The Adventures of Joe, part 5

 
Joe sipped cold water from a paper cup.  He looked around the room.  It was Kim's office, he could see from the name plate on the large green metal desk--"General Kimbrough J. Miller." Joe glanced at his oldest brother, who was dressed in military gear, but his jacket was draped over a chair.  Joe saw five silver stars arranged in a pentagon on the shoulder.

"Joe! Are you all right?" Kim looked at him with what might have been concern. "Can somebody please tell me what is going on? Why am I here?" Joe begged.  Boe pulled up a folding chair in front of Joe, flipping it around backwards, he leaned over the seat back at Joe's eye level.  "Okay, Buddy, I know this is probably really confusing to you.  Let me fill you in a little." Kim looked impatient, "We don't have time for this."  Boe retorted, "We can't pull this off without Joe.  He doesn't know what's happening.  He's not a soldier, Kim.  He's a ten-year-old kid!"

Boe continued, "This is the year 2037.  We don't have the technology for time travel yet, but they do in the future.  Our great great great nephew, or something like that...anyway, a future relative traveled back in time because we needed their help--help from the future.  I can't tell you much about it because of the prime directive."  "Wait, what? Like on Star Trek?!" Joe nearly exploded. "You really call it that?"  "Well, pretty much everyone knows what we're talking about, so yeah, the name stuck," admitted Boe, somewhat sheepishly.

"What kind of help did you need from the future?  And what does that have to do with me?" Demanded Joe.