Shiloh
Chapter 03: Talk Time

Copyright© 2005 Ernest Bywater & R. Michael Lowe aka The Scot

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.”

This shocks both women. They both think, How can a world like that produce men like Jonas and Gerald Jones, or the other great Heroes?

After taking several sips of coffee Jonas continues, “MariLynn, you, or someone, once explained the women on Cassandra have such a desire for children the women who can bear children enter a lottery, hoping to be selected. Those selected come here for general training and then go to Chaos where they place themselves in danger, hoping to be rescued by a Hero. If they’re lucky enough to be rescued they return here to Crossroads where they’re impregnated by the Hero. Once they’re impregnated they return to Cassandra where they and the cherished child will be cared for by all of their society.” Both women nod their agreement this is so.

Jonas continues, “Well, in my country, on Earth, more than a million children a year are never allowed to be born. In addition, a woman who has a child without a husband is shunned by society. Even worse, we’ve millions of fathers who’ve abandoned their families, refusing to pay anything to support their children. That’s why I reacted so strongly, in the beginning, about not being involved in the life of a child I produced. In a world where life is cheap Heroes, by their very nature, care about lives more than the rest of society.” During this statement Jonas stares at the floor. While he tells them these things he becomes ashamed to even be from such a world. A few minutes later he looks up, and discovers the two beautiful women comforting each other in the midst of their tears.

Once the two women finally calm down MariLynn looks at Jonas. The look on his face is hard to read, but it almost appears to be disgust. She hopes he isn’t disgusted at them. “Jonas, are you OK?” she asks.

“Not really. At the moment I’m rather disgusted.”

Both women are distraught at the possibility their emotions have affected him this way. Though Jonas is the only Hero MariLynn has ever known Sharon has been directly, and indirectly, dealing with men from Earth for many years. They both suddenly realize Earth is a much more complicated world than they’ve ever imagined.

Sharon reaches out and touches Jonas’ arm while she says, “We’re sorry if we offended you. Please forgive us.”

Stunned at her apology Jonas replies, “Forgive you for what? You did nothing wrong that I’m aware of.”

“You’re not disgusted with us for crying and comforting each other?” asks MariLynn.

“No, I was suddenly disgusted I had to claim Earth as my home world and I was frustrated because I don’t know how to change things. You’re from a world where women risk their lives to try to have a child while I’m from a world where even more women pay money, and often risk their lives, to keep from having one. I just wish we could invent a portal that can remove an unwanted fetus from a woman wanting an abortion and place it in the womb of a Cassandran woman who so desperately wants a child of her own.”

At that point Jonas can no longer hold back the tears. MariLynn says, “Computer, replace Jonas’ and my chairs with a sofa.”

Instantly the rockers containing Jonas and MariLynn disappear and, suddenly, the two are now sitting on a soft, overstuffed sofa. Jonas’ Caretaker reaches over and gently brings his head to her lap where she strokes his cheek and speaks words of comfort in his ears. Sharon comes around the sofa, slips off his shoes, and places his legs and feet level with the rest of his body. As soon as she finishes Jonas draws his legs up until he’s in a fetal position and the tears flow much faster. For the moment the mighty warrior is as vulnerable as a tiny baby.

Hours later Jonas slowly opens his eyes. He’s not sure where he is until he feels MariLynn’s fingertips stroking his cheek. He starts to sit up, but finds himself completely drained. She assists him into a sitting position while Sharon brings over a container of the restorative they’d given him on previous visits. After a few swallows he feels his energy levels begin to return to normal.

“Thank you, MariLynn, for your care and comfort, and thank you for the drink, Sharon. I was emotionally wiped-out. I wanted to say I was beginning to feel human again, but I don’t like that word right now.”

Puzzled, Sharon asks, “What word is that?”

“Human. The more we talked, the more I realized just how sick and perverse a world I live in.”

“Jonas,” Sharon counters, “it can’t be totally corrupt to produce men like you, Gerald, your grandson, and his friend. Who knows? Maybe one day you can make a difference, even if it is only to one person.”

“So you’ll try to help him?”

“If he can come through the Portal we’ll do our best.”

Suddenly Sharon stops, places her hand to her ear, and stares off into space. Her eyes clear and she says, “I need to take care of some things. MariLynn, I think our Damsel has been waiting too long, even if she did fall asleep in Jonas’ arms. Take Jonas to her, and if nothing else, let them cuddle for a while. Also, I want you and I to talk to Jonas some more during this time of impregnating Bethany. His concept of a Hero raises some interesting questions.”

Jonas and MariLynn return to the bedroom where Bethany is still asleep. Still in their clothes they both slip into bed with her, making her the meat of a very warm and caring sandwich. Though she sleeps a lot longer she’s soon making warm, purring noises in her sleep.

When Bethany awakens she’s astounded to find herself surrounded in bed by the love of her Hero and his Caretaker. Bethany’s stirring causes them to realize she’s awake, then MariLynn exits to allow their Damsel the intimate time with Jonas she’s earned.

For the first time MariLynn is feeling a slight twinge of jealousy. Contemplating this she realizes, These feelings are not because Bethany will be getting love from Jonas; Lord no, that man has enough love in his heart for a thousand women. No, it’s because Bethany will be able to have his child and I can’t.

MariLynn is surprised, since this aspect hasn’t bothered her before. This is her chosen station in life. But something changed when she held him earlier when he let down all the walls and cried, crying for a nation and a world. That’s when this suddenly became a real struggle for her.

Once they’re alone Jonas turns his entire attention to Bethany. By now he’s familiar with the Cassandran women who are used to dealing with passive men who have to be teased for hours before they’re even ready for sex. In contrast, the women have a hair trigger, without which they’d never receive any satisfaction at all from Cassandra’s version of the minute man.

Jonas takes his time to make slow love to her, bringing her to full completion as a women, many times, while they seek to create a new life. After he releases his seed in her the couple dwell in the soft afterglow of their time together until she falls asleep. Jonas rises and slides a pillow underneath her, hoping to help keep his sperm around the egg for as long as possible.

He lets her sleep and he stumbles into the bath to take a quick shower. When he returns she’s still asleep, so he carefully tucks her in and returns to the lounge area. There he finds MariLynn and Sharon deep in a discussion. He starts to leave, but Sharon calls him over.

“Jonas, we’ve evaluated some anomalies and determined you’re right. We located the person who was listening to our conversation earlier. But when confronted with the truth she denies everything. The problem is our tests show she’s not lying. So, other than knowing there is a problem, we’re, as you say, back to square one. Would it be possible for you to write, on paper, a detailed journal of this last trip, including observations and thoughts, not just events? We’d also like you to give us details of what you’ve done to this point in preparation for the coming war, as well as separate lists of things you plan to do, hope to do, and would like to do. The reason for doing it on paper is to keep it off the computer.”

“On one condition.”

“What’s that?” asks Sharon.

“I can take a copy back to Earth with me.”

“I’m fine with that, and since the portal allows the manuals and guide books to be transported I’m sure your report will be, also.”

“Then I’ll need a secure area off our bedroom to write, and where Bethany and MariLynn can join me, at times. If you would, please make it a small version of the lounge, including a fireplace and the bear-skin rug. I want it locked in such a way only the three of us can enter it.”

“It’ll be ready within the hour.”

“Good. MariLynn, I need a restorative and some cuddle time with you.”

For the next couple of weeks Jonas never leaves the bedroom area. When he’s not making love with one of the women he’s writing. Adding to his journal he starts drawing charts of activity, maps of the area, as he remembers it, and the design of several fortifications he’d like to add.

During this time he draws close to Bethany, and even closer to MariLynn. Weeks later Jonas finally finishes his journal, and the next day Bethany comes in excitedly bearing the news he’s dreading. She’s pregnant with twin boys. He’s excited for her, but it means he’ll never see her again. Even worse, it’ll be two weeks, or more, before he’ll again see his beloved MariLynn.

He kisses Bethany then he watches her vanish through the portal to Cassandra before he holds MariLynn for as long as possible. When his body says he has to leave immediately he gives her a final kiss then he grabs his copy of the journal and the different manuals before stepping back into his work-room via the portal.


Jonas resets the portal’s frame into the wall, opens the secret door, and re-enters his study. When the bookcase is back in place he opens his special safe. He adds some notes relating to the transfer of everything on Chaos to Kyle and adds some changes to Shiloh’s defenses he wants to make. Finally, he puts everything in the safe and locks it.

He opens the door to his office, only to see the shadow of someone sitting in his chair. “What are you doing here?” he asks the shadow.

Jonas recognizes the voice of the intruder when he says, “I’ve come to discuss some things with you.”

“I doubt we’ve much to discuss.”

“I don’t know. I understand you’ve quite an operation at Shiloh.”

At that Jonas sits down. This doesn’t make sense.

A little later the man leaves after talking for a while. Jonas sits and thinks for several minutes. He turns to his computer to type a note for Kyle before instigating a security shutdown of his system.

Twenty minutes later the quiet of the neighborhood is shattered by the sound of a gunshot. The police and paramedics are quick to arrive, but it’s of no use as Jonas Alexander is dead. The coroner is called to the scene, and within an hour he rules it a suicide.

The source of this story is SciFi-Stories

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