<\/p>\n
It was only that moment I realized, in the general disorientation, I hadn\u2019t actually told them about the death threat.<\/p>\n The intensity level in the room ratcheted up a notch.\u00a0 And it wasn\u2019t because of the alien who\u2019d just joined us.\u00a0 That was a whole other story.\u00a0 But now, all the attention was on me.<\/p>\n Murder.<\/p>\n Who else was in line to be bumped off?<\/p>\n There was just one problem:\u00a0 I really didn\u2019t want to supply the corpse.\u00a0 I wondered where they stood on cloning.<\/p>\n Jim immediately reacted to my comment.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s not going to happen\u201d, he said, as if he had the ability to prevent it.\u00a0 Did he?\u00a0 I have to say, it was nice hearing someone sound so concerned about my welfare for a change.<\/p>\n I told them the story now.\u00a0 How had I not gotten around to it before?\u00a0 I guess I\u2019d been absorbed in letting them prove their own reality.\u00a0 As it was, I could barely resist the urge to poke this Spock guy to see if he was flesh and blood.\u00a0 His face was a mask.\u00a0 No emotion.\u00a0 It made me really uneasy, and all too aware of my own over-abundance of emotion at the moment.<\/p>\n They all listened intently, then Jim asked the others for ideas.\u00a0 How could they stage a murder without an actual body?\u00a0 And if they could, what would they do about me?<\/p>\n I listened with a pounding heart.\u00a0 My blood pressure must be sky high.\u00a0 The doctor went into some technical detail about how to stage the scene, replicate DNA, simulate blood spatters.\u00a0 I swear he was having a high old time, except for that comment about how he\u2019d seen Worsham\u2019s handiwork.\u00a0 That sent a little chill through me.<\/p>\n Mr. Spock had already politely taken my laptop from me, our fingers brushing slightly in the handover, and was examining it, figuring it out.\u00a0 Within a minute or so, he seemed to have gotten the knack of it, and I couldn\u2019t even keep up with whatever he was doing.<\/p>\n They were batting around how to get to Worsham, how and where and when.\u00a0 Heart still pounding, I finally spoke up, interrupting the rapid-fire discussion.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t have to track him down.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got his private cell number.\u201d<\/p>\n They stared at me.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is D.C.\u00a0 Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.\u00a0 If I have a good enough reason, I can call him and he\u2019ll show up.\u00a0\u00a0 But it has to be pretty convincing.\u00a0 And I can\u2019t play that card more than once.\u201d\u00a0 I looked around.\u00a0 \u201cCan you swear I\u2019ll be safe? \u00a0I know what he\u2019s capable of.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat part we\u2019ll handle,\u201d Jim assured me.\u00a0 \u201cBut what are we going to do about you?\u00a0 We can\u2019t just leave you hanging.\u201d<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know where it came from, but the sudden certainty of my voice was a shock \u00a0– to almost all of us – when it blurted out of its own accord.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to take me with you.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jim waited a beat before responding, diplomatically.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2026 can\u2019t do that, Hanalie,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s against our prime directive.\u00a0 You don\u2019t belong in our time.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Ears tossed out the next shock, the deadpan tone only magnifying his words.\u00a0 \u201cWith respect, Captain, I believe Hanalie\u2019s suggestion may well be the most logical course.\u201d\u00a0 He went on.\u00a0 \u201cIt did not appear relevant until now, but as I was scanning the data shifts in our computer banks, there did appear to be multiple potential futures in which Hanalie Surat does exist in what we would call our own time.\u00a0 There were also reports that indicated the threats on her life were\u2026 or will be\u2026realized.\u00a0 If I remember correctly, within a matter of days.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re saying her future\u2019s already been written?\u201d McCoy asked sharply.<\/p>\n \u201cI am saying that within the anomaly, multiple futures have been generated, some of which indicate that, in essence, what she is suggesting is what has\u2026 already happened.\u201d<\/p>\n Whoa.<\/p>\n Did he just say I was already dead?\u00a0 Or living in their future?\u00a0 Or both?<\/p>\n The thought crossed my mind:\u00a0 wouldn\u2019t Bob and I have had fun debating those prospects?\u00a0 Hypothetically speaking, of course.<\/p>\n But Bob wasn\u2019t here.<\/p>\n No one was here but these spacemen.<\/p>\n I somehow felt like the last person on a sinking ship, desperate for that last seat in the lifeboat.\u00a0 It made no sense to feel this way, but I did.<\/p>\n There was a silence in the room.\u00a0 I gathered it was Captain Jim\u2019s call.<\/p>\n I just felt so damned\u2026safe, with them here in the room with me.\u00a0 How could they possibly just go off and leave me to fend for myself, especially with what I now knew about Worsham?\u00a0 Even if they managed to get him arrested, I didn\u2019t really trust that he couldn\u2019t worm his way free.\u00a0 And if he did, I had no doubt he\u2019d find me.<\/p>\n The space alien said I was dead here and alive there, in the future.<\/p>\n I knew what he said was the truth.\u00a0 I can\u2019t explain how, but I knew it.\u00a0 And I knew what had to happen.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t recall that they took an actual vote, but it felt like, in that pregnant pause, the others in the room were weighing in.<\/p>\n I looked from face to face, trying to read my fate in their expressions.<\/p>\n Jim looked from Mr. Spock to Dr. McCoy.\u00a0 Uhura looked up from her tablet, and added her subtle nod to the others\u2019.\u00a0 He took a deep breath, decisive.\u00a0 \u201cWell, then. Happy resurrection, Hanalie.\u00a0 Now, let\u2019s get going.\u201d<\/p>\n And just like that, I hitched my wagon to a starship.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n < previous\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 next ><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" < previous\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 next > I think I\u2019m the murder victim. It was only that moment I realized, in the general disorientation, I hadn\u2019t actually told them … Continue reading ![\"hanis-backpack\"](\"https:\/\/hanilives.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/hanis-backpack-150x150.jpg\")
<\/a>I think I\u2019m the murder victim.<\/i><\/p>\n