Chapter 03: Talk Time

When the portal closes on Crossroads MariLynn greets them both with loving arms while exclaiming, “Thank you, Jonas, for performing this rescue. Bethany is my kinswoman, and with Gerald gone there’s no one else I’d have wanted to make the rescue.”

Jonas’ voice is flat as he answers “I’m glad the rescue was a success, but we need to have a serious discussion about it. First, we need to use the restoration chamber to kill any ’nasties’ we picked up on Chaos.”

Concerned about his serious tone MariLynn replies, “Certainly. Do you want a breakfast?”

“No. I want a steak sandwich and a cold beer, but I need to eat it in here with you. You’ll have to ask Bethany what she would prefer to eat and drink.”

MariLynn nods as she leads Jonas to the restoration chamber. As soon as the chamber closes she turns to Bethany and asks, “What’s going on here? I’ve never seen him act like this.”

“He doesn’t want to talk about it in front of me, but the entire operation was a trap; a trap to kill him and take control of Shiloh!”

A flabbergasted MariLynn cries, “What! How? Are you sure?”

“I overheard enough to know I was the bait. The rest, he can tell you. MariLynn, we barely got out of there alive. They were breaking down the door in the bank. There’s no braver or smarter Hero than Jonas, but there were times there when he was scared.” After chuckling she adds, “Then there were also times when he was scary.”

A few minutes later MariLynn is still stunned when she helps Jonas from the chamber. She next helps Bethany for her round in the chamber. When she emerges MariLynn leads while the two go to the lounge area. Jonas sits in one of the chairs while she takes the newly rescued Damsel into the regular eating area and gets her started.

Upon the Caretaker’s return she directs the computer to place two swivel rockers and a small table in front of the fireplace. The small fire she requests provides more ambiance than warmth. A club sandwich and coffee are placed on one side of the table while a steak sandwich and a beer are on the other side.

Once they’re both seated Jonas leans back with the beer and takes a swallow. MariLynn is patient while he closes his eyes and takes a second swallow. By the time he takes a third much of the tension and stress have begun to peel from him like the clothes from a stripper. Finally he leans forward and takes a bite of his sandwich.

While he’s chewing MariLynn asks, “Bethany said the rescue was a trap. Is that true, and how did they do it?”

“That, my dear Caretaker, is the sixty-four-thousand dollar question. They knew it was me that was coming because the primary purpose of the kidnapping and ambush was to take Shiloh. Bethany and the kidnappers were never in that forest the way you described them, but, instead, twenty killers were waiting in ambush. Then, moments ago, you stated I was the one Hero you would prefer to rescue your kinswoman. From the evidence, at this point, the only conclusion I can make is you’ve a traitor here on Crossroads.”

“But that’s impossible!”

“I would agree, but on earth we’ve a saying: if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it just might be a duck.”

“Jonas, I follow your logic, but I just can’t imagine who, or how. I’ve a kinswoman who was a Caretaker until her Hero was killed several years ago. She’s a now a supervisor. I’ll talk to her, and I’m sure, before it’s over with, she’ll want to talk to you. I’ll suggest your earlier statement concerning a potential Hero as the reason for the meeting with her.”

“That’s a good approach. Now, we’ve left our Damsel alone long enough. How about setting up this room with a love seat, a bearskin rug in front of the fireplace, some soft romantic music, and two snifters of a fine brandy? Hopefully that will restore our minds and emotions to where they need to be at this time.”

MariLynn answers, “Why don’t you bring her here? I’ll set it up then go talk to my kinswoman while you two enjoy yourselves. If you need anything, just call my name.”

Jonas soon finds Bethany and waits for her to finish eating. He leads her back to the lounge and is pleased at how MariLynn has followed his directions. Besides the rug and love-seat there’s now a larger fire and the temperature of the room has been lowered to compensate. They sit on the love-seat facing the fire and she snuggles close to him.

Jonas hands Bethany a snifter from the coffee table and explains, “This is brandy. It’s like a very fine wine, but it is much more potent. It’s normally served in these type of glasses.” Then after picking up his own snifter Jonas adds, “When you hold it like this the heat from your hands warms the brandy. This releases its fragrance, which is probably its greatest attribute. The shape of the glass helps hold the aroma so it can be enjoyed for a longer period. The brandy itself is to be just sipped because it can make you drunk rather quickly.”

When the rescued Damsel imitates Jonas she discovers he’s right; the aroma is like a fine ambrosia to the senses. In a short time the tiredness, the brandy, the romantic atmosphere, and her feeling safe and secure all came together to accomplish one thing; she falls sound asleep.

Jonas carefully picks her up and carries her to the bedroom. He removes her shoes and places her under the covers. They’ll have more intimate time later, but now she needs to rest her mind and body.

He returns to the lounge and says, “MariLynn.”

A little later a doorway opens to let MariLynn and another woman enter the room. Assuming this is MariLynn’s kinswoman he’s surprised at how little they resemble each other. The woman is very tall, probably more than six feet two. She appears to be in her mid-thirties and in excellent physical condition. Her hair is black, as are her almond shaped eyes, making her face look like a classic mixture of Vietnamese and French. Her shiny black hair is styled in a modified pageboy with a bang style fringe and just a little under curl at the front. The hair in the front is about two inches longer than the back.

She reaches out her hand and says, “Jonas, I’m Sharon Supervisor. I’m one of the coordinators of the operation here on Crossroads.” Then pointing to her ear and slightly nodding she adds, “MariLynn says you have some questions about a potential Hero?”

Jonas immediately understands Sharon’s afraid someone is listening. He turns back to the fire, and discovers the love seat has been replaced by three swivel rockers placed around a coffee table situated in such a manner as to be easily accessible by all three chairs.

MariLynn says, “Coffee, please.”

In the blink of an eye a cup of coffee appears on the table close to each chair. Jonas leans forward to picks his up. After taking a sip he smiles; it’s perfect. He says, “I may have someone who’d be ideal, but I need some questions answered.”

“We’ll do our best.”

“First, can someone be paralyzed from the waist down on Earth yet be able to fight on Chaos?”

“I’d doubt it, but the Portal would say for sure. If he wasn’t capable he’d be unable to pass through it to Crossroads, or from Crossroads to Chaos.”

“That makes sense. Second, can a Hero’s Companion be impregnated on Chaos?”

“That is a good question. The rule book doesn’t say.” Then speaking out to the room she asks, “System, can a Hero’s Companion become pregnant on Chaos?”

A voice answers, “Because of the temporal distortion of the portals conception of the companion is to be prevented. That is the reason the women from Cassandra have to leave as soon as they become pregnant. The longer between conception and movement through the portal, the bigger chance for problems to occur. For this reason the portals scan for pregnancy and will not allow a pregnant women to leave Chaos. I will see the rule books are updated to reflect that.”

Jonas says, “Well, that answers that question; and when I think about it, the answer makes perfectly logical sense. My third question concerns how long a Hero and his companion can stay on Chaos without any problems, especially trans-portal problems?”

Sharon answered, “We’ve had a couple of long rescue situations in the past where the Hero was on Chaos for months. He never aged, and when he finally returned to Earth only the normal fifteen minutes had passed. Also, if he arrives back here alive he can be fully restored, but if he dies on Chaos there’s no way for us to return him to life.”

“Sharon,” Jonas explains, “my grandson, Kyle, who’ll soon be joining us as a new Hero, has a friend who was one of the mightiest warriors of my country. He led an elite group who operated behind enemy lines disrupting communications and the delivery of supplies. Sometimes they had to eliminate bad people, but often they were used to rescue innocents who were held by evil people.”

“That sounds like a very clear description of a Hero to me,” remarks MariLynn.

“Sharon, on his last mission he rescued a journalist, a writer of the news. She was a citizen of an old enemy of my country. The people who kidnapped her were trying to force the old enemy to provide them with weapons to be used against us. When he climbed into their transport after the rescue he was shot in the back by one of the kidnappers who was thought to be dead. They saved his life, but the injury paralyzed him from the waist down. The woman he rescued is now totally committed to him, but he has trouble accepting it’s not from pity or a sense of guilt he got hurt because of her.”

A shocked Sharon asks, “He was left paralyzed? Are you telling me they have no means to restore his body?”

“That’s correct, he was left paralyzed. Sharon, it’s suddenly amazing to me we’ve such advanced means to kill on our planet but nothing to heal, at least not like you have here. To me, that’s a perversion and it honestly saddens me to realize how little we really value a human life. If we cared about humanity, as we claim, our medical technology would be far more advanced than our military technology.”

“I don’t understand. How can this be? All the Heroes I know of from your world put such great value in human life, justice, and honor.”

Jonas replies, “And that’s exactly why they are Heroes. But Heroes are seldom the leaders of a nation. Their sense of rightness and fair play can’t deal with the political junk, greed, power lust, and corruption that’s usually involved with being a national leader.”

“I’m sorry, Jonas, but this is most confusing. If this is true, how do the nations on Earth have quality leadership?”

“When I start looking at things from this perspective I don’t think we’ve often had real quality leadership. Our priorities are all out of whack. We spend a hundred times more on research for new weapons than we do on medical research. I earlier learned the entire population of Cassandra is less than a half a million. On Earth we’ve had battles where almost twice that many were killed, and many of those deaths were due to disease or poor medical treatment of non-fatal wounds.”