Chapter 5
Sam emerged from her room still sporting her future clothing of jeans, work boots and a flannel shirt. She never thought of the different styles the teens wore of the day nor her funds. She brought cash and coins with her as she suddenly figured she could not use her pay app on her phone. She found Dom waiting for her to go enroll her in the local high school.
He cheered, "Ready to go to school, kid?" He adopted the nickname that String gave her prior. It fit will with the cover.
Being called a kid irritated Sam very much but she understood she could not declare her true age. She gave a grudgingly eye roll and waved her hand. "Whatever." she miffed. Unbeknownst to her the bad attitude played with the teenage cover she was given by her father.
"Shall we." he motioned towards the brightly painted jeep.
Sam's eyes landed on the red, white and blue colored jeep. The patriotic theme stood out for her. She was tired of being called a kid and treated as such. She reminded him, "I know how to drive and I have a license."
"Be my guest." he held the keys before her as she did indeed drive him to Sinjin's home prior.
Caitlin called, "Wait up, Dom. I need a lift to town. I'm getting new plates for my Jeep." She came to the vehicle to join the pair. She wore jeans and a flower printed shirt with work boots.
"Hope in the back, Cait." he replied. He called to String, "Keep an eye on the place, String. Cait has to go to the DMV."
String stood in the hangar door watched, "I got it."
Relieved to at least be driving a vehicle Sam climbed behind the wheel. She then looked at the controls. "Wait! What is this?"
"It's a standard." he told her. "You know how to drive a standard, right?"
"Standard? You mean it's not a normal car?" she asked.
"Your mom did teach you to drive a standard, right?" he wondered. For sure Jo would have taught her daughter to drive a standard he figured.
"No one has a standard." she huffed. "They are all automatic. Tesla has self driving cars. Who the hell drives a standard anymore?" she barked.
Caitlin had no idea who Tesla was or the self driving car. She asked, "Self driving car?"
"They're working on it." she miffed.
Dom soothed, "It's okay, Sam. I will teach you how drive a standard. That's your clutch, this is the stick shift. Put your foot on the break and the clutch at the same time."
"There are three pedals!" she huffed.
"Gas, break, clutch." he informed.
Caitlin suggested, "Maybe you should drive her to school, Dom. We can teach her to drive a standard here on the airfield."
Dom had to agree. "Let me drive, Sam."
Her shoulder's slunk, "I wanted to drive myself to school."
"You will just have to ride a bike." he figured.
Her head rolled back, "Seriously!"
"Seriously! Now move!" He chased her out of the driver's seat and then took control of the jeep. Sam climbed in the passenger's seat feeling like a fish out of water. She had been driving for years. Her mom would let her take the car for weeks on end and now, she had to ride a bike to high school. It was if time travel was nothing more than a cruel joke.
High School
Dom led Sam to the school to enroll her. They were directed to the enrollment office and soon found themselves sitting in chairs by a metal desk with a red haired lady who was dressed in blue blouse and matching skirt. She was handed the fake birth certificate and began a student file for Sam.
The name on the desk read, Mrs. Baker. She began to ask questions to Sam. "Where was your last school attended, Miss Santini?"
"MIT." she recalled.
Dom covered for her, "MIT…It's in Mississippi. Not the MIT. The Mississippi Intermediary…Training Facility."
Mrs. Baker seemed to have cared less as she typed the information.
Dom continued to cover, "It could take weeks to get any records. Kind of backwards there."
"Everything takes weeks." she assured.
Sam mouthed the odd name to herself with a disturbed look.
Mrs. Baker asked, "Last grade accomplished?"
Sam looked to Dom and smirked waiting to see what he would come up with.
Dom stated, "She's sixteen so…she would be a sophomore." He then teased her, "Of course she was having a lot of issues. Nearly failed. Passed by the skin of her teeth." He spied Sam's dirty look as she crossed her arms annoyed.
"I'll will have her placed in Mr. Hinkley's class." she figured.
Sam asked, "What is that class?"
"You'll see." she replied.
Short Time Later
Stringfellow Hawke tended to Dom's office as he filled in for the man while he took Sam to school. He opened the desk drawer and found strange device with a flat glass screen. He picked up and looked it over. He had no idea what he was looking at. "What is this, Dom?" he wondered. He fiddled about and found three small buttons on the side of the cell phone. He was about to turn it on when Dom had returned and stepped into his office. He found String holding onto the phone that Sinjin gave him.
"Put that down!" he snapped at String.
"What is this thing, Dom?" he asked looking up. It was obviously advanced but without turning it on he would not know it was a computer and a phone in one.
Dom snatched it from his hands abruptly. "You do not touch this!" He scolded him as if he was a child.
String stood up, "You want to tell me what is going on?" he demanded to know.
Dom admitted, "I would love to tell you what is going on but I can't."
"What do you mean you can't?" he huffed back.
"Too much is at stake." was all he would say.
"What are you hiding?" he demanded to know. "Suddenly you have a daughter and what ever that is…it's advanced. How do you turn it on?"
Dom went tight lipped as he wanted to tell String everything that happened to him in the last few days but he feared he could make things worse and fail at the mission. The mission to save String's future was one mission he would not jeopardize. He admitted, "I wish I could tell you more than anything, String. I just had the most amazing three days of my life. I wish I could tell you were I was and what I saw…who I saw…" he confessed. "You would by amazed at what I saw."
String softened, "What happened? Three days? I just saw you Friday."
He replied, "For me it was three days and I went someplace amazing. I stayed at a house that had a television that was huge and flat and hung on a wall like a painting. I saw computers that make Airwolf's systems look…obsolete. I saw Sin…" he pinched his lips together as he figured he said too much.
"Saw who?" he pressed.
"Sinjin! He's alive. I know that for sure." he informed.
String wanted to believe him with all his heart but he needed proof. "Where did you see him?"
"Not exactly where." he miffed. "Listen, I've said too much. Just don't touch that phone…okay."
String cocked his head, "It's a phone?"
Dom covered his mouth with his hand as he realized he slipped up.
String pressed, "Let me see it?"
Dom stood worried that he had jeopardized up the mission already. He knew String would push to see the phone and even find it behind his back and easily turn it on. He placed the phone before String and pressed the side button. "It's cell phone and a computer in one." he explained.
Before String's eyes the screen came to life. He then watched as Dom showed him to swipe the finger and enter a number code. Then he found a bright screen with small tiles about it.
String gently caressed the phone as he examined it further. "You got this from where?" he asked.
"Your brother gave it to me." he confessed. "It's my life line to him and Jo." he stated.
"Him and Jo?" he wondered.
"They get married, String." he informed.
String demanded, "I want to speak to him."
"Okay." Dom figured String would find out sooner or later anyways. He stated, "Just dial 119."
"119?" he then tapped the small phone icon and a keypad appeared. He pressed 119 and then looked to Dom.
"Tap the green phone thing." he instructed.
He complied and the phone began to ring. Dom reached over the tapped the speaker phone icon so they could both hear.
Sinjin voice came over the receiver, "Dom! Is everything okay?"
He spoke, "It could be better. String found my phone."
"He did?" he asked.
"Sinjin?" String asked in near shock.
"Yup…He did! String! It's me." he soothed him.
"You're alive." he cried holding the receiver close. "Where are you?"
"When am I!" he corrected. "I'm in the future. It's 2022 here. I'm alive and I get rescued and come home. You will see me again. I come home." he told him.
"How is this even possible?" he asked.
"Sam," he stated. "She did it!"
"She's not Dom's daughter, is she?" he figured his suspicions were correct.
"She is my daughter, String. She's Samantha Hawke and she is 22 years old and has a PhD in physics. She was working on this project with a warp drive engine and it got out of hand. She was using the hangar. It overloaded and created this wormhole through time. Dom was pushed through it and spent days here with us in 2022. We sent him back and Sam went with him to fix some things."
"She's my niece." he gathered.
"She's wiz like you, String." he informed.
"Why pass her off as Dom's daughter and send her to school?" he wondered.
"She is there to fix some things." he repeated.
String didn't understand, "Fix what? You come home!"
"I can't say." he didn't wish to stress his brother. "She there to help you, me, Jo and Cait. She there to help Dom. Just let her help." He glanced at the humming engine on the table before him, "Maybe you can help her too. This engine is bit more than she bargained for."
"Let me see this engine." he requested.
"Sam can bring you here and back. The engine is acting a switch right now. I'm babysitting it." he explained.
He declared, "She is my niece and I will help her."
Dom felt much better after Sinjin explained the situation to String. He hated hiding things this important from the man. A smile crept across his face as he felt the weight of the world ease from his shoulders.
"She get to school like we planned, Dom?" Sinjin asked for an update.
"Oh' yeah. She's there now. Why didn't you and Jo teach her to drive a stick shift?"
"Those are harder to come by nowadays, Dom. Used cars aren't what they used to be. That's why she takes her mom's car." he informed.
He requested, "Is it alright if I teach her to drive a stick?"
"Sure!" he cheered. "It would be great for you too to spend time together."
String offered, "I can teach her to drive a stick too."
"Yes you can." he agreed. "String! Sam knows all about Airwolf and she can fly it without a computer to assist her. She's a pilot too. We programmed the phones to inner phase with Airwolf."
"Phones? How many phones are there here?" he wondered as his mind put the forth warp drive theories.
"Two! Sam's and Dom's." he told him.
"Two." he nodded understanding. "Airwolf still flying in 2022?" he asked him.
"I own her!" he cheered. "They decommissioned her and I bought her and restored her. No weapons systems now. We go to air shows and do demonstrations. I'm making designs for the new t-shirts were gonna sell this summer." he added a bit too much information.
String admitted, "I wish I could see that."
"I'm hoping you will." Sinjin croaked.
The tone of Sinjin's voice told String that Sam was there to save him from something horrible.
Dom stated, "Sinjin…we got to make this short. I got employees around."
"Okay, call me tonight." he disconnected the call.
Dom retrieved the phone and turned it off to save battery. He then placed it back in the desk drawer.
String stood beside himself. "I just spoke to my brother." He stated more to himself still a bit shaken.
Dom assured, "For you to help Sam with that engine you will need to go to the future and you will see him there."
String admitted, "I'm ready to go right now."
"Sam will have to do it." he assured him.
Caitlin poked her head in the doorway. "Hey! Lunch time! Wanna order some Chinese?" she grinned.
String gathered himself and replied, "Sounds good."
Dom agreed, "Chinese does sound good."