80 29th Street, Brooklyn
New York, United States
Leonard Sullivan was accompanied by Jane Hatfield and Scott Benson when he visited again the cells of the occupants of Pan Am 164, starting this time with the men’s cell. Al of the inmates were up or at least awake, many glued in front of their two television sets or reading newspapers.
‘’GENTLEMEN, I HAVE AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT TO MAKE!’
Once the volume on the televisions had been turned down and he had the attention of all, Sullivan continued.
‘’Gentlemen, I am here to tell you that you can expect in about thirty minutes a visit by the Vice-President of the United States. Those who have not shaved or dressed yet may want to do so now.’
‘’Is he here to free us?’ Asked at once Bil Cannon. That prompted Jane Hatfield to take over from Sullivan.
‘’I have not been told yet what wil follow, but I can tell you that things are moving and that you can expect to be moved out of here soon, probably sometimes today. To where I don’t know yet but it certainly will be a better place than this. We wil now let you get ready for that visit. Be advised that the Vice-President wil address all of you together, men, women and children. We wil see each other in half a hour.’
The trio then departed, leaving a crowd of sixty or so men hurrying to get properly dressed and shaved.
At nearly ten o’clock, the women and children from the other communal cell joined the men of the flight, just before eight men and women in dark suits and sunglasses came down the corridor, looking sharply around them and making a quick but thorough inspection of the men’s communal cell. Four minutes later, a woman that 29
looked in her late fifties and wore a fine blue-grey female suit entered the cell, closely escorted by four men in dark suits. Jane Hatfield came to attention then and called out loud.
‘’LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES, MADAM HILLARY RODMAN-CLINTON.’
The reaction of many in the Pan Am crowd was at first one of utter surprise. Then many of the women appeared to be thril ed, while a few men showed some skepticism. On her part, the Vice-President wasted no time going to Grace Kelly to shake her hand.
‘’Your Serene Highness, I am truly sorry that you have been forced to live through this, but I can assure you that we have the ultimate good of all of you in mind.’
‘’Does this mean that we are going to be released, Madam Vice-President?’’
‘’I truly wish that I could say it right now, Princess Grace. Unfortunately, this is a very complicated situation that needs careful consideration. However, I came to tell you all that your conditions wil improve a lot today. I wil now address you as a group, if you don’t mind.’
Hil ary Clinton then got up on a chair with the help of a Secret Service agent, to be seen by al . She looked slowly around the crowd before starting to speak in a strong but calm voice.
‘’Ladies and gentlemen of flight Pan Am 164, I would like to extend to you the sympathies of the government of the United States for the harsh plight that struck you yesterday. We fully realize that you are now separated from your families, loved ones and from all that you knew, and that you wish for nothing else than to go back to your proper time. However, the circumstances in which you were transported in time are not known yet and, to be completely frank, the prospects of finding a way to return you to the year 1959 are dim, to say the least. Technology has made huge leaps since 1959, unfortunately we stil know nothing about time travel, or if it is even possible to do such time travel in a controlled way. Al we have right now are some far-fetched theories involving natural forces in the Universe that we most probably wil never be able to control. This said, I can assure you that my government will do the utmost to research the question and find a way home for you.’
Clinton paused for a moment, looking at the anxious expressions around her and noting with a pang of the heart that some of the women and even a few men were now quietly weeping.
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‘’Right now, my government is resolved to treat you with decency and respect and to support you all in the best way possible during your present plight. While our experts and scientists start searching for a way home for you, you will be the guests of the American government and won’t have to worry about how you are going to survive in the next few days and weeks. You wil al be moved this afternoon to a hotel in Washington were you wil be able to wait in much more comfortable surroundings, while the government studies what to do next. I have to advise you that you will not be allowed to leave that hotel or its immediate surroundings, or to receive visitors, at least for the next day or two. This is for your own protection, believe me. Many around this country will want to exploit your stories, or even your personal situations, to make a profit or to promote their own interests. Some may try to pass as relatives of yours, to then sell your story to the highest bidding tabloid or to try to gain access to your financial estates. Others may even try to do you harm, to prevent you from claiming back what was yours in 1959. There is also the possibility that foreign agents may try to find from you how you managed to travel through time. It is a sometimes crazy world out there, ladies and gentlemen, and not everybody wil have only your wellbeing in mind.’
Seeing Marilyn Monroe raise a hand to ask a question, the Vice-President pointed to her.
‘’Yes, Miss Monroe?’’
‘’What about those of us who are already officially dead and have no relatives left alive in this world, like me?’
Hil ary Clinton thought her answer while staring at the actress, who appeared to be on a severe emotional low.
‘’We will help you gain back a meaningful place in our society, Miss Monroe, and this applies to all of you. The foreign nationals in your group wil start getting access to consular assistance from their respective embassies tomorrow, while counselors wil be available to help you all, to trace back any living, authentic relatives of yours. Financial experts and government lawyers will also be on hand to help you reclaim any estate or financial asset that you may stil be entitled to. We do not however expect to let the medias near you before another couple of days, so that you may have some time to put your minds back in order after this terrible blow.’
‘’What about my plane, Madam Vice-President?’’ Asked Bil Cannon after raising his hand and being pointed by Hil ary Clinton.
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‘’It wil be studied in depth but will be kept intact, so that it may be available if we ever find a way to send you home. If not, I stil promised you that it wil not be scrapped: it represents one of the pioneering moments in our aviation history and deserves a place at our national air museum.’
Bil Cannon wasn’t sure if he should be flattered to hear that his plane was considered a museum piece, but he had by now seen enough to understand that it represented a technology that was hopelessly outdated by the standards of 2015. In fact, he was starting to wonder if his own commercial pilot’s license was still valid. Probably not.
Hil ary Clinton then spoke again.
‘’As I said before, you will all be moved to Washington this afternoon. In fact, you wil be traveling with me in one of the jets of the presidential fleet to Andrews Air Force Base, where we wil board helicopters for your last leg of the trip. I have to warn you that the medias, especially those from television networks and from tabloid newspapers, wil be very aggressive in trying to gain access to you and get a story. Don’t be afraid if the surroundings of your hotel in Washington look like an armed camp: the soldiers and government agents around you wil be tasked to protect you, not to keep you in jail.’
‘’And what if we want to leave that hotel, Madam Vice-President?’’ Asked a man in the crowd. ‘’Are these soldiers going to keep us in by force?’
Hil ary Clinton took a breath, realizing that she no longer could turn around that issue.
‘’Until tomorrow, yes! Again, that is for your own good. As soon as you are in Washington, I will be conferring urgently with the President on your behalf, in order to allow you to be able to move freely as quickly as possible. I can’t promise you anything yet but, contrary to what some conspiracy theorists and doomsday prophets may already say, you will not simply disappear or be hauled away to some secret government prison.’’
‘’Like that Guantanamo Bay Camp they talked about in the news last night?’’
The pointed question shouted from the back of the crowd made Clinton mentally swear to herself. She had not been pleased on learning on arrival that these people had been given access to televised and printed news, even though she could not real y fault Warden Sullivan for showing care for the detainees. If these people were to be returned soon to the past by some miracle, they would now do so while possessing some potentially very destabilizing information about the future, information that could in turn derail history as Clinton knew it.
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‘’Our prison complex in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is reserved solely for foreign terrorists classified as high threats to the national security of the United States, mister.
Besides, that camp is due to close soon, on orders from President Obama. Where you are going to be is in fact a hotel that had been used until recently to house convalescing American soldiers and their families awaiting therapy or medical evaluations at the Walter Reed military hospital. That hotel has just finished being refurbished and is quite comfortable, apart from being near downtown Washington. It is no prison camp, I assure you. If there are no more questions, I will now leave you to go finalize the modalities of your move to Washington and to report to the President. Thank you for your attention, ladies and gentlemen and, again, do not despair: we are here to help you.’
Climbing down cautiously from her chair, Hil ary Clinton then left with her escort of Secret Service agents. Jane Hatfield next took her place atop the chair.
‘’Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to emphasize the words of the Vice-President: we have no sinister plans in mind concerning you. Some other people may imply it or try to convince you that we are up to no good, but I warn you to be careful about what some may say to you in the next few days. You may now want to have your bags packed for a sudden departure, as transport arrangements are stil being made and any warning time may be short. For your information, I wil be accompanying you to Washington, along with Senior Agent Benson of the FBI. There, we wil help you trace back any living relatives of yours. Keep your hopes up, people.’’
Jane then left as well, accompanied by Scott Benson and the other federal agents. The people from the Pan Am flight 164 looked at each other for a moment before breaking up in small groups and returning to their bunk beds to pack their few possessions left to them.
Hil ary Clinton was not happy to see the media circus her caravan of official vehicles hit on exiting the garage of the detention center: it didn’t bode well for what the people of the Pan Am flight could expect in Washington. Already, the wildest rumors and theories were circulating around the planet, from UFOs being involved to the appearance of the Pan Am flight having being caused by a supposed super-secret government program on time travel. France, which took care of consular services for the citizens of the Principality of Monaco, had contacted the State Department early this morning to demand the right for one of his consuls to visit Princess Grace and her 33
daughter Caroline, and demanding as well to see Coco Chanel. Delaying too much such consular visits could add diplomatic consequences to an incident that was growing quickly into a crisis.
The Pan Am detainees, as they were now widely known, were able to hear all these crazy theories concerning them on their television sets as they packed, with special coverage on them running on CNN and FOX. Most of these rumors and theories made them laugh, while some woke up some dark fears in a few of the passengers.
Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe were particularly hit hard by these media stories, as some news director at FOX had the bad taste to show in a recurring loop short documentaries concerning their respective deaths and their aftermaths. Marilyn Monroe was shocked into a nervous depression on hearing that she had supposedly committed suicide in 1962 following a failing love affair with then President John F. Kennedy. The alternate theory presented about her death, that the Kennedy brothers had her kil ed to protect themselves from a looming sex scandal, only made Marilyn even more depressed, as well as suspicious of government intentions about her. In the case of Grace Kelly, apart from learning that she had died in a car accident decades ago, CNN
showed recent footage of the Monaco royal family, including pictures of a 56 years old Princess Caroline, very much alive in 2015. The commentators had then wondered how there could be two Princess Caroline in existence at the same time, debating with some claimed scientific experts that this could mean the existence of a parallel world, one where the occupants of the Pan Am flight were now missing and considered long dead.
Leonard Sullivan, now bitterly regretting his decision to provide access to current news to his charges, final y had enough and unhooked the cable connections from the television sets of the detainees, in order to protect their psyche from what was becoming a new sort of mental torture to them.
It was a depressed, morose and quite disturbed crowd that final y boarded buses in the internal garage of the detention center after lunch. It took over sixty policemen to keep the crowd of photographers and cameramen waiting outside the garage from rushing in and blocking the path of the buses, who were final y able to start rolling towards J.F.K Airport. Once at the airport, the buses rolled to a waiting Boeing B747
bearing the seal of the President of the United States, stopping at the foot of a mobile 34
staircase. Bil Cannon and his crew couldn’t help gawk at the huge plane as they were about to climb the mobile staircase.
‘’God, I wonder what it is like to fly such a plane!’’
‘’One thing is for sure, Bil : we will need to go back to school before being able to fly this big baby.’ Replied Denis Brayson before starting to climb the stairs with his hand luggage. He was met at the top of the stairs by a young and beautiful Air Force sergeant who greeted him with a big smile.
‘’If you will follow me, sir, I will guide you to your seat.’
‘’Well, not everything is bad in this world.’ Whispered John White, who was right behind Denis, as the young woman was walking away with a sexy shake of her bum.
Denis only managed a half smile in response, his mind stil preoccupied by their impossible situation.
Twenty minutes later, with their luggage transferred to the holds of the big jet, the four engines of the B747 were started one after the other. With two fighter jets circling above the airport and waiting to escort the Vice-President’s plane, the B747 soon started rolling along the taxiways, heading for the start of Runway 31L. Another twelve minutes and the giant plane was lifting off from the runway and climbed quickly before turning south-west towards Washington. The flight was actually quite short, the B747 barely having attained its cruising altitude before it started going down to land at Andrews Air Force Base, just outside of Washington, D.C.. There, Vice-President Clinton invited the people of Pan Am to follow her out on the tarmac, where they boarded buses with their luggage for a short, 300 yards trip to another portion of the main tarmac. Four big Air Force Sikorsky SUPER STALLION, plus a Sikorsky BLACKHAWK from the presidential fleet, then took them north-west, flying over downtown Washington and letting the Pan Am crew and passengers contemplate from the air the capital as it was in 2015.
14:25 (New York Time)