Chapter 164: Goodbyes (Part II)

Monday, June 21, 1971

I stood on the long platform, stretching. I was stiff after the ride from Colorado and all the excitement of the reservation. Not to mention the energy I had expended since then, mostly in my berth. As I looked up and down the deserted platform, I noticed that the Rowena was the only passenger train in sight.

The Rowena was the name of the World War Two-era Pullman Observation Car that my great-grandfather had found and restored. He had died before it was finished and my grandfather had finished it, but only used it one time.

Now the Rowena, along with a 1950s era dining car and a custom designed sleeping car made up the consist that I and my family were using to travel in.

I had already scanned the area around the almost deserted train station, but I saw that Kip was still armed as he checked out the train platform. After what had happened Saturday, I felt some relief.

Union Station, I knew, was located in what would become known as the Reunion District of downtown Dallas, after the Reunion Tower was completed some seven years from now. It would eventually be built just to the west of the terminal, along with a Hyatt Regency Hotel. But for now, I could only look out on the three deserted passenger platforms situated on the west side of the station.

“It sure isn’t very busy for a Monday morning,” I said to the figure approaching me.

“Yep. Things sure have changed since they discontinued passenger service into here a couple of years ago,” Harvey Newman told me. Harvey was a third-generation train man who owned a small freight company in Colorado that was mostly over the road eighteen wheelers, but included a couple of train engines that he used to haul freight between Denver and Albuquerque. Catherine had hired him to pull the Rowena along with the other two cars in my small consist from the Omugi Reservation in Colorado, back to New York.

He and his wife had been with us, onboard the train when the aliens had attacked. He had valiantly guarded the locomotive with his twelve gauge, while Helen, his wife, had hidden in one of the staterooms aboard the armor-plated observation car. While neither one had actually seen an alien, both swore that they would not speak of the experience for now. Harvey had seen combat in the South Pacific in World War II, and knew how to keep his mouth shut. Helen had not come out of the stateroom until morning, so she hadn’t seen anything to speak of.

“Rumor has it that the new Amtrak line is supposed to start rail service from here to Chicago sometime soon, but nobody seems to know when,” Harvey said.

As we spoke, I saw Natalie approaching with her suitcase in her hand and another bag over her shoulder. She was the first one of the girls off the train.

“Are you going to be okay?” I asked as she approached.

“I’m really nervous about going to Durham. Even though Anna has me fixed up with a place to stay for the summer quarter,” she said, setting her suitcase down.

“Yeah?” I asked.

“Yeah. One of her friends that she went to medical school with is now a professor at Duke, and I’m going to be staying with her and her husband for the summer. Duke has a summer program for incoming freshmen, you know, to help them get oriented to the campus and I’ll also be able to get a few of my prerequisites out of the way early. Then, I’ll move into the dorm when school starts in the fall,” Natalie explained.

“That sounds good,” I told her. “Have you got everything you need?”

“I think so. I’ll pick up anything else I need when I get there. About the only thing I won’t have is a car,” Natalie told me. “Freshmen aren’t allowed to have a car on campus.”

“That’s a bummer,” I replied. I hated goodbyes. “You sure you’re gonna be all right?”

“It’ll be okay. I guess they figure that if you can’t leave the campus easily, you’ll spend more time studying,” she said, halfheartedly, as she lowered her gaze to the concrete floor of the platform. “ ... and I think I’m going to miss you.”

I couldn’t take my eyes off the red-haired goddess. Natalie was one-half of a matched set, her twin sister, Grace, who was staying with me as my assistant, being the other half. But while they looked identical, their personalities were very different. Grace is still discovering what she wants to do with her life, while Natalie has known that she wanted to be a doctor since ... forever. I would have loved nothing more than for Natalie to stay with her sister and me for the rest of the summer, but she had enrolled in a couple of summer classes at Duke, in an effort to get ahead.

“I wish you were going to Tapato with us,” I told her truthfully. “I think I’m going to miss seeing you in a grass skirt.”

“Or out of it, more likely!” Natalie replied, but her retort was tinged with sadness. We both stood there awkwardly for a moment, not knowing what to say.

I hated goodbyes.

Finally, Natalie lifted her eyes to mine as she studied my face. Then, rising up on her tiptoes, she kissed me softly, her lips lingering on mine.

“Goodbye, Michael,” she said sadly before turning for the motor coach parked at the far end of the platform that would take her to Love Field.

More of my extended family was spilling out of the train now, milling around on the platform, their bags in their hands. It made me sad to see them leaving, but we had discussed most of it in detail this morning. And while I understood the reasons for flying out today, it still didn’t make the separation any easier. I had been with most of them almost every day since I woke up in a strange hospital room some five weeks ago. They were my family, even the ones who were not technically related to me.

” Hell! Since I’m not really Michael Wagner, technically I’m not related to ANY of them! I thought to myself.

The five alien females I had sort of ... captured, Saturday night, looked around the platform in amazement as they stepped from the train. This was the second place they had visited on our planet. The first being the deserted plains of a Southern Colorado Indian reservation at night.

“Are you sure this is the best way to do this?” I asked my Security Chief as she approached me, leading her charges.

“Are you second guessing your own decision?” Penny asked me. “If I remember correctly, it was your idea to ask Anna’s father to use the CIA’s facilities. And it was also your idea to include the sisters as well. All eight of them are going to get a crash course on how to live in our world, and then, when I think they are ready, it’s ninety days at CFLECT,” Penny replied.

We were referring to the three sisters from Haiti and the five female aliens. After many hours of discussions with Catherine, Karla, Kip, and Anna, who I had connected from Twin Springs, it was decided to utilize the CIA’s training compound for the naturalization courses, and then the new Consolidated Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (CFLETC) for their security training. Of course, I had to agree to do another ‘favor’ for the general. But it didn’t sound like too big of a deal. And this time, it would be in New York.

Prior to 1970, the quality of training received by Federal law enforcement officers and agents varied greatly from agency to agency. Standardized training was an unexplored concept, and inadequate facilities and duplication of effort were prevalent as each agency independently trained its own personnel.

Studies conducted in the late 1960’s revealed an urgent need for high-quality, cost-effective training by a cadre of professional instructors using modern training facilities and standardized course content. Congress responded by authorizing funds for planning and constructing the Consolidated Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (CFLETC). In 1970, the CFLETC was established as a bureau of the Department of the Treasury (Treasury Order #217) and began training operations in temporary facilities in Washington, D.C.

Of course, I already knew that four years from now, in May 1975, the Glynco Naval Air Station near Brunswick, Georgia, would be selected as its permanent home. And after being renamed the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), it would begin training in September of that year.

I also knew that later, in March, 2003, the FLETC would be formally transferred from the Treasury Department to the newly created Department of Homeland Security, along with some twenty other agencies, following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001

“I meant you going with them,” I clarified. “I don’t know how I can survive without you that long.”

“I knew what you meant,” Penny replied. “I just don’t know how long I’ll have to stay with them. Even though it’s a secure compound, there are still so many risks, and only Kip, Karla, and me to manage those risks. I can’t put Kip on it, for obvious reasons, and Karla’s going to New Orleans with Izzy, Deedee, and Abby. So that leaves me.”

“But...” I started.

“C’mon, Michael. You were there. You agreed that the sooner we could get them acclimated to this world, the better off they would be. And the CIA’s school is the best in the world at getting agents acclimated to new environments. Not to mention the fact that shortly, you will have the most unique security force in the universe,” Penny reminded me. “At least, in this universe.”

“You’re right, of course,” I told Penny, “although I doubt the CIA ever intended it to be used to acclimate visitors from another world. But Anna’s idea of passing them off as being from Tapato should help explain why they don’t understand our customs while they’re here. Like I said, I’m just not sure what I’ll do without YOU for that long,” I told Penny.

“Somehow, I don’t think you’ll have too hard of a time,” Penny said, placing her hand on my cheek as she gazed into my eyes. “Besides, it’s not like you can’t talk to me anytime you want to.”

“There’s that...” I grinned as I quickly shared an image of me licking her exposed nipples. Penny was not one of the girls I had a special connection with, but I still liked to tease her occasionally.

“Michael!” she cried in mock horror as she slapped me on the arm. “Cut that out!”

Five of Penny’s charges immediately crowded around us, their senses piqued by the slap. Serkia, Vie, and Pipiti remained unconcerned. They were already comfortable with our playful banter. However, Unevia, Nina, Terry, Shelia, and Mary Ann were still too new to our world to know that Penny intended no harm.

Penny quickly stood on her tiptoes and kissed me on the cheek, in an effort to allay their concerns of imminent danger.

“Aw, shucks,” I thought to her. “I was hoping you were kissing me because you loved me!”

Penny knew I was teasing her. She was also aware that, with my gift, I knew exactly what she was thinking when she kissed me. So she didn’t bother to deny anything. She simply looked me in the eye as she whispered, “Too bad!”

“It looks like you have your work cut out for you,” I told her. Penny just smiled as she turned and began heading for the motor coach.

With a twinkle in her eye, Serkia also kissed my cheek before following Penny to the coach. Vie and Pipiti quickly copied their older sister’s goodbye. They all smiled mischievously as they did.

I was surprised though, when Unevia followed their example, brushing my cheek with her lips as she headed for the coach. Mary Ann followed nervously. I wasn’t quick enough to examine Unevia’s motive, due to the cultural differences, but, thanks to the twin rings I wore, I could tell that Mary Ann was just following Unevia’s lead.

“I wish you well,” I whispered in Mary Ann’s ear as I kissed her cheek. They had spent a lot of their travel time to our world, learning our language, so I was reasonably certain she understood my words.

Mary Ann’s nervousness gave way to a big smile as she turned to follow Unevia. Shelia, and then Terry approached me as well, not comprehending the significance of what they were doing, but determined to follow through with the new customs they were learning. They both relaxed as I whispered in their ears and kissed them on the cheek.

Only Nina was left. She stood there, her fists on her hips, looking up at me almost defiantly, as she said, “I no face-touch you!”

I raised my eyebrows as I focused on her, trying to figure out what she was feeling. I felt the twin rings on my finger vibrate slightly as I read her emotions and began to translate her language. It was one of the things the rings allowed me to do.

I laughed as I figured it out. While all of the aliens were centuries old in our time, their appearance resembled young women in their late teens or early twenties on our world. And while they appeared to age much slower than we do, I had noticed that their emotional development was also slower.

Nina was the youngest of all the aliens, having started the almost two-hundred-year journey to our world as the newest and rawest member of the Queen’s Kamadge or regiment. I gathered that her posting had been a reward to her mother, who was a valued servant in the Queen’s court back on their world.

Her defiance could be compared to a young girl’s reluctance to kiss a male family member she didn’t know well at a family reunion. My laughter caused her to pause, and then her olive skin took on an interesting glow as she blushed, before scampering to catch up with the others.

“I’m not going to kiss you either,” Tommy said as he held out his hand. He was also leaving, headed back to Tapato to escort Mikeya and A’komi back to Washington next week for the State Dinner.

“Have a safe journey,” I told him. “Have you got everything you need?”

“I’m all set,” he replied. “I don’t think I’ve ever traveled this much, even when I was in the Marines. But I’ll be okay though. They never flew me in first class, either.”

“Too bad they haven’t introduced frequent flyer miles yet,” I told him.

Tommy just gave me a strange look as he headed for the coach.

I stood there alone for a moment as I watched them board the motor coach that would take them to Love Field.

“I hate goodbyes!” I thought to myself.

“Me too!” came a voice as an arm encircled my neck from behind me. I’d know that Texas drawl anywhere!

Belinda Sue Miller, aka ‘Izzy’ was my new attorney. She had bailed me out of jail a little over a week ago, while at the same time imprisoning my heart. She was smart, sexy, and Texan through and through. Even with all my powers, I’ll never understand what made her decide to chuck a lucrative, if somewhat dead-end career, to come to work for a sixteen-year-old empath with a harem. It could have been that I was about to become the president of one of the largest privately held companies in the country, or maybe it was her penchant for young lovers, but whatever it was, I was awfully glad she did!