Mark McGinnis - The Simpleton

Perspiration and dirt covered Cuddy from head to toe. Now, standing within the six-foot-deep hole, he reached up a hand. Tony and Kyle pulled him up and out, and then—with their help—lowered Tow’s body into the grave. Taking turns, they refilled the hole, shoveling in the piled up soil around it.

Cuddy spent several minutes looking for eight round rocks—each approximately the same size—and set them in a pile. When the last one dropped onto the pile, Cuddy turned to the AI orb, hovering nearby. He gestured toward the rocks then toward the elongated mound of soil. The orb moved with silent efficiency—taking ahold, one by one, one rock after another, delivering each to the head of the mound of Tow’s grave, then placed them around the top of the gravesite forming a perfect circle.

Jackie questioned, “Eight… the number of crewmembers on the Evermore ?”

Cuddy nodded and attempted a smile. She smiled back, though she still hadn’t made eye contact with him since their embrace. He didn’t fully understand the whole situation.

Tony Bone asked, “What now?” turning toward Kyle, who was patting dust and dirt from his jeans. Kyle shrugged and looked at Jackie, then at Cuddy.

“Now… we take back our planet,” Cuddy told them.

They were running now—Cuddy, Jackie, Kyle and Tony. They leapt over the babbling brook, heading toward the edge of the forest where it met the Perkins’ property-line boundary. Rufus and the AI orb easily kept pace as the four hurried around the corral, into the barn, then out the other side. The horse was in the pasture, eating hay.

Cuddy yelled to the orb, “Get to the ship… I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

The AI orb did as it was instructed, while the others detoured left—toward the house. Cuddy, first to reach the porch, noted the battered screen door and that the front door was both closed and locked. Pounding on it with a clenched fist, he yelled, “Momma?”

He knocked again, then looked back at Kyle. Shrugging, his brother leapt from the porch and moved around to the large front-facing kitchen window. He brought his face close to the glass and peered in. “It’s dark… can’t see a thing inside.”

“There!” Jackie said. “My car.”

Cuddy watched her quickly stride across the old wooden planks, hop off the porch, and then hurry over to her car. In the dark, he’d missed it—a piece of white notebook paper lay pinned beneath one of the windshield wipers.

Jackie pulled it free and began to read. After several beats she looked up and, cocking her head to one side, smiling, said, “She’s gone.”

“Momma?”

“I guess Officer Plumkin brought her car back. She left right after that… says she’s at the hospital. Got freaked out being all alone here, with those dead aliens lying around.”

“Can’t really blame her,” Tony said. “I’m a little creeped out myself.”

All eyes went to Cuddy. “We can’t wait,” he said, looking at Kyle. “Are you coming with me?”

The question took Kyle off guard. “You need to ask? Yeah… I’m coming!”

“I’m coming too!” Jackie said.

Cuddy stared back at her for a long moment. “You can’t… you can’t come with us.”

“Why not! What are you talking about?”

“It’s something Tow told me before… before he left. He told me you were to stay here when we took off in the Howsh ship, along with some other things as well. He was very clear… you were not to travel with us.”

“Well, too bad, I’m going anyway.”

“If we survive… we’ll be back for the Evermore , and the other thing I will then need to do.”

“Other thing?” Kyle asked.

Jackie answered the question first, clearly angry. “Take the Evermore —the heritage pod—to some flippin’ world on the other side of the galaxy. That’s all… no big deal. But first, he has to run off and fight two alien spacecraft. Hey, it’s all in a day’s work, right? You don’t need me…”

“I’m sorry, Jackie. Please tell Momma, well… just tell her goodbye for me… for us, okay?”

Tony broke the tension: “Hey, maybe I should stay here, too. Go with Jackie back to the hospital.”

Fuming, Jackie still continued to glare at Cuddy. “No… go with them, Tony,” she said firmly, bringing her attention to him. “They’ll need your help.”

“One more thing,” Cuddy said.

“Uh huh… what’s that?” Jackie asked, already walking toward her car.

“Could you take Rufus with you?”

The question somewhat softened her stony expression. “ Whatever . Rufus, come on…”

They watched Jackie climb into her car, then reach across and open the passenger-side door. She called for the dog.

“Go on, boy,” Cuddy said.

Jackie called again and the old yellow lab jumped into the passenger seat of the VW. The door closed as the engine sprang to life. Revving up the engine, she put the car in reverse then backed out. After completing a three-point turn, she sped up the drive. At the top of the driveway she drove beneath the Howsh spacecraft, maneuvering around several dead Howsh bodies, and then she was gone—speeding away. Cuddy watched until the VW’s taillights disappeared into the oncoming darkness.

Cuddy led the way up the gangway into the Howsh ship. Knowing Tow was no longer there—he felt alone. Almost disconnected .

“Isn’t there a way to like… open a window in here, or something?” Tony asked, adding, “That smell… it’s like a combination of shit, a wet blanket, and Rudy Myers’ body odor, in 6th grade gym class. Remember Rudy Myers, Kyle?”

Kyle said, “Yeah, he was younger than me… few grades lower, but I remember Rudy. I then discovered he was a fellow inmate when at Whiteville. No surprise… he still had that outrageous BO.”

Climbing the last set of stairs, Cuddy listened to them talk. For the first time, he felt slighted—like he’d missed out on some part of life most boys took for granted.

Reaching the bridge, they could see the AI orb hovering low in front of the primary forward console. “Everything ready to go?” Cuddy asked, taking a seat. Kyle and Tony sat down too, both seeming rather nervous. Cuddy knew that he, more than likely, looked equally uneasy.

“Yes, Cuddy… the spacecraft is nearly ready. I have retracted the gangway. The Arm of Lia is ready to lift off.”

“Wait… that’s what this ship’s called? The Arm of Lia ? That’s the stupidest name for a ship I’ve ever heard,” Kyle barked out.

“Yeah,” Tony said, “we need something bad-ass. Like the Enforcer or Doomsday .”

“Can we change the ship’s name, AI orb? Is there some way to do that?” Cuddy asked.

“Yes… it is a simple procedure.”

Cuddy thought about name-switching for a moment, then said, “Change it to… the Revenge .”

Both Kyle and Tony nodded appreciatively.

Tony said, “Um… while we’re at it, that orb thingy has a lame name too. How about we rename it?”

Cuddy was well aware they were stalling—doing everything possible to avoid the inevitable battle ahead. He studied the AI orb, then said, “Naw… the orb is what Tow referred to it as, so we’ll just keep it.”

“Plain old orb it is then,” Tony said, going along with his decision.

“I have reconfigured the ship’s name,” the AI orb said.

“I guess we should get going, orb. Where are the two Howsh vessels now?”

“They are together, above the central Asian nation of Uzbekistan. Their current course is northwest, possibly en route to Moscow.”

“Where were they before that?” Cuddy asked.