RESTORATION (a science fiction novel) (RESTORATION (the science fiction trilogy)) (79 page)

“Can you describe the man?”
         “Well he was kind of an old looking white guy with lots of scars or burns on him like he was in an accident or something.  He had dark hair and he was really dried up kinda like a raisin you know.  He was just lying there in this old metal chair thing in a long black leather coat, looked like he just fell asleep there.

“Anything else?”

“Yeah, he had a big gold ring on his right hand, it had weird shapes on it and some letters, CS I think, but that is all I remember.”
         “All right, well thank you Chris, we appreciate you talking with us.”

“Okay, you’re welcome.”

“Well everyone that was thirteen-year-old Chris Bevins a local resident here outside Houston.  As you can see it’s dark here now and some officials have arrived and tented off the trailer so that we can’t see anything going on in there, seems like an awful lot of equipment rolling in here for one deceased person in a trailer in the middle of nowhere.  Here comes one of the officials from homeland security, let’s see if we can get a statement. 

Sir, excuse me Sir, can you tell us anything at all about the man inside the trailer?”
         “Yes, well at first we were concerned about this because we thought that this man might be a known cyber criminal that had escaped from a maximum security prison in Mexico two months ago and so we were worried about national security.  As it turns out that was not the case at all but instead this man has been on the FBI missing persons list for quite some time.  We won’t be releasing his name to the public right now because his family has requested their privacy and they’ll be releasing a statement sometime later.  It turns out that this very wealthy man was terminally ill and was highly involved in lifelike virtual reality games.  He had a very rare cellular disorder that prevented him from being restored so he was facing total death.  He disappeared about six months ago and apparently had come out here to spend his final days in solitude with his elaborate gaming system, that’s about it.” 

“Thank you Mr. Sweeter.”

“Thank you Alisha.”

  “Okay, that was Bob Sweeter with homeland
security, he has now released the first statement here tonight regarding this strange discovery in this desert area just outside of Houston.  Well there you have it folks, it’s a bizarre one, this is Alisha Hughes for channel 9 news Houston, back to you in the studio Jack . . .”

“Okay, thank you Alisha, wow that is a bizarre one, thanks for watching us here at channel 9 news at 11, that’s all for us today, we’re on again at 6:00 a.m. with Randy and Kelly for Daybreak Addition featuring rush hour traffic coverage and your local weather, good night.” 

It was an interesting story but no matter because the man had missed the end of it, he was sound asleep with his hands folded across his stomach and his black cowboy hat down over his eyes.

Two weeks later the Kerrington’s celebrated Christmas.  It was by far the best one they had ever had.  They had a great time trying to guess their gifts before they opened them and they were all able to get each other exactly what they wanted.  But that wasn’t really what made it so good, instead it was their new found appreciation for each other and all the things they had taken for granted in the past.   Alan came over on Christmas Eve for a little get together that they always had and he read the Christmas story from the Bible which was a tradition in their family.  When he finished, he handed the Bible to Dodge.

“This is my last year for this
Son, I’m passing it on to you, next year your reading it.”  Dodge of course agreed to carry it on.

  Two months later Dodge and Linsey received an invitation to a very special wedding ceremony.  It was a double wedding. Toby and Alice would be joining Todd and Cheyenne in a dual wedding celebration.  What wonderful news they thought, two great couples born out of such a bad situation.  Both Alice and Cheyenne had been reacquainted with their former husbands and their children several weeks after Operation Black Ice and now they were once again involved in the lives of their children.  Both of their mates had moved on but it was okay, they had new loved ones of their own now.  It was a major news event with a lot of media surrounding it just as human interest stories usually are.   John Calhoun and his gal Amanda were also planning a spring wedding and they were even planning to have a child together.  Dodge and Linsey were so excited because they had already been asked to be the God parents for the baby. 

When Dodge asked John why he decided to be a father at such an old age he just shrugged.
         “With restoration I can get restored after the baby is born and be a young father, besides we want what you and Linsey have, a great family.” 

Later that night as Dodge was lying in bed reflecting on everything that they had been through, he said a prayer.  He thanked God for his family, his friends, his country, his success and for watching over all of them during their struggles with Cyrus Slade. 

The next morning a truck arrived at the Kerrington’s.  It was a spotlessly clean truck pulling an equally pristine enclosed trailer.  The driver walked up to the front door and rang the bell.  Dodge opened the door and greeted the man.
         “Good Morning, you’re right on time.”  Then he realized the man was Ben, the young man they had met at the hospital when Bobby was restored.

“Well, hello Ben, long time,” said Dodge. “How is everything going for you?”
         “Very good Mr. Kerrington, thanks to you I applied for that internship and I got it, now I’m working part time for this delivery service while I complete my schooling.  I’m on track to be an Electronics Engineer in just two more years.”
         “That’s fantastic Ben, Congratulations!”

“Thank you Sir.”

I’ll tell Bobby
you were here and I’m sure he’d love to see you again, maybe go out for that burger.”
         “That would be great, he can call me anytime, here’s a digicard with my new info.  I was so excited when I saw your name and address on my delivery schedule today.  I just can’t wait to see your face when I unload it.”

They walked out together and Dodge watched as Ben unloaded the contents of the trailer very carefully at the end of the drive way.  Dodge signed the digipad and Ben sent a copy of it to his skyphone.     

“Enjoy it Sir, there’s not another like it.  It was good seeing you again.”
         “Thanks, It’s good seeing you too young man.” 

He watched as Ben drove away, then he turned and ran his hand down the side of his fully restored GTO
.

“Welcome home Baby.”

Thank you for reading Restoration.  If you enjoyed it then please do post a review for this book on Amazon.

The
feedback from my readers is very helpful and the number of reviews received is also very important.

I hope you enjoyed the first book in this Trilogy.

Watch for: Restoration 2, Revenge

Watch for: Restoration 3, Genesis

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