you to one of two psychologists, but no worries because I know them both.  Once you know which one he’s sending you to, give me a call and I’ll take care of everything.  You
will have a thirty minute appointment, in and out, and you’ll get your leave approved, I promise.  You should easily get 90 days, no problem.”
         “Wow Tim, thanks man, I feel so much better.”
         “All right Buddy let’s play some more golf, okay?”  He slapped Dodge on the back and by the time they had arrived at the next tee Dodge felt even better than he did on the first tee.  He split the fairway with another long one. 

The rest of the front nine went great, in fact it was so good that they decided to play all eighteen.  They were both on fire but Dodge was finally giving Tim a run for his money.  He even got a couple of strokes on him through the back nine but in the end Tim still beat him.  It was his putting, that man had practiced so much in his office and had such a great touch with his short game that Dodge just couldn’t quite get him.

Dodge messaged Linsey after the ninth hole to let her know they were going to play the back nine.  She messaged back, “Have fun, see you tonight.”

After the round they went to the 19
th
hole and had a beer.  It tasted better today for some reason.  On the drive home, the GTO was running great.  It was a mild evening so he put the windows down to enjoy the cool night air.  The car felt so powerful and smooth.  He opened it up down the freeway for about ten miles with his favorite oldies playing, a mix of Maroon Five, Green Day, Creed, and some really old Pink Floyd tracks that his dad had turned him on to. 

When he arrived at home, Linsey and the kids were sitting at the kitchen table playing a card game.  They had some snacks and drinks and they were having a great time.  They invited him to join
in, it had been so long since he had even seen anyone playing a card game.  Normally he would have declined but there was something about the idea of playing this old card game, something retro, the thought of something real that you could touch, something with texture instead of something digital on the game console.  It was a strange day, it was almost like he had gone back in time. 

That night, after they finished their game, he went down to the basement and called John.  He told him that he was taking a leave from work to concentrate on getting this whole mess behind them so they could all have their lives back.  John was thrilled because he needed the extra help.  He reminded Dodge
that tomorrow morning was going to be a special day for Dodge because when he awakened he would for the first time get a complete dose of his other self.

Everything that his clone had experienced so far would come rushing into his mind the moment he awoke.  In all the busyness of everything that day he had forgotten that tomorrow morning was going to be different, the big “ah hah” moment. 

When he got back upstairs to the kitchen, Linsey and the kids had already cleaned up and the kids were up to their rooms and would soon be getting ready for bed.  He sat down at the table and he almost started to tell Linsey what John had said when he remembered they were on live CCTV and with Audio too.  They were so accustomed to this situation that it seemed like part of their lives.  He longed for their privacy but it just wasn’t an option tonight. 

“Hey
babe,” he said, “Let’s go for a little walk.”  They went for a walk on the park path and they had a nice conversation.  They kept their voice’s low and they talked almost in a code now, they were getting very good at it.

He told her he was a little nervous about tonight, his clone had been loaded up earlier and had now experienced a half day at the farm, when he awoke in the morning he would be remembering and experiencing two days in his life in two different worlds, what a mind-blowing thing.