Revenge

The Dead Hitchhiker (Part Two)

Five years later

Tim sat at his desk, his eyes gazing out the window but seeing nothing, lost in his own miserable thoughts. Five years tomorrow. Five years since he had been without Jerry. The guilt had faded over time but the questions still remained. What the hell had Jerry been doing on that road in the middle of nowhere? Why hadn't he been in Rotorua, as scheduled on his itinerary sheet? For that matter, why hadn't he (Tim) put his stupid job to one side for once and gone to New Zealand with him as they had planned?

There was a brisk knock at the door. "Dr Hugo? We're ready for you," called a young excited voice.

Tim took a deep breath and tried to shake off those pointless regrets. He stood up and squared his shoulders. Maybe tomorrow, if all went well, he'd have some answers.

He went downstairs to the laboratory and pushed open the door.

The two men inside turned to acknowledge his presence briefly.

"Tim."

"Dr Hugo."

The older of the two had white hair but the younger looked as if he had only just left university. Both were dressed in the ubiquitous white lab coats. They returned their gaze to the transparent enclosure in the middle of the room. It was a square box, about two metres by two, seemingly made of glass. A shiny metal platform sat in the centre of it on the floor, but otherwise the enclosure appeared to be empty. To the right of the two men, a console unit with enough buttons and dials to resemble the controls of a spaceship, made a soft humming sound.

"Do you want to do the honours, Tim?" asked the white-haired man.

Tim nodded and strode over to the console unit. Although he knew everything was already programmed to the last decimal point, he rechecked the settings before entering the activation code. A ring of red lights appeared on the metal platform, matched a split second later by a flashing red light on the console unit. The Transporter was active.

"Any moment now," said the older man, his voice hoarse with anticipation.

A bright white light filled the enclosure and all three men shielded their eyes. When they opened them, the enclosure was no longer empty. To their delight, a bewildered looking sheep was inside, standing on the platform. It had one bright blue ear. The two scientists next to Tim exchanged a high-five, beaming smiles on their faces.

"It worked!" cried the younger of the two. "That's the right animal! I marked her ear, myself. She doesn't appear to have suffered any ill-effects whatsoever."

"Certainly looks that way," agreed his older companion, more cautiously. "We'll know for certain after the vet checks her out. Can you take her out, Milsom, and get that organised?"

The younger scientist nodded and opened the door of the enclosure.

Grabbing the sheep was easier said than done, but eventually he got it in a head lock and dragged it out.