STEALING EDEN Part Two (Endpiece)

Spike had called a taxi and taken Lynda home with him. He didn't trust her to be alone in her current state, and she had put up no fuss. She had said little all morning, and seemed to be just barely keeping herself together during that time. Tiddler had called asking about Lynda, and Spike had called Lynda's mother, who would soon be on her way over.

In a way Spike would always think of as eerie, Lynda suddenly switched herself back on before his eyes, got up out of the chair she'd been slumped in and began pacing.

"That didn't go according to the book," she muttered. "Julie's lying."

"Lynda, let it be. Kerr said she was at the Gazette. Anyway, how would you know?"

Lynda shook her head. "Spike, you have to trust me. You don't show up with a biography from your own future without having a little something unusual to tell. I know things I'm not supposed to know."

"You're not making sense, Lynda. What happened to you?"

"You'll never believe me, Spike. You think I'm crazy now."

"Tell me, Lynda. But this had better be good."

She did, and it was.

"What are they doing, Laura?"

"He's asleep. She's on the sofa watching him," Sophie said.

"Still? I'd have thought she'd try to phone the newsroom by now. She's going to spoil the game if she sits there mooning over him."

"I guess we move things along then, Laura." Sophie walked over to the bar and started pouring herself a drink, rattling the ice cubes.

Sarah's ears perked up and she turned to see what was going on. "I thought he told you no booze?" she whispered.

"He's asleep, so what he doesn't know won't hurt him any." Sophie said.

"Where did you two sneak off to, anyway?"

Sophie and Laura exchanged glances and muffled giggles. Sarah raised her eyebrows and decided she really didn't want to know. Some things never changed in that respect.

"What do you think of him, Sarah," Laura asked with a twinkle in her eye.

"I don't know. I've only just met him."

"We saw you watching him sleep. We sort of thought...." Laura began.

"...And he is kind of cute," Sophie chimed in.

"...And single." Laura finished.

Sarah smiled a little, almost in spite of herself. "I suspect Mr. Marriner has a lot more on his mind than me. After all, I'm only here because you two know me."

"Like we care about you!" Sophie chuckled. "You're here because he wants you here. He knew you'd never come on board with a stranger, so we played along."

"Why me, Sophie? I'm just Sarah Jackson, university student."

"But a damn good reporter," Sophie said.

"Loyal to a fault," Laura added. "and smart where and when it counts."

"Could be a job opportunity here for you, Sarah." Sophie said.

"Or a relationship," Laura smiled. "Or maybe even a story."

"Yeah, could be, I suppose," Sarah said, clearly warming to the idea. "But I've got the university to contend with. I can't just pick up and go chasing off after something he hasn't even offered me yet."

"Then we need to get him to offer you a deal. Once he does that, he'll have the university begging him to take you on any terms you offer. They might even give you an honorary doctorate or something." Laura said.

"Universities don't work that way, Laura," Sarah reminded her.

"Maybe you're not as smart as I thought. You can buy anyone or anything for the right price. Colin taught us that, and Marriner's just better at it than anyone else in the whole world."

"Should we tell her?" Sophie asked Laura.

"Why not? No skin off our backs, just don't say where you heard this. "He's got an honorary commission from the Army. He's no more a soldier than we are, but he gives the Pentagon an invention or two to play with, helps fix the occasional alien life form problem when needed, and spends the rest of his time wandering aimlessly now that his wife is dead."

"Alien life form," Sarah repeated the words slowly.

"United Nations Intelligence Taskforce," Sophie said. "Very secretive lot. Deal with any monsters that come calling, that sort of thing."

"How secretive can they be if you two know about them?"

"We're bodyguards," Laura said simply. "If any monsters come around, we're the ones with the guns."

"And have you seen any aliens," Sarah asked them skeptically.

Sophie and Laura looked at each other and smiled. "Yes," they said in unison. "So has Lynda Day. You might want to ask her about it sometime."

"Marriner certainly wants to." Sophie added, and finished her drink.

"I don't believe either of you. This sounds like something Colin would dream up. Like the time you and he were running around dressed like space turtles...."

"Eeeew! Bad memory!" Laura made a silly face.

"Horrible," Sophie replied.

"People don't just come back from the dead on a lark, Sarah," Laura said. "If Lynda did, maybe she had a little help?"

Sarah looked troubled. There was something very wrong with the picture being painted for her. Was it the picture that was phony, or was it her conception of reality? "How do you know all this, you two? Marriner just got you out of jail, you can't possibly know everything there is to know about him in an afternoon. If he is a secret agent, he wouldn't go blabbing all that stuff to you."

"Oh, we've been with him longer than an afternoon, wouldn't you say Sophie?"

"Several months, I would say."

"But that's not possible if you were still in jail yesterday."

Sophie smiled. "Were we?"

Laura chuckled. "It is so hard to keep dates straight. What does the Colonel call that? Rela---"

"Relativity of time, I think," Sophie answered back.

At this point, the train juddered to a halt sharply. Sophie fell to the floor, dropping her drink as she fell. Laura flew backwards into Sarah, and Sarah fell over the top of the sofa, landing on top of Marriner and knocking them both on the floor of the car. Marriner groggily opened his eyes and looked at Sarah, who was lying on top of him.

"That's the first time I've gotten a wake-up call quite like that one," he said absent-mindedly.

"Just when I get one headache fixed, I get another one," Sarah muttered to herself.

"Me or the fall?"

"Sorry?"

Sophie and Laura had picked themselves up and come over to check on Marriner. When they saw the position Marriner and Sarah had landed in, they began snickering.

"Sarah!" Laura exclaimed. "And on a first date, too. Shame!!!!"

"What are you talking about?" Sarah asked, and then realized what they found funny. She looked at Paul, who was trying very hard not to laugh. She quickly got up, blushing noticeably.

"Okay, you two delinquents, why don't you go see what caused that little bump in the road and be useful for a change." Marriner smilingly ordered.

"I thought Sarah was the bump in the road," Laura chuckled.

Marriner threw a couch cushion at them. "Now!"

"Yes, sir!" They saluted and marched out of the car.

"Good help is so hard to find," he sighed.

"Is that an offer?" Sarah asked him.

"Could be," he said.

On To Part Three