After 1953 A.D. Men in Black Headquarters, Washington DC

Kairos lifetime 121: Glen, the Storyteller

Recording End

Lockhart, Katie, Sukki, and Lincoln appeared in a field near the main road.  The air felt like winter.  The trees were bare, but there did not appear to be any snow or ice on the ground.

“December,” Lincoln guessed, and no one disagreed.

They stopped there at first so they could thicken their fairy weave against the cold and Lockhart could explain a couple of things.  Lockhart pointed to the sign at the end of the mile-long driveway that identified the building in the distance as government property and said No Trespassing.  The gate looked closed.  “The guard house looks empty, but the intercom works,” Lockhart began.

“The gate and fence that runs through the trees that line the road are wired, not electrified, but with sensors that will detect anyone unauthorized coming through the gate or climbing over the fence.”  Lincoln added.

“All of this land around is owned by the Men in Black,” Lockhart explained to Katie and Sukki.  “It is mostly rocky, forest covered hills, so I suppose it is not very good farmland.”

Lincoln interrupted again.  “It is marked on the maps as three farms, about five thousand acres altogether.  Three families presumably hold the land in trust.  They run some cattle on two farms, and sheep on one of the farms, but it has mostly been left to grow wild like a buffer area around the main building.”

“That was a good thing five years ago when the Vordan came in their fighter ships and tried to melt the building with their heat rays,” Lockhart said.  “There weren’t any houses or businesses close enough where innocent people might have gotten hurt.”

“So you have said,” Katie responded as she slipped her arm around Sukki’s broad shoulders and gave a little squeeze.  That brought a smile and opened Sukki’s mouth.

“I am sure they were not heat rays.”

Katie looked at the girl and returned the smile.  “Your father thinks all alien weapons are ray guns.”

Lockhart grumped.  “You can see the guard house is run down, looking like it has not been regularly manned since the cold war,” he continued.  “It hasn’t, but the look is deliberate to suggest that anything interesting or secret has long since been removed from the area.  It suggests to the casual passersby that there is nothing worth seeing there.”

The travelers paused as they watched a car move down the road.  The older couple in the car ignored the people in their backpacks and soon drove around the bend while Lincoln added a thought.  “This used to all be farmland for miles around.  Now, there is a village center and a strip mall with a couple of housing developments in that direction. The other direction brings you to towns and suburbs, and eventually Washington.”

“We only have around fifty people that work here on a regular, permanent basis.  This is the headquarters building for North America.  Most operatives are trained and placed back in their regular jobs and regular lives, and fortunately, many are never called to check out any strange and unusual things.”

“Most don’t live like Scully and Mulder,” Katie surmised.

“Who?” Lockhart asked.  Katie just smiled.  Robert was not a science fiction fan.

“There are satellite offices in a couple of dozen places around the continent with a dozen or so people in each place,” Lincoln said.  “Panama City, Mexico City, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Anchorage…”

“And so on,” Lockhart interrupted.  “Maybe five hundred people are on the payroll for all of North America, but there are roughly two thousand or more others spread all over the place, including all through the Caribbean.”

“But they are working their regular jobs, living regular lives, and not likely to ever be needed,” Katie understood.  “I need to get back to work in the Pentagon.”

“Yes,” Lincoln said.  “We need someone to check on archeological digs, worldwide.”

Lockhart did not feel so sure about that.  The Pentagon was a good hour away, not counting traffic.  He supposed they might find a place halfway between.  “Anyway—Swenny Way,” he said.  “We need to cross over to the gate and let people know we are here…”

“Lockhart!”

He got interrupted by a call from across the street.  They saw a woman, a slender and beautiful blonde, wearing what appeared to be an evening gown, or a fancy nightgown.  It was hard to tell.  The woman waved for them to join her, and after a quick look up and down the street, and a slight pause while a dump truck roared by, they crossed over and Lockhart identified the woman.

“Lady Alice.”  He added a note for Katie, who knew, and Sukki, who maybe did not know.  “Lady Alice keeps Avalon, the island of the Kairos in the Second Heavens.”

Lincoln had a question when they got close.  “I thought the Storyteller was the Kairos in this time.  I am glad he made it home from the chaos of the Second Heavens before time began, but shouldn’t he be here.  I thought you couldn’t be in two places at once.”

Alice smiled for them all and made a point of hugging Sukki.  “He is home, four hundred miles from here, sleeping at this hour.  But even if he was awake, I could visit with you.  He does not remember anything about the Men in Black or the Kairos he is, or any such thing.”  She turned and began to walk slowly toward the fence as she continued to explain.

“The golem that filled his shoes over the last nearly six years while he was away remained connected to him during all that time.  That was the main reason we never gave up hoping that he would make it back alive.  The golem began to write about the lives of the Kairos almost from the beginning.  After a couple of years, he began to write about your journey through time.  The stories are up on various websites.  You can read them.  Just don’t argue with them.  Some things were changed to protect the innocent.  Other things, including some historical bits, were fudged, as he says, so the Masters will not get a clear picture of your activities.”

“The Masters,” Lockhart said.  “They worry me, and now that we are in our proper time and have no idea what the future might be, I don’t know how we would even recognize them.”

“I am here,” Alice said.  “I can warn you, so don’t worry.  Yes.  The Masters remain a problem even at this late date, but we can work things out.”

They came to the fence and Alice pulled something like a stick from an unknown pocket in her dress.  She pointed it at the fence and the fence became ghost-like in that spot so they could walk right through it.  Once through, the fence appeared solid again and Alice said she had more to tell them.

“The golem suffered a series of mini strokes at the end of 2012, the beginning of 2013 and stayed in the hospital for four days.  It was not that he needed to stay there so long, but you know doctors don’t work on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day, and apparently, they don’t worry about the hospital bills piling up.”  She paused to click her tongue, tsk, tsk.  “But it told us the Storyteller must have suffered the same and the connection remained strong.”

“But the Storyteller is back now,” Lincoln said.  “Time is straightened out again, isn’t it?”

Alice paused as they came to the edge of the trees and started across a very large field toward the building in the distance.  She seemed to be thinking of something before she spoke again.  “He is back home and presently retired and sleeping, but he is continuing to write the stories of the Kairos and finishing your stories.  I am not at liberty to say how he knows about your adventures, or how he knows anything at all about the Kairos, and all the basic details of my many lifetimes in the past and future.  Let us say the block on his memory that the goddess of memory, Mnemosyne, put on him when he visited in the days of the Princess is not a complete block.  The Kairos is counted among the gods, even if the Storyteller is strictly a human mortal and with no special powers, magic, or gifts of any kind.  Let us also say, he believes it is a great product of his active imagination and something to do since he became disabled.  Hopefully, he will be able to finish his years in peace.  He can walk, but not run.  He has blocked arteries in both legs, but telling the stories seems like a tonic for him.”

“Let us hope he does not end up in a wheelchair,” Lockhart said.  “I remember being in one back when I was old before this journey started and I got made young again.”

Katie touched Lockhart in the arm to get his attention, which she had in any case.  “I mostly forget about the age difference these days,” she said.  “I think we have bridged that gap.”

Lockhart smiled and slipped his arm over her shoulder the way she had over Sukki’s shoulder earlier.

“Okay,” Alice said.  “You have been seen so listen up.  First, leave the Storyteller alone if at all possible.  Second, Katie, do you have Decker’s ring?”  Katie nodded.  “You need to put the ring, your necklace, and the full recording of your journey in the safe, here, and leave it there for the time being.  You are not allowed to make copies or share it in any way with the marines, the Pentagon, the government, area 51, or anyone.  You are certainly not allowed to let General Weber get his hands on it.”

“General Weber?” Katie looked up.

“Correct, Lieutenant Colonel Harper-Lockhart.  There have been some changes while you were gone.”

“Understood,” Lockhart said.

“Third,” Alice continued.  “Lockhart, you have been promoted.  You are now officially the Director for North America, and presently for the organization internationally.  Lincoln, you are now the assistant director, which means you get to sit at a desk and shuffle paperwork all day.”

“Ahh,” Lincoln said.  “It sounds like heaven.”

“And fourth, you need to leave Mister Smith in his chamber, sleeping for now.”

Lockhart nodded but Katie looked uncertain.

Lastly, or fifth.  Try to limit your storytelling to what the Storyteller has written in his books.  I know you have not read them yet, but they are safe for public consumption.  You never know who might be listening.  It is good to have you home safe and sound.”

Alice smiled and vanished in a flash of light.  Sukki wanted to ask about Nanette and Decker, Tony, and especially Elder Stow, if Alice could tell her anything.  She would have to wait and ask later.  Presently, the anxiety of meeting a bunch of brand-new people was enough for her to worry about.  And the people were coming, bumping along in some sort of electric buggies, and running.