Shadow Of The Past Trilogy ∞ THE DISPLACED

51 ∞ connecting the dots

Day Fourteen ∞ Thursday morning

COLONEL WALTERS AND MAJOR STERLING HAD JUST FINISHED briefing each other when the telephone rang. Walters picked up the receiver and listened before handing it across the desk.

"Sterling." After a moment of silence, Sterling returned the receiver. "That was a reluctant invitation for me to observe the next interrogation."

"Do you hear the church bells ringing?" Walters said. "I don't think they'll keep us on this assignment for long. Apoc already ordered the rest of my men off this."

"We'll see." Sterling rose. "Someone up top's giving the orders. They want accountability... An undercover leash on their dog. I think that's why I'm still here." He turned to leave the makeshift office.

"Major," Walters said as a thought struck him. "Could you put in a question for me?"

Sterling paused inside the exit. "I have no say in these interrogations. My position's been made eminently clear. I'm strictly an observer."

"Noted. But if you can, find out where the door is."

Sterling glanced thoughtfully through the plastic panel at the alien ship, nodding. "Yes. That's something I'd like to know too..."

∞

"You know what we're doing this weekend, right?" Danny said with his elbows on the counter, waving two tickets in his hand. He slapped them down on the counter next to the gasket kit and lubricant Mickmi had brought out for him.

"Spectacular?" She reached for the pen and started writing.

"Yep. Debbie sent these with Aaron."

She nodded and straightened herself. Danny looked at what she'd recorded in the logbook, reading upside down. But something didn't look right. "What's that?" He turned the book around. "What date is that?"

Mickmi's mouth opened slowly in realization as she looked at what he was pointing at, then glanced at the calendar on the wall. "Oh... I... Sorry."

"No, don't apologize to me. This must be your memory at work. Luckily it was me here. We'll white it out, so no one will see it." He tilted his head, studying the number next to his finger. "Sixty-six sixty-five six twenty? Is that the date on your Earth?" he asked quietly. "I see your year... Is that the 20th of June?"

"Aye. Or day 171 of Anno 6665... I think." She looked slowly back up at him. "A B C. Or... I may be wrong. I may have lost time..."

"'Senober'? Hmm... We're gonna have to work on dates this evening, you know. And see what else you remember. But what's A B C?"

"After Birth of Christ."

"Oh... right. We usually call it A D." He looked at the calendar, then met her gaze again. "Do you have a math head? 'Cause now I'm wondering what number day it is today."

A furrow appeared between her brows as she stared at him. "Day 235 of Anno 1979."

"Did you just calculate that?"

She nodded. "But you still use the Gregorian calendar."

"The Gregorian? Ha... O-kay... You're blowing my mind here," he said, grinning, and wagged a finger at her. "I'll have to check that." He chuckled and leaned over the counter, reaching for the Liquid Paper bottle. "Here. White that out."

∞

"In the middle of business, not a whisper, not one face, and every possible witness never saw shit!" Detective Captain Robertson of Albany Police Department tossed the supplemental report of the local bank heists on top of the files spread out on his desk. "It's out of our jurisdiction, but I can't get it out of my head. Not even the security at the door saw anything... And we know these guys. We know they're good at their jobs. In all your years on the job, have you ever come across an MO like that? They're like ghosts in broad daylight!"