Chapter Forty-Two
PEGASUS RETURNS HOME
Grandpa and Mike Watkins hurried into the outer reception area. Looking left toward Krista’s office he motioned with his hand, and shouted, “Come on Krissy, Forrest and Olive Marie are coming back! Come on, shake-a-leg we only have a few more minutes.
Running as fast as possible in her high heel shoes Krista caught up with Captain Scarburg and Mike at the elevator door. “Gracious Captain! What is going on? What do you mean, ‘Forrest and Olive Marie are coming back’? Where have they been?”
“Krissy, Mike said he knew who took Pegasus.”
“Who Captain? Who would be crazy enough to do such a thing?”
“Forrest and Olive Marie! They took it!”
“NO! Your wrong Captain, not my Forrest and Olive Marie!”
“I’m afraid so Krissy. We don’t know why they took Pegasus, but Mike has calculated, from the instruments in the laboratory the time machine should be returning within the next couple of minutes. We are on our way to the lab to wait Pegasus’s arrival, come join us. We are hopeful Forrest and Olive Marie will be inside.”
Entering the elevator she asked, “Captain? I don’t understand, why would the two of them take Pegasus? And where were they going?”
“We don’t know all the answers Krista, but we believe they were destined for Texas in the year 1963. Maybe in a minute or so things will become clearer.”
The elevator dropped swiftly from the fifth floor, the door dinged announcing their arrival at the laboratory in the basement. As the door opened the three bolted across the hall, past the security guard just in time to hear the sound of rustling wind and see the static electric charges jumping through the air. The faint whiff of ozone could also be detected. The miniature tornado like effect was beginning to appear in the center of the room. A swirling fog like haze was becoming prominent. Gradually the outline of the gleaming, silver craft began to appear. At this stage of re-entry, the whole machine was transparent. Within seconds, the transparency began to solidify, and the shiny, lustrous object settled down within the confines of the launch facility. The loud hissing noise almost overshadowed the faint tranquil bagpipes heard playing in the background. The escaping air indicating the hatch was opening, caused everyone to scamper to the hatch to await the exit of those supposedly inside the craft. The service platform was rolled up beside the hatch, and Captain Scarburg ran up the steps like a mad man.
Gaining the last step, he bent over and pushed his head inside the craft. The group standing around Pegasus was holding its collective breath – anxious with anticipation. Finally, Captain Scarburg withdrew his head, turned and exclaimed, “No!!”
It was an exercise in futility, no one was inside – Pegasus was empty!
The Captain slowly stole one last glance into the machine then turned, and somberly walked down the steps with head bowed. Reaching the floor his expressionless face suddenly brightened as he turned to the assembled group. “Mike, Spook, Tinker, Sam Lin, Si Lei and Krista all of you to the conference room, now! Mr. Rousseau, prepare Pegasus for another flight, same departure time, leave the arrival time the same also. Let Pegasus settle down in the same cow pasture. Walking toward the exit to the elevator he spoke to Krista, “Call Dr. LJ and Rocky, I need them too.”
EVERYONE TO THE CONFERENCE ROOM
Once in the conference room everyone was buzzing as each took a seat. The last to arrive was Captain Scarburg with a thick manila folder. Walking to the podium, “Folks, I know we have just been disappointed since Forrest and Olive Marie did not return, but I have a glimmer of hope.” Knowing Krista was sick with worry he believed this would lift her spirits.
“If you all will remember back to our previous meeting when I assigned duties and responsibilities for our return to Dallas to dig into the John Kennedy assassination. I asked Spook, Tinker, Forrest, Olive Marie and you, Krista to stay behind and mind the store while we were gone. I had previously asked Sam Lin and Si Lei to go back to Bangkok, and investigate Ryan Rousseau and they successfully completed their task.
“Spook and Tinker have already provided some basic information on the Mafia’s connection with the assassination. That’s good guys keep working on that angle. Krista, you were to coordinate all the activities and keep everything in an orderly fashion. Mike your job was to ensure Pegasus was up and running for the return flight.
Now this brings us to the current situation - Forrest and Olive Marie,” the Captain said opening up the manila folder. “I know they were certainly not satisfied with being left behind. Forrest, I’m sure, believed he could be useful, and I relegated him to a minor role in our Kennedy mission. Olive Marie was mad because I said she was not old enough to participate. I believe these two concocted a plan. A plan, which they believed they could pull off, and prove to us, well actually me, they were able and capable of handling responsible SCAR assignments.
Spook replied, “Captain, we believe you are correct, but what are the new assignments?”
“I see two pressing actions. To begin, I need to go immediately back to Texas and find Forrest and Olive Marie and bring them home. They do not know the danger they are in!! To do this, I have instructed Mr. Rousseau to prepare Pegasus for a return trip as soon as possible.
“The second action involves you, Mike. I have informed you about my suspicions of Mr. Rousseau, and those suspicions were confirmed by the information Sam Lin and Si Lei discovered on their trip to Bangkok. Mr. Rousseau was back in the ‘60s and still today an active operative for the CIA. The CIA was involved in some downright terrible things during the Vietnam War. Things the CIA does not want uncovered and exposed to public scrutiny. I believe he was planted within the SCAR organization in order to keep tabs on us. I now further believe his assignment at SCAR was to intervene in any plans we might undertake to investigate the JFK killing. The CIA did not want us to find out they were deeply entangled with the shooting of the President, especially, their connection with Lee Harvey Oswald!
“Since SCAR was formed, and even before it was started, we had a goal, to investigate the John F. Kennedy tragedy. Mr. Rousseau knew about our goal. I believe, it was his mission to sabotage our efforts if we made an attempt to pursue the Kennedy assassination, and he did a darn clever job on fouling up my first flight to Dallas.”
Opening the folder he said, “I believe Forrest thought if he could prove Vice President Johnson attended a party at the home of Clint Murdock the night before the presidential assassination he could show a connection between Johnson and the murder of Kennedy. A connection a lot of political big wigs wanted to be kept secret. Did Johnson, along with some of his powerful friends, plan or assist in the shooting of the President? I believe that was Forrest and Olive Marie’s mission - to find out.
“I’m getting ready to return to Texas, but Mike since I told Mr. Rousseau to program my departure and input all the coordinates, times and dates to the onboard computers for the flight, I need you to discreetly check all his input data and see if he is once again attempting permanently to get rid of me and send Pegasus to an unknown time and to an unknown place.
“I figure, he is going to change the master control computer’s flight data. I know he is intent on killing me. Here’s what I want you to do is sneak around, so he doesn’t know what you are up to, and change my arrival time to 12:30 p.m., Thursday, November 21, 1963 use the same GPS coordinates we originally used.”
“Wait a minute, Captain, you want to go back to the cow pasture?” Exclaimed Mike.
“Correct, if Forrest and Olive arrived on Wednesday at 12:30 and Pegasus returned home on Thursday at 12:30, one fact is known for sure: Forrest and Olive were not in the cow pasture. I want to begin my search for them at their last known position, in the pasture northwest of Celina, Texas. I want you to send me back Mike - I have to find them! And Mike, the key, make sure the Parallel Universe settings are set to the same Universe as the same one in which the kids arrived. I need to work in the same Par
allel Universe only a couple of hours behind them.”
“Sure, Captain, but what do you have in mind?”
“Since I will be trying to find our two lost ‘children’, Mike I want you to work on the Pegasus computers and have it return immediately after I arrive in Texas. Give me a few minutes to get out and onto the ground, and then bring Pegasus back home.”
“Okay, no problem Captain, but I don’t understand. What do I do with Pegasus then?”
“Mike program the master control computer’s arrival date for 9:00 a.m., Thursday, 21 November, 1963. Its coordinates will be the Texas School Book Depository building on the corner of Elm and Houston in Dallas.
“Listen up LJ, Rocky, Lou and Bud this will be your flight. You four should depart just as soon as Pegasus has returned from my journey, and Mike has her up and ready to go. When I was on the roof of the School Book building, I saw the Dallas city vehicle impound lot directly behind the Book building. Those vehicles are held in the impound yard for, sometimes, months; therefore, no one would miss them if you were to ‘borrow’ a couple for a few hours. There are no guards, and no one observes any vehicles leaving or entering. Remember, 1963 is long before security cameras and sophisticated security surveillances were used.
“LJ and Rocky, after you ‘requisition’ a car from the impound facility head over to Jack Ruby’s place on the corner of Field and Commerce Street. I know the big boys from the Mafia will have a meeting with Jack Ruby around lunch. We need to find out what they are talking about. Do you think you can take care of that? Here are the snapshots I took of the men sittings around the table you might want to use them for identification purposes. Also, I have a list of their names Miss Kandy Barr provided take it along too. Another bit of information - the Carousel opens at 10:00 in the morning. If you arrive on the roof at 9:00, you have plenty of time to procure a car and get to the club a few minutes after they open, and well before the Mafia group arrives.
“Bud, you and Lou haven’t been forgotten either. You will be joining LJ and Rocky on Pegasus’s return trip. Your job will be to ‘borrow’ a car also and get over to Lee Harvey Oswald’s rooming house and follow his every move. We need to know whom he sees and to whom he talks.”
The events now taken as fact were: around one to two p.m., right after the Kennedy shooting, Tippit was driving his police patrol car on East 10th Street in Oak Cliff. Oak Cliff is just a few blocks from downtown Dallas. He had gone about 100 feet past the intersection of 10th Street and Patton Avenue and saw Lee Harvey Oswald. Oswald was reported to be walking in the same direction. Tippit, reportedly, pulled up beside Oswald because he matched the description of the man the police were looking for in the Kennedy shooting. Oswald walked over to the car and talked with Tippit through the open window. Tippit stepped out of the patrol car on the left side and started to walk around the front of his car. As Officer Tippit approached the front fender on the driver's side, Lee Harvey Oswald pulled a .38 revolver and fired off four shots in rapid succession. Three bullets hit Tippit in the chest. Oswald, then walked up to where Tippit lay mortally wounded and shot him directly in the head, killing him. “LJ and Rocky see if you can verify this. Prove or disprove whether Oswald actually shot J. D. Tippit. Follow him to the Texas Theatre; see if he tries to meet someone there. You will be given a briefing package before you leave. This package will detail all this information and anything else considered relevant.”
“Mike, I believe Forrest and Olive Marie will head to Clinton Murdock’s estate at 45 Ash Hill Lane in north Dallas. Johnson’s so called ‘girlfriend’ reported Vice President Johnson and a number of high-ranking government officials attended a party at the Murdock house the night before John Kennedy’s assassination. The girlfriend said they talked about the assassination, which was to take place the next day. That begs two questions: how did the ‘special’ guests know an assassination of the president was to take place the next day, and who, exactly, were those guests?
If Forrest and Olive Marie made it to Texas, I believe they, somehow, figured a way to get into the Murdock party, so the Murdock estate is where I am going to begin looking. Second, in case they are not at Murdock’s place, or if something happened on the trip from Celina to his place. I want you to program Pegasus to leave the Texas School Book building at 11:45 Saturday morning, November 23, 1963. Sent it to my cow pasture close to Celina.”
“Okay, sounds crazy Captain, but you know what you are doing. When do you want me to return Pegasus from the cow pasture back to the launch facility here in the laboratory?”
“How about noon Saturday, November 23, 1963. That should give us all plenty of time to accomplish our objectives and assemble at the cow pasture.
“I forgot to mention to the rest of you – Mike has installed a receiver/transmitter in Pegasus. This device will allow you to use your cellphones, but you have to stay within five miles of the time machine to talk to each other. Be discreet, remember it is 1963, please do not let anyone see you talking on the cellphones! If you want to communicate back to Mike here at SCAR you will need to use the transmitter within Pegasus itself. Anyone got a question?”
“Only one,” asked LJ. “What about weapons? Are we allowed to carry any?”
“No, not normally, it is too dangerous to take a chance on our modern weaponry design to accidentally stumble into 1963. It easily could fall into the wrong hands; however, I violated my own rule. I carried a semi-automatic .45 caliber and three full clips of ammo with me on my first trip. Since the weapon was built during World War II there was no danger of technology transfer if this gun were discovered. The gun was already twenty years old in 1963. I hid the weapon in a hole in a tree close to the old barn in the cow pasture. The tree had a squirrel hole about chest high, the pistol and ammo was in a waterproof bag inside the hole; however, since I am returning to a different Parallel Universe this pistol will not be there when I arrive. I am going to take two more 1911s with me – one I will keep with me and the other I will hide in the same squirrel hole in the same tree in the cow pasture – just remember, only use it if you deem it absolutely necessary.
“If need be, I will use all force necessary to find and return Forrest and Olive Marie – and that means the use of firearms if it comes to that.
“Each of you will have a map to the cow pasture. You must be there before noon Saturday. I stress, do not be late or you will left behind!! As you well know, if you get stranded I cannot guarantee I will be able to send Pegasus back to get you.
“Roger, we copy that.”
“Anything else? Speak up, anyone have a question? Okay, let’s get ready to go. Oh, almost forgot one pertinent fact – guys we will be going back to a different Parallel Universe. We will remain in that Universe unless we do something monumental to change it to another Universe. In this Universe, President Kennedy, we believe will get murdered. The Universe we are leaving is not the one to whom Pegasus will return, I just hope we get through all the events so the scenario will play itself out through the assassination without our interference. If we don’t mess up, we should return to a world that is exactly like this one.
“Everyone going to Dallas listen up... go down to our Historical Artifacts office and draw appropriate clothing for the time period, and most of all get some 1963 cash!! I found out the hard way 2012 currency will not spend very well in 1963.” At this remark, they all had a good chuckle.
“Okay, everyone set? Mike, go downstairs and prepare Pegasus... I blast off at 1500 hours today.” Smiling, the Captain turned to the group, “Mickey has one hand pointing to the 12 and the other to the 3.” Spook laughing gave him a thumbs up sign. “Mike will fill you in on your departure time when you all get to the lab.
“Safe journey to all, and Godspeed.”
As the meeting broke up, Lonnie Joe and Rocky had their heads together planning their strategy in Dallas. Lou and Bud were doing likewise on the other side of the room.
STRATEGY
“What do you think Rocky?
How do you want to handle it when we get to Dallas?” Lonnie Joe said to Rocky as the others were leaving the room.
“Haven’t had time to give it much thought but just on the surface I think the easiest would be to get in Ruby’s place before the thugs arrive and place a ‘bug’ somewhere around the table. We can then record every word they say down in the parking garage. If you have anything better, I’m all ears.”
“No Rocky, sounds like Occam's Razor to me.”
“Oakkum’s what? What does a razor have to do with this?”
“No Rocky, Occam’s Razor states: ‘simpler explanations are, other things being equal, generally better than more complex ones’.
“LJ, what in the heck are you talking about?”
“It is a principle suggesting a person should select among competing hypotheses the one which makes the least assumptions and thereby offers the simplest explanation of the effect.”
“What?”
“Oh, forget it...your idea is the simplest and in Mr. Occam’s and my opinion the best idea. I suggest we go with it.”
“Ooookay...,” Rocky said, not understanding a word, but frowning, he cocked his head, and replied, “ I guess that means my idea sounds good – then we’ll go downstairs to central supply and get the necessary bugging devices.”
Captain Scarburg earlier mentioned the Mafia guys were sitting at the Carousel Club talking with Jack Ruby at a table with a single incandescent light fixture hanging over it. Rocky explained how he was thinking they could get into the club, replace the light bulb with SCAR’s own AU115 microphone and transmitter concealed in an ordinary looking light bulb. He and Lonnie Joe could put a RE230 receiver in their car and record every word spoken. Looking at Lonnie Joe, “Think those will do the trick?”
“Yeah, sounds good, what about getting some pictures? Got any ideas for video?”
“How about using one of the miniature video cameras that look like a wall hook for a hanging picture? Once we get inside Ruby’s meeting room we can quickly remove a painting and replace its hanger with our camera. They will never notice the microphone or the camera, and meantime we will be recording every word and picture. The RE230 will capture all the audio and video.”
BUD AND LOU
“I’ve been running some plans through my head Lou. We need to leave the rooftop, ‘requisition’ a car and drive over to Oswald’s place. One thing bothers me tho’, we will be arriving on Thursday, and Oswald doesn’t get really involved until Friday. What are we going to do in the meantime?”
“I don’t know Bud... for now let’s just plan on ‘getting’ our car, drive out to his rooming house, at 1026 North Beckley Avenue, over in Oak Cliff and check out the situation.”
“Say Lou, I’ve got an idea. What about seeing if Mrs. Earlene Roberts has an empty room she might rent us. That way we would be right there in the same rooming house as Oswald.”
“Darn you Bud, you can come up with some wild-eyed ideas, but you know, I like this one. We’ll give it a try.”
The time was 10:30 a.m., Friday, December 7, 2012.