Chapter 19
Sam sat at Dom's desk after returning to 1984. She pulled out a spiral notebook and pen. She opened up to the page she was working on prior. She spoke out loud as she wrote, "Rule number three: mute your cell phone." She continued, "Rule number four: do not answer your phone in front of a CIA spy. Rule number five: do not keep change from the future in your pockets. I may fall out of your pocket."
Dom came to the door of his office. He noticed Sam was writing in the notebook. He asked, "What ya writing, kid?"
"All the do not do of time travel." she told him.
He suggested, "How about writing down some of the things you should do."
"Such as?" she asked.
He took a seat in the chair next to the desk. "Do make friends. Do meet your family. Do put family first. Do learn new things. Do try foods that you cannot get in your own time. Do…" he grinned, "ask for help."
She gave a gently smile, "Thank you, Great Uncle Dom."
"That's Grandpa Dom to you." he informed. "I don't have any kids of my own. You are like my daughter to me."
She blushed, "I never had a grandpa growing up."
"We're gonna change that!" Dom promised.
String came to the office next. He looked at the pair, "It's the weekend."
Sam nodded, "I know! I've only been time traveling one week and totally screwed it up already."
He cocked his head, "We're going to the cabin. Your dad said you didn't get to spend much time there. I was a grump!"
"I barely remember it." she nodded. "You're not the grump I thought you were." she assured him.
"Get your stuff. You, Dom, Cait! We're all going up." he insisted.
"What about the wormhole?" she asked.
"No one can enter it without activating the engine on the other side. We lock up the phones in the safe. It will be fine." he assured. "I sent a text to Sinjin telling him we will be going to not expect us back until Monday."
"Okay!" she agreed. It sounded much like a needed break to Sam.
"Pack some warmer clothing." String advised her. "Get's a bit chilly this time of year up there."
She figured, "I need to go home and get my warmer clothes then."
Dom shook his head, "It's 1984 here. You can't be wearing anything from the future here."
Caitlin had popped her head into the office as she heard they were invited to go to the cabin. She heard Dom's remark. She asked, "Does Sam need clothes?"
String nodded and asked, "You got some warmer things she can borrow for up at the cabin."
She grinned, "I got a coat she can borrow. Mittens, hat and some boots."
"Mittens?" she balked. "I'm not a little kid."
Dom stated, "Just borrow some of Cait's things."
Later
Santini Airfield was closed for the weekend when the black Trans Am pulled in for the meeting. Airwolf's crew had taken Sam via Santini business helicopter to the cabin for the weekend. The ruse was a break but in reality String needed a out of the way place to train Sam in self defense and weapons. Caitlin was tasked to teach the scientist about police techniques and Dom was going to help train in combat techniques.
Instead of a company provided limo, Archangel and Marella arrived in a white Cadillac to keep a low profile.
KITT announced, "Archangel and his assistant have arrived, Michael."
"I see." he agreed. "Keep an eye out while we are meeting with Sinjin. We could be a while."
"Will do, Michael." KITT confirmed.
Michael Knight emerged from the car to greet his new friends. He held out a hand, "Michael!" he then found both he and Archangel answered to the same first name. He felt a bit odd for a moment.
"Mr. Knight." he shook his hand. "My assistant, Marella."
She graciously shook his hand, "It's my pleasure. I read your file. Impressive." she told him. "I'm pleased Devon sent you and KITT to work with Airwolf's crew."
"Thanks." he replied. "Sinjin give you guys a phone too?"
He nodded, "We each received a phone programmed to connect with the other side." He looked about, "Let's go inside." He feared they could have been followed.
They entered the hanger and went to the area where they could reach Sinjin.
Marella stated, "I should be able to send a text…" she sent the text and in moments they were still standing in the hanger but Sinjin was also there along with three other women: Jo, older Caitlin and older Bonnie who had come to give a hand. All looked older and yet the same generation as the arrivals.
Upon seeing a much older version of Caitlin, Marella had to make a mental adjustment as she was the only surviving member of the original crew for Airwolf in the future.
Caitlin smiled, "Haven't seen you two in years." She then gave Archangel and then Marella and welcoming hug. "Welcome to 2022." she told them.
Archangel admitted, "I just saw you last night. This is going to take getting adjusted to."
"You will get used to it." she figured.
Bonnie stated, "I brought you each a laptop computer for research. She then handed each a computer she had stacked in a box. "I also got your password for your social media accounts, Michael…Um…" she pointed to Archangel, "That Michael."
Sinjin teased, "We can always change one of them to 'Mike'."
"No!" they both chimed for neither wanted to be renamed.
Jo kidded, "Mike and Ike." She referred to the candy.
"Funny," miffed Michael Knight. He took the computer, sat down at the table around the engine and opened the device. He looked over the keyboard. "How do you turn it on?"
"Here!" Bonnie pressed the button for him. "These laptops will stay with me since they won't do you any good in 84. So, I didn't bother to put a password on them. I got them all configured to go on the internet for research."
Archangel turned on his laptop and began to get familiar with the device as did Marella who seemed to have a much easier time grasping the technology.
"I see." Archangel noted to himself as he found the curser.
Bonnie informed, "You can also touch the screen. Like with the phones."
Michael Knight noted, "That's a nice touch." He then brought up the home screen for the internet search engine. "So, what am I researching?"
"Mr. Hinkley's blog." she instructed. "Other Michael will read his social media page and try to figure out the clues his older self left behind."
"I found the…blog…" he was adjusting to the new internet terms.
"I bookmarked it for you." she informed.
Michael Knight started to read the latest entry. He puffed his cheeks, "Boy Ralph. What happened to you? This is nuts."
"That's what we are trying to find out." Bonnie stated.
Caitlin suggested, "We should go and interview him in person."
Michael knight stated, "I'm sure if I showed up…he might wonder why I hadn't aged."
Bonnie smiled, "Not if older you shows up. You are alive and well here."
"So, how come I have not seen myself yet?" he wondered.
She confessed, "I thought it would be better if you didn't meet yourself."
He asked, "Would I melt or something?"
She winced, "No…more like argue with yourself." She confessed, "When I left to come here this morning you asked if I was going to see and I quote 'young and dumb me'."
He sat a bit shocked, "Oh! I said that?"
"Yes," she winced.
"What do I look like? Can I see a picture of myself?" he asked.
"You have a Youtube channel. You make videos about safety, crime, talk about the latest news articles. You got a following." she reached over and brought up the site.
Michael read the channel name "Knight's Knacks." He then discovered the most recent video his older self posted. He watched as it played on the screen.
The audio came over the computer speakers. "Ladies, here are some self defense tips. Keep your pepper spray in the palm of your hand if you have walk alone in the dark to your car. Not so much your keys. There used to be this old trick about using keys as a self defense tool. It really doesn't work well. If you have pepper spray or mace, palm it, keep it ready. If you have a gun…even better. I will go over shooting techniques in the next video."
He paused the video. "Shooting techniques?" He then squinted, "How much do I weigh? I look fat."
"You're going on seventy years old." she rebutted. "You look real good."
"Tell old and fat me to shave the mustache. I look like I'm in a porn film. I'm telling women to go buy a gun!" he asked baffled.
"It's not 1984 anymore and yes, more women are taking self defense very seriously." she informed.
He instructed, "Put that fat bastard on a diet. Shave that stupid mustache. Least my hair looks good." he miffed.
Bonnie stated, "He told me to tell you to get a hair cut!"
Caitlin agreed, "It's best if they don't meet each other."
Curious Bonnie asked, "What would you tell yourself?"
She confessed, "I would tell myself to eat a dessert, don't worry about my waist size as much, to slow down and enjoy life."
Bonnie nodded, "Me too."
Archangel found his social media site. He looked upon the mess before him. He noted, "I posted in quatrains."
Michael asked, "You posted what?"
"Quatrains, like in Nostradamus." he informed. He read it over. He then scrolled down further, "I am making a lot of references to a television show called X-Files. What is that?"
Sinjin replied, "We can bring it up and you can watch it online. It's about these two FBI agents chasing aliens."
"I refer to myself as Fox Mulder." he stated. "Is that character from this show?"
"Yup!" he nodded.
"I will have to watch this show to see what I am talking about. Apparently, the show is part of the secret code I wrote on this site." he informed.
Bonnie assured, "I can bring up the show for you."
Marella asked, "What is my task on this computer?"
Sinjin told her, "Comb though all the conspiracy sites."
"What is 9/11?" she asked.
"Something for you to research." he told her.