Missions of the Retrieval Team - A Kilt By Any Other Name

[michaelbeeman]

This is such a great story! Thanks. I eagerly anticipate the next installment.

[Arlen]

I finally had the chance to catch up now that my internet is working and I am totally hooked.
This is definitely your best one so far!

[davedove]

Commercial Break

A Small Apiary

We see a man harvesting honeycomb from an apiary. This man is kilted but shirtless. All over his torso he covered with many small tattoos of bees. Amazingly, none of the bees in the area seem to bother him.

He walks towards the audience with his harvest. “Hi,” he says. “Do you like your food fresh and natural?”

He keeps walking and enters a small building. He steps over and sets his bucket on a table. He reaches inside and pulls out a chunk of honeycomb.

“Is this fresh enough for you?” he asks. “This is the only way you will get honey any fresher than X Marks brand Natural Honey.”

“X Mark brand raw, unfiltered honey is pulled from the hive here at the X Marks Apiary and put in a jar all in the same day. Then with our distribution network, it is on your store shelf the next day, ready for you to take it home.”

“And because it is raw and unfiltered, all of the natural nutrients are still intact, making it better for your family’s health.”

“Sweet goodness that’s good for you, you can’t get any better than that.”

He picks up the honeycomb again. “Well, not unless you go to the hive yourself,” he says smiling.

[12stones]

Nice!!

[davedove]

Scene 11

Open Valley

We found ourselves rolling across grass as we landed. I quickly turned to face the direction we had come from. There was an image suspended in the air of David’s laboratory with all the people we had left behind looking towards us.

I immediately began to wave my arms and yelled, “We can see you!” Ms. Raven and Ms. Hawk did the same as the image disappeared.

“Do you think they heard us?” asked Ms. Raven.

“I hope so,” I answered. “But, at least we know we can see the portal from this side.”

“But can we go through from this side?” Ms. Hawk asked.

“We won’t know until we try and we’ve got a full day before that will happen. Okay, quick recon of the area; try to avoid any people unless you see David.”

We spread out and did a quick check in all directions to see if anyone was near, but found no one.

“Okay,” I said. “Let’s try the tracker.”

Ms. Raven opened her pack and pulled out the unit Ms. Swan had made for us. She unfolded the antennae and turned on the unit. Holding it high in front of her, she slowly turned a circle and watched the readout. Ms. Hawk and I stepped away so that we didn’t interfere with any signal she might receive.

After making two complete circles, she lowered the unit. “Nothing,” she said.

“Well,” I answered, “that just means that David is not real close to us.” I looked around the area. “The unit is basically line of sight, so those hills could be blocking a signal, even if he is relatively close. We need to get to higher ground.”

Ms. Hawk pointed to the field road nearby. “If it’s the same as our world, that road should connect to the road that leads up to the Great Hall,” she said. “We’re right next to our mountain, so that’s probably our best bet.”

“I agree,” I said. “I also don’t really want to scale some of the cliffs around our mountain if we don’t have to. Walking up a road sounds so much better. Let’s move out.”

As we walked along, Ms. Raven asked, “Do you think the Great Hall is up there?”

“I don’t know,” I answered. “I’ve read several stories about parallel worlds, so it’s entirely possible. Who knows, we might even meet ourselves up there.”

“Ourselves?” asked Ms. Hawk.

“Yeah, if this is a duplicate Earth, anything or anyone could be duplicated. But if we do have duplicates on this world, they may not be the same people.” I answered.

“Because of their different choices in life.”

“Exactly, they could have experienced tragedies that we avoided or opportunities we missed. Who knows what they would be like, how life has changed them.” I smiled. “I hope the other me isn’t a jerk.”

“Why should that be any different?” said Ms. Raven as she trotted away from me laughing.

I took a couple of steps as if I were going to chase her, and then slowed to a walk again. “Well,” I called to her, “hopefully the other you is a nicer person.”

We continued joking with other as we walked down the field road. At least our spirits were good for this mission.

[davedove]

Scene 12

X Marks Mountain

At the end of the field road, we found that it did connect with a road that led up the mountain. We turned to follow the road up to the top.

As we made our way up, it was unusually quiet. We heard the normal sounds of birds and small animals, but nothing to indicate any people were around other than the road we followed.

We were about halfway up the mountain when Ms. Raven raised her hand, signaling for us to stop.

I looked at her to see what was wrong, but she signaled for us to stay quiet and I saw her turning her head slowly as if trying to hear something.

“It’s too quiet,” she whispered.

She was right; the natural sounds had stopped. All I could hear was the slight breeze moving through the leaves.

She jerked her head around to look behind us. After a moment she signaled for us to hide.

Moving as quickly and quietly as we could, we ducked off of the road and hid behind the bushes there.

After a few moments, a sport-utility vehicle with the markings of a county sheriff slowly pulled up the road from where we had come. The occupants were scanning the area in all directions.

The vehicle came to a stop on the road next to us. We remained motionless as we watched.

The driver turned off the vehicle and both occupants stepped out. They walked to the front of the vehicle and stopped to look around.

The two policemen were wearing uniforms, but not like any I had ever seen before outside a science fiction movie. They were a dark blue and were designed in a somewhat angular futuristic style. Their tunics were sleeveless, but they wore black tight-fitting gloves that extended up to almost their elbows. Their trousers were also tight fitting and they wore black leather boots that came up to their knees.

“I don’t see anything,” said the driver.

“No,” answered the other, “but the motion detectors showed a small group of people walking up this road and after that kilted freak was spotted the other day, the sheriff says we have to check out everything.”

“Yeah, one kilted weirdo and suddenly there are twenty-four hour patrols.”

“It’s what we’re paid to do. Come on, let’s get back in the truck.”

The two climbed back in their vehicle and started it. The vehicle again began to slowly drive up the road, the occupants again scanning the area.

After the vehicle was out of sight, Ms. Hawk said, “Did you see those uniforms?”

“Yeah,” I answered, “and from what they said, they don’t think too highly of kilts. There are some fashion differences on this world. But we did learn something.”

“Someone in a kilt was spotted around here not too long ago,” said Ms. Raven.

“Do you think it could be David?” asked Ms. Hawk.

“I don’t know,” I answered, “but it’s a good possibility. Let’s keep moving but off the road, we don’t want those cops to spot us.”

“They mentioned motion detectors,” said Ms. Raven. “It’s most likely that the road is covered, but there could be others as well.”

We moved farther away from the road to avoid any motion detectors that might have been there. This meant that the route was going to be more difficult, but at least we were above the worst of the cliffs. Only a few times did we have to maneuver over large rocks. Most of our route was a fairly clear, if steep climb.

[davedove]

Scene 13

X Marks Mountain

When we reached to top of the mountain, another of our questions was answered. The Great Hall did exist on this world, or at least it had at one time. Now all that remained was scorched rubble. From the growth among the ruins, it had been destroyed about two years ago.

Sitting in what had once been the courtyard was the police vehicle. Inside, the officers were taking a break. Fulfilling the stereotype, they were drinking coffee from a thermos and munching on doughnuts.

We waited for nearly ten minutes for them to finish. They packed up their snack and spoke over their radio. We couldn’t hear what they said, but they started the truck and moved down the road.

When they were gone we left our cover and moved through the ruins. None of the buildings still stood, but here and there we could make out where the rooms had been. From what I could tell, the layout had been the same as our own Hall.

“What do you think happened?” asked Ms. Hawk.

“It’s hard to tell,” I answered. “From the scorch marks on the stones, there was obviously a fire, but that shouldn’t have caused all of the walls to fall down. It almost looks like they were intentionally pushed over after the fire.”

“Why would they do that?”

“Any number of reasons,” answered Ms. Raven. “Kids could have been messing around the burnt out walls; vandals may have done it just because it was there; or whoever caused the fire may have really wanted it demolished.”

She seldom mentions it, but sometimes Ms. Raven’s views reminded me of the troubled youth she had led. If I hadn’t recruited her, she probably would be doing hard time. She didn’t lead that life anymore, but it was still a part of her.

“Break out the directional unit,” I told her. “Let’s see if we can get a signal now.”

Again she pulled the unit from her pack and set it up. We watched her as she slowly moved around the courtyard trying to pick up a signal.

Unfortunately, we were so involved in examining the ruins of the Hall and searching for signals that we didn’t notice the policemen approaching us stealthily from all directions.

We did notice the police vehicle come into the courtyard with its lights flashing and we spun towards it.

At that moment, the policemen around us took advantage of the distraction and closed on us with their weapons raised.

I was trying to raise my rifle to defend myself when the taser prongs struck me. The electricity shot through my body, rendering me helpless.

One officer quickly disarmed me and handcuffed my hands behind my back. I looked over at my associates and saw they had fallen to the same fate.

The officer who had cuffed me called out. “Hey Sheriff, look what we got here. It’s another one of those kilted freaks.”

The Sheriff walked over to look at me. He flipped up the dark visor of his helmet. “So it is,” he said. “I knew if we kept watch on this place some more of these terrorists would show up. I guess they get sentimental for their old hangout. Put them in the truck; the FBI will want to know about this. If we work it right, there may be commendations for all you boys.”

[Birddog]

Sounds like the Moderators need to send in a team of search and rescue dogs with a sharpshooting handler...This sounds like a job for Mac, Céilí, and Finnegan!
Loving this so far, gotta forgive my selfishness at wanting to be in it as well!

[davedove]

Scene 14

CountyJail

The police had taken us to the jail. As we drove through town I noticed something unusual. Every person I saw had on nearly identical clothes. The colors varied a little, but the styles were all the same.

“Look at the people. They’re all wearing the same basic outfit,” I said quietly to my associates.

“Shut up back there!” the sheriff ordered.

Once in the jail, we went through the normal process of being photographed and fingerprinted. They had led the two ladies away to be locked in a cell, but I was taken directly to an interrogation area.

After some preliminary questions, the sheriff was growing impatient. He backhanded me across the face. “What were you doing up there?” he demanded.

“I told you,” I replied calmly. “We were out hiking and followed the road up to the top of the mountain. We were just poking around the ruined building.”

He slapped me again. “You were pretty well armed for simple hikers.”

“We like to do a little hunting too.”

Again he slapped me. “With assault rifles? And what about all that other equipment you were carrying.”

I shrugged. “We like to be prepared.”

“For what?” he yelled at me. “Overthrowing a small country?” He stepped to the table and picked up our signal tracking unit. “I know what this is. I’ve been in this job long enough to know a directional finding unit when I see one. But it’s not tuned to any frequency I know of. What were you looking for?”

“UFO’s?” I replied.

I could see the anger in his eyes. “Do you think this is a joke? What would you say if I said I was going to work over your lady friends next? Or better yet, what if let my boys have a little fun with them? Would you think I was joking then?”

“You won’t do any such thing,” I told him. “We have rights.”

“RIGHTS!” he yelled. “What makes you think you have rights? This isn’t one of those wimpy European countries; this is the United States. You are a suspected terrorist found at a former terrorist stronghold. You’re even wearing the garb of a known terrorist group. You have absolutely no rights whatsoever.”

He leaned in close to me and spoke in a lower voice. “So which one should I let my boys start with? The red head or the pretty little black girl?” he threatened.

Just then one of the deputies came into the room.

“Do you have something?” the sheriff asked impatiently.

“Yeah, Sheriff, and you’ll definitely want to look at it,” the deputy replied.

The sheriff took the printouts the deputy handed him and the deputy left, closing the door behind him.

“Oh, this is interesting,” he said to me. “It seems that your black lady friend has quite a rap sheet. According to this she is currently serving multiple sentences in a New York penitentiary for several counts of burglary.”

“That is interesting,” I said.

“Yes, especially since she is also sitting in my jail cell right now.” He flipped to the next sheet. “Oh, this is even better,” he said.

“What’s it say?” I asked.

“There are no charges whatsoever on record for your red haired friend.”

“So she hasn’t done anything?”

“It’s not that easy. There are no charges on record because there is no record, no information whatsoever. The only thing that comes back on her is a great big ‘Classified’ stamp. That has government agent written all over it.”

He flipped to the next sheet. “Oh, this is the best one of all. There is all kinds of information about you here.”

“Really? What’s it say?”

“Well, ‘Mr. Dove’, there are multiple charges against you: public disturbances, theft, terrorism, the works.” He read on down the sheet. “Oh, now this is very interesting.”

“What, am I rotting in a federal prison right now?”

“No, you’re not in prison, at least not anymore. You haven’t been in prison for about a year.”

“Was I released or did I escape? Did you manage to capture a escaped felon sheriff?”

He walked over me and looked me straight in the eyes. “You weren’t released and you didn’t escape. The reason you are no longer in prison is because one year ago next Tuesday, you were executed for your crimes.”

He put the papers down. “Perhaps you can explain to me how it is I am interrogating a dead man?”

[Birddog]

Wow, talk about a plot twist!