Chapter 38
by Dan Kirk
October 25, 1988
I've been keeping this diary ever since Davey and I first made that trip to Washington. Ever since the government found out about him, I always thought he'd somehow get dragged away from me, so I decided to start keeping a diary so that I could have something to remember him, and remember us. Now, I don't know.
I got called into the Admiral's office this morning. He's a good man, and hasn't shown the least bit of prejudice against me because I'm a guy and gay. It's pretty cool, actually, because today I wished he hadn't been so nice. I don't know why, really, he was as nice as he could be, and even sympathetic, putting his arm around me in an attempt to be comforting. I thanked him, but told him Davey was tough and would find a way to get through the problems.
Twelve ships were sunk last night by a large group of submarines, including Davey's ship. He's alive, though, I know he is because he's Davey and he's gone back through time where I found him and made him my boyfriend the way he should have always been. It will take more than a submarine and some torpedoes to kill my Davey.
Somehow the Soviet subs sneaked past the satellite surveillance, the helicopter submarine hunters, and sank all twelve ships of Davey's squadron. Davey's ship is big, though, and I don't think it sank immediately. I'm willing to bet he got off alive. The big question is going to be if a sub picked him up and if he's a prisoner of war. If he is, I'll find out about it through the Red Cross pretty quick thanks to my position with them.
October 29, 1988
The base is in utter chaos. I had dinner tonight with Margaret, the Admiral's wife. She hasn't seen her husband in four days. Those subs that got Davey's ship moved into the Indian Ocean and sank an entire replenishment convoy. Then, they launched cruise missiles at the al-Masirah base before disappearing again. Margaret said they're sending the Enterprise and her escorts to go sink the sub. I hope they get them.
I got the official telegram today, informing me that Davey is missing in action. It also said he is being presumed dead, lost at sea, but there's been no confirmation that no one survived his ship, so I'm certain he's alive. He might have been captured by the Russians, but if he was, I'm sure he'll find a way to escape.
Orders came down for the prisoners of war being held here on the island to be moved out of the combat zone. With those orders came instructions for me to return to the United States. I'm to leave with the prisoners, supposedly to make sure they are treated well during transport. I don't want to leave, I want to be here when Davey makes his triumphant return, but as he'd say: 'orders are orders.' I leave in the morning.
November 2, 1988
I'm back in the United States, staying at the White House with Ron and Nancy. It's a very glum atmosphere here right now. While I was flying out with the Russian prisoners, the Enterprise battle group found the submarines, or should I say they found the Enterprise? Another carrier was lost, along with most of her escorts. Those subs must be out of torpedoes by now; they've fired so many of them.
That news, coming right on the eve of the election threw the voters into chaos, I think, because they elected that idiot Michael Dukakis to the Presidency. He's already calling for a moratorium on hostilities until he takes office and Ron is struggling with preserving the lives of our troops and honoring the policies of the incoming President. I don't think the United States has ever been in a position like this before, but then Davey was the person who knew more about history. I hated that subject in school.
I got mad at Nancy today when she tried to console me about Davey. She told me I had to accept his loss and I yelled at her that he wasn't lost, he'd be back. Davey had come back through time for me, and I knew he'd come back again. There was no stopping him!
November 24, 1988
I'm back home in Modesto now, staying with Mom and Dad. They've already given up on Davey coming back and it's painful to be around them. They're insisting I see a psychologist, but I don't need one. Davey will be home, he will be!
December 12, 1988
Davey is gone. The telegram from the Navy arrived today. There were no survivors from any of the ships, and he's gone. I've been seeing that psychologist and I have to admit that he's gone. It hurts, oh mother-fucking god it hurts! He was my light, my soul, my love, and he's gone. We're barely eighteen, and he's fucking gone! It's not fair!
December 24, 1988
Well, I'm out of the hospital where they put me after I nearly killed myself. Going on without Davey isn't easy, but it can be done. Trevor came by today, as did Sean and Brandon. They're home on winter break. I need to go to school and finish my education. The war is pretty much over for us.
Troops are being pulled out during the holiday cease-fire. When the cease-fire is over, the Iraqi and Iranian armies are going to sweep through Kuwait. Last week, a series of bombs exploded, killing most of the Saudi Royal Family. A group of muslim priests took over and have kicked every American out of their country. It looks like a very anti-American group now controls most of our oil supply.
I'm sure Davey would expound for hours on how this would ruin our economy and make it hard to keep the Soviet Union in check. I could care less - Davey is gone! All I care about is maybe getting Davey back.
March 3, 1989
Dukakis is President now, and this country is going to hell. There have been riots in four major cities over gas shortages and when he tried to veto the bill to allow oil drilling in Alaska and off the California coast, there was a riot in Washington. I think people are regretting voting for the man.
Davey is still gone, and it hurts.
June 12, 1989
Davey's dad filed a lawsuit in California court today. His suit was to claim Davey's inheritance as Davey's sole surviving family member. He even claimed he should get half of the value of the limited liability corporation Davey and I owned. The total amount was close to $1.2 million. I won't let him have it though. Davey's Will called for all his family members to receive $10,000 and I let them all have that, but this is too much.
The chances of him winning are good, though, according to my attorney. The courts still don't recognize gay relationships the way they do married couples. The only legal standing I have are the powers of attorney, Davey's will and the fact that our relationship was so public. Davey named me the beneficiary of everything with the only stipulation of the money payout to his relatives. We'll see if that is enough.
He's even trying to get Davey's death benefits from the Navy. They paid out a check last week for nearly $300,000 from Davey's insurances, back pay, and other stuff. There was no problem with them sending it to me, but once it was deposited, Davey's dad added it to the court case and the account was frozen. I swear the man makes me so mad. He treated Davey like dirt and now wants Davey's money. I almost want to just let him have it, but I KNOW that Davey would not want that to happen. That's why I'm fighting the man.
August 2, 1989
We won in court today. The case made the national news over and over again, and I'm glad it is over. I don't like being in the spotlight like that. It's being called a great victory in the struggle for gay rights. Davey's dad will likely appeal though. He's getting help from a lot of religious groups so he has the money to do that. We won, but all I can taste are ashes without Davey to celebrate with.
September 6, 1989
I started school again today, at MIT, not Harvard. I'm not in pre-law or Business or anything else anyone expected. I'm studying Physics. Mr. Rush and I had a long conversation last April that got me thinking about some things. Now I need to have a lot of science under my belt.
October 24, 1989
It's been one year since Davey died, and I miss him even more now than I did before. Why won't these guys at school understand I have no interest in them? Davey was the only man for me. School's tough, but I'm doing it. I'll get the knowledge I need.
November 14, 1990
Trevor's parents died in a fiery car crash this morning. What we know, and what most people don't, is that it was a hit by the KGB. With the appeasing attitude of the Dukakis administration, they've been getting bolder and bolder. At least the Republicans have retaken control of Congress at the mid-term elections. I even did a commercial for them.
I remember Davey telling me that the Republicans were largely anti-gay during his original life, but now they are more gay-friendly. It's kind of weird because many of them are uncomfortable about the whole topic. They don't support hate crime laws, but they push for full prosecution of every gay bashing that happens in the country. Many at the state level are even pushing for what's being called Civil Unions, in part to keep things like the lawsuit by Davey's dad from happening. They fear, rightly so, that if they don't give something like that to gays, then gays will push for full marriage. I think they hope that by giving civil unions now, they can forestall a push on marriage.
June 12, 1994
I finished my education, learning far more about physics than I ever cared to before. I need it now though. I'll be going on for master's level work, and then a doctorate. Mr. Rush would have proved quite helpful, but he was gone. Instead I'm working with Sean and a few others who once knew Mr. Rush.
I had dinner last week with President Dole and was quite enthused as I discussed, hypothetically of course, my plans. I think he'll like the proposal once I have my doctorate. My early ideas are so far being proven out by the theoretical formulas I've been working on with Mr. Rush's former co-workers.
The Russian's don't like President Dole much, mainly because he's using more and more of the national budget to rearm our military.
June 16, 1996
Today I attended the commissioning of the USS David R. Jones. It's the fourteenth in a new class of Destroyers being built, all named after heroes of the different wars. The J.C. Pollock, named after the captain of Davey's old ship was the twelfth. I broke a bottle of champagne over the bow of the ship named for Davey and didn't even cry. Sometimes it seems like I can barely feel the ache of his being gone, but like a sore tooth, once I feel around the edges of the dull pain it becomes sharp and all-consuming.
July 4, 1998
I made my first trip out of the country since the end of the war today. The trip to Sweden was uneventful, though I was given a full contingent of Secret Service guards. During the trip I spoke to three of Sweden's top scientists and although they have no idea what I'm working on, they gave me the formulas I needed to solve a major problem.
I will get Davey back.
April 23, 1999
I've got my doctorate, and a $6.2 million contract with the National Security Agency to continue research into time travel. They've been funding other programs, but my ideas are quite different from what theirs had been. Sean has signed on to help me with the program.
June 4, 2002
We've achieved the first step! Today we were able to isolate the Groengen field that is surrounding the Livermore Laboratories where Davey was sent back in time. The building is currently a storage building, but we know that in a few years it is where Davey went for the experiment. We also know there's at least one other person still in that room when Davey and the others went back, a lab assistant.
This field is what made it possible for the scientist and Alexei Shevrenadze to go back in time after Davey had already gone. It keeps the people inside safe, inside a 'continuity bubble'. They don't change with the rest of the timeline. Eventually the machine will run out of power and the field will disappear, bringing the two timelines back into continuity. Whoever that assistant is, we need to reach him before it happens. We still have two years to figure out how to get inside or to send him a signal that will tell him to go back in time and prevent certain things from happening.
January 12, 2003
The Department of Justice today broke up a spy ring for the KGB. The leaders of the spy ring were gay, and now there's a witch hunt within the government on all gay people. I spent a week in handcuffs because of the witch hunt, and have only now been returned to my home in Livermore. Sean's been detained and won't be released from what I've been told.
If it wasn't for Nancy, I have no idea what would have happened to me. Ever since George W. Bush came to office there's been a conservative tide sweeping the country and gays have become public enemy number one. I know Davey didn't like the man, and now I know why.
I'm being allowed to work on my program still, but they've assigned two new physicists who are arguing with me that certain things aren't in accordance with 'scientific law'. For some reason I think the law they refer to is what they read in their bible, but I don't dare say it out loud. The only reason I'm not in prison now is that they consider me to be a 'reformed' homosexual. I've had no sexual partners since Davey died, and I'm not interested in any other guy. That was enough to get them to let me stay on the program. Poor Brandon and Sean, both have been sentenced to thirty years in prison on trumped-up charges.
Last week there were some skirmishes between one of our destroyers and a Soviet destroyer near Singapore. At first I didn't recognize the US destroyer until I heard the hull number. They've renamed the ship from USS David R. Jones to the USS Laura Ann Kathby. I researched the name and she was a female officer on Davey's ship.
Let the revisionism begin.
April 26, 2004
We've failed.
Even now, the air raid sirens are going off. Last month, the Soviet Union invaded Alaska, threatening our oil supply there. President George W. Bush responded by launching a nuclear strike on them. Their missiles are now heading towards us and will destroy all we'd hoped for.
I don't know why, but I've decided to publish this, and Davey's diary on the internet so people can know what really happened to lead us down this path. It's sad really; one mad scientist's dream has changed the future so that now, when we should be free of the threat of nuclear destruction, when the Soviet Union should be dead, Armageddon has come.
Davey, I'll be seeing you soon, my love.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The lab assistant leaned back from the lap top computer and let out a long sigh. Outside the windows of his office there was a bright flash, and he knew what that meant. For the past six hours he'd tried the doors, tried the phone, and tried the computer looking for some way to get out of the laboratory or to communicate with people outside.
Twenty minutes ago, the internet connection on the lap top went live. He tried sending e-mails, but none of the addresses he knew worked. Then he'd gone surfing, typing in the names of the scientist, Mr. Shevardnadze, and of course Davey Jones. That was when he'd found the diaries posted by Brian Breckenridge.
As he read them, read the changes that had happened for better and for worse, he was simply amazed. What he read gave him more than enough information to explain the three dead bodies in the lab room, and what exactly had happened. As the fury of a nuclear explosion destroyed everything around him, except the lab protected by the field Breckenridge had described, he knew what exactly to do. Carefully, he got up and went into the laboratory, glancing over to the body of Davey Jones. He'd picked his one-time friend as the test subject and was now glad he had. It seemed Davey had made a good life for himself, and even more importantly had become a better friend than he remembered being originally.
There was so much to do, but he'd already helped it happen three times. Carefully he checked the power levels of the machine. They were running low, the emergency generators were almost out of fuel. There wasn't a full dose of the drug needed either, but there was enough. He didn't have to go back a full twenty years, or to go back fully, just enough so that his other self remembered the things he knew. The drug froze the brain cells associated with memory so the machine could scan them and then 'thrust' them back in time. It had to work - it had to be enough!
With great care, he put himself on the gurney and pushed it back into the machine. He'd already set the machine to activate in five minutes. Now, all he had to do was inject the drug, which he did carefully. As it began to take effect, and his thoughts slowed, he called up memories of everything he had read, hoping they would be forefront in his thoughts when he woke up in the past.
"Do over." He whispered as the drug took him into the darkness, remembering a line from games he use to play as a boy in junior high school with Davey Jones.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"God, what a bad dream." He said when he woke. His room was dark,
and he got up dizzily to turn the lights on. The lights didn't help, as flashes
of memory came back from the dream he'd just had. The sight of Davey was almost
unrecognizable, his cold corpse lying on a table, much fatter than he ever remembered
Davey being. The memories of reading Davey and Brian's journal on some type
of mobile computer were also there, and something about stopping Davey from
dying.
He knew he was worried about Davey, serving on some ship in this war. He'd been having nightmares about his friend for a while, but this one was the worst of them all. How the hell had time travel gotten mixed up in it all? It didn't matter though, he had things to do today. He had class in less than an hour and had to get ready.
An hour later as the teacher droned on about the importance of some battle during the civil war, he couldn't stop thinking about the dream. It had been so real. The more he thought about it, the more he remembered, almost as if from another life. Being picked on in school, and no one coming to his help the way the others had was one of the biggest memories. He remembered the pain of that, and other events, and eventually going into science in school instead of computers like he was now.
Still, it was silly. Davey wasn't some time traveler with knowledge of the future, just as he wasn't. If Davey had been, he'd have known about it all. Sure, Davey was a friend of the President, and did some weird work with the government, but that couldn't be related to time travel could it?
The answer was so simple, and matched what he remembered thinking in his dream that he stood up in class. The professor stopped, frowning at him, but he didn't care as he left the lecture hall and literally ran to the nearest pay phone. Who could he talk to about this that would help him talk to the right people? There was only one answer to that question as he dialed in his calling card number and a very familiar phone number.
"Trevor?" He asked as the phone was answered. He almost missed the response because of a sharp stab of pain in his head. A little voice in his head whispered for him to hurry, that there had not been enough of the drug to make the memory transfer complete.
"Yeah?" Trevor's familiar voice came through the line.
"Look, I know this is going to sound silly, but you have to tell me, did Davey come back through time and is that why he's doing the things he's doing?" He asked his old friend.
"How the fuck do you know that?" Trevor's voice was alarmed.
"Because I think something similar has just happened to me, and we have to warn Davey!" He said with a passion that he normally reserved just for his boyfriend. The pain was becoming more intense now. "I have to talk to the President or someone. I was there in the lab, I think. I was the one that picked Davey because I use to know him, and I'm the one that put him on the table when he went back in time, and then I did the same for the scientist and for Alexei Shevardnadze."
"Where are you at?" Trevor asked urgently.
"On a payphone at school." He answered.
"Okay, look, go back to your dorm and wait there." Trevor said quickly. "I'm going to make some phone calls and there'll probably be some people there to pick you up."
"Okay, but make it quick, dude." He warned his good friend. "Davey's in big danger and he needs to know it fast."
"Got it." Trevor said before hanging up. Sean Rule sighed sharply as another pain wracked his head. He should have known there was something special about Davey, beyond the obvious. Carefully he staggered back to his room, wondering where Brandon was at that moment, hoping his boyfriend was still okay.
