Beyond Galactic Marshal
by
Hilltopper

CHAPTER 8

We went into Rosco’s cabin and sat down. Lilly turned to me and spoke in an intense voice.

“OK, what’s really going on here?”

I put up my hands.

“The truth is I am here totally by accident. I was testing a device at some ruins on Prowhiness and, the next thing I knew, I was here.”

Lilly shook her head.

“No, that does not add up. The gate at our base, which is the ruins you talk about I guess, is powered down and only one of us can operate it.”

Rosco raised his eyebrows.

“You mean you’re not one of them?”

Lilly pounded her chair.

“That’s the problem! Who are you?”

I sighed and gave the highlights of my life story. After I finished, Lilly stood up.

“Wow! This is unbelievable. You could be my distant ancestor.”

She then frowned.

“I’m now worried even more about the time travel consequences.”

I nodded.

“The aliens I worked for were very concerned about it. I imagine your people picked this place because it is out of the way.”

“That was certainly one reason. You think your wife and sister will try to come here, right?”

“Absolutely!”

She shook her head.

“They won’t make it. Our people will almost certainly intercept them. The big question is ‘what will happen next’. I imagine, when they find out about you, they will be in a quandary. I must warn you though, we don’t rush into things. We just might be totally on our own here.”

“Can’t you use the gate to get us back?”

“Back to our base probably but not into the future. Since our base has no power and no one is there, what’s the point? Also, some one attacked it so going there would be dangerous. We must live here the best we can until my people send someone for us, if they do.”

I was shocked.

“You mean, you don’t think they will?”

She looked sadly at me.

“If they were going to, they should already be here. They would want to limit the time exposure as much as possible. So, I’m not optimistic.”

“But what about your people in hibernation?”

She just shook her head.

“Why do you think I didn’t want to go in there! Of course, I have to admit, I kind of like having males around.”

I nodded.

“Yeah, I guess your planet is like Fledora in that no males are allowed.”

She got a serious look on her face.

“It’s worse than that. In our time, males are extinct and have been for a very long time.”

Rosco choked on his tobacco.

“Does that mean what I think it means?”

She nodded.

“Holy shit!”

I patted Rosco on the back.

“So, I guess that’s why you’re here observing.”

“Yes, our leaders thought we could gain some knowledge. I don’t know the real reason.”

“Yeah, there must be more to it than that. The question for us is ‘what do we do now’. You don’t expect help, we can’t leave, and Slago has probably burnt your house by now. Not to mention the fact that what ever we do could screw up the future. Life was so much easier when I was a marshal.”

“I think we should go to the observation room until we figure things out. Of course, we could always join my team in hibernation.”

I shook my head.

“Been there, done that! OK, let’s go up the hill. At least I can get out of these confounded clothes.”

She laughed.

“I must admit these long dresses and corsets are not my idea of proper fashion.”

We bade Rosco good bye and headed to the observation room. Once down the ladder, I went into the storage room. I gathered up a flannel shirt, some jeans, and a pair of boots. Lilly looked surprised.

“Don’t tell me you’re going back to your male disguise?”

“Yes, I think it best.”

She sighed.

“OK, I’m going inside.”

I changed clothes and washed my face. I was pulling my boots on when I heard Lilly cry out.

“Oh my god!”

I rushed into the room. She had powered up the computers and an alarm was flashing. A picture I recognized as their base showed several very strange and scary aliens.

“Uh oh!”

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Isham turned bright red. I didn’t know if she was embarrassed or angry; maybe both. She made a half turn.

“We have a room ready for you. Please follow me.”

She led us down several hallways and finally stopped at a door.

“We have programmed it for your English. If you need anything, just ask it.”

With that, Isham walked away. I looked over at Karen.

“I guess I hurt her feelings.”

Karen made a sound like hmmpf.

“These people are impossible.”

I was about to knock on the door when it slid open.

“Welcome Mary and Karen. Please make yourselves at home.”

I chuckled.

“This reminds me of Jonnie’s ship.”

We walked into a dream. I don’t know how they did it but the place was straight out of Jonnie’s Kentucky home. Well, it wasn’t the same stuff but it sure was of a similar type. Karen looked around and sighed.

“Home sweet home!”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of. I get the feeling we are prisoners rather than guests.”

Karen looked at the door.

“Only one way to find out.”

She walked over to the door. It did not open.

“Please open the door.”

The same voice that welcomed us spoke up.

“It is not permitted.”

Karen turned back to me.

“There you go!”

I nodded.

“I guess we are at their mercy.”

Everything hit me at once. I missed Jonnie terribly and worried what might have happened. Now, we were trapped in the distant future. Plus, Raylan was still at the ruins. I felt completely overwhelmed. A crying fit is never pleasant especially with Karen present. To her credit, she held me until I calmed down.

“Feel better?”

I nodded.

“OK, let’s check this place out.”

It turned out that this was like a two bedroom hotel suite or maybe the inside of a small 20th century house on Earth. There was a sitting room area, a small eating area, and two bedrooms with bathrooms. I shook my head.

“I still don’t understand this. We have to be a thousand or more years in the future. How would they know anything about this stuff?”

“Beats me. Do you see any communication devices around?”

“Come to think of it, no. House, we would like to speak to one of your people.”

“Someone will contact you tomorrow.”

I tried several times insisting to speak to someone but our house did not answer. Karen frowned.

“So much for that!”

We found food in the eating area and ate. There was nothing much to do so, after discussing things a while, we went to bed. I couldn’t help but wonder what Jonnie was doing. I also missed little Raylan but I know he was being well cared for. I must have been more tired than I thought because I went to sleep quite quickly. I was awakened by the house.

“Please get ready. You will be contacted shortly.”

I walked out to find Karen sitting in a chair. She looked up and smiled.

“Sleep well?”

“Surprisingly so.”

“Yep, home sweet home.”

Since we didn’t have any extra clothes, dressing was not an issue. I sat down beside Karen.

“Do you think they will let us go today?”

“Hmmpf, I wouldn’t bet on it. Another night in here and I’ll be ready to kill something.”

A few minutes later, our door opened. In walked the two women that had first met us. Isham addressed us.

“We are sending you back to your time. This is the best way to avoid any time effects.”

I jumped up.

“That won’t work. We still need to rescue Jonnie.”

“I’m sorry but that is not possible.”

“Why not?”

She looked over at the other woman and sighed.

“We have lost our connection to the base. Without it, we can not go back to a specific time.”

I was shocked.

“What caused the problem?”

“We don’t know. It is as if the base is no longer there.”

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I guess I must have drifted off because I was startled when the ship announced that we were in orbit around Prowhiness. We walked into the command center.

“Any word from the woman that is to contact us?”

“No, George.”

“OK, keep trying to make contact.”

I looked at Linda.

“If we can’t contact her, maybe we can reach one of Karen’s people at the resort.”

She nodded.

“That makes sense. I know several of them.”

We tried all morning with no results. Linda called a person she knew at the resort. The person had a fix on a position sent to her by Karen’s sitter at the ruins. I gave the info to the ship’s computer.

“Please over fly this site.”

“Yes, George.”

We were soon over the position. There was nothing there except a strange device and a flattened building.

“This doesn’t look good. We better take the shuttle down.”

Linda and I dropped down to the surface and landed beside the ruined house. Linda was in a panic.

“I hope Raylan wasn’t in there.”

We went to the rubble. It looked like it had been in an explosion. I heard a sound and headed for it. Under part of the roof was a woman. When I turned her over, I was surprised to find Raylan wrapped in a blanket. Linda rushed over and picked him up. He started crying,

“Thank god!”

“Yeah, that woman gave her life to protect him.”

We took him back to the shuttle and went up to the ship. He was pretty hungry and thirsty but, otherwise, seemed in good health. Linda put Raylan to bed and we sat down in the galley.

“Did John ever describe those ruins?”

Linda nodded.

“Yes, a little. That is what is bothering me. There is nothing there like she described. The ruins appear to have vanished without a trace.”

“Kind of like the aliens. I am supposed to report back if they are not here.”

“I wish you would wait until tomorrow.”

“I suppose I could, not that it will make any difference.”

We ate and pondered what might have happened there. The house was flattened directly away from the device setting on the plain. It was as if a wave of energy had come out of it. But where did the ruins go? I was about to go check on Raylan when our ship sounded an alarm.

“George, there is an anomaly at the site.”

“What kind of anomaly?”

“It appears to be two people.”

“What! Where did they come from?”

“No data on that.”

“Linda, I’ve got to go check this out. Do you mind staying here with Raylan?”

“OK, but please be careful.”

I rushed to the shuttle and headed down to the surface. As I approached the ruins site, I could see two women looking at the former house. I sat the shuttle down and they ran over. It was Karen and Mary!

“Where did you come from?”

Karen pointed back to the device. Mary was very distraught.

“It’s OK, we’ve got Raylan on our ship and he’s fine.”

“That’s a relief. When we saw the destruction of the house, I was beside myself.”

“Did you find John?”

“No, we were intercepted. What happened here?”

“Got me! This is what we found when we arrived. We found Raylan in the house.”

I looked at Karen.

“Your sitter had protected him. I’m sorry but she’s dead.”

Karen nodded.

“Let’s go to your ship. Mary needs to see Raylan and we have a lot to discuss.”

We returned to the ship in silence. Once docked, Mary rushed in and picked up Raylan.

“Thank god you’re safe.”

We settled in the galley. Karen related their adventure.

“Wow! That is amazing. What are they going to do about John?”

Karen sighed.

“They say there is nothing they can do. I think they believe she is dead.”

Mary slapped the table.

“No, she’s not! I would know.”

“OK, so what do we do now? Can you operate that device?”

Karen shook her head.

“I tried after we were sent through. It is dead.”

“So John’s trapped in time!”

Mary started crying. Karen sighed.

“I’m afraid so.”