Welcome to Percotran -Part L

By Richard Davidson

Alexander had never been in so much pain. It felt as if someone had buried a Philips head screwdriver in the back of his neck, and twisted it a couple of times.

And where was he? The last thing he could remember, he had been working on a dock on Lake Globutran, and there had been a bright flash, and then darkness. It was pitch dark wherever he was. He crawled along what felt like a metal floor, and banged his head into a table, or shelf, or something. He let out a little yelp.

Alexander navigated his way around what must have been a table, and cut his hand on some broken glass.

“Perfect,” he thought, bleeding about as much as he normally did.

“It smells horrible in here,” he thought, feeling just a bit squeamish. He continued on slowly, trying to feel his way around. As he made his way around another table, he saw a small green light. He made his way carefully towards it, putting his cut hand into some kind of solution, that stung quite a bit.

The green light was too high for him to reach from his crawling position, so he stood, took a step, and crashed to the floor, his face pressed up against the wet, sticky face of a corpse with a bad head injury. He screamed, and jumped up, banging his head on a small shelf underneath the green light he had seen, and with a loud whir, the room came to life. Several devices began humming and clicking, and the room was flooded with the most severe bright light you could imagine.

Alexander didn’t have to imagine it, however, as it caused searing pain to race from his eyes, up his optic nerve, and apparently to the same pain centers that were causing his crippling headache. He screamed again, this time from the pain, and a strange, white world shimmered and wobbled before him, as he slowly regained his vision.

The corpse was the recently deceased Dr. Evinrude. Alexander was back at Percolex, and it appeared he had arrived a good night before he had departed. He’d had quite about enough of running into former selves. It seemed like all of them were idiots, and it was quite discomforting.

“Best I get the hell out of here,” he thought, remembering he’d better wash Dr. Evinrude’s blood and brains off his face before leaving the area. There was an employee washroom back on the stairwell, and that’s where he went.

He washed his face, and it was only when he was drying it with a brown paper towel that he looked, and saw his reflection in the mirror. What he saw made him gasp.

He looked years older. His eyes were sunken and bagged, some of his hair had greyed, and there was something else. He looked tough, confident, sure, and yet wizened. He looked like a man returning from war.

He walked slowly the rest of the way up the stairwell, along the hallway, and back out into the main hallway leading to the guard desk.

“What are you doing here at this hour?” asked Barry, the night guard.

“I’m working on a special project, for the brass,” answered Alexander, without hesitation.

“The brass?” Barry seemed a bit confused. “What the hell happened to you? Why are your clothes nearly destroyed?”

Alexander didn’t really have an answer to that, so he just said, “goodnight,” and walked out the front door, through the parking lot, got in his car, and got a motel room. He would’ve gone home, but was adamant about not running into his former self.

His former self would be leaving to embark on the journey he had just returned from, and he figured everything would probably work out right, and he could simply take his own life back over again. He had never even begun to understand the intricacies of time travel, nor did he care to, but he felt pretty good about this one.

For now, what he needed was sleep. And that’s just what he got. He didn’t wake up until 11:30, and the Hotel Manager was shouting from the doorway that he had missed checkout time, and this room was reserved by some Amway Salesmen.

Alexander still had his clothes on, so he merely stepped out of the bed, and marched past the manager, knocking him into the door just a little on his way past. He drove the thirty miles to his old farmhouse, fed the cats, and went inside to make himself a nice breakfast.

On the television, the local news people were very excited about the surprise merger of Percolex and Ecotran. Alexander dropped an egg, which broke on the kitchen floor. The phone rang. Alexander let the machine pick it up.

It was the executive that had sent Alexander down to retrieve the data in the first place. He was out of breath; gasping for air. Something about an explosion, and the Research Wing of Percolex being destroyed. Alexander turned the volume down. He didn’t care.

He called Frank Henderson, who’d always shown a strong interest in the farmhouse.

“Frank? The farmhouse is yours if you can get me $50,000.00 by 3:00.”

“Fifty thousand? My God, how am I going to get a closing in three hours?”

“You’ll find a way. You’ve got connections.” Alexander hung up the phone and dialed his broker.

“I want to cash in all my shares of Percolex and Ecotran.” He could almost hear his broker salivating.

“I’ll take ‘em off your hands, and I won’t even charge a commission on the sale,” he told Alexander excitedly.

“There’s just one condition,” said Alexander, knowing he was in total command of the situation.

“What’s that?” asked his broker, eagerly.

“You’ve gotta find me a boat.”

“A boat?”

“I want a big yacht, fully loaded with supplies, with the name ‘S.S. Kasheeba’ painted on the stern, and I need it by 7:00 tonight. You do that, and I’ll sell you the stock at the price it closed at yesterday.”

Alexander drove back to town, and bought six pet carriers, a big duffel bag, and a number of guns. He returned to the farm, and was loading cats into the pet carriers when the phone rang, and again he let the machine get it.

“This is Frank Henderson. If you’re there pick up...”

Alexander picked up.

“How’s it going, Frank? Any luck?”

“Meet me at Macavie Title in 20 minutes,” Frank almost shouted, “I’ve got your money.”

“Make sure everything’s all set,” Alexander barked. “I want to be able to just run in, and run out, got it?”

“What’s your big hurry?” asked Frank.

“Life is short, my friend,” answered Alexander, “life is short.”

Alexander hung up, and dialed a number that made his blood boil.

“Hello?” it was Cathy Turnquist.

“Cathy? Hi, this is Alexander.”

“Alexander! Boy, I haven’t heard from you for awhile. What’s up?”

Alexander couldn’t believe what he was about to say.

“Run away with me. I bought a yacht. I’m sailing tonight, at midnight.”

“What? Are you drunk? Alexander, really; I mean you don’t call me for weeks, and then this? This is a bit too much.”

She was right, and he knew it. It was too much. But he didn’t care, not one bit.

“Look, I’ve sold my house, and my stock, and I’m going to go close all my bank accounts. Meet me at Chuali’s at 8:00, and bring your luggage.”

“Alexander, I’m not going to be there,” she said, exasperated.

“Yes you will,” he told her. “You never could resist the Thursday Special.

“Damn you,” she sputtered. Pork Tenderloin in the finest sauce ever heard of. That really did sound good.

“I’m not brining any luggage,” she said, a little softer.

“You’re going to need clothes,” Alexander said, logically.

“I’m not going to need any clothes, because I’m not going anywhere.”

“Yes you do, and yes you will, and I’ve got to get going. Just meet me there, OK?”

“Fine.”

“Oh, and Cathy? One more thing.”

“Yes?”

“I love you.”

After successfully closing on his farmhouse, closing his bank accounts, and selling his stock, Alexander had $258,934.22, minus the $114,316.50 he paid for the fully seaworthy S.S. Kasheeba.

He was slowly chewing a piece of Tempura Shrimp, savoring it the whole way.

“I can’t believe you didn’t get the special,” Cathy said, smiling. She’d never looked so beautiful; never made him feel so satisfied.

“I guess I just really like seafood lately,” answered Alexander, looking into her eyes, and then away.

“So what you’re proposing is that we take six cats on a worldwide cruise?” she asked, skeptically.

“That’s what I’m going to do. I’m proposing you come with me.”

“What are we going to do out there?” she asked.

Alexander leaned across the table, and kissed her, holding her face softly with his hand.

“We can’t just do that all the time,” she said, with stars in her eyes.

“Can’t we?” Alexander was grinning from ear to ear. “Well, we’ll have to do some fishing, I guess.”

“But why do we have to leave tonight?” she asked, growing impatient once more.

“So you’re coming?”

“I asked you a question.”

“My instincts tell me to leave tonight. I’ve learned to trust my instincts.”

“Alexander, I’m just not that kind of woman. What about my job? My friends? My life? Somehow I think you’ve asked the wrong girl.”

“Do you love me?” Alexander asked, pointedly.

“Well, yes...”

“Then you’ve got to trust me. I know what I’m doing.”

They finished their meal in silence, and Alexander paid, and they walked to her car, and embraced. Alexander kissed her, and at first she kissed back, but then pulled away.

“I’d love to come with you, I really would. But I just can’t. I came here to see you, but I was never planning to actually go.”

“Then why,” he asked, “did you bring these suitcases?”

She didn’t have an answer.

“Let me help you with those,” he said, picking them up, and walking towards the pier.

“What about my car?” she asked, starting to follow, and hesitating.

“You won’t need it.”

They walked the three blocks to the pier, and he loaded her luggage, and helped her aboard.

As he cast off, Cathy stood staring at the lights of the city.

“It’s only ten,” she said, not knowing why.

Alexander started the motor, which would take them out of the harbor, and towards the open sea. He took an Eric Clapton CD out of his jacket pocket, and the cabin soon filled with the sound of “Wonderful Tonight.”

“Shall we dance?” he asked, drawing her close.

She rested her head against his shoulder, whispered in his ear of how she wondered about their future.

“There is no future,” Alexander told her softly, “there’s only right now.”

Soon the city lights were gone, and there was only the ocean, and a beautiful pale moon.

The End

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