Tom Swift Jr #35, Chapter 22: The Red Pickup Truck

Tom Swift Jr. once again found himself in his private laboratory at Swift Enterprises in Shopton, New York. It had been more than a week since Irene’s funeral, but he still could not bring himself to do anything. He just sat in his laboratory, stared out the window, and thought about the last message she had left for him.

Irene’s funeral had been attended by the largest crowd Tom had ever seen. Not only were her family and friends there, but thousands of people from all over the world came to pay their respects to the person that saved the planet from nuclear destruction. Her remains could not be found, but that did not surprise anyone. While the plane hit the ocean at a far slower speed than Mark Spring’s jet, it still completely vaporized it. An extensive search was made but very few pieces of it were ever found.

Tom was interrupted when there was a knock on his door. He hesitated, and then sighed. “Come in,” he said at last.

The door opened and his father walked into the room. He looks like he’s aged ten years, Tom thought.

His father took a seat beside him. For a few moments he didn’t say anything. “I had a feeling I’d find you here.”

“Yup,” was all Tom said.

“I just wanted to take a moment to talk with you,” his father continued. “I haven’t really had the chance to do that.”

“You’ve been out of town for the past three days,” Tom said. “I’ve been right here.”

His father winced. “I know, Son, and I apologize. I had some business to wrap up, and now that it’s all over I want to bring you up to speed.”

“Ok,” his son replied.

His father could tell that Tom was deeply depressed. He had been shaken by the loss of Irene and was far from recovering. He longed to tell his son something – anything – to make him feel better, but he knew that it would take more than words to heal his son.

“I’ve started dismantling the Swift reactor in New York,” he began. “As you know we were able to shut it down in time, but the Tomasite is still poisoned and it is a safety hazard. Even though I can fix that problem the public has decided they don’t want a nuclear plant that close to them, which I suppose I understand.”

Tom managed a faint grin. “So they’ve turned against you this time.”

His father shrugged. “It’s only natural. If there was something near my house that almost killed me I’d want to be rid of it too. The reactor should be safely dismantled by the end of the month. At some point we’ll revisit this technology but that is still a few years away. The world may not be ready for commercial nuclear power. Not yet, anyway.”

“At least we’re in the same boat,” his son said. “You can file the plans for your reactor next to my plans for Project Arcturus.”

“Not quite,” his father corrected. “It turns out that the Air Force is very interested in your hyperplane. The evidence you brought back from Brungaria proved beyond a doubt that your plane only crashed because it had been sabotaged. I’ve given them the blueprints for your jet and have every reason to believe that they’re going to start building copies of it in secret. The public will never hear about it but your hyperplane will exist and be on the front line of our nation’s defenses.”

Tom shook his head. “That isn’t quite what I had in mind, Dad. I was hoping to revolutionize the air industry, not provide the world with new weapons they can use to kill us all.”

“Building aircraft for the government is a Swift tradition,” his father pointed out. “I’ve built quite a few weapons in my day – not only aircraft but even tanks and cannons.”

“Yeah, I know,” Tom said. “I’m not going to join you. That’s not what I do.”

“What you do with your future is up to you,” his father said. “You’re a hero, Son, and you’re famous. The world knows that your hyperplane saved them all. They know it works and that it’s the product of a true genius. Everyone has heard of the famous inventor Tom Swift Jr.”

“It was Irene that saved them,” Tom said. “Not me. She’s the one that infiltrated the base while I was lying unconscious on the ground. If I’d had my way we would have left as soon as I got the evidence back. Irene is the hero of this story. In fact, the reason she died is because of my stupidity. The radiation leak was my design flaw.”

“No, Son, it wasn’t your fault,” his father said. “It was mine. This whole affair started when I overthrew the government of Haargoland years before you were born. Had I minded my own business Xanthus would not have been motivated to exact his revenge against me. It was my arrogance and foolishness that killed her.”

“So what happened to Xanthus, anyway?” Tom asked.

“The government has him in their custody,” his father said. “He nearly destroyed the entire world, and the government is not very forgiving in cases like that. I don’t think we’re ever going to hear from him again. The Brungarians are apologizing, of course. This whole episode has been a huge embarrassment to them. They’ve promised to dismantle his base and have turned over the information we needed to arrest his network of spies. I don’t think we’ll hear from the Brungarians again for a long time.”

“So what am I supposed to do now?” Tom asked bitterly. He pointed to the wall safe in his office. “I’ve still got the engagement ring I made for her, Dad. What am I supposed to do with it? Do you realize I was going to give it to her the day I tested the Eagle? I was this close to marrying her, Dad. This close! And now it’s all gone. I don’t have a future anymore. It died with her.”

Tom’s father was silent for a moment. Tears started running down his face. “I’m sorry, Son. I really am. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. But despite all this, you do have a future. You have a choice to make, and that choice will determine your future and the future of the world.”

Tom just looked at his father without saying anything, so his dad continued. “I know you are going through a lot of pain and grief right now. I am too. Mourning her loss is just something you will have to go through. There’s no way to shorten it or skip it. But grief does not last forever. And when that day comes, you will be faced with a choice. If you want, you can choose to look back and grieve over everything you’ve lost. You can focus on what you never got to have and let that despair destroy you. Or, you can look back and be thankful for all the years you did get to share with her. Then you can look ahead to a bright future that hasn’t been written yet.”

Tom’s father was quiet for a moment. “Irene saved your life so you could live it, Tom. She believed in you and what you could do.”

“She always told me that if I wanted to I could invent the future,” Tom replied.

“You can,” his father affirmed. “The hyperplane proved that. You have a marvelous talent. Whether or not you use it is up to you.”

“Thanks,” Tom said warmly. “I do have a question, though.”

“What?” Tom’s father asked.

“It’s a little strange,” Tom began. “What were you doing in California the day before you went live with your commercial reactor?”

Tom’s father looked at him in surprise. “But I wasn’t in California, Son. I was in New York – I’d been there all day.”

“Are you sure?” Tom asked. “Are you completely sure you didn’t stop over at the Tomasite plant for a few minutes that afternoon?”

His father laughed. “Son, we didn’t have your hyperplane to fly around in. It takes hours to travel across the country. Besides, I’m quite sure. Ned was with me all day. We never left New York. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” his son replied. “I was just wondering.”

“Is there anything else I can do?” his father asked.

“No, but thanks. I really appreciate it, Dad.”

His father left his son’s laboratory, leaving Tom alone with his thoughts.

* * * * *

Tom was interrupted a few hours later by another knock on the door. This time, though, it was his friend Bud Barclay.

“Bud!” Tom exclaimed in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

Bud pulled up a chair and sat down beside Tom. “I’m moving to Shopton, skipper. I’ve decided that this is where I want to be.”

“You are?” Tom said in surprise. “But what about your job in California?”

“Eh, they can find someone else,” Bud said confidently. “It’s not like they have any more planes to test, anyway. Besides, I have it on good authority that things are a lot more exciting here at Swift Enterprises. I have a feeling that if I really want to see adventure the best place to be is at your side.”

Tom smiled. “Are you sure you know what you’re getting into? There’s no telling what might happen! We could end up on the Moon before it’s all said and done.”

“So much the better!” Bud said enthusiastically. “Count me in.”

“Then welcome aboard,” Tom said warmly. “I’ll talk to Miss Trent later today about transferring your employment. Consider yourself hired.”

“Great!” Bud said. “So what have you been doing?”

Tom hesitated. “Honestly, I’ve spent the past few days doing nothing but listening to Irene’s last message, over and over and over.”

“She left you a message?” Bud asked.

“She did,” Tom replied. “Would you like to hear it?”

“If you don’t mind,” Bud said. “I don’t want to horn in on anything, though.”

“It’s not a problem,” Tom said. He stood up and walked over to his workbench. “After all, you were there with us in Brungaria. If it hadn’t been for you and her I would have died in the fire that night. You saved my life.”

“Don’t mention it,” Bud said. “It was nothing.”

Tom pressed a button on a large machine on his workbench. A moment later Irene’s voice filled the room.

“Hey there Tom,” she began. The girl coughed, and then she continued. “Do you remember months ago, when we had dinner by the lake? It was before you ever started the hyperplane project, right after your father perfected Tomasite. You were depressed that evening because the press made much of your father and treated you like a kid. Do you remember that?”

Irene paused. “I told you that you could prove them all wrong. That you were a genius and had the rare ability to do anything you wanted. If you wanted to build rockets and explore outer space then you could do it.”

There was silence for a moment. Irene’s voice wavered, but then she regained control. “I still believe that, Tom. I know right now you’re really upset. I know you think your life has ended, but it hasn’t. I’m sorry I won’t be there to share that future with you. I really am. It breaks my heart. But that doesn’t mean the future doesn’t have to happen. You are still surrounded by people who love you and care a great deal about you. I don’t want you to throw away all that talent and spend the rest of your life sitting there, doing nothing.”

Irene paused for a moment. Bud thought the tape had ended, but as he started to speak the voice continued again. “I love you, Tom. I’ve enjoyed spending my life with you. Thanks for being there for me. Take care of yourself.”

Tom stopped the recording machine and looked at Bud. “That’s it.”

Bud nodded slowly. “Thanks. It was good to hear her voice again. I didn’t know her for very long but I could tell she was a really special girl.”

“She was,” Tom said simply.

“There is one thing I don’t understand, though,” Bud said.

“What’s that?” Tom asked.

“That red pickup truck we saw out in California. It’s bothered me ever since. I can’t get it out of my mind.”

Tom smiled. “So it’s been bothering you too!” He took a folder off of his workbench, removed a photo, and tossed it to his friend. Bud looked at the photo in surprise. “Hey, that’s it! Where did you get this?”

“Security camera footage,” Tom explained. “Since the plant was dealing with nuclear technology the government made Ned install all kinds of cameras, and they caught the whole thing. You can see me in the picture talking to the guy in the cab.”

“So have you figured it out?” Bud asked.

“I think so,” Tom replied. “At first I couldn’t make heads or tails out of it, and then it all came together. Think about it this way. We know for a fact that Dad was not in California that day. I asked him myself this morning just to make sure, but I already had all the proof I needed. He was not anywhere near California. There is no doubt of that.”

Bud frowned. “So are you saying the guy you talked to wasn’t your Dad?”

Tom shook his head. “Oh no. He was my father, but he knew things he shouldn’t have. He wanted to talk to both of us – and I got the feeling he thought that you and I were friends. We are now, of course, but we weren’t then. Plus, Dad was shocked that I was still thinking about the hyperplane project, even though it had just failed catastrophically a few days earlier and ruined my life. To him it was old news. It wasn’t even on his mind.”

“That is weird,” Bud said. “And didn’t he say that you were putting the whole universe in danger?”

“He did,” Tom said. “Even though my Dad knew at the time that he had just canceled my project and I wasn’t working on anything at all. It was a completely bizarre thing to say. Then he realized something was wrong and he said something very interesting. He said that I would understand what was going on in time.”

“Sorry, genius boy, but I don’t get it,” Bud confessed. “Where are you going with this?”

Tom grinned. “The person I talked to in California was my Dad, but he was my Dad from the future. A future where you and I have known each other for a long time. A future where the hyperplane is old news and I’ve moved on to other things. A future where, more specifically, I have access to time travel technology.”

Bud’s eyes widened. He glanced at the photo. “And you think that this truck might be the time machine?”

Tom shrugged. “It’s entirely possible. It’s a very futuristic design that is clearly not from this era. And the license plate number doesn’t match anything registered in the state of California. In fact, the number format isn’t even right. I don’t even know what the number ‘TANC’ is supposed to mean.”

Bud whistled. “So you think that at some point in the future you’re going to go back in time to rescue Irene?”

“I don’t know,” Tom said. “That explanation makes the most sense to me. But there are some problems with it.”

“Such as?” Bud asked.

“Well, for starters, I’m not sure how I would rescue her. I could stop her from ever going to Brungaria, I guess, but that would change the timeline and put millions of lives in danger. I wouldn’t want to do that. The safest thing to do would be to somehow get her off the jet right before it crashed, but I can’t imagine how you would grab someone off of a plane while it was still in the air.”

“Maybe a little Swift magic could take care of that,” Bud quipped.

“And then there’s the radiation problem. Irene received many, many times the lethal dose of radiation. There’s no cure for radiation poisoning. If I did manage to get her off the plane she would die in a couple hours – if she lived that long.”

“But if you went back in time to get her you must have solved those problems,” Bud pointed out.

“I just don’t see how,” Tom confessed. “And I don’t know that the rescue attempt worked. The guy in the truck didn’t say anything about Irene. My father didn’t either. He was just upset with me for putting the universe in danger.”

“So time travel might be really dangerous,” Bud said.

Tom sighed. “My Dad said something about knowing the numbers as well as I did. That could have been what he was talking about. But I just don’t know.”

“Now wait just a minute,” Bud said. “You’re saying that the guy in the pickup truck was involved in this, right?”

“Well, of course,” Tom said.

“So that means you and I were introduced by a time-traveler from the future?”

Tom laughed. “I guess we were. But we would have met anyway. I would have needed someone to fly a nuclear jet to Brungaria, and you were the only person around who could have done it. The time-traveler just short-circuited the process.”

Bud shook his head. “Still, I don’t think I’m going to mention that to anyone. Ever. No one would believe us!”

“Probably not,” Tom said, grinning.

“So what are you going to do?” Bud asked.

“I guess I’ll just wait and see what happens,” Tom said slowly. “At least now I know there’s a chance I might be able to get her back. That’s something to work toward.”

“And if you ever do get the opportunity?”

“I’ll take it,” Tom said firmly.

“Even if it puts the whole universe in danger?” Bud asked.

Tom hesitated. “There’s got to be a way to mitigate the risks. But until I know what it takes I won’t be able to address that issue. Time travel isn’t going to happen tomorrow, Bud.”

“Exactly,” Bud agreed. He paused for a moment. “You know, this might not be the best time to mention this, but I don’t think Irene was the kind of girl who would want you to put your life on hold. I know you aren’t interested right now, but there are other girls out there.”

“Please tell me you’re not thinking of Phyl,” Tom pleaded.

“Now Tom, Phyl is a nice girl,” Bud protested. “She likes you, and she cares about you. And she’s intelligent, if you would give her a chance.”

“She’s a wallflower,” Tom said. “She has zero personality.”

“Look. Next week Sandy and I are going out on a date. Why – ”

“You are?” Tom said. “Seriously? You’re dating my sister?”

Bud grinned. “She’s pretty cool, Tom. But as I was saying, why don’t you and Phyl come with us? I mean, you’ve got to do something other than just sit here.”

Tom put the picture back in the folder, and placed the folder on the shelf. “All right, Bud. But I have to tell you that Irene still has my heart. Phyl is nothing like her.”

“Fair enough,” Bud agreed. “So what are we going to do now?”

Tom looked off into the distance thoughtfully. “I’ve been thinking about building a flying laboratory. Something that I could use to explore remote areas of the globe.”

“Sounds good!” Bud exclaimed. “Where do we start?”