He kissed her goodnight, aware she wouldn’t remember him in the morning. That's the way things go in this business. A couple of days of happiness and a couple of years in therapy. John knew what he had to do to save her, but the results would be hard to live with. Only fourteen days ago, John was washed aboard a multimillion dollar yacht. His clothes were burnt and his hair was singed. Captain Rachel Rachford ordered her crew to pick him up. He was taken below deck as the party crowd grew restless. "Attention, passengers," the captain's voice rang out over the loud music, "we seem to have come across an emergency situation. We will be underway shortly, there is no alarm." The captain went to the doctor on board. The man they picked up was on a dinner table, kind of makeshift gurney. The Doctor was hard at work trying to get the smoldering clothes off of the unconscious man. He was putting burn cream where the clothing attached to his skin. He looked up at the captain. "I've never seen anything like this, Rachel. He's been in the water so long these clothes should be put out but they're still burning." "Have you found any identification? Anything on his clothes?" Rachel asked. "If you look closely you can see what looks like gold thread in the clothing. The main cloth feels like plastic burlap but those strands of gold- I just don't know." The Doctor takes another piece of cloth off of the man's arm with his tweezers. As he does the cloth burst into flames. The captain steps back as the fire alarm went off. The doctor snuffed out the flames with the burn cream. They made eye contact with a worrisome look. "Captain!" Her first mate yelled into the radio. "Are you okay?" "Yes. Turn off the alarm." Rachel looked at the man. Where did he come from? Why was he in the middle of the ocean without a ship anywhere to be seen? She looked at the doctor. "Other than the cloth, is there anything else that can identify him?" The Doctor scratched his head. "Truthfully, I have not found anything. Don't know if he's American or British or from Turkey." "Being this far out he had to have been dropped by a ship or something. There's no way that he swam out here," Rachel articulated. "I agree," said the doctor, "but from what vessel?" The party was cut short. The burnt man had to be taken to the hospital. The people on the yacht insisted that they got their money back. The captain didn't disagree, she just told them that they would be reimbursed the time that they did not spend out there by the company. As they headed to shore, a strange phenomenon happened. The man's clothing that the doctor had taken off him disappeared. The doctor had to relieve himself and when he came back to his patient, the man was dressed in a wet suit. The ends of his hair no longer looked burnt. The burns on his hands were gone. The Doctor called the captain. The captain left the bridge and headed down again. The man was lying just like before only dressed in a wetsuit. His body looked like it had been carved in marble. The captain was taken aback. "Did you find this wetsuit on board?" She asked. "I went to the bathroom, came back and this was on him." The Doctor touched the fabric. It felt the same as the fabric he had just taken off the man. As the doctor touched him, a faint blue light radiated from the fabric. He lifted up his hand. "Did you see that?" The captain stared. "What the hell was that?" The Doctor placed a stethoscope in his ears and put the other side on the man's chest. A large spark flies off the man's chest and the doctor was flung to the floor. The man sat up and looked around. He seen the captain standing there and the doctor on the ground. He stood up with his hand up and asked the captain, "What vessel am I on?" The captain replied, "This is an ambassador yacht. It is a rental unit. Where are you from? Who are you?" The man was bewildered. He looked all around him. The Doctor stirred. The man pointed his hand at the doctor, almost like shielding himself. "What planet am I on?" The man demanded. "Oh, God! He's a crazy!" The Doctor commented. A light blue pulse came from the man's hand and hit the doctor. The Doctor stood up as the blue light hit him. "Ow!" The Doctor checked himself. "That's freaking hurt!" "I am not crazy! Just lost. Where am I?" The man tries to step back, but the table stopped him. "My name is Captain Rachel Rachford of Ambassador Cruises. You are 45 nautical miles away from the coast of Florida." The man looked surprised. "Florida? United States? Earth?" "Yes, you blithering idiot! Earth!" The Doctor said as he rubbed his side. "My profound apologies, sir. I set it on the lowest setting," he pauses a moment. "My name is Captain John Wilson of the Space Force vessel USS Vance, serial number 415 Gamma Gamma Delta 1776. How did I get to the surface?" "We picked you up in the middle of the ocean. You were unconscious and smoldering. Your clothes were literally on fire. We brought you aboard and the doctor here tried to get the burning clothes off of you." The captain looked at John for a moment. "Did you say Space Force? I didn't know they had a submarine. Is it in trouble? Where's it located?" "Like I'm going to tell you, madam." John sat on the table. His suit started to emit the blue light again. "Oh, stop it!" He pushed on his wrist and two whines came from the suit. The whole suit flashed blue then turned black. "Where's is your communication? May I use it to call my ship?" The Doctor and captain gave each other a look. The captain straightened her uniform and said, "You have no identification. How do we know who you are?" The Doctor adds, "Yeah. You were just knocked out on that table. How do we know you're not a psycho or something?" John touched his chest quickly twice. A camouflage pattern of dark blue, light blue, white and black spreads across the wetsuit. The suit transformed into fatigues. He opened his side leg pocket and pulled out a beret. He placed it on his head. A name tag took shape on his left chest while USS SPACE FORCE materialized on his right. The captain and doctor stood dumbfounded. "Please contact my commanding officer Admiral Troy Jason Peabody. He is currently stationed at Kennedy MB 5." The captain tried to come to her senses. "What- How- Who?" She stammered. "What the hell just happened? What kind of suit is that?" The Doctor asked. "It's a standard tri-functional fatigue set. You don't have them?" "No." John grind and raised an eyebrow. He said, "Are you guys serious? What branch are you guys from?" Rachel's voice cracked when she said, "Coast Guard." The Doctor put his hands on his hips and said, "Army." "Terrestrial Army?" John asked. The Doctor looked at John for a minute. "What do you mean, Terrestrial Army? I was in the US Army." John looked confused. "You mean the USS Army?" "No," the doctor was getting irritated, "only one 'S', US, as in United States Army." "Look, whatever, guys, I need to speak with my commander. Can I use your communication?" "If your ship is in trouble, we can contact the Coast Guard to help. Where was the ship heading when you fell overboard?" Rachel asked. "I didn't fall overboard, captain." "Then how did you get in the water?" "I don't know!" John was getting frustrated. "I have never heard of the USS Vance. Where is its port?" The Doctor asked. "Port?" John asked. "Yeah, port. Like New Orleans, San Diego, North Carolina; what port?" "Our main 'port' is Kennedy MB 5." The Doctor looked long and hard at John. "What state is that in?" John stood up. "It's not in a state, it's on the moon. Kennedy Moon Base 5." The captain looked concerned. "Moon base? Unless it's top secret, there is no base on the moon." John paused for a minute. He then started to laugh. "Did Centar put you guys up to this? We were working on a new transportation device. I must have passed out. Where is he? Centar?! Oh, this is a good one." He started walking around. The captain tried to stop him, but he opened the door to the party. He stood stunned by what he seen. He backed into the room and shut the door. He slowly turned to the captain. "Captain? I'm on a yacht in the ocean off the coast of Florida, right?" "Yes you are, captain Wilson." The Doctor walked up to him to brace him. He looked like he was about to faint. He stumbled back and sat on a chair by the table. He had turned pale. "Wha- what's today's date?" "November 22," the doctor answered. John swallowed hard. "What year?" Rachel and the doctor looked at each other. Rachel whispered, "2025." John's eyes went wide. They rolled back as he passed out.

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A Moment out of Time

RussellAWeeks

RA Weeks Enterprises, LLC

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A Moment Out Of Time

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