Chapter 24

"Entering Earth orbit."

Buck remained quiet. He simply closed his eyes and let his head fall back into the seat. Wilma gently rested her hand on his arm.

"Buck, what is it? You've barely said a word since we left that warship."

"So?"

"So it isn't like you."

He sighed heavily. He turned his head slightly to look at her out of the corner of his eye. "I know you."

She furrowed her brows and grinned unsurely. "I should hope so by now," she replied hesitantly.

He shook his head. "That's not what I mean. Wilma, what was I like when I first got back to Earth? Do you remember?"

"Of course I do. You were really out of it. I thought you were barbaric."
He let his eyes drift to the ceiling. "There have always been lapses in my memory ever since I came out my suspended animation. I always wondered why I could remember what I had for breakfast the morning of my launch, but I couldn't remember the launch itself. I could remember what I had for dinner the night before with Jennifer, but I couldn't remember any of my flight after takeoff until Ardala and Kane revived me on the Draconia. Both Doctor Huer and Theo assured me that it probably had something to do with the trauma of my five hundred year coma and that it might return someday."

She looked at him concerned. "Has it?"

He nodded once. "Some of it."
"That's great! So what do you remember?"
He lifted his head and turned to look at her. "You."

Her eyes widened. "What?"
He nodded. "When I was leaving the shuttle on the warship, I turned and saw you kiss him just before you put the space helmet on him. Call me crazy if you want, but I remember that! I'd always seen glimpses of images, which I could never explain or latch on to… until it all hit me at once. I remember lying on a cold, hard lab table and being poked and prodded. I remember being drugged by the Gaussians, by you, by me. I could never figure out why I could see images of myself as if I were looking in third person. Everything is a little vague, but it's all there!"

"But how is that possible?"
Buck shrugged. "I don't know. But somehow I remember everything now, more or less. And believe it or not, everything's happening exactly as I remember it, at least the images I've seen all match."

Wilma noticed a light flashing on the console. She tapped a button. "Incoming video message."
"Video message? From who?"
"You're not going to believe this."

She tapped the button again. Suddenly the tiny view screen between the seats flashed to show the image of a man. "I am Captain Arnogg of the Gaussian Warship Archeas. You are Captain Rogers and Colonel Deering?"
Buck and Wilma exchanged unknowing looks before Buck tapped a button underneath the screen. "This is Captain Rogers."

"Captain Rogers, do you realize the damage you've done?"

He shrugged. "Yeah. Bombs tend to do that when they're left beside an unprotected bank of computers."

"That's not what I mean. That damage can be repaired. I'm talking about the assassinations of Minister Turon and Deputy Minister Kentara. That is the blatant disregard of protocol and a cause for war."

"First of all, I have no idea what happened to Deputy Minister Kentara. Second of all, you declared war on Earth a long time before you ever saw me. Maybe next time you shouldn't let Death enter through the front door."

"If you think you're little episode here has saved your planet, you are gravely mistaken. I plan to commence the execution of all life on your planet immediately. And then I will stand in the office of your president and scream victory until the sun sets. My crew and I will take control of your planet and transform it into the crown of the known galaxy! Finally we will create a monument to our fallen Ministers that will be the crowning achievement of known civilization! The magnitude of our monuments will dwarf everything on your planets, including your so-called Great Pyramids! Revel in your victory, Captain. Because Death is coming for you!"

The screen went blank. Wilma looked at her console and shook her head. "Buck, the warship just showed up on radar. It's moving again. It will be here in… thirty minutes," she said softly.

Buck slammed his fist against his console. "And when it gets here, every living being on Earth will be wiped out of existence," he said hollowly. Again he slammed his fist against the console. "I tried to stop the holocaust… but all I did was make it worse. Instead of stopping the holocaust, I managed to accelerate the annihilation of every living creature on the planet."

The cockpit became silent for several moments. Buck leaned back into his seat. "You know, I just remembered something Jennifer did on our last date together. I made a comment and she put her hand to my forehead like this," he demonstrated on Wilma. "Then she said, 'Nope, still no fever. Are you sure you're fine?' I never thought about it before, but now I realize what she was talking about. Do you know what it means?"

Wilma shook her head. "I have no idea."

Buck nearly stood up in his harness. "It means that she saw me earlier that day! That's what she was talking about! She saw ME! Not him, not the Buck she knew! She saw ME!" He slammed his fist against his chest several times. "She saw ME!"

Wilma tried to soothe Buck by placing her hand on his arm. "Buck, you said that everything was happening as you remembered it?"

He nodded wanly. "Yeah."

"You're always fond of saying that everything happens for a reason. What if the reason you're remembering everything as it happened before means that we were here before?"

"Wilma, you're not making any sense. What the hell are you talking about?"

"What if that means that we're supposed to be here? What if we were here… in the past? What if it means that we're supposed to be right here, right now?"

He shook his head. "I'm still not following. I told you time travel confuses me."

Wilma sighed. "Buck, how many people survived the holocaust?"

He shrugged. "Hard to say. Overall?"

She nodded.

"I don't know. Maybe ten thousand."

"How many people will die if the Gaussian warship gets here?"

"Everyone."

"How many is that?"

"Over six billion."

Wilma nodded. "You said that everything was happening exactly as you remembered it."

"Yeah. Wilma, what are you getting at?" he asked impatiently.

"What if we weren't sent here to prevent the holocaust?" she asked slowly.

"Then why were we…" Suddenly his eyes nearly exploded out of his sockets. "No," he whispered. "You can't be serious!"

She simply closed her eyes and lowered her head. Buck unstrapped himself from the seat and nearly jumped onto Wilma. He put both hands on her shoulders and shook her violently.

"No! No way!" he screamed.

She put her hands on his chest to push him away. "Buck! It's the only way!" she screamed back. "We are the only ones who can stop the total annihilation of the planet Earth! We are the only ones who can stop the Gaussians from destroying the Earth!"

"By doing it ourselves?" he asked unbelievingly. "What kind of plan is that?"

"You said it yourself! Everything was happening exactly as you remembered! Because everything has happened exactly the way it was supposed to! We know now how your shuttle was frozen! We were here five hundred years ago!"

"And we caused the holocaust?"

"It all fits! It all makes sense!"

"I don't know, Wilma. So you're saying that you and I started the holocaust?"

"It's either us or Captain Ahab!"

"Arnogg."

"Whatever! Buck, if we do nothing, Earth dies!"

"And if we do something, Earth dies! Talk about a Catch-22."

"Buck, the holocaust doesn't destroy the Earth!"

"It might as well have. You've seen your Earth and you've seen my Earth. Tell me it wasn't destroyed!"

"But the people survived! Some people survived! If Captain Ahab-"

"Arnogg."

"Whatever! If that warship gets here everyone dies! Everyone!"

Buck closed his eyes for a moment. "Wilma, do you realize what you're asking me to do?"

She closed her eyes and lowered her head. "Yes. Yes, I do, Buck. I wish I didn't have to."

"You're asking me to kill a hundred million people in the next thirty minutes. Within six months two billion will be dead. Six months after that another three billion die. Not even Stalin managed anything like that! I'd be the biggest butcher in the entire history of humanity! Wilma, I can't do it."

"Buck, if the holocaust doesn't start in the next thirty minutes… twenty-five minutes, Captain Ahab, Arnogg, will kill six billion people like that," she said, snapping her fingers. "There will never be survivors of the holocaust; there will never be a Doctor Huer; there will never be a Doctor Theopolis; there will never be a Twiki… and there will never be a Colonel Wilma Deering. Buck, I'm begging you."

"But you're asking me to kill six billion people."

She shook her head. "I'm asking you to save six billion people; more than six billion people. I'm asking you to save everyone who will be born after the holocaust. I'm asking you to save the people who rebuild New Chicago, New Phoenix, New London. I'm asking you to save the people who will rebuild planet Earth! Because we do rebuild! We rebuild and return to the stars! We will rebuild stronger and no one will ever threaten to destroy us again!"

He closed his eyes. "But you're asking me to kill… Mom… Dad… Jennifer… everyone I've ever known and loved."

"No. I'm asking you to save them. If we do nothing, then they will die. But if we do this they will live on… because you live on. They will continue to live." She pressed her hand against his chest. "They live on… in here."

Buck could barely see Wilma through the tears streaming down his cheek. Slowly he returned to his seat. He closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, he tapped a button on the console to bring up a virtual map of the globe. He paused for a moment, then put his finger on the map somewhere in the Midwest of the United States. A red dot appeared. He continued to press certain areas on the map. Everywhere he touched left a red dot on the map. After making a dozen or so marks, he moved his hand to the other side of the world. He took a deep breath and slowly released it. When he opened his eyes, his finger made circles around the cities of Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Yekaterinburg. He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out the electronic manipulator that Theo had given to him not so long ago. He glanced at Wilma. She nodded once, placed her hand in his and squeezed tightly, and finally closed her eyes. Buck closed his eyes, bowed his head, and took a deep breath before beginning to speak softly and slowly.

"Our Father which art in Heaven. Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the Kingdom… and the power… and the glory for ever and ever… Amen."

"Amen," Wilma echoed.

He opened his eyes. Through the tears, he grasped the pen and depressed the switch at the top. Almost instantly the map disappeared. Once more Buck closed his eyes and bowed his head.

"It is done."

Below them Wilma could see the trails of exhaust from the dozens of missiles climbing into the air. Eventually they stopped climbing and began to arc back to Earth. She squeezed his hand again, but he didn't feel it.

"Theirs not to reason why," he said hollowly, almost inaudibly. "Theirs but to do and die. Into the Valley of Death rode the six billion."

He took another deep breath, wiped the tears from his eyes. He looked at the electronic manipulator for a moment before throwing it against the console as hard as he could. Once more he leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.

"And when he opened the Fourth Seal, I heard the voice of the Fourth Beast say, 'Come and See.' And I looked and behold a pale horse. And his name that sat on Him was Death and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them… to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death."

He turned to look at Wilma. "I always wondered what the Angel of Death looked like." He took a long, deep breath, then turned to look out the view screen. "Now I know."