Chapter 2 – A New Hope

Phil was sitting next to his best friend from the future, Curtis, at TWC© (The Wzard Company©) Stadium. They were seated alongside the third base line, close to the field, so that they could see into the home dugout. Phil took in the atmosphere. It had been some time since he had been to a baseball game. The lights, the pre-game music, the players stretching and warming up, the children begging the superstars for autographs, all contributed to the unique setting, but more than anything, it was the smell of beer and hotdogs that overwhelmed Phil's senses. It was a good smell.

"Hey! Mickey! Over here!", Phil's friend called out toward his brother, who was walking toward third base. Mickey Jennings looked a lot like his brother, only he was at least 4 inches taller at about 6 foot, 5 inches, and was quite a bit more filled out. Both brothers had curly, light blonde hair, and fair skin covered in freckles. Mickey approached the sideline, and Curtis ran down to greet his brother.

"Phil! Good to see you! Thanks for coming out tonight!", Mickey greeted Phil with a handshake and a pat on the back.

"Are you kidding? How could I pass up seats like these on a night like this?", Phil replied.

"Gotta go guys. I'll see you after the game. I'll give you a tour of the clubhouse, and you can meet the team!", Mickey shouted as he back peddled toward his spot at third base.

Just then, the center field wall opened up, and TWC Stadium absolutely erupted. Sandy Koufax began his jog from the bullpen to the pitcher's mound. Yes, that Sandy Koufax. The former NL MVP, 3 time Cy Young Award winner, 2 time World Series MVP, and Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax. Or maybe not, depending on who asked. Genetically, that Sandy Koufax and the one approaching the mound in front of 50,000 plus screaming fans were identical.

In the future, cloning was experimented with, perfected, became widespread, and finally outlawed. This was mostly driven by baseball. Debates between diehard fans over whether players from the past could compete with players from the present had always been a part of the national pastime. Cloning presented the unique opportunity to answer these questions. These debates actually fueled and sped up research on cloning more than anything else. Like the children who argue relentlessly whether Batman could really stand a chance against Superman (definitely!), men and women with Ph.D's in biology and a passion for baseball worked tirelessly until human cloning could be done reliably.

That's not to say there weren't any bumps along the road. The botched cloning of Abraham Lincoln resulted in one of the most disgraced presidencies in American history, but even that catastrophe didn't get in the way. Eventually, clones populated professional sports, and Sandy Koufax, Roger Clemens, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Ken Griffey Jr. were once again household names. The clones soon began to dominate the game. Cloning was outlawed not because it set back American politics for 50 years. It was outlawed because it tarnished the great American pastime. Ten years from now, there wouldn't be any clones left in the league, and Phil was ecstatic about the opportunity to witness a legendary match up between Sandy Koufax and Roger Clemens.

Heading into the bottom of the 9th, the game had lived up to everyone's expectations, except for Curtis's. That's because Mickey had yet to reach base safely and struck out 3 times, including 2 times looking. That wasn't exactly Mickey's fault, as the rest of his team had struck out 12 times and managed to scrape together only 3 singles. But Curtis had high expectations of his brother. Mickey stepped into the batters box with 1 out, no one on, and no score to face Clemens for the fourth time that night.

Fastball in the eyes. Mickey swung right through it.

"Strike one!"

Splitter in the dirt. Mickey started to swing again, but this time held up.

"Didn't go! Ball one!"

Next came a curve, low and away. But apparently not too far away.

"Strike two!" Mickey was visibly upset with the call.

Another splitter. Mickey knew it was coming and didn't bite.

"Ball two! The count is two and two."

A fastball down the middle. This one Mickey could handle. He stepped forward, twisted his body, flipped his wrists, and made contact with the baseball. Hard contact. Homerun contact. Mickey jogged around the bases and was a greeted by his teammates at home plate.

"One for four. Not bad.", Curtis greeted his brother in the Dodger clubhouse. He was only half kidding.

"I'd like to see you just take a step in the batter's box against the Rocket. The stuff he had tonight. Scary. Hey Jake, come meet my brother Curtis and his friend Phil! Listen guys, I have some things to take care of. Make yourselves comfortable. See you in 10?" An exhilarated yet clearly exhausted Mickey Jennings took off.

So Curtis and Phil met the team, and collected autographs. Ten minutes later they met up with Mickey outside his locker.

"Dad, I wish you could have seen it. Yeah, a laser. At least 450 feet.", Mickey recounted to his father. Mickey saw Curtis and Phil, and held up a finger, as if to say "Just a minute."

"Hey Curtis, I thought your dad was a on a time trip in the past?", Phil asked his friend.

"He is. Dad's working for the government, trying to work out the kinks in time travel so people can feel safe again. That's a prototype my Dad is working on that Mickey is using. It lets you talk with people that are in different parts of time space", Curtis responded robotically.

"Curtis, I have got to get my hands on one of those." Phil's plan just got a whole lot better.

Author's Note: Sorry for the lack of Keely. One of my next two chapters will be dedicated to her. The other will detail Phil's plan. I just haven't decided what order I'm going to write them. Thanks for the comments!