Wasteland…
Chapter 4
Explanations
Alex stepped back after making sure that the man was unconscious. Whoever he was, he was very good at sneaking around a plane, especially one with a highly sensitive security system. Just how in the world did these two people get in here? Something kept tugging at Alex, a caviling thought that kept coming back, saying that these two people were, in some way, familiar… But the prominent Alex Mann couldn't place where'd he'd seen them… He thought hard but couldn't establish the memory…
"So where do you think they're from," a tired Fidget asked. Alex shrugged. "Their clothes look and feel kinda strange, something out of a movie or something. I mean—here, you feel that guys shirt." Fidget bent down and brushed against the mystery man's shirt; a suspicious look ran over her face, her eyes squeezing almost shut, one eyebrow raised and her lips tight. "Feels like leather," she concluded.
Alex nodded, assenting her observation. "I'm mainly wondering where they're from; I feel like I've seen them somewhere but I can't seem to place it."
Ricky and Grinder, both sipping cups of coffee, were inclined against a counter. "Ya' know, I think that they were one of those fans that wins one of those 'Meet the A-Man' contests or something…because I know for sure that I've seen them in the MasterDome." Ricky's thoughts seemed to trigger a light bulb in Alex's head.
"That's it! These two were those two people that came out of thin air in the MasterDome! This guy—," Alex pointed at Connor, "—appeared out of nowhere right below me while I was in the air, doing a stunt. I remember now!"
"I remember now too, Alex," Grinder said, "but weren't they taken to a nearby hospital, then transferred to that big one several hundred miles from here? I think that's what happened mate…yeah, I'm pretty sure." Grinder sounded quite positive.
The other three Team X-Treme members seemed to nod their heads. They were all tired but this unexpected intrusion had to be dealt with.
"I say it's time to wake up one of them, preferably the girl. I don't think she has any escape or self-defense moves so we could keep her on Big-Air." Alex thought for another second, then added, "The guy fought back pretty good and I don't think I want that to happen again."
"Yeah, mate, I think you've got a bruise on your chin…'d that come from him," asked Grinder. Alex's nod implied a simple 'yes'.
"Then let's get this show on the road," Grinder said, turning around and opening a high cabinet. He pulled a medical kit out of hit, chose a good syringe and injected one of the ten liquids in the assortment into the needle. He walked over to Delia's limp, unconscious body, found the vain opposite of her elbow and slipped the needle in. He quickly pulled out the needle and put a cotton ball and band-aide over the little split in the skin.
"What was that stuff, Grinder," asked Alex.
"It's a new drug called IA, also known as Instant Attentive. It's real meaning is 'Immediate Adrenaline' and it should start right about…"
Delia lurched up, so sudden and fast that Ricky and Fidget jumped. She remembered being knocked out…getting on the plane… Who are these people, she thought, once she noticed Grinder, Fidget, Ricky and Alex. Then she saw Connor, a small bloodstain on the carpet next to his face.
"Connor," she cried, suddenly not caring about the four people or where she was or even what happened; just Connor and if he was okay. She gently turned him over, checked his pulse and breathed a sigh of relief. He was alive and looked like his nose was just a little banged up.
"Who are you and why are you on this plane," came a voice from one of the men. Delia stood up and looked at the voice's broadcaster. He was tall, very well built and quite handsome.
"My name is Delia and my friend and I meant you, or anyone else any harm."
"Then what are you doing here? Why are you on our plane?"
It seemed the big guy was doing the talking and seemed like…from the way he was looking at her, like he'd already seen us, he just didn't know who we were…how very strange… "We needed a place to sleep and some food. It seemed like somebody with a convertible would have both of those." Delia tried to speak as if she knew what year it was and like she was a present-day person but it was really hard when you didn't know what year it was. "We've…we've…we've just got here and we weren't sure where to go so we snuck into your car and hid behind the seats on the way here. We don't want to hurt you or steal anything."
Grinder was studying her body movements and face…it seemed to him like she was telling the truth but there were some serious flaws—we just got here? Hid behind the seats? Not to mention the hesitance in her voice when she was trying to give them a reason for being there. I thing Alex is bright enough to realize when someone is behind a seat, especially in the corner of his eye; he's a good mate and he wouldn't miss anything like that.
"Look…," Delia started, "I can't really explain anything without you thinking I'm insane…or mad or paranoiac, or severely neurotic…" A look of pure doubt came over her face.
"Go ahead," said Fidget. "We've heard and been through some pretty serious shit too. I mean, Dr. X and—," Alex glared at her and Fidget blushed and looked away. "Look," Fidget said, turning back around, "we'd believe a lot of stuff, particularly after what we've been through." The dark red haired girl looked like one of those hyperactive people that did life-risking things as a regular day job; one of those people that isn't scared of anything but people. Like the scientists back at Island 86; they'll risk their lives performing metabolistic, very explosive and life-threatening experiments…but they'd never, ever go to war because…well, because they were more scared of people than they were certain molecules. Weird, Delia concluded and got back to the present—past.
How do I tell them I'm a girl from the year 2011, here to stop a nuclear war that I—Connor and I don't even know who started? That's impossible to do without them thinking I'm purely demented…perhaps I should ask them first…yeah…
"Where do you think I'm from?"
Ricky finally stood straight up, his hands waving wildly and his eyes going everywhere. "WHAT ARE WE DOING???? THESE PEOPLE COULD BE X'S OLD ASSASSINS OR SOME PEOPLE FROM THE COUNCIL OF DOOM OR SOME OF ASAZI'S OLD FRIENDS OR…AND…MAYBE—'' He stopped, quite suddenly…his eyes rolled back into his head and Ricky…Ricky fainted.
Fidget rolled her eyes and Alex's head just sagged and shook 'no'. Grinder paid no attention to Ricky; his reaction was quite typical and to be expected when something out of the ordinary came up.
A groan suddenly came from Connor's formerly unconscious body. His arms moved and he started to push himself up. Delia dropped to her knees next to him, helping him up. She made some mental notes; a light bruise in the left oculus area, bruising around the nose area and dried blood all down his face and a little of his shirt. "Connor…are you okay," she asked quietly.
He looked at her, blinked a couple times, then said, "Hope so, because if I'm not, you're on your own." He looked down, saw a chair sitting under the conference table, pulled it out and sat in it. He could careless about what the people that lived here did about it. Thankfully, they didn't do anything to stop him.
"Why would she be on her own," asked Alex. It was quite indisputable that these two weren't in any way related to the extinct Dr. X, or the deceased Council of Doom. Team X-treme would probably be dead if the two were; X always got to the point…which was, tell Alex about his plan so Alex could enfeeble it, and then try to destroy him. "I mean, judging by the way you said it, it sounds like her being alone is not just a really bad thing. It would mean something…I don't know, a lot more important."
Delia looked at Alex, then back at Connor. She mouthed 'should we' to Connor and he shrugged a 'I don't really care'. "Might as well," he said out loud. Delia sighed and figured what have we got to lose? "We…we are from—''
Connor grumpily interrupted. "No, no, no…" He sighed and then continued, "Alright, what year is it?"
"It's 2001," replied Grinder.
"Alright…in the year 2007, Japan will leave the unbelievably successful United Nations." Fidget's eyebrows shot up as Connor continued. "We don't know why they left but we know that it is—was, will be, whatever—… And then, a few months after that, the Soviet Union is suddenly rebuilt out of nowhere. Millions of troops suddenly visible by a space station—and only one satellite—no other satellites; just one name Striker." Grinder frowned. Connor paid no notice to any of their retrogressions.
"You follow me so far?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Then assassinations start taking place all over the world, one after another until hits became half of most nationwide newscasts." He paused for a second, trying to think. "Then, in the next year or so—not sure when—the United States elected a new Democratic president that was full of shit.
"For instance, in the year 2008, America got hit by some terrorist group in Dallas, sorta like the World Trade Center in 2001—my bad, this year; anyway, they blew up the Galleria mall, killing over two thousand people…and instead of ordering us to retaliate, the president banned the usage of cars in the Dallas area for a year because the pollution from the blast and smoke and stuff supposedly fractured the ozone above Dallas. Do you see what I mean? That president cared more about his 'Mother Earth' and ozone layer than he did his own people—and half the nation praised him for it. Mainly because they were influenced by the media, who was, by then, mostly owned by New Agists and the Nature people. They shaped and molded and persuaded people to care more for the trees than our country…" Connor shook his head in disgust but said, "I ain't got anything against that but when you're hit as hard as we were getting thrashed as we were, you have to do something."
Fidget jumped in. "When was the last time you had a CAT scan?"
"Don't have 'em up in the future."
"And all this happened…in the year 2007," Alex asked, trying very hard to act like he was going along with it. Connor nodded and replied, "Mostly it started in 2007 but the biggy didn't happen until 2011.
"Alright…in 2011," Connor explicated, "the world is falling apart, the U.S. not doing very well at all and Europe…let's not get into Europe. And then it happened…the nukes were launched, everybody else detected them being launched, they got scared and launched theirs and…and in a matter of minutes, the United States was blown up. We got the shit blown out of us. Complete, nucleonic annihilation. But, the nukes did radiate the land and they did kill everyone in N. America, but they also blew N. America into thousands of small islands. And now, five armies, countries, battalions, regiments, whatever, are fighting over all these islands. I fought for one of 'em and we, the Remnants, won but…we…well, we had a lot of casualties. It was a big blow to our force."
"Alright mate," said Grinder. "Why would anyone want to go to the destroyed N. America? And who started all of this?"
Delia answered that one with her science adeptness. "About a month after the nukes were launched, some scientist sold a formula that told you how to process the nuclear radiation in the air into very powerful energy. One small plant of this dissemination air that's full of embryonic protons and a new type of electron fusion could draw out the same amount of energy as three nuclear power plants. You could solicit this power for millions…unfortunately, it turned into a war. And whoever wins monopolizes the whole thing and could control the world's power supply if they have enough guerilla warfare troops and strategic minds… Basically, whoever wins, controls the world."
It took Team X-treme a second to digest the 'future' and these two outsiders. "So…who started the war," interrogated Grinder.
Connor took a deep breath. "We don't know…me and her were sent back in time to stop it. I'm just the war guy; she knows all the physics stuff. The TFP—Time Frame Project—was completely experimental. For all we know, we could've ended up in dinosaur times."
Alex frowned as a thought hit him. "So you're here, from the future, to stop a war that you don't even know who started."
"Pretty much, yeah…"
Alex looked at the floor—at Ricky who was sleeping soundly on the floor—and tried very hard to hide his smile. He had a feeling about these two…they might be telling the truth but this really was one of the biggest, idiotic stories he'd ever heard. "Well…I guess, to sum up everything," Action Man said, "you can have autographs at the MasterDome tomorrow. Please don't ever come back on our plan again. Now—," Alex started scoot them out, "—you'll just leave."
Alex sent them out the regular door and closed it behind him—and burst out laughing. Fidget just shook her head and went to bed, mumbling something about idiot fans. Grinder drained the last of his coffee and said, "I've got a funny feeling about those two…ya' know mate, it's not everyday two people disappear out of nowhere and into the middle of the MasterDome."
Alex dismissed the thought. "They're just crazed fans looking for attention and autographs. I'm going back to bed. You staying up?"
"Yeah…I think we should stay awake tonight, just in case something happens." Grinder shook his head, instincts trying to tell him something but he wasn't sure. "I've just got this feeling…"
Alex showed surprise. "Me too…well, you wanna take shifts."
Grinder smiled. "Sure mate. See you in a couple hours." Alex nodded and went back to bed, giving Grinder the solitude he wanted so he could think and ponder the occurrences of the night…
Now that I think about it, terrorism really picked up this year. I mean, the World Trade Centers and the anthrax scare that seemed to be going around the U.S.… No, everybody knows about that…but the way he said it… He tried to sort out what the two strangers said, putting together what Delia and Connor had said with his own thoughts and theories about the two mystery people…
§
About a half-mile away, Delia and Connor found a good little grove, secluded in the woods of the small mountain they were on.
"Well, at least we know how to explain it to future people," said Delia, trying to put some hope on the situation.
Connor just replied sarcastically, "Yeah, so eventually we can get put in an asylum. Listen…I don't know why but I fell real tired. G'night." He laid down on some leaves he had tried to make a pillow with and tried to sleep. Delia just watched him, smiled at the thought of…
Sleep sunk into her…