Beyond Galactic Marshal
by
Hilltopper

Chapter 5

The smell of bacon frying woke me up. I hadn’t had that in a long time. I stood up and Rosco eyed me.

“Ol’ Pasco used to wear a pair of underwear just like those years ago.”

This piqued my interest.

“Who was that?”

“Oh, he was an old prospector that was around about many years ago. I haven’t seen him in a very long time.”

Hmm, maybe he was one of those bodies I found.

“Sit your self down. I’ll have breakfast in a minute.’

We ate and dressed. Once outside, I was surprised to see a wagon. Rosco saw me looking.

“Yeah, I need it to haul things up here from town but the road, such as it is, takes one a long way around. Nothing for it, of course. Hop on!”

He was right. Not only was the ‘road’ awful but it took us 4 hours to reach Hilltown. It wasn’t much to brag about. I guess it was a typical mining town of the old west. There seemed to be more saloons than any thing else. We stopped in front of a general store. I stepped down from the wagon. I had no idea what to do. Rosco headed into the store so I followed.

“Hey Mort, this here’s John Harper.”

Mort looked me over and just nodded. Rosco handed him a list.

“Well, if it isn’t Rosco Jones.”

I turned to see a tall, pudgy man wearing a badge.

“I just heard a tale about you. Seems one of my deputies is missing.”

“Listen, Slago, I had nothin’ to do with that.”

His eyes narrowed.

“That’s Marshal Slago to you.”

He noticed me for the first time.

“Is this the feller that shot my deputy?”

I gave him my marshal glare. I have been told that it is intimidating. It seemed to be having an effect. He looked away.

“Well, Willie never was much good. You watch yourself around here.”

He turned and walked out.

“Well, I’ll be damned. I thought sure he was going to arrest you.”

“It seems he already knows what happened.”

Rosco laughed.

“Yeah, I’m sure Billy boy told him how fast you are. I think things are going to get interesting around here. You never did tell me why you are here. I still think you’re our U.S. Marshal.”

Mort stood up with a jerk. I held up my hands.

“No, I’m not him. Driftin’ is all.”

Mort shook his head.

“You’re no drifter.”

I ignored him and turned to Rosco.

“Is there a hotel around here?”

“Sure, across the street.”

“OK, thanks for every thing. I’m sure I’ll see you again.”

I walked out and saw a sign on a building across the street that said ‘Rooms’. I had a bag of gold nuggets that I’d found in the store room. I figured that is what was used for money around here. I went into the hotel and up to a desk. A grungy man was sitting behind it.

“I’d like a room.”

He looked up.

“That’ll be two bits in advance.”

I had no idea what 2 bits was so I placed a nugget on the desk top.

“Will this do?”

He lifted it and held it a few seconds.

“Man, you can stay a month on this thing.”

“Fine”

He handed me a key.

“Up stairs, second door on the right.”

I nodded and went up to the room. It had a bed, a chair, and a dresser with a pitcher and bowl on top. The bed did look fairly clean. I plopped down.

“OK, now what?”

I guess I must have fallen asleep because I was startled by pounding on my door.

“John, are ya in there?”

I got up and opened the door.

“Are you nuts? Why did you pay for your room with that nugget?”

Uh oh, messed up again.

“Just as soon as you went up to your room that scum bag of a clerk high tailed it over to Marshal Slago. He’s gonna be after you for sure now and he won’t be coming at you from the front.”

Oh, boy!

“OK, so what should I have done?”

Rosco eyed me warily.

“You sure got a lot to learn. Take your nuggets to any saloon. They’ll weigh it up and pay you in cash but don’t give them any more than you have to. I’m going back to my place. It probably would be a good idea for you to go back with me.”

“No, I guess I’ll hang around here.”

Rosco stared at me a minute and then shook his head.

“OK, it was good knowing you.”

He turned and walked out. Maybe I should just go back to the gate room. I’m screwing up here big time. No, that won’t help. I’ve just got to be more careful. I strapped on my gun and went out to find a saloon. Of course, that wasn’t hard. I went into the first one I came to. It was called The Golden Nugget. That sounded like just what I needed. Upon walking in, I spotted the cashier. I decided to go slow and handed him just two nuggets. After weighing, he smiled.

“These are nice ones. You must have a good mine.”

He handed me $165. It didn’t seem like much but prices were really low around here so it should be enough. I walked over to the bar.

“You got any Kentucky whiskey?”

“Sure thing but it’s expensive.”

“Give me a bottle and a glass. Have you got anything to eat here?”

“We got some stew cooking.”

“OK, bring me a plate.”

I went to a table towards the back and poured myself a drink. It wasn’t half bad. As much as I wanted to tie one on, I didn’t think it was a good idea what with Marshal Slago on my case. I was about to take my second drink when I spotted one of the girls staring at me. I nodded and she came over to my table. Placing both arms on the table top, she screamed at me.

“I’m not going back with you!”

She stood and ran out the back door.

“What on earth was that about.”

My stew arrived and I dug in. The meat was definitely not beef but it was pretty good. After eating, I relaxed with a couple more drinks then headed outside. It had gotten dark. I was just passing an alley when I heard two shots and something hit me in the back.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next evening, Karen called to say she was at the resort.

“Thank goodness you’re back. Tinker says you are the key to getting Jonnie home.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, uh, your genes that is.”

“Hmm, we’ll see. Can you have Tinker pick me up?”

“Yep, I’ll call him. See you in a little bit.”

I called Tinker.

“Our shuttle should be there by now.”

“How did you know Karen was back? Never mind!”

“We’ll bring her to your home and we will get started in the morning.”

Tinker signed off. He’s never one for a lot of talk. About an hour later, Karen was at my door. I gave her a big hug.

“Well, this is different.”

I blushed.

“I’m glad to see you.”

She smiled.

“Anything more on Jonnie?”

I lost it then.

“Oh, Karen, she’s gone; maybe forever! I don’t know what to do. Tinker says she’s on Earth some time in the past; and as a male.”

Karen raised her eyebrows.

“Not again! I thought she was through with this changing back and forth.”

I explained what Tinker had told me. Karen nodded.

“Yeah, that makes sense. So, Tinker thinks I may be able to operate the gate.”

“I hope so. Otherwise, we’re sunk.”

Karen looked thoughtful.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea. It appears they do not know much about the thing. I could end up anywhere.”

I teared up.

“What else can we do?”

“Well, we’ll figure things out in the morning. I’m beat. I have been on the go for four days.”

“What did you find out?”

“Not much. Jonnie is definitely wanted by the Planetopolis but mainly for her information I think.”

We went off to bed. Tinker arrived bright and early the next morning. Karen reluctantly went to the gate but I was not allowed. I sat with Raylan and was miserable.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was shocked at the size of the gate. It was so much larger that I imagined. Tinker pointed at it.

“We have partially powered the gate up but not enough to operate it. What we would like you to do first is to walk into it a few feet. It should power up all the way if your DNA is compatible. When it does, turn around and walk back out.”

“OK, that sounds harmless enough.”

I did as instructed and the gate did seem to gain in intensity. Upon exiting, Tinker was smiling big.

“This is great! I am going to show you a video of what Jonnie did inside the gate.”

I watched it concentrating on what she did at the panel. There was a flash and then Jonnie was gone.

“We would like you to duplicate that. We sent Jonnie through wearing a space suit just in case. The gate should transport you to Earth so breathing should not be an issue. However, we feel you should wear it anyway. If you get it to transport you, don’t leave it. Look outside and take an air sample but under no circumstances should you walk out of it. If you see Jonnie, get her to come to you. If she is not in sight, come straight back here so we can analyze the situation.”

I looked hard at Tinker.

“Don’t you think you are rushing things a little.”

“No, time is at a premium here.”

I sighed and put on the suit with a tech’s help. Inside the gate, I followed the sequence Jonnie had performed. There was a bright flash and then I was looking at a large room with many computer desks. The lights in the room were on but the screens were not lit up. To the left side of the room, a space suit was laying on the floor.

“That has to be Jonnie’s!”

I called her name over and over. It was all I could do to keep myself from running into the room. There was no Jonnie. Looking harder at the room, I noticed something written on one of the screens. I smiled and took the air sample.

“I sure hope this thing goes back!”

With a sigh, I placed my hand into the depression. An instant later, Tinker was standing before me. I smiled.

“I saw Jonnie’s suit and a note from here.”

“OK! Come on out.”

When I exited the gate, a tech helped me off with the suit and took the air sample. Tinker handed me an electronic tablet.

“Please write up every thing you did and saw.”

It took me about 30 minutes to do so. Tinker read it and nodded.

“This looks good. The gate went back to the same place. Of course, we don’t know the time element yet. It will take us a while to analyze the data. Go on back to Mary’s and, when we are ready to go again, I’ll come for you.”

“Alright”

I went back to Mary and gave her the good news.

“Thank god! Did Tinker say when you will be going back?”

“No, but I hope it’s soon. Based on the note, there is no telling where Jonnie may be or how long she has been gone.”

Mary gave me a sad look.

“I guess we better say ‘he’ now.”

“Yeah, sorry.”

We ate lunch and waited. About mid afternoon, Tinker came over.

“We think you were within a few days of Jonnie’s passage. The note indicated she left the room. Since we don’t know how far she has gone or what she may have encountered, we will have supplies ready for you to take. You will have to go alone. We can not go with you.”

“Why not send an avatar with me?”

“No, they must be controlled by one of us and that can not be managed through the gate.”

Mary stepped forward.

“I’m going with Karen!”

Tinker started to say no but the look on Mary’s face stopped that. With a slight nod, Tinker smiled.

“I guess there’s no point in arguing.”

I looked into Mary’s eyes.

“Are you sure?”

“I can’t not go. Can you get one of your people to watch Raylan?”

“Sure”

Tinker sighed.

“OK, you leave tonight.”