Chapter 72

Sam confessed to Caitlin as she stood in the bus, "When you said you had a bike, I thought you meant a motorcycle and not a bicycle." Her eyes settled on the bicycle sitting in the aisle along with the boxes of food.

Caitlin smirked, "Gas is hard to come by now and you don't want to be making a lot of noise. A bicycle is perfect for getting around undetected."

Sam sighed, "But you were so cool. You flew choppers, rode motorcycles, drove a Jeep."

She squinted, "How do you know all that?"

"Um…" she looked to Ralph for assistance.

"The resistance told us how cool you were." he excused.

The class all nodded in agreement.

Karl stated, "The resistance told us."

"That's it!" Jose cheered.

Rhonda covered, "My cousin said how cool you were." She found coming up with excuses was much harder than she assumed. She muttered, "No wonder Sam tends to blab so much. This is hard."

Caitlin didn't hear Rhonda's remark. She took a seat near the bike to hold onto it. "Alright, let's get going. Don't want to stay too long at the same place in case a patrol comes along."

"Right!" Ralph slid back into the driver's seat. He looked to Sam, "Still going to the airfield?"

"Go there first." she nodded. "Then we can drop off the food to the resistance."

Caitlin asked, "What airfield?"

"Santini Airfield." Sam smirked back. "There's someone I want you to meet." she told her referring to Stringfellow Hawke.

Santini Airfield - Visitor Reality

Ralph drove the bus into the airfield and parked near the main hangar. The group disembarked. Ralph felt like he was on a field trip instead of being in a life or death situation with his class. They followed Sam to the side door and she led them inside as she found that her key worked in any reality.

Sam mentioned, "Good thing no one ever changed the lock."

The class and Ralph led Caitlin inside the hangar.

Caitlin's eyes settled on the slick black helicopter sitting inside. She stood a bit stunned, "That's different." she noted.

"That's Airwolf." Sam cheered. "String! You here?" she hollered. "It's me…Sam."

From the office door Stringfellow Hawke emerged wearing the Airwolf flight suit with Jo and Sinjin right behind him dressed in the same flight suits as well.

String's eyes settled on Caitlin and he assumed she was the same Caitlin that helped assemble Airwolf the night before. He gave her a smile, "You're back. I like your hair, Cait." he noted the hair was a different style.

"You know me?" she asked.

"Um…" he glanced to his crew and then to Sam.

"She's your Cait. We found her getting food from a store near the school." Sam began. "This is Ralph Hinckley. He's the man who was given the peacekeeper suit in my home world. This is the class. We kind of accidentally slipped back." she explained.

Caitlin had no idea what Sam was talking about but it came evident that the crew of Airwolf did.

String offered a hand to Ralph, "I'm pleased to meet you, Mr. Hinckley."

"Me too." he replied feeling rather odd as he shook the man's hand.

Sam made the introductions, "Cait, this is Saint John Hawke and Jo Santini. They fly Airwolf with String." She omitted the pair were an alternate version of her parents to not confuse the woman further.

She greeted, "Pleasure! That's a slick chopper you got there. I used to fly for highway patrol before the Visitors showed up." she mentioned.

String gave a smile, "You mentioned that last night."

She squinted, "Last night?"

"Um…" he found the slip would be hard to explain away. He looked to Jo and Sinjin for help.

Sinjin came to his aid, "We heard of you through a friend who helped us work on Airwolf last night."

Jo whispered to Sinjin, "This is weird. She's just like the woman who was here last night but she's not her."

"I know." he agreed as he whispered back.

Caitlin vetted, "So…how are you connected to the resistance?"

Sinjin stated, "We're air support."

She gave a slight chuckle, "One chopper against the Visitors."

String stated, "She fully armed and can do mach one."

She cocked an eyebrow, "Really! A chopper that can do mach one." She laughed to herself, "Might be able to help a little bit."

Jo stated, "It's better than no air support. We can at least provide cover to the mountain camp. They are vulnerable up there."

"Have any of you ever gotten on the ship? So far only one man has ever gotten aboard and returned and that's Mike Donovan." she informed. "We don't know what capabilities they have but obviously they have been watching us since they speak all our languages and chose earth sounding names. That means they have been watching us for some time before they invaded." she rebutted.

String told her, "We're aware of that."

Sam asked, "Do you know a man named Michael Knight, Cait?"

She turned sharply and looked at her, "I know Mike."

"He has a pretty advanced car." she smiled.

"That's right." she became defensive.

"KITT could easily connect with Airwolf and work together to counter Visitor activity." Sam suggested.

She pondered, "I suppose that's a thought."

Sam added, "Find Colonel Hannibal Smith. He can help too along with Colonel Steve Austin."

Caitlin asked, "Just who are you?"

"A friend." she softly smiled. She looked to her class, "We need to drop off those supplies to the resistance and then get back to school."

Ralph agreed as he looked at his watch, "We're on a bit of a schedule."

Karl asked, "What about lunch? I'm starving."

Tony told him, "Just grab a box of Twinkies. You can eat when we get back."

Sam offered, "We can drop of the supplies for you, Cait and maybe you can stay here and help out the crew. They could use another pilot. Only got the three of them."

String agreed with an adoring smile as he looked to Caitlin, "We could use another pilot."

Jo and Sinjin quickly figured that Sam was trying to match up String with Caitlin as in her reality the pair were engaged to be married. They traded glances rather amused as Sinjin found his brother was smitten by the pretty woman.

Sinjin added, "We could use another pilot. That way we can take turns with crews. Airwolf is a bit tricky to fly. Only me and String can make mach one with her. But with another pilot, we can have two crews instead of one."

Jo added, "And an extra hand when we need a full crew. Cait was a cop. She knows how to use a gun in a combat situation. We could use backup." She looked to Caitlin, "Would you like to join Airwolf and help us fight off the Visitors?"

She looked at the chopper and the crew. She understood an attach chopper would be limited but it would help the resistance. "I guess I'm in." she agreed.

String smiled, "Welcome aboard."

Moments Later

After getting Caitlin's bike off the bus the students loaded up for the field trip in the alternate reality once more. Karl sat in the back of the bus with a box of Twinkies on his lap and the boy shoved one cake after another in his mouth.

Ralph glanced at him in the mirror, "Easy on those Twinkies, Karl. You will get a stomach ache eating that many."

"I'm starving Mr. H." he excused. After downing the fourth cake he suddenly slowed and gave an awkward look. "My stomach hurts."

"Here!" Tony handed the boy a can of ginger ale. "I figured you were gonna need this when I saw Caitlin give you the box of Twinkies."

The boy gratefully took the soda. "Thanks man." he mentioned grateful.

Sam sat amazed, "I never seen anyone down four Twinkies in less than a minute before."

Tony shook his head and laughed, "You should see what he can do with a sheet pizza."

Karl was feeling ill and soured, "Don't say pizza, man."

Ralph instructed "Rhonda, hand out some of that food Caitlin gave us in the box for lunch." He started the bus and began the trip towards the old water treatment plant.

Rhonda handed each of her mates a package of crackers, a can of meat spread, a can of soda and then looked to the box of Twinkies. She took the box from Karl and handed out what was left of the cakes. She mentioned, "Karl already had his desert."

Sam looked at the canned meat, "Oooh, deviled ham spread. This stuff is good."

Jose stated, "My grandma likes that stuff. It's kind of gross."

She shook her head, "Hah, canned egg from army rations is kind of gross. This stuff is gold."

Tony assumed she had tried an old ration after watching Youtube videos of taste testing meals ready to eat for that seemed to be a craze in the future. He suggested, "Maybe back in the 40's and 50's those things weren't so bad. Old ones are probably not that safe to eat. I wouldn't be doing those old rations taste testing like they do on Youtube."

"This one was new. We got it when the engine test failed in Airwolf and we ended up back in the Korean War at that crazy MASH unit." she mentioned digging into her food.

Tony asked, "When did all that happen?"

"Last week." she told him. "We were gone for nearly a week. We managed to come back to the time of where were left. Well, we missed it entirely and ended up in 1984. I had to use the wormhole to get back home. Right now there are two versions of Airwolf in 1984. We're not sure how we will get Dad's Airwolf back in time for the next air show." Se took a bit, chewed and swallowed and then went on about her adventure. "Dom saved my grandparents and they are now alive in 1984. My grandfather owns the airfield with Dom. The sign out front is different! Dom changed all that. And it's my grandparents that are paying for Cait's wedding to Uncle String. I met my grandmother for the first time. She's like an older version of me!" she cheered. "She's cool! She planning the wedding for them." She took another bit and then added, "She chose the wedding day! It's the same day that that bomb would take out, Uncle Dom and injure Uncle String. She already changed it. They will be at a wedding that day. We already know who will be responsible for planting the bomb. The FIRM is watching him and will pick him up before that can happen. They make it through that day unharmed and when I get back to my time, I should find Uncle String alive in 2022." She took a swig of soda and frankly stated, "If this works out instead of a funeral there will be a wedding. All I got to do is do nothing. If I don't touch anything then I can't screw it up."

Tony had to agree, "I think that's the best course of action, Sam. Don't do anything."

She grinned, "You know what the great thing is about being in another reality like this?"

He asked, "What's that?"

She confessed, "If I fuck it up it's not my problem."

Rhonda burst out with a laugh, "Got a point there."

Tony shook his head, "Millennial."

Ralph scolded, "It's still your problem, Sam. You can't just slip into another reality, screw everything up and them leave. That would be unethical."

Sam miffed, "Whatever." It was evident that Ralph was the morale compass of the group.

Jose stated, "Boy if I had those nanites and could do things I would do like magic, man." The boy imagined what he would do aloud. "I would be like, nanites give me cigarettes and beer. Nanites, get me some pop corn. Nanites, take me to see a concert."

Karl agreed, "Me too, man. I would be like nanites…get me a hot chick to be my girlfriend. Nanites, get me lots of money! Nanites, get me a new car." He looked to Sam, "You should be ashamed of yourself, Sam. You abusing these nanites to go to alien invaded realities and crap. Use them to get us stuff!" he pleaded. "Just say 'nanites…get Karl a hot girlfriend and lots of money.' We're your friends after all. You should be helping us out with some wishes."

Tony huffed, "The nanites are not a genie of a lamp and Sam cannot magically wish shit for you."

Sam paused and then looked over at Rhonda who also paused eating. The two looked at one another with the same question. "What if they are?" Sam asked. She looked to Tony, "What if the tales about magic and magical lamps is based on the nanites. Maybe the tale of the magic lamp is some kind of device infused with nanites. Maybe magic wands?"

"Nanites create the magic." Rhonda figured. "Maybe Merlin was real and he used nanites like you and Mr. H. has."

Ralph pondered, "That's something to look into." He soon came to the water treatment plant. "This is it!" he informed. "Let's get these boxes of food unloaded."