Chapter 47

Older Caitlin walked to the booth at the show just as she saw the back of her own head as younger Caitlin left to avoid seeing her older self. She rolled her eyes and shook her head as she got to the booth. She wore a blue slacks and a light red blouse with white sneakers. She carried a soft sided cooler of food as she came to help.

She greeted Jo and Sam, "Hey! I see young, dumb me left already." She placed her cooler on the ground under the table for shade.

Jo stated, "She's afraid of what you will say to her."

She nodded, "I know. I remember being afraid of seeing myself. I imagined I would say something I didn't want to hear. It was idiotic. I'm not going to hurt myself."

Sam wondered, "What were you going to say to young you?"

She sat down beside Sam and grinned, "The same thing I will tell you. Don't be so hard on yourself. Don't worry as much about your waist size and have a piece of cake once in a while. Don't work so hard all the time. Take a break and enjoy life because it flies by faster than you think."

Sam asked, "Should I pass that onto young you?"

"Please do," she grinned. She then reached into her handbag and pulled out a Rubik's cube. She handed it to Sam, "This belonged to Dom. He never could get it completed. String would finish it for him. Dom gave it to me right before he passed away. I thought maybe you would like it."

Sam grasped the old toy, "You didn't finish it for him?"

"I tried but in order for me to get the colors right I would have to peel the stickers." she confessed.

Sam admitted, "I never knew how popular this thing was until I went back. I had one as a kid. I never thought much of it. Thought is was just another game."

Jo stood by and recalled, "Oh' that cube drove everyone nuts." She picked the cube out of Sam's hand, "The weird thing is…I gave this to Dom for his birthday. And now…it's come back again."

Caitlin chuckled, "Funny how things circle around." She then spied Stringfellow Hawke make his way to the booth holding his sausage. He wanted to sit and eat before the show. He paused as he spied older Caitlin sitting in the booth with Jo and Sam. He then pressed forward unsure what to say to her.

String got to the booth and found an extra empty chair. He greeted, "Cait."

She smiled bright, "You were so cute when you were that age."

He gave a half smirk and took his seat to eat. He spoke between bites. "How's it going, Cait?"

She pondered, "You mean how are things going for me? An old retired lady who came back from Texas just to see you and Dom again?"

"Yes." he nodded.

She smiled, "I wouldn't trade this for the world. I'm so lucky I got to see you again."

String paused and smiled back. "I'm glad. I think I would have missed you too when I am older."

Jo spoke up, "You did! You told me so. You regretted letting Cait go."

"I told you that?" he asked her.

"You didn't let many people in but you let me and Sinjin in." she explained.

String gave a nod and took another bite. He noticed Sam studying the cube. He reached over and took it from her hands upon finishing his lunch. He made a few quick moves and it was solved. He handed it back to her without a word.

She gave him a look, "Why did you do that?"

"You seemed stuck!" he replied.

"I was studying the different combinations." she rebutted.

Jo took the cube from Sam's hand. She grinned to String and stated, "We should get another cube and put you and Sam in a race. Watch this!" She then turned the cube to mix up the color patterns. After she completely rearranged the cube she handed it to Sam. She held up her finger, "You got ten seconds to look at it." She then took a bandana from her pocket as Sam knew the drill. Jo then stood behind Sam and tied the blindfold. "Okay…now!" she instructed.

Using memory Sam then turned the cube from side to side and in a less than a minute she had solved the puzzle. She removed the blind fold. "Here." She then handed it her mother as if it was an everyday occurrence.

Caitlin cheered, "Do that to young me. She will flip out."

String rebutted, "She has a photographic memory."

"Exactly!" Jo grinned. She handed the cube to him, "Let me know when you can do it blind folded."

He then got a text message on his phone, "Sinjin! We're going up next." He grasped the cube and stood up. "Ladies!" he begged goodbye and left the booth.

Sam asked, "Is he going to train himself to do it blind folded?"

Jo grinned and nodded, "He sure is!"

She asked, "Am I going to have to do that a lot?"

She smiled bright, "Probably."

She sighed, "It's just a cube."

Caitlin asked, "What online game you playing now?"

"I haven't had time to play any games." she confessed.

"You want any modern movies lately?" Caitlin wondered.

She shook her head. "Nope!"

"Watch Freeguy." Caitlin recommended. "I'll get you the DVD and you can show it to String."

Jo laughed, "I'm not sure String will like it. It is funny through."

"Freeguy?" Sam asked for she found with her work she fell behind on recent films.

Jo nodded, "This movie is made for your generation."

Meanwhile

Stringfellow Hawke had donned his flight suit and climbed into the cockpit of Airwolf. He placed the Rubik's cube down and then the helmet on his head and looked over at Sinjin who was in the pilot's seat. He glanced over his shoulder and spied Dom at the engineer's station and Caitlin on the jump seat directly behind him.

As they readied for the flight the announcer's voice could be heard over Airwolf's radio. String listened to the announcement through the helmet radio system.

"Ladies and Gentleman," the announcement began. "Next up is a special treat. That top secret chopper that can do mach one, is a beautiful sight even today with the charm of the 1980's…Airwolf. And today we have a special treat as she's piloted by Saint John Hawke and his son, Stringfellow Hawke. Named after his late uncle and the man who helped design and flew the bird on top secret missions back during the Cold War."

String squinted his eyes and looked directly at his brother. "Did you give him that script?"

Sinjin smiled, "You needed a cover. This way, you can be your own nephew."

Catlin laughed as she found the situation hilarious.

Dom had to chuckle, "The boys were always trying to get one up an another when they kids."

In the future, String found himself not only demoted to co-pilot to his brother but now his cover was that of the brother's son who did not exist. The amusement was soon wearing thin for String. He promised, "Me and Dom are going to survive that bomb and one day, when we fly together…I will get your seat and we will be announced as brothers."

Sinjin reminded him, "I own the bird."

String promised, "That will change. We will co-own Airwolf."

He grinned at his brother. He actually liked the suggestion and hoped that they could change things to make them brothers and owners of the historic chopper.

Dom cheered, "All set back here." He looked to Caitlin, "It's nice to fly the Lady in an air show with bother brothers at the helm. We get to enjoy the ride."

Caitlin had to admit, "I love Airwolf's future doing air shows. So much better than flying those missions."

"That it is." String agreed.

Sinjin stated, "Let's give 'em a show."

Airwolf lifted up after the crowd was pushed back. As String looked about he could see the people below holding up cell phones and video record the flight. He had to shake his head and chuckle to himself as in 1984 he hid the chopper from the US government. For String a trip through the wormhole to the future was more like going to a wonderland of oddities. Finding himself and Airwolf the star of the show was most unusual for the man.

String looked to Sinjin who seemed to be taking it in stride. He asked, "This doesn't surprise you at all, does it?"

"What?" he asked unsure what his brother was referring to.

"All those people recording us with the cell phones." he pointed out.

Sinjin pondered how come that act seemed to surprising to String for it was normal for an air show. "Um…everyone has a cell phone with a camera in it nowadays…" he reminded his brother.

Dom understood what String was trying to say. He spoke, "It's the feel of it all, Sinjin. Back during the war the P-51 was top secret during development. No one wanted the enemy to know about that plane or any other plane. Just like how the Germans were developing them rockets. Back then no one could phantom a what a rocket could do. I mean back during the war, if someone came to me and said that some day we would have rockets and go into space I would have thought he was crazy. Today, that's not crazy and we all expect it. Just yesterday and I mean yesterday for us…Airwolf was hidden and used for top secret missions. We go through a wormhole and today we are flying in an air show and there is a huge crowd of people taking pictures of us."

Caitlin had to agree, "This is kind of mind blowing for us, Sinjin. I guess for you it's normal and think nothing of it."

Sinjin had to agree, "I kind of worked myself into it. I have those years that led up to doing the shows. Getting Airwolf, all that work and money to restore her. For me this is fruits of my labor. For you guys…I guess it's like stepping on the moon in a way."

String agreed, "Kind of."

Caitlin added, "It's a bit surreal."

"But in a good way." Dom chimed in happy.

String smiled and agreed, "In a real good way."

They started the run for the show. Sinjin and String put the chopper through a series of maneuvers in aerial acrobatics as the crowd cheered below. To demonstrate the uniqueness of Airwolf they entered mach one while in a very large circle around the show. They were nearly done with the show and had come out of mach one and returned to the crowd below. Then a bright orb went streaming by the outside of the fuselage mid-flight.

String stated, "Our friends are back."

Sinjin agreed, "I see it."

More orbs appeared around the craft zig zagging about the air space.

The announcer's voice came over the radio, "Airwolf…we are seeing something odd down here. What are those lights? Something from Airwolf."

"Negative." Sinjin replied. "It's some kind of UFO."

On the ground the crowd gasped at the UFO sighting around Airwolf as the center of attention. Everyone was looking up and watching.

Older Caitlin stated, "That didn't happen the first time. I remember going up. Nothing like this happened."

Jo told her, "Something is happening." She retrieved the hand held HAM radio. "Jo to Airwolf."

"Jo." Sinjin's voice replied.

"We're seeing it down here. You got about a dozen orbs swarming Airwolf right above us." she reported.

"I know." he agreed.

Jo then glanced over at Sam who sat unmoving. She found an orb of light right before Sam's face and she appeared to be in some kind of trance. She stared at the orb without blinking or moving. "Sam!" she yelled out.

Older Caitlin looked over. "Oh' my god. What is it doing to her?" She swatted at the orb much like it was a bee. "Get away!" She tried to get the orb to move.

The orb then went straight into Sam's head. Sam sat motionless as blood started to stream down her nose.

Caitlin called, "Jo!"

Jo came to her side. "Sam!" she nudged her shoulder but Sam did not move. She grabbed a small light and shined it in her eyes and got no response. She grabbed Sam's wrist for a heartbeat. She could feel a very slow pulse.

"Sam!" Jo croaked shacking her a bit.

Older Caitlin stated, "We need to get her to a hospital." She retrieved her phone to call.

The orb then shot out of the top of Sam's head and went straight up through the tent roof and then disappeared.

Sam started to blink. She sucked in a breath and then coughed. She felt breathless for a moment. She wasn't sure what had happened. She tasted blood on her tongue. She reached up and found blood on her face. "What happened?" she wondered if she had fallen down. She looked at the blood on her hand.

Caitlin put the phone down and then dug out a handkerchief from her pocket. She placed in on Sam's bloody nose, "Here…your nose is bleeding. Hold this and pinch your nostrils."

Jo brought the radio to her lips, "Sinjin. You better land and get back to the booth."

Sinjin could tell the tone of Jo's voice she was stressed. "Is everything okay?"

"Just get back here." she pleaded. She looked to Caitlin, "I don't know if an ER can really help."

Sam asked, "Did I fall down or something?"

Her mother replied, "One of those orbs got you."

"What?" she asked a bit confused.

"It went into your head and made your nose bleed. It had to you captivated, just sitting there in front of you. You were staring at it." she explained.

"I don't remember it." she confessed. "It went inside me?"

"Into your head." she nodded. "Then it left."

Sam asked, "You think it did something to me?"

She confessed worried, "I don't know."