Twilight Earth Read Free Page B

transport him to the morgue."
    "He had an inoperable brain tumor, Bill," Doctor Jon Lyam said from the door behind Ben. "I thought he might have been planning something, but couldn't have been sure." He looked at Ben. "Were you with him at the end, Ben?"
    Ben nodded. "We were talking in his den when he said he'd lost his sight again. He asked me to help him in here. I did and got him in bed. He tried to ask me to make sure he could get to his pills when his nose started bleeding. I went to get a washcloth and when I got back, he was gone."
    Doc Lyam nodded. "That's not surprising considering his circumstances. He most likely died of an aneurysm, but I'll have to do a postmortem to be certain. I really don't feel that's necessary in this case though."
    Bill nodded. "Okay, I have the paperwork downstairs Doc. Do you want him sent to the morgue or County General?"
    "County General please, I know he had arrangements made with a funeral home, and they are to pick him up from there," Jon replied.
    "Okay, let's go back to the living room and we can let the EMTs do their work," Bill replied.
    When the three men returned to the living room, Bill took the paramedics aside and spoke to them briefly. They nodded and left to get their equipment. Bill and Jon sat down with the family, which now included a heavily crying Kaitlin being held by an also crying Marcy.
    "This'll only take us a few moments, Ben. Why don't you call Mr. Gilly to let him know of Tom's passing," Bill suggested sadly.
    Ben nodded and went to Tom's den to get the number. While he was in there, he called Bob Gilly, Tom's best friend and personal attorney.
    "Good evening, Tom. What do you need help with?" The man asked, pleasantly.
    "Mr. Gilly, this is Ben. I'm afraid my father passed away a little while ago," Ben said.
    "Oh damn! I'm so very sorry, Ben. Is there anything I can do for you? Do any of you need anything?" Bob replied. The man truly had been Tom's friend.
    "I don't think so, Sir. Both Doctor Lyam and Deputy Lowe are here right now, Deputy Lowe brought two paramedics with him to take the body," Ben replied.
    "Okay, can you make sure they take him to County General? Tom had planned for this and the funeral home will pick up his body from there," Bob replied.
    "I'm pretty sure that's where Doc Lyam told them to take him."
    Bob sighed. "Good, it's not really a big deal, since they could get him from where ever he gets sent to, but that was the plan. I'll start on the legal work right away. There is a Will, but your father also left pretty explicit instructions for you for when he passed. I'll wait a few days before I bring the Will over to read it. I'll also need your signature on a few things. However, until then, if any of you need anything; and I mean anything, let me know and I'll try to make it happen. Okay?"
    "Okay, Mr. Gilly. We'll call you," Ben said. He was starting to lose it again; he could feel it.
    "All right, please ask Deputy Lowe to give me a call when he finishes with you folks. I'll check on you guys in a couple of days. Thank you for calling me, Ben. I'll miss your father too," Bob said as his voice cracked.
    "I know, Sir. I think we all will," Ben said not knowing how to reply.
    "Go be with Kaitlin and Deirdre, Ben. They need you and Jorga right now," Bob said. "I'll talk to you again tomorrow and please, call me Bob."
    "Thank you, Bob. I'll talk to you then," Ben said and hung up. He got up and returned to the living room.
    The night that Tom passed away, unknown to Ben and his family, another event took place. While studying a formation called the ‘pillars of heaven’ in the Eagle Nebula, the aging Hubble Space Telescope, or HST, detected a cloud of thousands of objects. They were still over two light years from Earth, and well below the plane of the ecliptic. It was thought that the rapidly moving debris field was the remnants of a destroyed planet possibly ejected from a nova or some other cataclysm. Based on the observed speed of the