Chapter 10: Day of rest or is it?

Day 11

Walter

I said, "OH SHIT!" as I looked towards the cave doors. Standing outside of the garage were all our wives. They were standing with their arms crossed, and I swear each of them was tapping a foot as we beached the boats. Katia and Nakita started walking towards us as we helped the people out of our boat.

"Who are all those woman?" Amber asked and then Mike hollered.

"Walter! I need the med kit," he shouted.

"Our wives," I said.

I jerked my head over towards Mike, where he was checking on the young boy. I turned and ran past Katia and Nakita and into the cave. I reached the back of the cave and grabbed the bag off the shelf. I was running ran back to the entrance as Mike and Arthur Hyatt came in carrying James Giovanni between them and they set him down on the bench.

As I neared them, Amber came in being held by her mother and sister with our wives comforting them.

"What happened?" I said as I dropped the bag beside James.

"He's been shot. I thought I saw a flash from the first ship, but I didn't hear him getting hit. He never said a word, just sat there," Walter said as he ripped the shirt open to reveal a bloody hole in his chest.

Standing beside him I checked the wound and looked at Mike as I shook my head. Blood was running from the young boy's mouth as I examined him.

"Fuck! We need a doctor," I said as I searched through the bag and not knowing what I was doing.

"I know, but what can we do?" Mike asked.

"Treat him to the best of our ability," I said as I pulled out a package and ripped it opened. Placing the pad against the bloody wound I taped it down.

"Do something!" Amber screamed.

I looked at her helplessly and replied, "I don't know what to do. Damn these aliens for bringing us here."

"Amber," James whispered and I stepped back as the young girl came over and held his hand.

"Amber, don't blame them. Don't be angry at them. It's not their fault they can't help me," he said as he squeezed her hand.

I watched as Amber brushed his hair out of his face and kissed him.

"I love you James," she said.

"Love you too, babe," he replied and started coughing and closed his eyes.

I pulled her away and directed her into her mother's arms as Mike checked him and shook his head. "I'm sorry Amber. I..."

"You couldn't do anything. I know, but you freed him. He died a free man and not in that cell where he was being held," Amber said and turned and kissed my cheek.

"I know how you feel. I lost my wife of thirty years and my son was murdered in Iraq. You go with my wives and they will sit with you. I will make a casket for him, so we can bury him," I replied. I watched them lead her away and I said, "Amber."

"Yes sir," she said as she looked over her shoulder at me.

"I'm sorry," I replied as she nodded her head and was led away.

"Damn them," I snarled after the door closed.

"Not their fault Walter," Mike said.

He went to the stacks of pallets and started pulling some of them apart. He turned around and a shimmering appeared next to the bench. A coffin appeared on the silver section of the floor we had been wondering about. It was made of dark wood, with silver binding. It was opened and I could see that it had red silk on the inside and a little pillow.

"That's not what we fucking need, Rala," Mike hollered.

"I know, and I'm sorry," she replied.

"You could have saved him," I said.

"No, I couldn't, I'm not allowed too," she replied as a tear ran down her face. She reached out and set her hand on James's forehead.

"We need a doctor," I said.

"I know, please go get Amber, while I have the body prepared for you," she ordered and the body vanished.

"Why?" I asked.

"I'm going to teach her to be a doctor. Also bring the family," she said.

"Ok, I will be right back," I responded as I walked out of the garage and towards the living room.

Standing there, I saw Amber. She was crying and being comforted by the women. The children were playing with her sister and brother as I walked in. They were showing my kids how to work the game systems. On the big sixty inch TV, four cars were going around and crashing into each other.

"Amber, Arthur, and Mary Hyatt, can you come to the garage please?" I asked.

"Now?" Arthur asked.

"Yes, please," I said as I left the room.

Going back to the garage, I saw Mike bringing in the chests from the jollyboat. Looking around I didn't see Rala, and James's body was now in the casket. Amber walked in and saw James and started crying.

"Amber Hyatt, I am sorry for your loss," Rala said as she appeared and Mary screamed.

"Please don't scream," Rala asked.

Mary's mouth snapped closed.

"Who are you?" Amber asked.

"A friend and I'm really sorry I couldn't save him. My captain has forbidden it, but I think I have a way to prevent it from happing again. That is if you want it," she replied.

"I don't understand," she asked.

"I will take you up to our station, and imprint medical knowledge into your mind. This way you become the doctor, here, and you will be able to help everyone," she said.

"Can't you send us home?" Arthur asked.

"You were taken in 2002, its now 2007. You've been gone for five years. Your family has buried you, and gone on with their lives. Would it be fair to take you back?" she asked.

"No! It wouldn't, but what are we supposed to do, here? I don't know how to survive here, how to provide for my family! I am a fucking accountant, for God's sake," he snapped out.

"I know. I can implant knowledge so you can survive here. We will also restore your youth, as we did to Walter and Mike..."

"Restore our youth?" Mary asked.

"Yes, when we recruited Walter and Mike, they were in their sixties. Their bodies are now as they were when they were eighteen ... with a few modifications, that is."

Mike started coughing and turned away as he turned bright red.

"I don't understand, you say they volunteered, but you kidnapped us, and got young James killed," Arthur snapped out.

"No, we didn't kidnap you ... or I should say our department didn't. You were taken by another group of scientists, whose research is classified to us.

"I know its semantics, but you must understand the way our departments are run. We don't know what each is doing unless we stumble over another group's project or it's been declassified. We didn't know about you until these men rescued you. Now you are part of my project and your history has been uploaded to my computers.

"You were taken, because the scientists wanted to know what the pirates would do with your sailing sloop. Would they copy the design, arm it, and exploit it? In fact they want me to turn over Walter and Mike's files, but they won't get them. They belong to the civilization group, not the tech group," she said.

"I don't understand. How many experiments are you people running, here?" I asked.

"At any given time there are five to ten experiments going," Rala replied as she looked at me. She turned back to Amber and her parents and said, "Well?"

Arthur looked at Mary and sighed, "I guess we have no choice."

"She's right, but what about our kids?" Mary asked.

"They will still be your kids. You will just be younger is all," Rala said.

"What about me?" Amber asked.

"You will become a doctor when I'm done with you. To help you in your new profession I give you this," Rala said.

She pointed to her right and a Dodge truck appeared. Attached to the truck was a thirty foot trailer that stood eighteen feet tall.

"Wow, how did you do that?" Amber asked.

"Molecular transportation," Rala replied and then added, "That is your new surgical trailer. It is stocked with everything you will ever need. It even comes with a medical database computer, and a replicator to generate fresh supplies for you. It has two floors. The top floor has five beds for patients and one for you when you need to be with them. The bottom deck is your surgery, lab, x-ray, shower and kitchen."

"Wow," I said as I looked around the garage to figure out where to park it and saw it would fit between the two travel trailers.

"Thank you," Rala replied and looked Amber and waited.

"Rala, I will do it. I don't want anyone to die like James again. Not if I can help it," she said.

Before I could say anything, all four of them vanished. With a shrug, I went to the tractor and put the backhoe on it. With Mike's help, we had the part on the tractor and it ready to go. We placed James's coffin in one of the walk-in coolers, and went to my living room. Mike took his girls and went to bed, I escorted Lilna, Crettle, and Mayra back to their trailer and kissed them goodnight on their cheeks.

Walking back to the garage door, I lowered it and locked the door down. Checking the cams, I saw that the pirate ship was limping east and I followed it for a few minutes before I rotated it back around onto the entrance.

"Walter," Katia said from the doorway.

"Yes love," I replied.

"Come to bed, it's late. The kids are a sleep, and we are waiting for you," she said as she came towards me.

"I know," I replied and scooped her off her feet. Carrying her into the house, I locked the door and then went to our bedroom. Standing there, I looked at the girls and smiled as I set her down. Kissing her, I went into the bathroom and removed my clothes, took a piss and stepped into the shower. As I was washing myself, the door opened and my wives stepped in so I flipped on all the showerheads and picked up the bottle of soap. I started washing my ladies and then Katia tapped me on my shoulder. I looked over and she was holding the bottle of special soap.