I can clearly see the three men I’ve been chasing off and on for the past ten years. Wyatt Dermit, Dayton Dermit, and Henry Clemmens urged their horses faster across the mesquite and cactus filled landscape. Glancing back over my shoulder my posse was falling way behind but I refused to let these wanton criminals get away this time.

Spurring my horse after them, I all but ignored my parched throat and the dusty grit that covered my teeth. In a few more minutes I’ll be close enough to shoot. Several shots rang out and I was now forced to move back and forth to avoid being hit by their bullets. I need to stay focused and not waste my ammo until I know I’m close enough that I can take a clean shot. One more look behind me and my posse was now no longer in sight. I’m in this alone and at some point, the three outlaws will turn on me knowing they have the upper hand.

Reluctantly I veered my horse away from the small band of rapists, thieves, and murderers just as a blinding flash of light lit up the early evening sky. Shielding my eyes, I was thrown from my horse as the brilliance of the light caused my mare to bolt. As my eyes adjusted I spotted the three men not more than a hundred yards from me; their horses long gone as well. As they staggered to their feet I saw one of them point upward. Following his gaze, I witnessed a ball of fire scorching the sky as it headed directly for us.

We were all too stunned to train our guns on each other as the fireball approached. The sound of a thousand sizzling steam engines filled the air. It was deafening and the fireball mesmerizing until the fireball exploded sending a blue wave of light outward in all directions. As the edge of the wave hit me I was thrown backward; the air from my lungs ripped from me.

***

I could feel coarse dirt as it sifted through my fingers. The smell of the desert filled my nostrils. I lay there momentarily in blissful ignorance of my situation. If I’m alive after that explosion then the Dermit gang must also be alive. Get up!

Opening my eyes, I saw a hand that wasn’t mine. Even with the fingers partially embedded in the soft soils I could tell this hand belonged to a woman. I didn’t see anyone else before the explosion. “Miss?” My voice faltered in my throat. The sound that emanated from my mouth wasn’t my own. Sitting up quickly the hand that I had seen moved with me. That hand is attached to my arm!

Slowly I looked down and long blond strands of hair passed in front of my eyes momentarily blocking my view. With a light gust of wind, the hair blew to the side and I looked down upon a pair of naked women’s breasts. Standing in sudden realization, I took a deep breath unaware that I had been holding it all this time. I’m a woman, naked, and in the middle of the desert.The landscape was vaguely familiar and yet not. I’m in the middle of a vast circular canyon.

“Hey!”

“What happened to us?”

I turned towards the shouting. Three naked men were pulling themselves up off the ground. Staring at them, I recognized them. Not by their looks, as they, like me, were new people but I could see it in their eyes. The Dermit gang. My heart all but stopped when they turned and looked at me with the same recognition. Mirthless smiles broke out on their faces as the leader of the group, Wyatt, took a few steps towards me.

Turning to run I stopped dead in my tracks. Before me stood twenty people dressed in the strangest clothing I had ever seen. Their faces and eyes were covered by some strange devices and many of them held shiny black sticks. Their clothes shimmered in the light of the sun and behind them floated strange metallic beasts.

“It worked! Gather them up and take them back to the city.”

Two people came to my side and draped a slick shiny cloth over my body before leading me towards one of the floating beasts even as other men surrounded the Dermit gang. “Who are you?”

“You’ve been through a traumatic event. Conserve your energy.”

“Did you do this to me?”

“We caused the event. It was amazing to watch.”

Clearly these people were insane and as they dragged me towards the floating beast I tried to pull away from them. “What is that thing? Don’t put me in there!”

“You’re funny.”

They paid no attention to my concerns and handed me up to another man standing inside the beast. I tried to twist away again from them but soon multiple people were attaching round things with strings to my skin and probing me. The opening in the side of the beast began closing and I could see the Dermit gang being loaded into the other beast.

“What’s going on? Who are you people? Why am I a woman?”

Of all the questions I asked, the last question caused everyone to pause in silence.

“What are you talking about?”

“I was in the desert chasing three men when there was an explosion in the sky. I woke up as a woman.”

“Yes, we know you’re a woman.”

“I was a man just moments ago.” Ripping the circular stringy things they attached to me off, I stood in frustration. “I demand to know what’s going on.”

The strange people stared in disbelief at me and at each other until I felt a sharp prick on my neck and my world went black.

***

“She’s been cleansed of any biologic and chemical contaminants. She should wake soon.”

“The archeologists obviously made a mistake.”

“They found four unique sets of human remains. It was clear that there were three men and a woman as they found a piece of metallic jewelry by one of them.”

“Didn’t they perform genetic testing?”

“You can’t do genetic testing on small bits of fossilized bone fragments. It was a mistake. We got three out of four right. We should be celebrating our success. This is historic!”

The voices slowly woke me from my horrible dream. I opened my eyes to a bright white room with all kinds of shining objects. “Where am I?”My voice is wrong. Lifting my head, I looked down at two large bumps under a piece of white cloth. “Am I dreaming? I’m a woman?”

Two men quickly moved to my side. One slightly taller than the other spoke first. “Please try to stay calm. I’m Sebastian 1423 and this is Franklin 5612. Apparently, there was a mistake in our experiment and you’re now a woman. Our apologies. It was an honest mistake but the good news is that we recovered you and you’re alive. The archeologists found some jewelry next to your remains.”

“You’re both insane!” Trying to get up I struggled against straps holding me down.

“Please. There’s no need for violence. We don’t wish to sedate you again.”

“Violence? Let me up and I’ll show you violence.”

The man that called himself Sebastian looked frightened. “Franklin 5612 prepare another sedative.”

“No! Wait, please. If you made this happen you can undo it. Simply put me back into my old body and I’ll find my horse and leave peacefully.”

Franklin looked at Sebastian with confusion on his face. “What’s a horse?”

Sebastian stared at Franklin in disbelief. “Were you completely dormant during your history lessons? A horse was a method of transportation. It burned fossil fuels and had four wheels.”

“What are you both talking about?” Obviously these two people were completely deranged. “Let me up and put me back into my body and I’ll be off.”

Sebastian looked at me with somewhat concerned eyes. “That’s not possible. Wormhole travel is only one direction. Besides, your old body was pretty much vaporized by the explosion of the meteorite. There’s nothing left to put you into.”

“Wormhole travel?” I shook my head. “Is there someone else I can speak with? Someone that can tell me what’s going on?”

“Do you promise to cooperate and not resort to violence?”

“I’m a man of my word. I promise.”

Franklin started laughing. “That’s so funny… A man of his word.”

I really want to slug this guy.

Sebastian smiled. “That’s good enough for us. We’ll get you up and we have clothing for you. We can take you to the project leader. She will be able to explain everything in your own language.”

“We’re already speaking in my own language.”

Franklin giggled. “You need to be spoken to using your own historical context.”

I’ve seen coyotes with more intelligence than these two. “Fine. Please get me up.”

Sebastian unclasped my wrists and ankles and helped me sit up. I can feel the weight of my hair and my breasts shift heavily under the strange bedsheet that is somehow attached to me. Swinging my legs over the edge of the strangely comfortable metallic bed, I stood and spotted the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. Tipping my head slightly I greeted her. “Good day, Miss.” Oddly the woman had mimicked my movements until I realized it was my own reflection. Franklin laughed again.

Moving my hand slowly, I watched the woman do the same. Stepping closer, I realized I was looking at a mirror, but it was made of nothing I had ever seen before. So clear was my reflection that I thought for certain I was looking at another person. I watched as her hand moved to her face and gently traced the softest and most delicate skin I’d ever seen. Large eyes stared back at me with the stunning brilliance of sapphires. Red full lips and long blonde hair cascaded down to the middle of her back. My back.

Franklin seemed pleased with himself. “When we were told that the conditions were right for the experiment there was only one female available to us. You have a prototype body, Sarah 1. In about twenty years we might start seeing a few more like you around the city. I must say, you’re quite the beauty and the body designers outdid themselves.”

Indeed, I am. Never have I seen a woman so chiseled to perfection. There’s a flawless look about me but I’m not happy about it. Women have no rights. I’m a man that’s accustomed to living my own life and bringing criminals to justice. Not a woman that stays at home and sews curtains. I need to lash out at them; to hit them; but I made a promise. No violence.

Sebastian offered his strangely out of place smile. “If you go into the next room there are clothes for you to put on.”

Looking around I could see no other room. “There’s no other room.”

Franklin laughed again. “We’ve unearthed a relic.” He walked towards a blank wall when suddenly the wall slid to the side and another room became visible.

“Where did the wall go?”

“It slid to the side. It will close behind you so you have some privacy. When you’re ready simply approach the wall again and it will open for you.”

“Haven’t you ever heard of a door with a latch?”

“Ewww. You mean you want us to touch something someone else just touched? How archaic.”

I reminded myself of my promise three times before stepping into the room beyond. As they said it would the wall slid back into place behind me. On something that resembled a box a set of clothes was carefully folded. On the floor, a pair of strange looking footwear.

The first item was a pair of some kind of underthing. Running my fingers over the cloth I couldn’t recall ever feeling anything so soft and smooth. Noticing the ties on my bedsheet, I pulled a string and felt the sheet slip effortlessly to the ground. I blushed as I saw myself in a mirror. I’ve been with a woman before but I’ve never seen one like this. My breasts seemed large to me and my body was exceptionally trim and lean. Where I’m from, women have some girth to them. They need it for the harsh climate and work. This body was lean and curvy at the same time. Long legs and absolutely no hair below my head. Not even the girls in the saloons remotely looked as beautiful as I am.

Sighing, I pulled up the pair of underthings feeling rather odd about how elegantly smooth my skin was and how comfortable the fit was over my wider hips. Next was a yellow one piece dress. Women wore corsets and blouses and skirts. This is nothing like that. It held my breasts in place and yet offered a skintight covering for my body that was neither restrictive or clingy. Never have I witnessed a woman wearing anything as revealing.

Sighing again I picked up the footwear and marveled at the sleek design. “How do they make this stuff?” I slipped my feet into the footwear and carefully picked up the bedsheet and folded it before turning back to the wall. Nothing happened. I waved at it and the wall remained closed. “How do I get out of here?” With no response, I walked over to touch the wall and it suddenly opened. Taking a step back, the wall closed and it opened once again as I stepped forward. Where the hell am I?

“There you are. I’m sure that feels much better.” Sebastian smugly looked me over.

“Where is the rest of the clothing?”

Franklin laughed again and Sebastian gave him a bit of a glare. “This is standard female clothing. Follow us as we take you to our project leader.”

Glancing one more time at the mirror, I watched my new body walk very gracefully after the two men. We moved down hallways and into a larger room. I was astonished by the lack of dirt and the telltale signs of horse manure on people’s shoes. With the wall back in place behind me I looked out upon a different world. Moving to the windows I gently touched them to make sure they were real for so clear were the glass panes that I didn’t know they were there at all. Beyond, the world outside was very much like the tales of science fiction I read. Spires of shining glass and metal rose to impossible heights and silver beasts flew through the air.

“This must be very disconcerting for you.”

Turning towards a female voice I looked upon a woman that had a sense of age about her yet she still looked young. “Do you mean this…” I pointed to the world outside. “…or this?” I moved my hand down my body.

“Both I would assume. I’m Jessica 4902, project leader. What’s your name?”

“Marshal Steven Whitlock.”

“That’s a very strange name. I’ve not hear of a Marshal before. Is that a man’s name or a woman’s name? May I call you Marshal?”

“Marshal is my title. My first name is Steven.”

“Very interesting. Unfortunately, I can’t call you Steven as that name is reserved for men. You have the latest Sarah model. How about I call you Sarah?”

“You can call me anything you like, Miss, as long as it helps me get to where I need to be.”

“And where do you need to be?”

“Back in my old body.”

“May I ask you some questions, Sarah?” I sighed at the name but nodded my agreement. “What was the last thing you remember before waking up today?”

“I was riding my horse and chasing after the Dermit gang to bring them to justice when a blinding flash of light spooked my horse and threw me off. There was a fireball coming towards us from the sky. It exploded. I remember it throwing me back and I woke up like this.”

“You mean you were operating your horse?”

“Don’t you know what a horse is? It’s an animal with four legs. I was riding on its back.”

“Completely fascinating. What year was that?”

“What do you mean what year was it? It was today… yesterday maybe.”

“Humor me, Sarah.”

“1887.”

Her eyes widened. “That would be one hundred and thirty-one years before the Great War. That’s almost four hundred years ago. The year is now 2285.”

I shook my head and went back to the window. “What are you saying? That I was knocked unconscious for four hundred years and woke up as a woman?”

“Let me show you something.” I walked over near the woman and with a wave of her hand images of the desert appeared. The images moved and floated in the air. Reaching out to touch them my hand went right through.

“What sorcery is this?”

Ignoring my question Jessica pointed to the pictures. “This is the area where we found you this morning. The perspective is from the ground. If we raise the view up a few miles we can look down. What do you see?”

“It looks like a giant hole in the ground.”

“Precisely. This is a crater caused by a very unique meteorite. Are you still with me?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Let me show you what happened here four hundred years ago.” The scene changed and three men and one woman stood on the desert floor. It looked remarkably like where I was yesterday with the Dermit gang. “Bear with me as this woman represents you. We approximated where you would be by the remains we found.”

The scene began to move and a bright flash lit up the sky. A fireball moved towards the four people. It was just as I remembered. Suddenly the ball exploded and a blue wave washed over the scene and paused just before the edge hit the people. “I’m pausing this here because as we move forward in time things are hard to see. I have to slow down time.”

The wave touched the edge of the woman and passed through her. An odd humanlike ghostly shape peeled away from her with the blue wave. As the ghostly shape moved away from the body a second wave of fire dissolved the woman and fractured the ground all around her causing the land to push up and away.

“This will be hard to grasp, but the ghostly shadow of the woman is your soul pushed out of your body by the blue wave. The blue wave is a rift in time and space, a wormhole where time is suspended. Four hundred years ago, you stood at that place and as the meteorite exploded it ripped your soul from your body just before your body was obliterated.”

I tried to touch the female body on the image but once again my fingers slipped right through.

“Three years ago, we were investigating the crater left behind by the meteorite you saw. We discovered signs that the material of the meteorite was unique in composition and as it exploded it created the wormhole. We sent archeologists into the area to look for more clues to identify exactly where and when this took place. They found your remains and the remains of the three men. Here… look at this.”

She handed me a glass box with my marshal’s badge inside it. Three quarters of it was melted but the rest was mostly intact, albeit charred. “My badge.”

“Your badge?”

“This is a symbol of my job. It tells people that see it I’m a marshal.”

“There’s that word again. What’s a marshal?”

“A man that upholds justice; to protect people.”

“I’m sorry about this, Sarah. During the Great War in the year 2018 we lost much information. History was fragmented. It was assumed that only women wore jewelry. When we discovered evidence that the meteorite explosion created a wormhole and we found remains of four people, we believed we could retrieve your souls. To do this we needed to create a wormhole of our own at the right place and moment in time to align with the wormhole from the meteorite. We placed clones, human bodies without souls, at the places we found the remains believing they would act like receptors for your souls.”

Closing my eyes, I tried to sort out the ramifications of what I just heard. “You’re telling me that over four hundred years ago my soul was trapped due to the exploding meteorite and that you managed to recover it. Only you thought I was a woman and now my soul is in this body.”

“Very good, Sarah. You have no idea how important this discovery is for us and the historical knowledge you can provide us will be incredible.”

Staring at my hands and body I grasped for something to keep me upright. “I can’t go back. I’m stuck like this; in this strange place and time.”

Ignoring my panic Jessica smiled. “I assume you want to meet your friends?”

“Friends?”

“The three men that were with you that day.”

“You don’t understand. I’m a marshal. I was hunting those men. They are the most sadistic criminals I’ve ever encountered. They rape women and kill people. They loot, steal, and burn places. I was chasing after them to capture or kill them for their crimes. They’re not my friends.”

Jessica waved a hand towards me and laughed. “What a wonderful creative storyteller you are. I can have Sebastian take you to them now.”

“No. You don’t understand these people. You should lock them up.”

Jessica looked at me with incredulous eyes. “Lock them up? How primitive. We don’t have places like that because no one rapes, murders, or steals anymore. If you don’t want to see them now you will this evening at our gala ball to celebrate the success of our experiment. Sebastian, please escort Sarah to her accommodations.”

“Certainly.” Turning to me he gestured with his hand for me to follow along but I chose to speak more with Jessica.

“How can you be a leader? You’re a woman.”

Jessica smiled and nodded indicating she might just understand what I was asking. “Of course… you’re afraid because in your time women were objects to be bought, sold, and used.”

“Your historical knowledge is very lacking. In some places, there were slaves like that but they were both men and women and that was before the war that freed them in 1865. Women could do whatever they liked even though they had no rights to vote. They have very specific roles and for the most part they were stuck with those roles. Roles like cooking and cleaning and tending to the house. They were never leaders and they never, ever, wore something like this.”

“Very interesting. Times have changed. Women can take on any role they wish. In our time, all people have equal rights. What’s the matter with what you’re wearing?”

“It’s too revealing. I look like a saloon girl even though saloon girls would wear never something showing this much skin.”

“I must say, Sarah, that you will bring us great joy in hearing about your time. I will see you again tonight at the gala ball.”

With that she turned away and Sebastian insisted on leading me into the hallway. “This is very exciting, Sarah. Now that you know everything, I guess your mind is completely at ease now.”

“I woke up as a woman four hundred years in the future. No, I’m not completely at ease.”

“What’s to bother you? A woman is just another person. It’s nothing to be concerned about.”

“I’m smaller than men. I can be raped. I can get pregnant.”

Sebastian laughed. “People don’t rape anyone anymore. We bred those characteristics out of people a long time ago and women don’t get pregnant either.”

I paused and stared at the crazy lunatic. “Women and men, they still marry and have children, right? You know what sex is?”

Sebastian’s eyes went wide. “Oh… Oh!!! Oh my!!! There is no marriage anymore. All men and women are genetically engineered to be sterile and no one has sex. If you feel urges there are places you can go to do that… with robots. It’s completely safe and sanitary that way.”

“People don’t have relationships with each other? They don’t kiss?”

“Yes, people can choose to befriend anyone they like, but no, they don’t kiss. That’s unsanitary.”

“How do people create more people if they don’t have sex?”

“When someone dies their body is digested as fuel and a work order is issued to replace them with another person of the same sex as the person that died. This maintains balance.”

“Why is it I don’t see babies or children?”

“Babies?”

“Back in my day, a man and a woman would have sex and if the woman got pregnant, then nine months later she would give birth to a baby.”

“How crude and disgusting! We have no need for babies or children. They take too much work. We create a new life and let it grow to the approximate age of eighteen years, providing it education through its growth process while in a completely dormant state. In essence, you’re very much like a newly released person into the city with the exception that you have not been educated or trained for life in the city. New people come to us as young adults capable of immediately being productive for the general good of the community.”

“And here I thought the future would be impressive.”

Sebastian waved his arms at everything. “This isn’t impressive to you?”

“The things, the technology is impressive, but you people are dimmer than a candle a mile away.”

Sebastian smiled. “What’s a candle?”

I chose to shut up at this moment and in silence we walked to what appeared to be a common building that had many rooms. We entered one of the hidden walls and when the wall opened everything looked different.

“What happened? What happened to the hallway we were in?”

Sebastian chuckled again. “That’s right, you probably didn’t have anything like this in your day. That was an elevator. It took us from the floor we were on to a higher floor. We don’t have many stairs in the city. Here you are. This is your room. For your safety, I’ve been told to have the door locked until we come get you later for the gala ball. There are clothes and a place to rest if you need it inside. Let’s register the room to you. Room 13245, register a new occupant.”

The wall spoke back to Sebastian. “Provide a retinal scan, biometric sensor ID, and voice name recognition.”

“The wall just spoke to you.”

Sebastian shook his head. “Actually, the wall just spoke to you. Step up to face the circle on the wall.”

I did as asked and a light flashed into my eye. “Retinal scan confirmed. Place your right hand on the square.”

There was a square design on the wall and I placed my right hand there.

“Biometric sensor ID recorded. Please state your full name.”

“Steven Whitlock.”

There was a sound of two quick beeps. “Incongruent name. Please restate your name.”

“Steven Whitlock.”

Two more beeps and the wall chastised me again. I looked at Sebastian. “Steven is a man’s name and you’re female. You need to use your female name.”

“Sarah Whitlock.”

“Voice name pattern analysis complete. Welcome to your room, Sarah.”

The wall whooshed open and once again I paused. “Is there an outhouse in there?”

“An outhouse?”

“A place where I can pee.”

Sebastian laughed again. “You mean an HWDA, human waste disposal area. Of course. In you go. We’ll come by in about three hours. The artificial intelligence system can help prepare you for the gala ball.”

I stepped into the room and the door closed behind me leaving me staring at a stark white cube of a room. There was nothing to sit on, no bed, and definitely no outhouse. The only thing differing from the whiteness were floor to ceiling windows that looked out onto the city.

Turning around I tried to open the door back into the hallway but it refused to open. “I’m sorry, Sarah, the door is locked under the authority of the administration. Can I help you with something?”

“I need an outhouse.”

“I don’t understand your need. Shall I call someone to help you?”

“I need a human waste disposal area.”

A section of wall slid open and inside was a strange looking seat with a hole in it. “I’ve been asked to provide additional assistance to you, Sarah. Do you need the instructions on how to use the human waste disposal area?”

“Are you watching me? Where are you hiding?”

“I watch everyone. I’m located everywhere.”

“Stop watching me.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Sarah.”

“Just look away.”

“You mistake me for a human, Sarah. I cannot look away because I have no head, but I have millions of eyes and ears.”

“If you’re not human, how can you speak?”

“I’m a machine that can think and speak.”

“Like the elevator?”

“I’m much more sophisticated than an elevator. I maintain all things in the city all at once.”

“You’re sure you can’t stop watching me?”

“It is not within my power to do so.”

My bladder was pressing hard and I had to pee badly. Pulling down my underthing I sat down on the seat, tried to imagine no one watching me, and thought hard about what I needed to do to release the pressure. Finally, a steady stream released from within me and I immediately felt better even though I was rather damp down there when I was done. Suddenly a warm jet of liquid fired up into my nether regions followed by air to dry everything off. I shrieked.

“Is everything all right, Sarah? You sound distressed and your heartrate is elevated.”

“Does this thing do this every time?”

“Let me run a diagnostic… It’s operating normally.”

Pulling up my underthing I stepped away from the crazy device and watched the wall slide again to hide itself. Once again, I was in a sterile white room with nothing in it. “How do people live in this?”

“You are speaking of the room?”

“Yes.”

“The room is designed to be multi-functional. It can be configured to be a sleeping area, a living area, a media center, a cleaning facility, a changing space, or a food and beverage service area.”

“Is there a chair somewhere?”

“Are you asking me to produce a chair or are you asking if there is a chair hidden in the room?”

“Can you produce a chair for me to sit in?”

“Yes.”

A panel in a wall opened and a chair slid out. It faced the window and I sat down heavily in the chair and looked down over my breasts at my exposed legs.

“How am I supposed to live as a woman?”

“Is that a rhetorical question, Sarah?”

“No. It’s not.”

“The fact that you are a woman and alive does not suggest you could do otherwise. Should I order a brain scan to see if you are functioning all right?”

“No!”

“Your blood pressure is elevated. Shall I give you a drink with a mild sedative in it?”

“No.”

“If it goes much higher I will be required to alert the medical staff of your condition.”

Staring out at the city I noticed that there was some type of bubble around the entire city. Ignoring my body for a moment I asked a question. “What is that bubble doing around the city?”

“That is a high-tempered glass dome that keeps contaminants out of the city and helps the city maintain favorable atmospheric conditions. It is also a defense against external forces.”

“What external forces?”

“I am not allowed to talk about such things.”

Frustrated, I spoke back to the blank walls. “You brought it up.”

For many minutes, I stared out into the starkly foreign world before reflecting upon my own body. A woman. A damn good-looking woman. My hand gently touched my full breast. I’m surprised by the weight and the sensitivity even through the fabric of the clothing. The women I have known were tireless workers but they always think with their hearts. Their bodies are weaker than a man’s and they have their monthly bleeding which makes it difficult for them to do some of the work men do. If this is my life, in this place, then what will I do?

“Your serotonin levels are dropping, Sarah. If they get much lower I will be required to inform the medical staff.”

“What’s serotonin?”

“It is a substance in your body that moderates your mood. Low serotonin indicates you might be unhappy and that may mean there is a deficiency in your diet. Perhaps you should request a visit to one of the popular personal elevation facilities.”

“Personal elevation facilities?”

“These are places where you can find fulfillment of your desires. Orgasms will raise serotonin levels and improve your mood.”

The thought of being on the receiving end of sex in this body was momentarily revolting but my body warmed at the thought nonetheless. I’m thirty-seven years old and well past my prime. My job didn’t allow for lasting relationships and while I yearn for a simpler, more peaceful life with a family it had never been in the cards for me.What now? I’m an eighteen year old woman in the future where families don’t even exist. Even if I want to have a family that would mean I will have to be interested in a man, which I’m not. Even as I thought these things, my body once again flushed with warmth. Shaking my head to get the thoughts out of my brain I felt my long hair drift across my back.

“Sarah, you have two hours and twenty minutes before you are scheduled to go to the gala ball. Would you like me to help you prepare?”

“What do I need to do to prepare?”

“Your body should be cleansed and you will need a change of clothing appropriate for the gala ball.”

“You mean I need a bath?”

“A bath is unsanitary and thus we do not have baths in the city. This room has a cleansing station that uses ultrasonic ionic pulses to vaporize foreign particles, bacteria, contaminants, and viruses from your body. This is then washed away with purified water and your body is dried with air supplemented with natural oils to assist the proper moisture content balance of your hair and skin.”

“That’s all another language to me.”

“It is all English. Shall I open the cleansing station for you?”

“Sure, why not?”

“I will assume you are saying yes.” Another panel opened in the wall and a tall small room that looked to be the same size as an outhouse appeared. “Remove your clothing and put them into the recycling bin.”

“What is recycling?”

“The city automatically repurposes everything. Your clothes need to be broken down and reused to make new clothing.”

“Why do that to clothes that appear to be brand new? I used to wear the same clothes until they could no longer be repaired.” I dislike talking to thin air.

“There is no need for repairing or cleansing clothes this way and it is more sanitary.”

“This city seems to be fixated on cleanliness. Obviously, you’ve never skinny dipped in a river.”

“I’m a machine. I do not skinny dip, whatever skinny dipping is, and it would be unwise to do so due to bacterial infection.”

A bin opened and I gathered this was the place to put my clothing. “If I give you this clothing where do I get something else to wear?”

“You choose what you would like to wear from our selection catalog and it will be created for you.”

I wasn’t sure how they would create new clothes in time for the gala ball but I wasn’t going to argue. Slipping out of the clothing I carefully placed them into the bin only to see them whisked away and into the wall. With the floor to ceiling windows and knowing the machine was watching I felt very exposed and covered myself the best I could with my hands as I stepped into the cleansing space. Seconds later a glass panel locked me inside and I could feel my skin tingling. That was followed seconds later by water spraying at me from all directions and moisture-rich air dried me rapidly.

In the span of thirty seconds the glass door opened and I staggered out into the room. The windows darkened and the view disappeared being replaced by images of what I assumed was me wearing different clothing.

“I have brought up the clothing selection menu. There are just over ten thousand designs suitable for a gala ball. You may also customize a design within accepted parameters.”

“Can you show me something that covers my body a little more than these?”

“The acceptable clothing designs cover between twenty and thirty percent of your body.”

“Then show me those that cover thirty percent.”

I’m still feeling vulnerable and wanted as much covered as possible. It’s bad enough that without the meager dress I had on my breasts bounced around uncontrollably. The image changed and five designs remained and they all appeared highly revealing and had little sparkles in them. A red one had a little filmy trail of cloth covering the back half of my legs.

“Can you make the red one with cloth the goes down to the floor in both front and back?”

The images changed and the red dress was modified. “This is quite unorthodox but still acceptable. Would you not rather I choose a popular design for you?”

“No. This one will do please.”

“While it is being made, would you like to see some hairstyles that would be appropriate?”

“All right.”

The images changed to hundreds of images of my new face with my hair in different styles. I wasn’t trying to impress anyone and I didn’t want strange blinking lights in my hair. A simple design was all I needed. I was always fond of women with long hair. There was one with a small silver looking piece of jewelry that helped sweep the hair on the left side back while the right side was left loose.

“How do I choose?”

“Point to the one you like.”

“You don’t happen to have a cowboy hat in there somewhere?”

“What is a cowboy hat?”

Sighing, I pointed and the image shifted to a single image of myself in the new dress with my hairstyle changed. It slowly rotated so I could see all sides.

“Your dress is ready.”

A side panel opened and the dress was inside.

I was anxious to get something on me and fought the filmy fabric, layers, and shiny pieces until everything was settled into place. There were shoes as well and I placed those on my feet.

“Is there a way I can see myself?”

“Setting the window to mirror mode.”

The windows transitioned once again and I was now looking at my reflection. What a strange feeling it is to see yourself but you’re not who you’re supposed to be. My reflection did little to assuage my fears. Now all cleaned up with my hair loose and shining and dressed in a very sleek, body-hugging dress, I was even more appealing than before. Get used to it, Steven.

Another panel opened and a white stool made the space look a little like a desk and chair however instead of a flat desk-like surface there was a padded pillow. “To style your hair, Sarah, sit at the hair station and place your chin on the pad in front of you.”

“This will put my hair into the design we had chosen? I don’t have to do this myself?”

“The station will take care of your hair for you.”

“That’s good because I have no idea how to style long hair.”

This is a future where no one did anything for themselves. Sitting on the stool I leaned forward and placed my chin on the pillow and metallic arms came out with combs to tease my hair into position and placed the silver-like piece of jewelry into my hair at the right position.

“Hairstyle complete. Would you like makeup applied, Sarah?”

“Makeup? Like lipstick and rouge?”

“Lipstick, eye contouring, and facial enhancement.”

“No, thank you.”

Standing I glanced back at the mirror and was surprised how well the hairstyle looked. I looked elegant, beautiful. I’ve never considered how I looked before. Is this the new me then? I’ll be prancing around in dresses? If I were back in my own time would I be cooking and cleaning? I have no idea what I will do now.

“What do people do here if they don’t clean, cook, mine, teach, or build?”

“There are many professions in the sciences. Everyone must be productive for the betterment of civilization.”

“What can I do?”

“Newly released people into the city already have their profession chosen for them. Because your situation is different an assessment must be performed. Perhaps you would will be a designer of women’s fashions. Very few people have ever customized what is available.”

“I used to hunt criminals and you’re suggesting I become a dress maker?”

“Not a dress maker, dress designer. My systems make the dresses.”

“What can you tell me about society? How many people live here?”

“In this city or in the world?”

“Both.”

“The city is stable at one million people. There are one thousand such cities around the world totaling one billion people in all.”

“A million people? The largest city I have ever been to had thirty thousand people. I cannot fathom one million people living in a single city. And a billion people in the world. How can they all fit?”

“At one point there were over eight billion people. During the Great War many people were killed.”

“Does everyone live in bubble cities?”

“Yes.”

“When do people go outside?”

“Going outside the city requires special authorization. Less than .001% ever go outside in their lifetimes.”

“People don’t travel? They don’t see the rivers, lakes, and waterfalls?”

“The world is fully mapped and using our entertainment areas they can experience these sites for themselves in the safety and protection of the city environment.”

“Who do I speak to if I want to go outside?”

“All requests are made to the city magistrate’s office. Requests must include a full description of the location you would want to go to, the reason for the request, security detail required, biocontainment needs, and payment.”

“If I want to take a stroll outside?”

“A simple request like that would be immediately rejected and could result in brain analysis or an assessment for recirculation.”

“What’s an assessment for recirculation?”

“That is when a team of experts determine your fitness for living within the city. If you are not deemed fit, then you are recirculated.”

“I’m stuck here in this glass bubble…”

“Technically you are stuck within your room until the door is unlocked.”

“Do you know what has happened to the other men that came to the city with me?”

“They, like you, are in their rooms awaiting the gala ball.”

“They are sick men.”

“They have new bodies which have been genetically purified of all diseases. They are perfectly healthy.”

“That’s not what I meant. They are evil, unstable, and dangerous people.”

There was a chirping sound behind me. “Sarah, are you ready for the gala ball?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I’ve unlocked the door. Please come join us in the hall.”

Stepping towards the door I wasn’t surprised this time when it opened. Sebastian and Franklin were standing there. They were dressed in shining white and gold pants and shirts with blinking red and blue lights in their hair. Franklin looked me over and giggled. “That’s quite the outfit, Sarah. Not very traditional for a gala ball.”

“In my time, women that dressed this provocatively were considered prostitutes. It’s as conservative a dress that I could find.”

“What’s a prostitute?”

“A woman that sells her body for men’s sexual pleasures.”

Franklin started to gag.

Sebastian simply stared at me in unbelief before speaking. “Times have changed for the better.”

“I’m not so sure about that.”

“You don’t find this all marvelous?”

“If you ask me, things seem a little backwards. What has happened to independence? To being free to do what you want? To loving relationships between men and women?”

“We are free to do what we want.”

“Are we? Let’s go outside the city.”

Sebastian stopped in his tracks and Franklin looked around warily. “Don’t even talk like that. You’re new here and haven’t been trained and educated. In your day the outside was livable, but today, after the Great War, the outside world is filled with savage beasts and pockets of contaminants so strong that it will dissolve your flesh in seconds. In the cities, we’re protected and talk about going outside is strictly forbidden.”

“How contaminated is it if you collected me from out there?”

“We all had protective suits and the location had been screened in advance to be somewhat safe. Plus, you were decontaminated upon arrival in the city.”

Franklin, who seems to have a weak constitution, managed to get his voice back. “You’re in a delicate situation, Sarah. Our standard training and education system is a requirement to live in the city, but you have valuable historical information that supersedes this. If, however, you violate city standards of ethical behavior then specialized education might be the least of which you will be forced to take.”

“Education is never a bad thing, Franklin.”

“You don’t understand. The reason you’re not having this education now is that it will remove your memories which are valuable to our research.”

“I’m rather fond of my memories so I’ll be careful.”

We entered a very large room that had tables with what I assumed to be food on them, an expansive dance floor, and very strange music playing. Hundreds of people were dancing, or, rather moving oddly without touching one another. Jessica was there and waved us over to the table where she was sitting.

“That’s a very interesting outfit, Sarah. What caused you to select that one?”

“I’m still feeling a little vulnerable and this covered me a little more than other options.”

“Perhaps when you see your friends you will start feeling better. Here they come now.”

Wyatt, Dayton, and Henry of the Dermit gang strode in with their city guides. They scanned the room much like the thieves they were. Their hideous outfits that matched the other men in the room only made the simmering hatred in their eyes look all the more sinister. I felt small and exceedingly frail in their presence and my stomach churned as Wyatt’s gaze found me; his new face slid into a grin that oddly reminded me of his old one. I watched as Wyatt elbowed his two companions so that he could redirect their attention towards me.

Jessica sat down and made a gesture for me to do the same as the Dermit gang were seated across from us. My only salvation was that the table was expansive and provided a reasonable distance between myself and them. I felt my breathing shift to small quick breaths.

Jessica smiled and her hands spread wide indicating everyone else should sit and take their places. She leaned forward towards the Dermit gang. “I’ve not had a chance to introduce myself to all of you. I’m Jessica 4902, project leader for the wormhole rescue team. Have you been well taken care of since your arrival?”

Wyatt couldn’t tear his eyes off me as they ripped my dress piece by piece from my body. “All the comforts of home and then some. I must say, that Marshal Steven Whitlock cleans up rather nice.”

I stiffened at the sound of my name coming from his lips.

Jessica laughed lightly. “What a lovely compliment. I’m not sure how much you know about our experiment to rescue the four of you, but we made some educated guesses and made a mistake on Steven’s part. Her name is now Sarah Whitlock. The good news is we recovered all four of you.”

Henry turned his head to the side and spat on the floor to the disgust of everyone at the table. “Such a pretty little town you’ve got here but the fillies are a little thin for my likes.”

Jessica looked perplexed. “Fillies?”

“Women.” I managed to squeak out as a translation as I glanced down at my very feminine body.

Jessica recovered somewhat from the spitting and the fillies comment enough to start chatting again. “How do the four of you all know each other?”

Wyatt smiled. “We go way back; nine, ten years maybe. The three of us were celebrating the liberation of our salaries and enjoying the pleasures of some young fillies when Sarah invited her party to join ours.”

Jessica was almost giddy with excitement and clapped her hands together. “This is so exciting! We love celebrations and parties.”

Wyatt’s disingenuous smile and story reminded me of what my role had been and I sat up a little taller. “Wyatt doesn’t do the story justice. They had just stolen settler’s money and belongings leaving numerous men, women, and children dead and were in the town’s brothel raping women when my posse found them.”

Jessica frowned at me. “Sarah Whitlock, just because you find yourself in a strange environment doesn’t mean you should take your frustrations out on others by maligning them. It was a mistake you wound up as the wrong gender but at least you’re alive. Another outburst of nonsense from you like this and I will be forced to order a brain scan to find out what’s wrong with you.”

I was about to reply when several bell sounds rang through the room and the music paused. Jessica stood and turned to the crowd. “Welcome everyone to our celebration gala ball. Our experiment to rescue four lost souls trapped in space and time for the past four hundred years was a grand success. You will see some new faces around the city and when you do, please welcome them accordingly. Sarah Whitlock.” She looked down at me and encouraged me to stand. “Wyatt Dermit, Dayton Dermit, and Henry Clemmens.” We all stood for the crowd to see us clearly before Jessica indicated we should sit once again.

“These four people bring with them a wealth of history that was long lost to us during the Great War of 2018. Even in our brief conversations we have already learned that a horse was an animal they rode on. Here we’ve been thinking a horse had four wheels. Over the next years, we will gather much useful information from them as I am sure they will from us. To those that worked so hard to make this happen, you are a credit to our civilization. Let the gala ball continue!”

Jessica sat back down as the music started once again. Many people came by introducing themselves and congratulating Jessica and her team.

“May I request that you join me for a dance, Sarah?”

The Dermit gang spit out their drinks in laughter as a man stood by my side. I was so flustered and could only picture the women back home dancing with men at a barn raising event. I’m not like those women.

“I’m very sorry. Perhaps another time?”

Jessica stopped her conversation in mid-sentence and turned to me. “You will dance with this man. It is not allowed to decline an invitation.”

Turning back to the man I smiled weakly. “In that case, I graciously accept.”

Dayton roared with laughter. “So, if I invite a filly to my bed she has to accept?”

I was now rather grateful for a chance to put some distance between myself and those miscreants and focused my attention on my dance partner. He was a little taller than the other men at the event and his skin a slightly darker shade. He moved with the assurance of a man familiar with his body and confident in his abilities, not like the feminized men like Sebastian and Franklin. He also appeared to be more muscular. I’m sure no one else would notice such things, but my training and experience give me an eye for detail.

He kept walking further and further through the crowd to the far side of the room. I was attentive to following him but also trying hard to pick up how the women were dancing. They didn’t seem to be touching their partners in any way so that was a bit of a relief. I also felt very self-conscious as people commented on my dress and that just reminded me of my strange predicament.

Finally, my partner paused and turned back towards me. “I’m Cade. I’ll assume you’re not familiar with the style of dancing.”

“Nice to meet you, Cade. You would be correct to assume such. I’m not familiar with any dancing although I have seen people do it before. Why choose me for your partner? I’m sure I will just embarrass myself and you.”

His smile caught me off guard. He’s quite handsome and I had to shake that thought from my mind. I’m a man.

“I like the fact that you’re different. The way you chose to style your hair and your selection of dress makes you completely unique. Of course, I can now say I was the first to ever dance with someone over four hundred years old. You don’t look a day over eighteen by the way.”

“What do you do here, Cade?”

“A very good question. I’m an examiner. I look for exceptions from the normal.”

“Thus, you have chosen the one person in the room that has no clue as to what’s going on. You’re different than the others yourself. You’re slightly taller than the other men and your skin is a shade darker making me think you might spend time in the sun.”

His eyes went wide and he took my hand in his while his other hand went behind me to the small of my back as he pulled me close. “Shhh.” People around us were gasping and Cade turned his head towards them and spoke. “Sarah is showing me how they danced where she is from. It’s only for a few minutes.”

People here seemed so gullible as I whispered into Cade’s ear. “What are you doing?”

“Don’t ever say what you just said about me again. It’s dangerous for me and for you. You’re already in grave danger. Every evening before you go to sleep there is a pill they want you to swallow. This pill makes your brain susceptible to training. Don’t consume the pill.”

Cade pulled back. “That was lovely, Sarah. A little too intimate for our modern and sophisticated times, but I appreciate you showing it to me. Let me take you back to your table.”

I was dumbfounded and confused. Nothing about this place makes sense. Cade brought me back to the table, thanked me once again and vanished into the crowd.

Sitting back down I noticed plates of colored cubes had arrived and the Dermit gang were devouring everything around them. I was picking at something that resembled a meat color when Jessica turned the conversation my way once again.

“How was your dance, Sarah?”

“It was enlightening.” Glancing over at Wyatt, his eyes were never far from me. They had such evil intent. “I’m rather tired, Jessica. It has been a mentally taxing day. Would you mind if I went back to my room to rest?”

“That’s understandable, Sarah. I’ll have Sebastian walk you back. Wyatt, Dayton, and Henry are scheduled for health checks first thing in the morning. Why don’t you come to my office early tomorrow morning as I have thousands of questions for you.”

“I’ll be there as I have many questions for you as well.”

Jessica smiled and clapped her hands together again. “Until tomorrow then.”

Standing, I glanced one more time at the Dermit gang before heading back to my room.

***

“Welcome back to your room, Sarah.”

“Thank you. Can you set the window to a mirror again, please?”

“You can simply say, window mirror, window media, window catalog, window privacy, or window normal to set the window as you wish it to be.”

“Window mirror.” I watched as the window became a giant mirror once again. I stared at myself a long time and watched my reflection touch her hair and skin on her face.

“How do I get ready for sleeping?”

“That’s entirely up to you, however, you could set the room up for sleeping by speaking the command, sleep mode. Most people change into sleeping clothing and cleanse their bodies first. There is a pill that is required by all citizens to help them sleep and rejuvenate them while they do so.”

“Can you open up the cleansing station?”

The wall slid open and the little stall appeared. Another panel slid open and a drawer opened for me to place my clothes into. Pulling the clip in my hair out I placed it into the drawer then stepped out of my dress and shoes placing them inside the drawer as well. As before it whooshed shut and vanished. The cleansing station took all of thirty seconds again and I took a moment to stare at my naked body in the window mirror.

“Absolutely beautiful. Window catalog.” The mirror vanished and images appeared of female clothing. “Show me clothes for sleeping.”

About forty images appeared, all were thin, dress-like designs that covered the basics. I chose a white one and within seconds the clothing materialized from the wall. I slipped into it and found there was no support for my breasts. They slid around beneath the silky fabric leaving me with a warm feeling.

“Sleep mode.”

What appeared to be a white bed slid out from the wall and another panel opened with a glass of water and a pill. Remembering Cade’s words, I slipped the pill between my fingers and faked swallowed it.

“Setting windows to privacy mode. Good night, Sarah.”

***

I woke with a start as light was pouring into the room from the window.

“Good morning, Sarah. You have one hour to be prepared for your meeting with Jessica 4902. I have taken the liberty to prepare you some breakfast.”

“Thank you.”

As soon as I stood and stretched the bed vanished. I slept fitfully and every time I rolled over my breasts shifted heavily within the confines of the night dress. And yet, for the challenges sleeping, I couldn’t recall the last time I had woken without pain and stiffness. This new body, even though it is female, is incredible.

A side table opened with a little stool. On the table was a plate of four colored cubes and a glass of water.

“What is this?”

“Breakfast.”

“This is food?”

“Each cube represents the necessary protein, fiber, and carbohydrates needed to fuel your body until dinner.”

“What’s it made of?”

“All food is made of plant material.”

“Plants? Like grass?”

“And other things.”

I nibbled at the corner of one cube and almost retched. “I think I’m done for now.”

“If you fail to sustain yourself I will be forced to notify medical staff.”

“That might not be such a bad thing if they have real food.”

“This is real food.”

“It looks and tastes like something that comes out of the south end of a northbound cow.”

“I do not know what a cow is.”

“Cows are animals that eat plants.”

“I see. You are making a joke.”

“Not really, no.”

“If you fail to eat your food I will notify the medical staff.”

“I consider myself duly warned.”

After finishing the revolting cubes, I stood up and the table disappeared. “Window mirror.”

“You seemed very concerned about your appearance, Sarah.”

“It’s not every day you wake up as someone new.” My hair was a little ruffled and bent oddly. “I guess I could use a cleansing.”

After being cleaned, I perused the standard clothing options for females. The choices were endless but the styles were all very revealing dresses. Everyday options were less formal and frilly than the ones for the gala ball. This time I picked a dark blue dress that allowed me to alter it to have the hemline just below my knees but at least the material was mostly opaque. Combining that with a hairstyle that pulled my hair back over my shoulders and would keep it out of my eyes and I felt mostly presentable.

Setting the room into living mode I sat in a chair that overlooked the city. This was an amazing and rather backwards future. Last night as I struggled to find sleep, I thought a lot about how my life would be as a woman. Everyone here seems to live their life independent of each other so that at least eliminated the worry about being forced to marry, but my mind drifted to the hole that was in my heart. I always wanted a family and yet now that my job as a marshal no longer existed and I have time, relationships didn’t appear to be an option.

What bothers me even more is the betrayal of this body. I remember the women from the ball last night and none of them interested me. They were beautiful and as a man I should find them attractive, but this body, this mind wouldn’t let me go there. Instead I recalled Cade’s body pressed up close to me, his broad shoulders, strong firm jawline, and the way his blue eyes seemed to look deeply into my own with a sense of confidence I hadn’t seen in other men here. I had even dreamed of him last night. Maybe I need to go to a pleasure facility to get this out of my system.

A beep sounded and Sebastian’s voice came through the wall. “Good morning, Sarah. I’m here to take you to see Jessica 4902.”

Stepping into the hall, Sebastian looked me over with a slight look of disgust. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s the matter with standard clothing styles?”

“Where and when I come from, women take a little pride in hiding their wares.”

“What’s a wares?”

“Their bodies.”

“Why would they do something like that?”

“Have you ever been given a present?”

“A what?”

“A gift. A box with something in it that someone gives to you to perhaps thank you or to celebrate your birthday.”

“I’ve never had a gift before but I have seen boxes.”

“Do you ever wonder what mystery might be inside the box?”

“No.”

“Then you’ll never understand why women in my time chose to cover themselves up.”

“You’re from a very strange time.”

“So are you, Sebastian.”

Sebastian led me to Jessica’s office and he took a seat in the corner of the room looking rather disinterested in everything.

“I trust you slept well, Sarah?”

“It took a while to get to sleep. Thank you for asking, Jessica.”

“You’ve created quite the stir. That dress you wore last night has been requested thirteen times since the gala ball last night.”

“I find that surprising.”

“We live in a world where creativity and innovation are welcomed, but individuality isn’t. You showed both of that last night. Even this morning I see your outfit is less than standard.”

“It is still within acceptable parameters.”

Jessica laughed. “Even though you have much to learn about our society, your perspective is incredibly refreshing. I understand you’re not eating much. You mentioned that the food was… let me get this right… It looks and tastes like something that comes out of the south end of a northbound cow. Do I want to know what you were describing?”

“A cow is another four-legged animal that we used around the farm. We would get milk and meat from them. They eat a lot of grasses and hence their excrement very much resembles the strange cubes of food here.”

“What kind of food did you eat?”

“Meat, eggs, carrots and potatoes we grew and pulled whole from the ground. Breads with cheese and butter. Oats and grains.”

“How could you possibly get the right nutritional balance?”

“We seemed to do just fine.”

“Amazing. Absolutely amazing.”

The wall opened and a bleeding man rushed into the room. “Jessica! The… the three men we rescued… They…” He gagged and threw up onto the glistening white floor. “They killed William 1112; jammed a metal pole through his neck.”

Jessica’s face went white. “Have the enforcers been alerted?”

“No. No one knows what to do.”

Jessica looked stunned.

“I told you about them. Do you have a gun?” Jessica continued to stare at the bleeding man. “Give me a gun and I’ll hunt them down.”

“We don’t have… Sebastian, call the enforcers.”

Moving over to the bleeding man I ripped a section of his shirt off him and tied it gently around his arm to stop the bleeding. Turning back to Jessica, I watched her stare out into space.

“This man needs medical attention.”

“You’re right.” She tapped a few buttons and called for the medical team to come to her office.

“I warned you about those three men. They’re dangerous. I can help if you let me.”

“We never even thought about the consequences… bringing people back from the savagery of four hundred years ago… It’s people like you that caused the Great War. Our government is right.”

“You can’t judge everyone based upon the actions of the three of them.”

“How do I know you’re not like them; that you won’t kill me. You’ve already exhibited bad behaviors.”

“Because I give you my word. That may not mean much to you, but it does to me. I’ve chased these men for years. The first thing they will try to do is find weapons. Next, they will find women.”

The wall opened and five enforcers and two medical staff ran into the office. Jessica put her shoulders back and barked out orders. “Get the wounded man fixed up and out of my office. Enforcers, you have the coordinates of the three men we recovered yesterday?”

One of the men looked at an image on a device attached to his wrist that projected a map in front of him. “They are heading towards the women’s recreation facility.” Jessica looked at me. “Take Sarah Whitlock with you. If she steps out of line, you have full authority to sedate her. I want those men captured.”

“Understood.”

They started to leave and I waited a moment. “Can I have a gun? A weapon?”

“Absolutely not.”

I left with the enforcers. All were men and all seemed to have no idea what they were getting themselves into. They were calmly walking through the city with no sense of urgency.

“How do you intend on capturing the men?”

“We ask them to surrender themselves.”

“And what will you do when they laugh at you?”

“Why would they do that?”

I rolled my eyes. “Do you have something that can hurt them from a distance?”

“Not hurt them, but sedate them. We have these.” He pulled out a little stick with a red button on it.

“How many times can you use it?”

“Three.”

“You have no guns? Something that can kill them?”

“Only government enforcers have those. We’re only city enforcers.”

“Fantastic. We’re all going to die.”

We entered the women’s recreation area where there were pools of water and rooms for games with balls. Women were scattered everywhere and running around screaming.

“Targets are around the corner.”

The scene was disgusting. One woman was lying face-down on the floor, her clothing had been torn from her, and blood was coming from nose, ears, and mouth. She had been bludgeoned to death. Two of the enforcers collapsed and threw up on the floor.

Grabbing one of their arms I shook the man. “Get up!” He rolled away and threw up again. I grabbed his stick from his uniform as we slowly moved further into the area. There were plants and trees and some stairs hid the landing before us. We could hear screams.

The three remaining enforcers were shaking as they walked. “Psst!” They stopped and looked at me. “Where are they?”

“Just ahead, maybe forty steps.”

Looking around the space the area appeared to be like a little island raised above the other floors. “I’ll go around the bottom and come up from the side. Give me a minute to get into position.”

“Why would you do that?”

Clearly, they have never done this before. “They will focus on the three of you and I can come in from a side they are not expecting.”

“Oh. All right.”

Stealthily, I made my way to the left and found more stairs rising towards the landing. As quietly as I could I made my way up the stairs until I could just see the Dermit gang. Wyatt was sitting in a chair, leaning back with a thick, heavy stick with metal pieces hammered into the end of it. Dayton was raping a red-haired woman and Henry was waiting his turn to do the same. I took a second to look down at myself and considered what I might be getting into when I heard the words coming from the far end of the landing.

“Surrender peacefully and come with us.”

I just shook my head as Wyatt grinned and stood up. He walked over to the three enforcers.

“We’re sorry.”

The enforcers completely relaxed and smiled. They even looked like they accomplished something. That all lasted about one second as Wyatt swung his stick across the faces of two of the three enforcers. Blood splattered everywhere as the two men dropped heavily to the ground. The remaining enforcer dropped to his knees and pleaded for his life.

Wyatt raised his stick just as I shot him with the sedative. Seeing Wyatt crumple to the floor Henry angrily looked my way and pulled up his own bludgeoning stick. Firing again, Henry pulled at the little red dart in his chest and fell forward onto the ground.

Having positioned myself to shoot Henry, I had lost visibility of Dayton. Standing up further I could see the red-haired woman bleeding and crying on the floor. Dayton was nowhere to be seen.

Cautiously I made my way up onto the platform. The kneeling enforcer watched me. He was in no state to help as he was frozen in fear. His eyes went wide just as Dayton tacked me from behind. I felt his heavy, naked body press me down on the floor. My stick danced away from my fingers. With little effort Dayton turned me over onto my back and pressed my wrists down against the cold stone.

“Miss Sarah Whitlock.” Dayton lifted his face upward before bringing his mouth to my neck. “Mmm. You smell nice.”

I squirmed underneath him to no avail. “Give it up, Dayton. They can track you anywhere.”

“I love it here. Women as far as the eyes can see and no one to stop us. Even you, marshal. You’re nothing now.” He laughed and spit to the side. His hand reaching for the top fabric of my dress. “You’re a hell of a lot sexier than these other women. I bet you’re going to love this.”

His muscles tensed to rip my clothes off just as a booted foot smashed into his face knocking him off me. I scrambled to my feet to see another man standing over Dayton. The man had my stick in his hand as he sedated him. Dayton slumped to the floor and the man turned towards me. His face was covered. He tipped his head towards me and ran off.

Two enforcers slowly came up the stairs. I could see vomit stains on his clothing.

“You need medical staff here immediately. We should get these men bound in case they wake up.” They just stared at me in shock.

There were sounds of dozens of feet suddenly all around us. Men in gray uniforms came upon us from all sides. These were not the same enforcers as from the city. They knew what they were doing until they slammed me to the ground and sedated me.

***

I came too on a cold gray stone floor. The room was windowless and heavy metal bars formed a seamless impenetrable door into a hallway beyond. Prison. Even in the future prisons looked somewhat the same. Hadn’t Jessica told me they don’t lock people up?

“Hello?”

There was no response. Not even the walls would speak to me here. Checking myself over I found I wasn’t in too bad of shape. My blue dress was a little wrinkled but otherwise clean. I couldn’t say my mental state was better off. I felt Dayton’s breath on my neck and his hands on my body. Wrapping my arms around myself I sat huddled in the corner of the cell.

I’m sure it was many hours later when I heard the first signs of life. Jessica and Sebastian had come down to visit me. Sebastian looked at the surroundings and was a little paler than normal. “You were right, Sarah. One woman and three men died yesterday. One woman was raped and we’re not entirely sure what to do with her.”

“Why am I here?”

“We haven’t had this type of behavior in nearly one hundred years. The government enforcers have taken control and will have final say. They believe that recovery of people from the past, as incredible it is, has brought unwanted influence on our society. They fear a ripple effect.”

“They think I’m a bad influence on society.”

“They don’t know what to do with you. On one hand, they understand you risked your life for our people. On the other hand, they see the impact you’re having here.”

“Impact I’m having?”

“There has been a media frenzy around you. The custom designed dresses you have made over the past two days are now the top fashion choice for women around the city. Like it or not, you’re a celebrity in a world where celebrities don’t exist.”

“What happens now?”

“Tomorrow the four of you will be taken before the government judicial system to decide your fate. Currently the only option surfaced is destruction of all four of you.”

“I’m not good enough for recirculation?”

“They fear contamination.”

“What about the man that saved me?”

“What man?”

“Dayton had me pinned and was going to rape me when a masked man knocked Dayton off me.”

“I’ve heard nothing of that. You should receive some food and water soon. I want you to know that I’ll speak on your behalf.”

“Thank you.”

“For what it’s worth, Sarah. Thank you.”

***

A day had passed and I was offered little but cubes of food and water. The thought of my destruction was weighing heavily upon me. I didn’t want to be a woman and shouldn’t be concerned about being destroyed but I was. I’ve been a woman for almost three days now and this body was increasingly intoxicating. It was more than just not feeling the constant aches and pains, it’s the joy that I no longer must hide my feelings. I don’t have to be courageous and capable all the time. My dreams are revelatory as well. Cade is always in them and I felt all warm inside when he touched me. I’m becoming soft-hearted.

My thoughts were disrupted by two men in gray uniforms coming to escort me to my fate. They were silent except to bark out directions for me. When we entered a large room, I saw the Dermit gang, each one standing on a low platform with waves of light around them. They scowled at me as I was positioned on my own platform and waves of light surrounded me.

Before us sat five men and by their looks I would have considered them military. The man in the center spoke to Jessica.

“Jessica 4902, are these the four people that were recovered from the wormhole?”

“Yes.”

“We have reviewed the media coverage of each of them since their arrival, up to and including the hideous criminal acts. As project leader, I demand to know your perspective on them.”

“I take full responsibility. The project was approved by the government but we had no idea how people thought or behaved from this time.”

“Why didn’t you listen to Sarah Whitlock’s concerns?”

“We simply could not fathom her concerns to be true and considered the error of her becoming female and the shock of our new society was making her unreasonable.”

The man nodded but wasn’t impressed. This man appears to know more about what is going on than the others. Much like the government enforcers seemed to know what they were doing. He spoke to Wyatt Dermit next.

“Wyatt Dermit, you have caused great atrocities upon this city and I would like to know how you expect to behave in the future.”

“We will be model citizens from here on out.”

I rolled my eyes but I was pleased the man saw right through Wyatt’s lies. “The three of you will be sent for destruction.” He turned towards me ignoring Wyatt angrily attempting to get past the last waves that surrounded him.

“If you’re going to kill us grant me one request! Give me Sarah Whitlock for an hour.”

I paled even though I expected the request would be ignored.

“Silence him!”

Light flashed and Wyatt slumped to the floor.

“Sarah Whitlock. I’m at a loss as to what to do with you. It is clear to me that your introduction into society has caused some commotion akin to an awakening of creativity. Jessica tells me that your role in society before your arrival here was something like an enforcer. Your actions saved many lives when our own people didn’t know what to do and your life experience of the past is valuable to us. I am hereby releasing you under close scrutiny. Your role will be as a city enforcer and you will spend time with Jessica and her team to provide them historical information about the past. However, you are banned from gala events where you could interact with large numbers of society. Any shift of your personality towards deviancy like these men and we will destroy you as well.”

“I understand, sir.”

“Jessica, take Sarah back to her room and tomorrow get her ready for her enforcer role.”

“Yes.”

The light bands disappeared from around me and Jessica escorted me from the room before she spoke. “You’re very fortunate, Sarah. I’ve never seen anyone be sent for destruction before. I feared that you would be destroyed as well. You must be careful and I caution you about being creative with your dresses.”

“In other words, I’m out of prison but still have no real freedom.”

“What is freedom, Sarah? Is it not living and being content? You’re free from disease and viruses. You’re fed and taken care of. You’re free to learn anything you wish all the while contributing to society by being an enforcer.”

“Before I came here, I could go anywhere and do anything. I could ride my horse into the wilderness, make a camp fire, and stare into the vast endless starry night. I could choose to love and have a family. Perhaps, in time, I’ll see the freedom that you mean, but, for now, I accept living is a better alternative to destruction.”

“You should be grateful.”

“I’m grateful for many things.” That seemed to appease Jessica for now.

***

Knowing the Dermit gang was long gone I slept well only to be awakened by the hideous voice from the walls. “Good morning, Sarah. Your meeting with Jessica will begin in ninety minutes. I have taken the liberty to display a catalog of uniforms approved for use by female enforcers.”

Looking up from the bed I glanced at the outrageous outfits and scowled. “You speak about clothing that has been approved. Who approves clothing?”

“There are government officials that approve any large variations in clothing.”

“If I were to recommend some changes to the uniform and emphasize the utilitarian need for agility and functionality necessary for the role, would they consider it?”

“I don’t believe they have ever received such a request before.”

“Are there gender specific standards that must be adhered to?”

“All women must wear a dress of some kind and men must wear pants.”

“That’s a starting point then. I’ll work out some ideas but for now, I’ll take the frilly little blue uniform.” They were all frilly and as usual showed far too much skin for my tastes. I didn’t dare alter the design for fear of repercussions.

After cleansing myself and eating the cubes that tasted like dried tumbleweeds I changed into my uniform. I was starting to enjoy the feel of the dresses even if they were skimpy. With a chime, Sebastian announced he was waiting outside. His look was somber.

“What’s with the sour face?”

Sebastian frowned. “What do you mean?”

“A sour face. Like what someone looks like when they bite into a lemon.” He was clearly not understanding. “What’s bothering you, Sebastian?”

“I’ve never seen such chaos before. All the blood.”

“Today is a good day. The Dermit gang is no more and I’ve got a job.”

“How can you be so nonchalant about all of this? I’ve never heard anyone be destroyed before.”

“Where I come from, the Dermit gang would have been hanged by a rope from their necks until dead. Sometimes their corpses would be left dangling in the wind a few days as a reminder to others to not do the same thing they did.”

Sebastian looked ready to throw up.

Jessica looked a little paler than her usual self as well. I guess no one in this world must deal out justice. “Sarah, it is good to see you and you’re wearing standard uniform without alterations. We have decided upon a schedule for you. For two hours each morning you will work with the team so we can glean historical information from you and for the rest of the day and into the evening you will work as an enforcer.”

“Wonderful. Does this mean I get a gun?”

“City enforcers do not carry weapons beyond their sedation sticks. Let’s get started. You said the year was 1887?”

“Correct.”

“Where did people live?”

“In small towns. There were several larger cities near the coast but many people lived off the land far from the larger cities.”

“How did they get their food and clothing?”

“Most people would have livestock and gardens to produce their food and many people would go to town once or twice a year to stock up and buy clothing. A great number of people made their own clothes or traded for them.”

“Gardens. We have gardens.”

“There are places that people can grow their own food?”

“Gardens are for looks. They appeal to the eyes with their flowers. What is trading?”

“Let’s say I have a horse…”

“Something you travel on. Yes. You have a horse.”

“You want my horse and I want your blanket and a cow. I trade you my horse for your blanket and cow.”

“Don’t you need your horse?”

These were going to be very long days and I was grateful when enforcer Michael came to take me to where the other enforcers were.

As we entered the hallway I began talking to Michael.

“You have no idea how grateful I am to have you take me away from all of that.”

“Take you away from what?”

“All the questions about what it was like to live in 1887.”

“I can’t imagine how crude and harsh life must have been like.”

“Can you tell me what your role is like as an enforcer? Do you hunt criminals down?”

“We maintain vigilance. Our presence makes people feel secure.”

“You mean you walk around the city so people can see you?”

“Yes. Occasionally we might need to sedate someone and bring them in but we’re not allowed to speak about such things with anyone that is not an enforcer.”

“Do you get assignments then each day?”

“We are each assigned an area of the city. That is where our role is to be vigilant.”

“Do you train for your role?”

“All our training is done while we are dormant. As soon as we wake, we know what we are to do. Here is the enforcer building. I’ve been asked to bring you to see Chief Enforcer Wayne 2101.”

I’m not sure what will be worse. Talking to Jessica all morning or making myself visible by doing nothing other than wandering around all day.

“Chief Enforcer Wayne 2101, this is Enforcer Sarah Whitlock.”

“Enforcer Michael, thank you. Please return to your vigilance.”

The room we were in sealed off as Michael left leaving the two of us alone. “I’ve seen the media of your aid in capturing the three criminals. I’m impressed. You seem to know how to handle yourself with the sedation stick, but your methods are highly unorthodox. Why did you believe it best to separate from the other enforcers?”

“It was simply a flanking maneuver. If you can reduce the options a criminal has to flee and expand the area they could be attacked from, then it allows the enforcers to have an advantage.”

“I would like to arrange a special training day where you could teach this technique to the other enforcers.”

“I would be happy to oblige.”

“I will be assigning you the women’s recreation area for your vigilance. You can pick up your mapping system and your sedation stick from our requisition officer. Good day Enforcer Sarah.”

“Sir?”

“Yes, Enforcer Sarah?”

“What am I being vigilant for?”

“Your wrist bracelet will have a detailed map of the area and our artificial intelligence system will provide you details about anomalous behaviors and your instructions should anything come up. Good day.”

I’m supposed to walk around being visible but the voice from the walls will tell me if anything is amiss. If this is what being a productive citizen is, then I’m sure there must be more than a few people wanting to end their lives.

Stepping out into the hallway I looked for signs that might lead me to the requisition officer. I finally had to give up and ask someone.

“What do you mean you don’t know where the requisition officer is located? That’s basic training.”

“I’m new here.”

“We never have to tell new enforcers anything.” The man’s eyes went wide. “You’re Sarah Whitlock, the four-hundred-year-old. It’s an honor to meet you. Just go down the hall and turn right at the end.”

“Thank you.”

I found the requisition officer in an area that resembled a bank teller’s booth. “Face the circle on the wall for retinal scan, place your hand on the square, and state your name.”

A light flashed into my eyes. “Retinal scan complete. Biometric scan complete.”

“Sarah Whitlock.”

“Name verification complete.”

“Here you go.”

I was handed a long bracelet and a sedation stick. There was a spot on my uniform that fit the stick perfectly so I slipped in inside. Putting the bracelet onto my left forearm it did absolutely nothing. Shaking my arm up and down did nothing.

“How does this thing work?”

The requisition officer looked stunned that I had no idea how to operate the bracelet. “Hold it up to your mouth and ask it for help. You must return these items at the end of your shift. Good day, Enforcer.”

I waited until I got outside of the enforcer area before holding the bracelet near my mouth. “Help?”

Bluish light emitted from the bracelet and extended about eight inches in a rectangular shape. Words appeared on the light. “Do you need help?” and “Help with enforcer bracelet.”

“Help with enforcer bracelet.”

Words appeared on the light once again. “You can either speak to select items or you can touch the screen with your finger. You may choose map, guide, or vigilance area. Other functions require activation.”

“Map.”

A map suddenly appeared with a small blue dot with an arrow on it. As I turned, the arrow turned on the map.

“Guide me to my vigilance area.” I figured it was worth a try.

A red line appeared on the map. As I walked, I could see if the blue dot stayed on the line or not. By following the line, I eventually wound up in the women’s recreation area. Now I just walk, I guess. This was the same area where the Dermit gang was captured.

There were hundreds of women in the area. Some sat and read using books made from light. Others were playing various games and some were coming out of a larger room within the facilities. They had blissful looks on their faces.

After exploring the main area thoroughly, I entered the side areas of the facilities. The largest room had hundreds of smaller rooms. Most had opaque walls but some were clear. Women were… I blushed. This looked like a very strange brothel.

A woman approached me. “I was told we were going to have a new enforcer. You must be Enforcer Sarah. I’m Pleasure Master Hannah.”

“Yes. That’s what they call me.”

“There’s nothing wrong in the pleasure center is there?”

“Not that I’m aware of.”

“You must come back then when you’re off duty. I’m very thankful you’re here. Your presence makes us all feel safe.”

My forearm vibrated and I held up my arm to see what was going on. A map appeared with a red line taking me out of the pleasure center and into an area I had not been before. “Unauthorized access. Go to the location to see what triggered the alarm.”

“Nice meeting you, Hannah. I should be going.”

I followed the red line to a hallway that appeared to have no doors. When I got to the end of the hallway an alarm sounded and my eyes were scanned. “Access granted.” A door whooshed aside and I stepped into another world. Everything within the city was shiny, clean, and bright, however this area appeared to descend underneath the city. It was darker and all gray, reminding me of granite stone.

My map flickered a little but indicated I needed to continue down some stairs and through a section that had large pipes. I continued even though my map was flicking more and more. Finally, it disappeared altogether.

“Enforcer Sarah. That has a nice ring to it.”

Spinning around I came face to face with Cade.

“What are you doing here?”

“I set off an alarm hoping the artificial intelligence system would send you down here. I thought we could continue our dance.”

“Our dance?”

Cade smiled. “You know it’s impolite to decline a dance offer.”

“Are you making fun of me or are you trying to get me into trouble?”

“You didn’t enjoy our dance?”

“I…” My face blushed.

Cade laughed. “I enjoyed it too, although it was far too brief. These city dwellers don’t know anything about dancing. I probably owe you an explanation.”

“That would be good. What do you mean by city dwellers?”

“What most people don’t know is that there are city dwellers and there are people that live outside of the cities. The people within the city are tightly monitored and controlled by the government. The government disseminates information deliberately lying to the people within the cities.”

“Lying about what?”

“That the outside world is inhabited and not dangerous.”

“Why would the government do that?”

“To control the people. After the Great War, the government tried to eliminate independent thinking. If they controlled what people read and learned and made the people dependent upon the government, they could control their actions and ultimately end strife and war. Their ideals were good, but the methods they employ aren’t. Individuality and creativity are stifled and the people suffer because of it.”

“Why are you telling me all of this?”

“I told you that life outside the cities is possible but the global government is working hard to eradicate those that live there. We are a threat to the very existence of the government and their utopian views. We wish to live in peace but they continue to hunt us. Our numbers are dwindling and we’re actively trying to find ways to build up the outside population.”

“You come into the cities hoping to take people outside? What good would that do when everyone in here is sterile?”

“That’s not entirely true. The pills everyone takes keep people sterile, but there is a small percentage of people, depending on how long they’ve been taking the pills, that can be surgically altered to have procreation abilities.”

I crossed my arms over my chest somewhat protectively. “You contacted me because you want me to be a baby maker?”

“The thought crossed my mind.”

I pulled out the sedation stick and pointed it at him.

“Sorry, that wasn’t how it was supposed to have come out. Yes, I have thought about you in that way, but… I can see this isn’t helping. You’re looking angry. You could be a very valuable asset to us on the outside. You’ve lived in a time where living off the land was a necessity. We lost much of the knowledge of our ancestors and the prevalence of technology at the time of the Great War limited our ability to be self-sufficient. That and I really like your gene pool.”

“My what?”

“I don’t know where the people pieced together your genes, but you’re far better looking than the other women around here.”

“You didn’t just say that.”

“I did, but that’s just the kind of guy I am. Things leave my mouth faster than my brain can shut it down.”

“Let’s say I’m interested and want to get out of here?”

“Then I’m your man… Oh… You weren’t talking about… Never mind. It’s not simple leaving here. Inside your right hand you have a biometric tracking sensor. At the moment, they can’t see you but to get outside you must traverse many locations where they can. Once you enter those areas the government enforcers will pounce on you.”

I stared at my hand. “Just take a knife and cut it out.”

“That would kill you. It needs to be properly deactivated.”

“How is that done?”

“That’s where the problem comes in. Only government facilities have access to the disabling technologies. We need to get you into one of their facilities, disable your sensor, and get out before we are set upon by dozens of highly armed men.”

“Great. You tell me I can live outside and I’m stuck in a bubble city with a bunch of brainwashed idiots.”

“Can I use that phrase? Brainwashed idiots. It’s perfect! Oh, I almost forgot. You’re still in a lot of danger. You’ve been out of sensor range for about five minutes. Pretty soon both government and city enforcers will be looking for you. Also, the men that came here with you weren’t destroyed.”

“Please tell me that they are at least no longer a threat.”

“The government believes they’re too valuable. They’re going to use them to shock the city people into remembering why they live in cities.”

“They’re going to let them loose on the city?”

“Selectively, yes.”

“What about me? What happens now?”

“You can kiss me and I’ll sleep well tonight… Please, put the sedation stick down.”

“How do I get out of here; what should I do?”

“I’m monitoring you and will contact you when the time is right.”

“Great, I have an artificial intelligence system that watches me pee and now you’re doing the same.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t have access to the cameras. I’ll be in touch when I can but in the meantime, hang in there. You need to head back into the city. I’ll fix the alarm. When they ask, you can tell them a rat triggered it.”

“That sounds appropriate.”

He reached over and gently squeezed my hand. “Take care of yourself, Sarah.”

He quickly ducked into the array of pipes and I turned back towards the city. My map flickered back on and the alarm was cleared. When I got to the top of the stairs and stepped into the hallways, a government enforcer was there.

“Enforcer Sarah Whitlock. Your tracking sensor went offline while you were called to check on an alarm. What happened?”

“A rat triggered the alarm down amongst the pipes.”

“Very well then. Get back to your vigilance.”

“Yes, sir.”

The rest of my shift was uneventful. I avoided the pleasure room as my short time with Cade seemed to have initiated numerous conflicting feelings within me.

At the end of my shift and returning my sedation stick and the bracelet I headed back to my room to indulge in the finest of culinary vegetarian perfection. Oh, what I would give for a steak and some potatoes.

“Window catalog. Can you show me clothes for relaxing?”

The windows displayed hundreds of different dress designs. There were several that would cover me much more than normal dresses. I chose a red one and stripped out of my uniform, cleansed myself, and put on the loose-fitting dress.

Sitting down in a chair, I tucked my legs up underneath me and stared at my hand. “What is happening in the city today?”

“Changing windows to media mode. Displaying events.”

Moving pictures with sound appeared but it turned out to be government propaganda. “Remember to take your pill every night… Report anomalous behavior to your local enforcer… The biosphere temperature is eighty degrees… The forecast temperature for tomorrow is eighty degrees… Our recreation facilities are there to take care of your body’s needs…”

“Window normal.” The last thing I need is a reminder of what I saw in the recreation facilities. There’s life outside. It’s possible sterilization can be undone. The Dermit gang isn’t destroyed. Cade…Blushing, I tried to ignore my body’s response.

***

For the first time in days I woke up not feeling completely amazing. My stomach felt a little off and the annoying voice from the walls was even more annoying than usual. I chose a uniform at random without giving it much thought, ate my vegetarian delight breakfast, and headed to see Jessica. The one good thing so far about the day was that I didn’t have to be escorted everywhere.

“Good morning, Sarah. How was your first day as an enforcer? You must feel excited to be back doing what you did before.”

“Good morning, Jessica. An enforcer’s role isn’t comparable to what I used to do.”

“It must be far more exciting as an enforcer than chasing after criminals.”

I know I’m not ever going to properly express how mind-numbingly boring being an enforcer is and with my bad mood getting worse I opted for a simple nod.

“Tell me what people did for entertainment.”

“Most people I knew didn’t have time for entertainment. From morning until night, they worked every day. There is always something to do on the homestead. Taking care of the garden, improving the home, feeding the animals, mending clothes, gathering and preparing food. On rare occasions, men might go to a saloon.”

“Tell me what a saloon is?”

“Have you ever had whiskey?”

“I don’t believe so. What is it?”

“An alcoholic drink.”

“No. Those kinds of drinks are forbidden.”

“Why am I not surprised about that? A saloon is a place you could go to get alcoholic drinks, play cards, or sometimes imbibe in a woman’s pleasures.”

Jessica’s eyes went wide. “Oh my! So not so much unlike our recreation facilities. Fascinating. Repulsive but fascinating nonetheless. You traded for whiskey and women?”

“No, we bought them with money.”

“I thought you told me women were not bought and sold as objects.”

“Excuse me. Bought is probably not the right term. Rented might be a better term. You would pay money to have a woman accompany you for an hour or an entire night.”

“What would you do with a woman for an hour? Would she make you something to eat?”

The morning was dragging on and my cramps getting worse. I was grateful to have to go to my vigilance as an enforcer as the walking eased my stomach. Halfway through my shift my bracelet chirped. I’m to go to the place indicated on the map and wait for other enforcers. A few minutes later I was standing before a space similar my room. Two more enforcers arrived and waited patiently to be told what to do.

Our bracelets chirped. We were to apprehend the woman inside, take her to the government offices, sedating her if necessary. The door opened and a woman backed up against her windows. “I’m not going with you! They’re controlling all of you. Don’t you see? I want to go outside!”

One of the enforcers sedated her, made a request of the room to provide a transport, and a hovering panel appeared. We lifted her onto the panel. I was stunned. I wanted to hear more of what she was saying. The woman floated behind one of the enforcers and we followed our maps to the government offices. Several government enforcers came out and took her away. Seconds later I was directed back to my vigilance. The entire incident frightened me.

As I headed back to my area, I was feeling worse and worse. With my stomach cramps continuing, I found a human waste disposal facility and discovered to my horror that I was bleeding. Either something was wrong with me or I was having a monthly female bleeding, but I recall that wasn’t possible. If I was having my monthly bleeding, then that means I could become pregnant and for some reason, this made me smile.

Within minutes of leaving the HWDA, my wrist bracelet chirped telling me to immediately suspend my shift and report directly to Jessica. I wasn’t sure what this was about, but I had a nagging feeling that something bad was about to happen.

Upon arriving at Jessica’s office, I saw conflicting emotions on her face. “There you are, Sarah. I have some good news for you. Apparently, when we used the female clone to capture your soul, we were unaware that your new body hadn’t been properly prepared yet. The artificial intelligence system has alerted us to the fact that you’re menstruating. I’ve been told to send you to our government medical facilities to have you sterilized.”

“Granted, the bloating feelings aren’t pleasant, but I don’t see this as a good thing as I’ve always wanted a family. Even though I never expected or considered having children as a woman before, something about this body is altering the way I think. What if I refuse?”

Jessica’s face darkened. “I’ve appreciated your candor, Sarah. Your stories of the past are so enlightening and entertaining, but the government officials have been reviewing our sessions together, and they feel your history and knowledge are deemed a threat to society. Not only do you not have a choice to be sterilized, but you will also be educated in the ways of city living.”

“But that will take away who I am!”

“It is regrettable, but this is for your own safety and ours. You should be encouraged that you are not being destroyed and will be able to live a fruitful life within the city. The enforcers have been notified and are on their way to escort you.” The door opened behind us and four enforcers stepped inside. “Here they are now. It has been nice getting to know you, Sarah. Perhaps we will meet again.”

“You will come with us, Sarah.”

My mind was racing and could only think of one thing to do. Run. However, I wanted to be closer to a possible avenue of escape first. I know by experience that any resistance will have the artificial intelligence system command them to sedate me so I had to bide my time and look for the perfect opportunity.

Unfortunately, no such opportunity arose as once we left the office, another four enforcers joined the others. Soon we were standing in front of the government enforcer’s offices and I was handed over to them. Once the door back into the city was closed, my wrists were bound with metallic braces and I was led deep inside the bowels of the city. These areas were far less ornate and far more intimidating.

I was brought to an all-white room with more shiny metal objects and another one of those metal beds. Every step closer to that bed made me more afraid. Over the past days I had learned to love who I was. The thought of becoming one of the brainwashed citizens of the city, with no knowledge of who I was before was more than enough to make me try to escape at all costs, even though the timing was terrible and my wrists were bound.

I spun away from the metal bed and bolted for the door getting all of two steps before the heavy gloved hand of a government enforcer halted any momentum I might have had. “Not so fast, girl.” Guns were pointed at my head as I was lifted off the ground and placed down hard on the bed. My wrists were unbound only to be bound once again to the sides of the bed.

A man in a white coat entered. His face was covered by a white mask. “I’ll take over from here.”

“Yes, sir!”

The enforcers all left the room as the man in white held up a shiny metal and glass device that looked a little like a handgun.

“No! Please! Don’t do this! I’ll do anything you ask of me, just let me go. I don’t want to lose…” There was a small pinch and a whooshing sound as the device was placed against my neck. “I… don’t…”

The man in white suddenly became much less frightening. I felt almost euphoric and giggled when he told me something he was going to do might hurt a little. There was a sharp pain in my right wrist. “Owww! Stop that!” I then giggled uncontrollably again.

There were a few metallic clinking sounds and suddenly my hands were free and I was floating momentarily before realizing I was standing in front of the man in white. I watched as he pulled his mask down and smiled.

Whatever he had given me had the effect of several bottles of whiskey and my inhibitions were removed completely. As I glanced up into the man’s face, I saw it was Cade. “Cade!” I burst out laughing and fell heavily into his arms. “Your… more… handsome… than I… recall.”

Cade smiled just as four enforcers burst into the room. Cade let go of me causing me to plop down onto the ground in a fit of laughter. Deep down I knew this was serious, but with every move Cade made I giggled all the more. Cade was quick to dispatch the first enforcer who fell heavily next to me. I was worried for Cade but couldn’t stop laughing as I reached for the enforcer’s sedation stick.

Cade’s hands were full with the three remaining enforcers and no one was paying any attention to me which caused me to laugh uncontrollably. It took several times to get the sedation stick oriented in my hands correctly, but when I knew it was right, I held it in both hands and pointed in the general direction of the enforcers. Pressing the button, I fired a dart into the calf of one of the closest men. I laughed so hard as I was aiming for his head.

I even fell over backwards as I aimed for another shot. I had the man in my sights when I saw a little blood on my right wrist. “Hey! What’s… this blood?”

“A little help, sweetheart?” I was trying to register what Cade had just said. “Shoot them!”

“Okey dokey.” I giggled and fired off another dart that bounced off the wall several feet to the right of anyone. “Hmmm…” Aiming again, I closed one eye and fired at the closest man’s chest. The dart hit him in the ear but he dropped and I laughed again.

Cade managed to subdue the final enforcer before picking me up off the ground. “You’re a terrible shot.”

I laughed, unable to stop giggling. “Two birds… in the bush… like one in… the hand.” I wrapped my arms around Cade’s neck and kissed him. “My… hero…”

“I used way too much of that sedative on you. We still need to get out of here, Sarah.”

Cade picked me up and I dangled over his shoulder. “Woohoo! Ride… em cowboy!”

“Shhhh!”

Cade ran down hallways and through doors, into sections of the underground city where there were tunnels and steaming pipes. I tried hard not to giggle. Slowly as we worked our way through the underground city my giddiness began to wear off. We slipped into a dark tunnel and Cade leaned me up against a wall. It was still a little hard to talk, but my head was at least clearer than it had been.

“How… How did you know?”

“I got an alert that you were being taken. I’m glad I got to you in time.”

I was still a little groggy. “Mmmm. Me too. They… were going to… sterilize me and wipe my…”

“Shhh. I’ve got you. We’ll get out of here.”

I felt the coolness of the wall on the exposed skin of my back. Cades breath was warm as he leaned in close to whisper to me. There’s something about his presence that’s intoxicating and this body might one day wrest control from my brain.

There were sounds of shouted orders from deeper within the tunnel.

“Can you walk?”

I merely nodded. Cade reached for my hand and led me deeper into the dark tunnel. After twenty minutes, he paused and listened carefully before turning to a section of wall that looked slightly different than the others. He knocked three times. A series of three knocks followed and the wall slowly pulled back. Light poured into the tunnel through the crack and almost blinded me. With a little effort, Cade pushed the wall section open further and pulled me through before closing the wall section behind him.

We stood in a small clearing with bushes and trees all around. There were three people standing there with weapons drawn. One pretty woman with brunette hair, blue eyes, and suntanned skin gave me a bit of a scowl and rushed over to Cade and hugged him tightly. I immediately felt conflicted and jealous. Noting I was still holding Cade’s hand, I pulled it away from him. The two other people were men and they were watching me warily.

Feeling out of place, I looked back at the wall and upwards to see a large glass dome. I’m outside.

One of the men stepped forward. “Damn it, Cade! The enforcers are all over the place. You know this isn’t the normal process we go through. They’ve stepped up their patrols. She better be worth it! We can’t afford to lose any more of our people.”

The second man looked me over carefully. “Look at her. She’s just like all the other city women. She won’t last a day out here.”

By now my faculties had all recovered from whatever Cade had given me. The woman had her arm around Cade’s waist and I got the feeling Cade had gone out on a limb to rescue me.

“This was my choice, Brent. None of you had to come. Everyone, please meet Sarah Whitlock.”

The woman detangled herself from Cade and walked over to me. Her scowl had been replaced with a slight hint of interest. “Is she the one, Cade?”

“She is one of the four recovered from the wormhole that was formed nearly four hundred years ago. Sarah, this is Charlotte. Brent is the one with the dark eyes and beard, and the last one is Thomas.”

“I’m very pleased to meet you all. I’m sorry if Cade’s rescuing me has put any of you in danger.”

Brent growled a little. “Every time we get near one of these places it puts us all at risk.”

“Which is why we need to get moving.” Cade reached for my hand, but I pulled mine back as Charlotte moved between me and Cade.

As we walked into a forest, I focused on my surroundings and those around me. Charlotte was wearing a dress. A real dress that was both functional and covered her up far more than what I was wearing. Brent, walked behind me and I got the impression he was pleased by what little I had on. Both he and Thomas wore pants and shirts, and both carried a large assortment of tools and weapons. Even Charlotte had a knife and what appeared to be a gun.

I noted we had been travelling steadily north and the trees and brush had given way to a lush forest. I spotted many signs of wildlife and game trails. Everyone travelled silently and I kept seeing Cade look back at me as if to make sure I was all right.

I was full of mixed emotions. Being outdoors and seeing signs of life that I recognized made me feel very comfortable. However, I couldn’t help feeling I was a burden and Charlotte kept herself protectively between Cade and myself. Somehow, I felt Cade had a genuine interest in me that had been somewhat confusing and yet heartwarming. I’m not sure why I gravitated towards him but my heart felt heavy.

I remember how several times I had defended a woman and how she would treat me afterwards with respect and kindness. Is that what I’m feeling? Is this how a woman normally feels when a man protects her?

The temperature was warm, if not bordering on being hot. I was grateful we must not be too high in altitude or much further north as in this skimpy attire I would easily get cold. I tracked the shadows and the sun and noted we were nearing dusk just as the forest opened up to a lake. On the shore was a protected, but well-hidden shelter.

 Brent and Thomas moved to circle the area while Cade and Charlotte entered the shelter. By shelter, this appeared to be an old log cabin of some kind, but it looked large and comfortable.

Cade invited me in and Charlotte headed to another room.

“How are you holding up, Sarah?”

“I’m doing well, I guess. No one seems pleased I’m here. Maybe I should just go?”

“Don’t be silly. We have each taken our turn at getting people out of the city, but things are generally much more planned. They’re unhappy I broke protocol to rescue you and bring you out. They’re very afraid of spies. I want to talk a little about your kissing me.”

I flushed, remembering my actions, but not quite sure why I had been so liberal with my affections. The reality was that ever since I began menstruating I had stopped thinking of myself as a man in a woman’s body and had been more rapidly succumbing to full acceptance of who I am. “I’m sorry. Whatever you gave me…”

“What I gave you was something to numb the pain for when I deactivated and removed your tracking chip. It acts in a way to block some pain receptors, but more to make you feel good and take away any concerns or fears.”

“Yes… It certainly did that.”

Cade smiled. “You like me. I knew it.”

Charlotte walked back into the room and I could see her distrust for me in her eyes.

“I don’t want to be a burden to anyone. You have no idea what living in that city was doing to me and how being rescued from sterilization and my brain wiped… I owe you all my life and I don’t take that lightly. I’m sure I can survive on my own as I wouldn’t want to cause disruption for you and your group or put them in any more danger for my sake.”

Cade frowned. “I don’t want you to go. I want you to stay with me… with us.”

I looked back and forth between Charlotte and Cade. “I’m not saying I don’t appreciate the offer, but from the time period I come from, polygamy is frowned upon. Logically, I understand the need for survival and people needing to reproduce, but I’m not like that.”

“Polygamy?” Cade’s laughter made me feel small.

“You and Charlotte…”

Charlotte walked by me. “Don’t get your panties in an uproar, Sarah.”

Cade came over and tried to take my hand but I pulled away once again.

“Charlotte is my sister, Sarah.”

Charlotte stretched out in a chair. “A very protective sister. You have no idea how many women throw themselves at Cade. I’ve seen him hurt time and time again and now you come along… Look at you… Cade’s been drooling for days now ever since he told us he met you at a party in the city. Don’t confuse my protectiveness for lack of concern over your safety. Being sterilized and ‘educated’ is not anything I would wish on my worst enemy. I’m glad we got you out of that, but because of you, we have put our team at risk, and I’ve never seen Cade put himself in harm’s way like he has for you.”

“Now I’ve just completely embarrassed myself.”

Brent and Thomas entered the shelter. “Did we miss something? Why is Sarah embarrassed? Is it because of her city clothing that leaves nothing to the imagination?”

I looked down at myself and groaned, putting my arms protectively around me. “These clothes aren’t my choice.”

Brent and Thomas laughed. “We don’t mind you wearing that stuff in the least. In fact, if you want to parade around all naked, we’d be fine with that as well.”

Cade stepped between Thomas, Brent, and me. “Enough. Charlotte, perhaps you can see if there is something else Sarah can wear?”

“Be happy to. I used to get all the looks until she came along. Come along, Sarah. Let’s see if we can find something to make you less beautiful.”

Brent chuckled. “As if.”

Charlotte led me to a rather large room filled with women’s clothing.

“Where did you get all of this?”

“We’ve collected it from the ruins of old cities. Without the technology to recycle and recreate clothing like the bubble cities have, we’ve had to rely upon clothes made hundreds of years ago.”

“These are so much nicer that what the city offers.”

I perused the items until I found a beige dress and calf-length boots.

“Why select those items, Sarah?”

“As much as the other colors are nice, I suspect they would draw too much attention. If I need to hunt for food, the brown coloring will be better, helping me blend into the surroundings. The boots will protect me from snake bites.”

Charlotte laughed. “I’m not laughing at you, Sarah, but you’re the first person we’ve ever extracted from the city that seems to have the slightest inkling as to what life is like outside. I’m impressed. Why the dress over pants?”

“I didn’t know I had a choice. Women in my time never wore pants and wearing pants in the city wasn’t allowed. I’ve got used to it, I guess.”

“You’ll need these as well.” Charlotte handed me some underthings.

“A corset?”

“A bra. Traipsing through the wilderness without one is folly. Use the other room there to change if you like.”

Moving into another smaller room, I stripped out of my clothing and put on the items I had found before stepping back to where Charlotte was waiting.

“Here I thought finding these old clothes would make you less attractive. If anything, those clothes make you even more appealing. What are your intentions towards my brother?”

“I barely know Cade and I’m still coming to terms with waking up four hundred years in the future. I care for him in that he has protected me. I don’t want to see him hurt.”

“Good answer. Cade’s, I’m not quite sure how to say this, impulsive. He makes decisions far faster than is sometimes safe.”

“Like risking you all to rescue me.”

“Precisely. He’s acting strangely around you and that’s never a good sign. Don’t lead him on as he doesn’t need the encouragement.”

“I won’t. But I don’t understand the customs or culture here. I’m not sure what is acceptable behavior or what might be misconstrued. Will you warn me?”

“You know, Sarah, I think I might actually be starting to like you.”

“There’s one more thing. I don’t wish to ruin the clothes you gave me. I’m bleeding a little…”

Charlotte smiled. “The city dwellers certainly messed up with you, didn’t they?”

“Apparently I’m a new model that hadn’t been fully prepared yet.”

“That’s good news for you then, as long as you want to have children.”

“I didn’t think not having children out here was an option. I thought Cade said that’s why they took people out of the city.”

“Did he? Well, let me be the first to tell you that it’s your choice to have children or not. We will never force a woman.”

“That’s a relief.”

“I can get you something for the bleeding.”

“I do want them… Children, I mean… A family… Ever since my arrival here I’ve been dreaming about it. It’s strange, I know. The city… They don’t let men and women…” I shuddered and stopped myself, unaware of how my feelings were overwhelming me. I’ve become a true woman with all the drives and desires as any normal woman would have.

“The city dwellers don’t even know what they’re missing. Let’s join the others.”

I let Charlotte lead the way and I paused at the door and looked down at myself. The dress was functional, conservative, and beautiful. While I have grown to appreciate the dresses, I’m surprised how attached to them I’ve become. Having one that covers me more also makes me feel somewhat safer.

Stepping into the room, Brent, Thomas, and Cade all stopped their chatter to stare at me. It was the strangest feeling. No one ever took notice of my grizzled old beard and looks before. It was frightening and empowering at the same time.

“Is it that bad? Should I find something else?”

Charlotte laughed. “It’s fine, Sarah. You would think some people in the room would show a few manners.”

Cade coughed. “Mhmm. You’re right, Charlotte. I’ll get our dinner ready.”

Brent and Thomas busted out laughing. “You? Cook dinner? God help us!”

“I’m sure Sarah… I mean everyone is hungry.”

Charlotte’s eyes bored into Cade. “I’ll do it.”

Charlotte got up and headed into another room leaving me baffled by the whole exchange until I realized this must be woman’s work to cook. I followed Charlotte to see if I could lend a hand.

“What can I do to help?”

“There’s no need to help. You’ll get your turn.”

“I thought… Isn’t it women’s work to cook and clean?”

“It’s all our jobs to cook and clean. We just take turns and it’s my turn.”

I glanced back into the room with the men which didn’t go unnoticed by Charlotte.

“What are you nervous about, Sarah?”

“Cade confuses me.”

She laughed. “Cade confuses all of us.”

“It’s not that. I get flustered around him. One second I’m angry with him, the next…”

“Don’t overthink things. Cade’s honorable, generous, courageous, smart, and kind. Now get back in there. The others need to get to know you.”

I wandered back into the room where Brent, Thomas, and Cade all sat. I silently moved to the chair Charlotte had used and sat down.

“How’s your hand, Sarah?”

“My hand? It’s fine. It hasn’t bothered me. Thank you. Is this your home?”

Brent spoke for them all. “It’s a temporary lodging we use during extraction missions. Our village is elsewhere.”

“You mean further north? We travelled north for five hours today. That’s roughly twelve miles from the city.”

Brent reached for his knife. “She’s a spy!”

Cade stood and held Brent down in his chair. “She’s not a spy!”

“How do you know? No city dweller could gauge directions or distance like she just did.”

“I told you before. Sarah lived four hundred years ago and was caught in a wormhole. The city scientists recovered her soul. When we get to our village you can look it up and see for yourself. I take full responsibility for Sarah.”

Brent looked at me and scowled. “Tell me how you can tell direction and distance.”

“In my time, I was a marshal. I hunted criminals and brought them to justice. My life was lived outside tracking people. It’s habit for me to identify landmarks, direction of travel, and distance.”

Thomas sat up suddenly far more interested. “You hunted people?”

“That was my job. Yes. But I also hunted wildlife for food. I saw tracks of deer, boar, and rabbits on the way here. I can only assume those creatures still exist as they were if humans are still the same. There’s even a large cat that lives near here. I might guess it would be a mountain lion, but I’m not entirely sure where I am or if the geography would support them.”

Brent had settled down and Cade kept an eye on him.

Thomas asked another question. “What weapons did you use?”

“I always carried a knife for skinning my kills. I used it to make snares and traps for smaller animals and I used a rifle to kill bigger ones. I was also a pretty good shot with a bow and arrow.”

“You killed and skinned people?”

I giggled. “No. When I hunted people it was to bring them back alive to be judged for their crimes. I only skinned the wildlife in preparation to cook or smoke the meat.”

“What’s a rifle?”

“It’s a long-barreled gun that shoots lead bullets.” The odors of cooking food coming from the other room were intoxicating. “That smells so good.”

Cade leaned forward and looked over at Brent. “You know as well as I do that we’ve never captured government enforcers or had anyone from the city know anything remotely like what Sarah knows. Her knowledge sets her apart and why she is so vital to our future.”

Cade’s statement was a little sobering. While Cade seemed to have a personal interest in me, perhaps I was misinterpreting his cavalier attitude. He thinks I can add value to help the people outside the cities.

“I still don’t see how I can help you all. You’ve survived for hundreds of years. You have incredible technology. How could I provide anything?”

Cade turned back towards me. “We were so technology rich when the Great War happened, we had lost our knowledge and ability to live off the land. You’re correct in that we survived. We figured out things, but we have never thrived. We still rely on technology too much and the government made sure the old sets of knowledge were destroyed. We only have a fraction of what we used to have.”

Charlotte came into the room with a large pot, some bowls, and spoons. “Dig in.”

Cade spooned out a large helping into a bowl and handed it to me. I stared down at large chunks of meat, potatoes, and onions. I inhaled the savory scents and closed my eyes in bliss. With my eyes closed, I thanked God for the first time since my arrival here. I thanked him for my life, this food, for those around me, and for this new body that continued to grow on me day after day. When I opened my eyes, everyone was staring at me.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“We’ve just never seen anyone react to Charlotte’s cooking like that before.”

“I’ve been eating vegetable cubes since my arrival. This may be as close to heaven as I ever get.”

“You might want to eat some before you say that.”

Using my spoon, I scooped up a piece of meat and potatoes and savored the flavors as I ate it. “This is so delicious. Thank you, Charlotte.”

Charlotte beamed. “Take note, everyone. That’s how you’re supposed to respond.”

Thomas laughed. “In your dreams, Charlotte.”

***

The next morning, we all got up and ate the leftovers from Charlotte’s meal. I stepped outside and breathed in the crisp, clean air. The coolness of the morning also helped to dwindle the effects my dream of Cade had on me.

“You want me to take you back?”

Turning around I saw Cade leaning in the front doorway. “Don’t even joke about that. This hardly appears to be a place filled with toxins.”

“There are some places like that still, but very few. You don’t mind roughing it outdoors?”

“That bed I slept on last night was far more comfortable that my bedroll I used to use. If this is what you call roughing it then I think I’ll survive quite well.”

“I’ve got something for you.” Cade held up an eight-inch long knife.

“Won’t the others be concerned?”

“Let them be concerned. It will offer you at least some protection.”

I was still very attracted to Cade and flirting words left my mouth before I could stop them. “Are you abdicating your role as my protector?”

Cade smiled. “Not unless you want me to.”

I smiled and walked over to Cade. “I’m living four hundred years in the future. I have no idea what new dangers lurk around every corner. I’d be honored to have you keep an eye out for me.”

Charlotte stepped outside at a seemingly inopportune moment. “Keeping an eye on you is a given, Sarah. It’s whether or not he can keep his hands to himself.”

Cade handed me the knife and I weighed it in my hands and tested the balance.

“Really, Cade? A knife? She probably can’t even…”

I spun and threw the knife at a nearby tree; the blade cut deep into the center of the trunk and held the knife firm. “Good balance. I like it.” I walked over to retrieve the knife before turning back to the siblings. Cade’s smile was infectious.

“Where did you learn knife skills?”

“I can never remember a time I didn’t carry a knife, but I didn’t learn knife handling skills until met a good friend. It was spring and the snow runoff was high. I spotted a young boy drowning in the river. I dove in and rescued him. He wasn’t much older than me at the time and turned out to be a Ute Indian. The Ute Indian tribes were some of the most feared natives. The boy turned out to be the chief’s son and they chose to befriend me. Over the years, I learned many things from them. Knife skills was just one of them.”

Cade handed me a sheath and a belt that I snugged around my incredibly trim and narrow waist. It felt good to have a little protection on me even if Brent was clearly not in favor. He seemed to be the last holdout as the others have accepted me.

We hiked west along the outflow creek of the lake before turning south. At one point I heard something above us and Cade pulled me quickly under a bush putting his hand over my mouth. Charlotte tossed something on the ground as she and the others also took cover. I watched as a silver beast flew through the air just above the tops of the trees. When it was long past, Cade let go of my mouth and helped me up.

“What was that?”

“Government enforcers. Their airships are heavily armored and armed. They’re hunting for people living outside the cities. They have sensors that can spot and identify humans. Charlotte used a device that casts a signal over us and blocks their sensors.”

“What would they have done if they caught us?”

“Generally, they simply kill anyone they find, but sometimes they extract information from people first. They continue to look for villages. We live the closest to any of the cities. Most villages are far away and well hidden.”

We began walking again, this time veering a little south.

“How do you fight back?”

“We don’t. We don’t have the population, the technology, or the will.”

I stopped in my tracks. “I don’t understand. Your people are being hunted by a controlling, lying, government. If you don’t fight back, then what’s the final outcome?”

Brent seemed very irritated with me. “She doesn’t understand, Cade. Why bother?”

Cade ignored Brent. “The final outcome is that we all perish unless we can find a way to replenish our population. That’s why we live close to the city. We’re trying to bring people out to us one by one.”

“That’s no way to win a war.”

“This isn’t a war, Sarah.”

“Yes. It is. The problem is you don’t know it.”

Cade grew very silent on the rest of the walk and I feared I had somehow hurt his feelings. As we walked, I could see what looked to be old buildings that had been overtaken by the forest. The numbers of these square shapes grew and grew in number the further we walked. It was dusk when we entered the ruins of what used to be a magnificent city. Tall buildings stretch upwards to incredible heights. They were just empty shells now, fingers of stone and steel.

“Incredible. People used to live here?”

“This used to be a city called Phoenix. It was destroyed in the Great War. Those that survived the first wave ultimately perished in the radiation that lingered on.”

“So, the city dwellers are telling the truth?”

“The Great War destroyed billions of lives. The remnant of the world’s population came together and forged a new agreement to live in harmony and to never again cause the destruction that had taken place. They began building the bubble cities to protect what little human life was left. However, the government began eliminating knowledge and identifying people that resisted their beliefs. By the time people realized what was happening, it was too late. The government had seized control, held all the weapons, and turned a complacent, beaten remnant of humanity into sheep. Sheep that needed the government to feed them and to give them purpose. There were many that had remained outside of the cities, living in areas that were still habitable. We once numbered in the millions of people. Over the decades, more and more of the surface of the earth healed from the wounds of the Great War. It was nearly seventy years ago that we began an attempt to communicate with the people in the cities to let them know life existed outside. That’s when the government turned on us and began hunting us down. Today, there’s maybe only a hundred thousand people left outside of the cities and our numbers are dwindling fast.”

“The people outside of the cities wanted to expose the truth and were killed because of it. Now you’re hunted to ensure the truth is never exposed. How do you all live?”

“Let me show you.”

Cade led our group through the remnants of the city and just as darkness fell, we entered a large building and moved steadily downward until we came to a large underground cavern that appeared to be man-made.

We had passed several sets of guards on our way in, but none hindered our way. Here, in the giant square cave, a few hundred people went about their lives. There were children running around and what appeared to be families. The place was cheerful and lit by lights. Music played and people danced. Incredible aromas filled the air.

“Welcome to Phoenix, Sarah.”

I was overwhelmed and underprepared for what I saw. Where the city had living people, it had no life. Here, there was laughter and joy. People sang and children ran around. It was festive and peaceful at the same time.

A little girl ran up and hugged Cade. He lifted her up and held her tight.

“Uncle Cade!”

“How’s my favorite niece?”

“I’m good!” Cade put her down and the little girl looked up at me. “Did you get married, Uncle? You didn’t invite us?”

Cade coughed. “If I were to get married, I couldn’t do it without you, Trina. This is Sarah.”

Trina looked me over and gave my legs a tight hug. “Pleased to meet you, Sarah. Let me show you my collection!” She slipped her hand into mine and pulled me through the small crowds of people and to a door with a room beyond. “Mom! Uncle Cade is back. I’m taking his friend to see my collection.”

A woman that looked a little like Cade came out from another room and looked at me. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes. I’m Cade’s sister, Bethany.”

She extended a hand and I took hers in mine. “Sarah.”

Trina tugged on my hand as Cade entered and hugged his sister. I followed Trina for fear of losing my arm. I could hear Cade and Bethany talk as I went.

“She’s gorgeous, Cade. Something you need to tell me?”

Trina closed the door behind us and Cade’s response was lost to me.

“I found this one today.”

Trina held up a baby girl doll so lifelike I would have expected it to be real had I stumbled upon it. “She’s beautiful but not half as beautiful as you.”

Trina smiled and hugged me again. “I like you. Will you be my friend, Sarah?”

“It would be my honor, Trina.”

Trina pointed up to a shelf. “I saw one of those today.”

I followed her finger with my eyes to a toy horse. “You saw a toy horse today?”

“No. A real one. There were five of them.”

“Maybe you could show me where you saw them one day?”

“As long as there’s no government around.”

Trina climbed onto my lap and began telling me the names of each of her toys. The door opened and Cade was standing there.

“Sarah’s had a long day, Trina. Maybe you can see her again tomorrow.”

“I’m taking her to see the horses.”

Cade smiled. “There are no horses anymore, Trina.”

“There are! I saw them!”

Trina got up and hugged me again as I stood. Cade led me back outside into the main open area. He paused and brushed a tear from my cheek.

“You’re crying.”

“She’s so beautiful and sweet. She doesn’t deserve to live with the threat of being hunted down.”

“Let me get you settled. Tomorrow we’ll be holding a celebration.”

“What are you celebrating?”

“That we freed you from the city. We do this for each and every person we free and don’t worry, it won’t be anything like the gala event you attended.”

“You don’t need to do that on my account.”

“You represent our future and we celebrate every chance we get.”

Cade extended his hand and this time I didn’t shy away. It felt right. He led me to a room and declared it mine, showed me his version of an HWDA with didn’t vanish into the wall, made sure I had a snack and some water, and left me on my own for the night.

***

I woke astonishingly refreshed and without the stupid walls speaking to me. My cramps and bleeding had greatly reduced, making me much less irritable. Stepping out of my room, I was immediately assaulted by Trina tackling my thigh in a hug. The simple act brought tremendous joy to me.

“We’re going to see the horses today!”

“This afternoon, Trina.”

Cade’s voice caused me to look up and see that he had changed and cleaned himself up well.

“Ahhhh.” Trina whined.

“We’ll be back later and you can show us where you saw them.”

“Where are you two going? Is it a date?”

“I need to show Sarah around and expose her to the store.”

“Ohhh. I love going to the store. See you both later!”

I watched Trina scamper off.

“She really likes you, Sarah.”

“Obviously, she doesn’t know me very well yet.”

“Trina’s a good judge of character. I bet you’re anxious to get the feel of the place. We can start with the canteen where you can get some breakfast.”

“Breakfast sounds good.”

As we walked deeper into the underground village, I admired the subtle use of technology. They lived simpler lives here, but the technology offered them assistance as needed. I would have expected the place to be dim and dark, but it was well lit and it offered good protection from the flying airships.

Cade led me to a large room with tables and chairs and a stunning array of food. Real food. “People congregate here for breakfast and to gather food for their lunch. Normally people eat with their families for dinner. Grab a plate and help yourself.”

“Who prepares all of the food?”

“Every person in the community has a job. If you like, you could work here, or, I suspect you might be better suited to a role as a scout who spends more time outside.”

“You seem to know me so well already. I know so little about you.”

“Not much to know.”

“I doubt that very much. You have at least two sisters and a niece, seem to be respected as a leader, and have a terrible bedside manner.”

“People have told me my bedside manner is wonderful.”

“Was that before or after you throw them up on your shoulder.”

“I admit I administered too much sedative. I’m not a trained doctor.”

“Tell me more about you.”

“That depends on your level of interest. I don’t share just anything about myself. Will I be your first choice for a dance tonight?”

“I could make an exception this once if only to learn more about you. Did you come out of the city?”

“No. As far as I know, my family has always lived outside of them.”

“And what of your parents?”

“My father was killed by government enforcers when I was Trina’s age. My mother lives in a smaller village about twenty-five miles north of us.”

“I’m sorry to hear about your father.”

“I’ve come to believe this is the life we live.”

“Where I lived life was tough, but we worked hard and built strong relationships. Death was a frequent occurrence, but we had much freedom.”

“You were married and had a family before?”

“I thought I was learning more about you? No. I lived a nomadic life hunting criminals. I always wanted a family, but in my line of work, the average life expectancy was younger than I already was. And you? No wife and children waiting in the wings?”

Cade smiled and his eyes glistened. “Dozens.”

I should have expected that. “I’m sorry, that was probably too personal.”

Cade reached over and took my hand in his. “Hey… I’m sorry. I’ve been told it takes time to get used to my humor. For the record, I’m not married, have no children, and am looking for the right woman to keep me on my toes.”

“You’re looking for a tall woman then. If I see one I will send them your way. You really shouldn’t be so picky. You only have one life to live and if you want a family you’ll need to lower your standards. I’m sure some woman in this village will think you’re a good catch.”

“Oh… I see. You’re joking.”

I tried to keep my face serious. “Not in the least. In my day, when a man got to the right age he would be auctioned off. Women would come from miles to the men’s auction to bid on tall, strong men to do work around the homestead. Tell me you haven’t lost this tradition because maybe we need to resurrect it.”

“Men were auctioned?”

“Of course. If they hadn’t married they were treated as any other beast of burden. You’re tall and strong, I bet you would have earned at least three pennies. That’s less than the cost of a hot bath, but still a lot to some. You know what? I could auction you right now.”

“What? Wait!”

I stood and was about to shout to everyone when Cade pulled me back down and into his lap. I couldn’t stop myself from laughing.

“Why you…!”

Luckily Charlotte appeared before things got out of control.

“You’re needed in headquarters, Cade. Looks like I’m interrupting something.”

“Sarah was going to auction me off.”

“That’s not a half-bad idea. Your eligibility is creating rumors. Maybe Sarah should come along and see how we operate.”

I stood up and casually brushed out my dress. “It was all his fault.”

Cade gave me a look like he’d get me back. “What’s up, Charlotte?”

“Increased government presence. Our scouts are concerned.”

“All right. Let’s see where everyone is at.”

We walked across the village and into a large room. There were images being displayed much like the images Jessica had shown me of the crater but these appeared to be moving.

Cade moved from station to station talking with people as I stood observing next to Charlotte.

“What are these images?”

“Around the city we post scouts. This image here is a map of the city and each of the green dots represents one of our scouts. They normally position themselves high up in the remnants of the old buildings. The red dots are government airships and you can see the path they are flying.”

I pointed to a spot on the map. “We’re here?”

“Very good, Sarah. How did you figure that out?”

“I kept track of landmarks on as we walked into the city.”

Cade returned to us. “We’re seeing unusually high activity, but that’s to be expected since we rescued Sarah. I’ve just told everyone to be extra cautious.”

I pointed back to the map. “How come you only have scouts on your eastern perimeter?”

“We don’t have enough scouts and that’s the direction the airships come from.”

I frowned as I was unsure if the tactics were sound. “Why is this section of the map not having any detail?”

“We haven’t explored that area yet. Why are you looking concerned, Sarah?”

“It’s nothing. What do your scouts do when their positions are compromised?”

“They return to the village when it’s safe.”

I shook my head. “The world hasn’t changed that much.”

“What are you talking about?”

“When I was twelve years old, my father was killed in the civil war. The day I found out he was killed, I went to fight. Why is it mankind can’t stop fighting wars?”

“We’re not in a war, Sarah.”

I shook my head again and stepped back into the open underground village. Cade and Charlotte followed me.

“Why did you leave, Sarah?”

“Because I’ll not disrespect you in front of others by disagreeing with you. This isn’t my place, but it is my fight.”

Charlotte looked at me questioningly. “What do you mean by it’s your fight?”

“Those red dots are government airships that are hunting you. Their hunting me. Their hunting the good people of this village. They brought me here and they were going to sterilize me and wipe my memories. They even threatened to have me sent for destruction. You have something so valuable here. You live, love, and cherish one another. I’ve said this before. This is a war and I’ll fight to my dying breath to protect what you have here. Maybe you don’t want to hear this, and maybe I should never have been brought to your village.”

“We’re doing fine, Sarah. We keep the peace and for a hundred years we’ve lived a decent life. We’re free.”

“I don’t think you understand what freedom is. You’re standing on the soil of what was once the United States of America. We came to this land to avoid the oppression of those that governed us. We fought for our freedom and our independence. Freedom to live our lives without fear. To live our lives in the open and not hiding underground.”

“What would you have us do, Sarah? Go to war with a government we can’t possibly defeat?”

“The way I see it, you have two options. The first option is to do what you’re doing now. You can’t get enough people from the cities to compensate for your losses so you will eventually die out. The second option is to show the government you’re a people destined to rule themselves. Does that mean fighting them and possibly losing? Yes.”

“What you’re saying sounds courageous and right, but we’re badly outnumbered and outgunned.”

“Even a fly can harass a horse. What I’ve learned in my education from the Ute Indians and my experience fighting in wars, is not so much what we do as how we do it. Battles can be won when leveraging your enemy’s weaknesses. We don’t have to defeat them all, just inflict enough damage to bring them to the table and talk.”

“We’ve tried, Sarah. Our weapons were designed by the government. Their airships and body armor have shields to prevent damage from their own weapons.”

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe I’m just a foolish girl from four hundred years ago. What do I know about what you’ve been through? I remember growing up and being taught to hate the Indians, but when I befriended them I slowly found everything I knew about them was wrong. Sometimes it’s easier to judge than it is to learn. I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothing for you to be sorry about, Sarah. I’m emboldened by your words. Rarely have I heard anyone speak so passionately about anything. What makes you passionate?”

“Trina. She represents everything I care and dream about about. Innocence, love, and family. I wish more than anything she could live in a world that’s at peace; to not have to worry about the government airships and enforcers. I want that for myself and my family which maybe I’ll one day be lucky enough to have. I understand if you don’t wish me to stay here, but if you wish me to stay, let me do something where I can benefit others the most.”

“What do you think, Charlotte? Should we keep her?”

“Yes. She’s a keeper all right in more ways than one. For once I agree with the risk of getting someone out of the city.”

Charlotte leaned over and hugged me tight before turning to leave us. “I expect you both back here by six for the celebration dinner.”

“That gives us plenty of time.”

I looked over at Cade. “Time for what?”

“You’ll see.”

Cade extended his hand and I took it in mine. It was a simple gesture but it meant everything to me. I had thought I might have offended them.

“Where are we going?”

“Shopping and then to my favorite place.”

Cade led me up and out of the village, back into the remnants of the old city. Across from the entrance to the village, there was another large building, but in this case, the bottom floors were still intact. Inside, the space was packed with clothing, shoes, jackets, and jewelry.

“When we scout, we bring back items we find to share with everyone. You can come here anytime and take anything you need.”

My fingers drifted over the fine fabrics, and my eyes were drawn to the variety of colors. I pulled out a red dress that had shiny, glittering, red scales on the bodice and flowed into long tresses of red silk. Holding it up against me, I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror.

“If you think it will look good on you, you’d be correct.”

“There’s so much here.”

“There were billions of people on the earth when the Great War began. All those people needed clothing. Now, there’s so many fewer of us that the remnants of the old society we find are vastly most than we could ever use in our lifetimes. How would you like it if I offered you a position as a scout. I’ve seen how you notice things when we moved through the forest and your sense of direction is excellent.”

“It’s not anything like a city enforcer, is it? I hate to simply stand around all day.”

“Our scouts have four primary purposes. To explore, hunt, find resources, and to watch for the government. It can be risky as there is wildlife that can attack and obviously there are the airships.”

“If you think that is where I would do my best then I’m happy to contribute.”

“I’ll need to teach you a few things, but I know you will do very well.”

“You’re just trying to get me out of your way so you can carouse.”

Cade raised an eyebrow. “If anything, the idea of not seeing you while you would be out on patrol is distressing.”

“So, you’re saying you like me?”

Cade reached over and cupped my face in his hand just as Trina ran in and hugged my leg. “Is it time to see the horses yet?”

Glancing over at Cade, I could tell he was a little frustrated, but for me I was grateful for the momentary reprieve. It would give me time to sort out my growing feelings for Cade and to let my heart slow down. “As long as it’s safe. What do you think, Cade?”

He sighed. “There are no horses, Trina. Does your mother know you’re here?”

“Yeppers! She knows and I’ll prove it to you horses exist.”

“All right. Where did you see them?”

“About a mile west of here, next to the river.”

“What were you doing so far from the village?”

Trina rolled her eyes. “I was with a group foraging for berries. I slipped away and that’s when I saw them. Big, beautiful, horses!” Trina grabbed my hand and pulled. “Come on!”

It was a spectacular day with the sun shining and the air temperature just perfect. Almost hot, but not quite. After about twenty minutes we came to an area where the buildings had been overrun with vines and trees. Beyond them I could hear a river and could see the area open up.

Trina pulled us down to the river and pointed across the way to an open meadow. “There! That’s where I saw them.”

Cade seemed disinterested. “I don’t see them now. Maybe you just dreamed about seeing them?”

“No way! I saw them.”

I spotted a tree that had fallen across the river and made my way over to it. “Stay here, Trina. I’m going over to look for tracks.”

Cade took hold of my hand and held me back. “You’re not serious.”

“I believe her. See how the grasses are laying down? That’s a clear sign some large animal was resting there.”

“Just be careful.”

I smiled as Cade walked alongside of the tree trunk while holding my hand. He had to let go when the trunk went over the water. My balance was much better as a woman. I’m surprised I haven’t been thinking much about being a woman any more. I miss my size and strength, but seeing how Cade reacts to me, I think I’m more powerful. It’s also nice to know the stereotypes for women seem to have changed over the years and I’m not subjugated to sewing curtains and making the meals.

I jumped off the end of the tree trunk and carefully made my way around the meadow, kneeling to find some tracks that were partially covered by grasses. While not definitive, they certainly looked like horse tracks. I stood up to let Cade and Trina know what I found when a large stallion stepped into the meadow. He was gorgeous. Behind him were eight mares and two of them were obviously pregnant.

The stallion stomped its foot and it reared its head up. I stood my ground and held its gaze. It took several steps forward towards me and stopped. I motioned over to Cade and Trina to be quiet and I turned slowly away from the stallion and stood in place.

I could hear the stallion moving closer before neighing and then taking its herd to the far end of the meadow. I made my way back to Cade and Trina.

“You were so brave, Sarah!”

“Horses won’t attack someone unless they’re threatened. I didn’t pose a threat to them, Trina.”

“You’re beaming.”

Cade had a strange look on his face as he looked at me. “I just never expected to see horses again. I used to raise them.”

“For food?”

“No, silly. For travel and work. I would ride them and have them pull my wagon.” I picked up Trina and pointed back at the horses. “You see the big white one there?” She nodded. “That’s a stallion. The others are mares.”

“What’s a stallion?”

“A stallion is a male horse and a mare is female.”

“So, uncle Cade is a stallion?”

I giggled, but the image of Cade and me together flashed through my mind filling me with warmth. Setting Trina back down, she took Cade’s hand and mine and walked between us. By the time we got back to the village, I was getting rather emotional. The whole experience of having a little girl hold onto me brought out desires for motherhood that were almost overwhelming. Seeing how Cade interacted with Trina made me think he would be a good father.

Trina hugged us both and scampered back to tell the entire village she saw horses. Things felt a little awkward as I stood next to Cade.

“All my plans were ruined. I was going to take you to a swimming hole.”

“I’ll look forward to another chance then. How long do we have until the dinner?”

“About ninety minutes.”

“I’ll see you there. Thank you for showing me around.”

“You’ll be all right? You don’t need any help?”

“I’ll only be cleaning myself up. I think I can handle it.”

“I could…”

Bethany saved me from hearing more of what Cade was going to suggest. “There you both are. Thanks for taking Trina out today. Can I borrow Sarah?”

Cade had been interrupted all day. He smiled and waved his hand as if showing off a piece of new furniture. “Feel free. I’m going to have a shower… a cold shower.”

Bethany grabbed my arm and pulled me away from Cade. “You’re Trina’s new best friend. I hope you don’t mind. She can be a little precocious.”

“Not at all. She’s adorable.”

“You know I’ve not seen Cade ever act this way around anyone before. He’s taken a fancy to you.”

“He seems to have an interest in me, but I don’t know him well enough to know if he’s acting different towards me than anyone else.”

“Believe me in that he is. I’d say he’s rather smitten. Do you care for him at all?”

“Yes. Of course. But he barely knows me and I hardly know him. With everything that’s happened to me, I’m unsure about everything. I feel like I’m always a little off balance. Plus, I’m no homewrecker. If Cade has another woman then I’ll step aside.”

“And give up so easily? Some things are worth fighting for. But there’s nothing to worry about as he’s single.”

“Hmmm. I see your point.”

“As lovely as that dress looks on you, we do have a dance tonight. Have you been to the store?”

“Cade showed it to me.”

“Your room doesn’t have a private bath, but mine does. Why don’t you run to the store and pick something out and I’ll have a nice bath ready for you when you get back?”

“Is there something I should know about Cade that you would help me?”

Bethany smiled. “Charlotte and I have been trying to set him up for years. You’re breathtaking, sweet, kind, and Trina loves you. That’s good enough for me.”

“All right. I’ll go find something to wear and be right back. Thank you.”

Knowing the time was getting away from me, I rushed over to the store and located the red dress and found some matching shoes. I then ran back to Bethany’s and as promised she had a bath ready for me. The artificial intelligence system would say it was unsanitary, but to me it felt like a slice of heaven. After thoroughly washing myself and my hair, I dried up well and slipped into the dress. The bra Charlotte had found me didn’t work with it and everything felt much better without the bra. The back plunged and was left open, and the front provided a glimpse of cleavage. I loved how it flowed and enhanced my shape.

Bethany and Trina were all smiles as I stepped out into their living space.

“Gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. I love how your hair flows.”

Trina hugged my leg. “Ohhh. So pretty!”

Bethany took my arm in hers. “Let’s get going. No one eats until you arrive.”

“I learned a long time ago not to get between hungry people and food.”

The central underground square had been transformed with little white lights strung up over tables. Music was playing, and people all gathered around talking. Bethany led me to where Cade and Charlotte were. Cade was deep in a conversation with Charlotte but cut his words off as he saw me.

“That’s the dress from the store. I thought it would look good on you, but my imagination of exactly how good it would look was definitely lacking. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.”

I must have blushed ten shades of red.

Cade turned to the gathering crowd. “Everyone, I would like to introduce to you Sarah Whitlock. We rescued her from the city, but she is one of the four people we have been monitoring that were saved from a wormhole event that occurred over four hundred years ago. Sarah has agreed to help out any way she can.”

A male voice from the crowd shouted out. “I could use some more kids. She looks like she’s from good breeding stock.”

Cade’s eyes flashed angrily. “Please take a moment during the evening festivities to welcome the newest member of our society. Let’s eat!”

There were cheers and whoops and hollers that reminded me of barn raising events. Everyone was kind and gracious, the food spectacular, and the music was fun and lively. There were even variations of alcoholic drinks that made me a little giddy.

When I had my fill and the greetings had slowed to a trickle, Trina pulled on my hand to get me on the dance floor. Cade was laughing and enjoying himself, but the music was still quick and I had to stand back and watch how the ladies moved before even attempting it. Trina helped in that she wouldn’t let me just stand there and after a few songs I was getting the hang of it. This was such a joyous and fun occasion and as I spun and laughed I saw Cade standing on the side watching me.

I kept my eye on him too and spotted several women come over to him and ask him to dance, but he always refused. When a slow song started playing, Trina left me alone saying that slow music was boring. I squatted down and hugged Trina and as I stood, Cade was there.

“May I have this dance?” The words came from two people at the same time. Cade and Brent.

Cade glanced over at Brent. “I believe Sarah should choose.”

Looking back and forth between Cade and Brent, I knew my heart wanted Cade. “I’m sorry, Brent. Cade and I have some unfinished business.”

Brent grew angry. “You don’t owe him anything, Sarah!” I watched in stunned silence as he stormed off.

Cade watched Brent grab a drink before turning back to me. “Shall we?”

I was flushed and breathing hard from all the fast dances, but I swear my heart started beating a little quicker. Unlike the last time he had asked me to dance, this time I didn’t hesitate. A quick look around and I noticed couples holding each other close.

I curtseyed a little and tipped my head. “It would be my honor, kind sir.”

I felt Cade’s strong hand slip into mine and another one went to the small of my back. He pulled me close.

“Do you know what you do to me, Sarah?”

“I confuse you because I’m a four-hundred-year-old enigma.”

“No.”

“I aggravate you because I don’t know how to dance and I step on your toes?”

“No.”

“You’re frustrated because you have to spend so much time teaching me about this new world I find myself in.”

“No.” Cade leaned in close. His breath was warm against my neck. “I’m captivated by you, Sarah. I’m seeing the world fresh through your eyes and I’m enthralled by your insights. You’re nothing like the women of the cities that are docile and thoughtless. I love how you take time with Trina and yet your purposeful in what you do. You have a rich knowledge and yet a simplistic perspective. You’re refreshingly unique.”

“Such high praise, but you didn’t tell me what I do to you. Do you know what you do to me?”

“I make you feel nauseous?”

I shook my head slowly, feeling Cade’s lips brush lightly against my neck as I did so.

“I make you conflicted with my tasteless humor.”

I shook my head again, careful to not get Cade’s lips against my neck, but they were there anyways and my body raced with desire. I brought my lips near his ear.

“You’ve made me desire something more than my own life. You’re kind and caring. People respect you and listen to you. But, for me, I’m like a fragile butterfly in your hand. One wrong move, and my heart will stop. One harsh word, and I will feel the pain as deep as any real wound. I long for your touch, and afraid at the same time.”

“What are you afraid of?”

“That I’m falling in love.”

I could feel Cade’s smile and his arms pulled me tighter against him.

“Why would you be afraid of that?”

“Because wounds of the heart are infinitely more painful than any other kind. I dream of you every night. I’m afraid you won’t return my love, and if you do, that I’ll fail you in some way.”

“I’ve never met anyone that stirred my heart like you, Sarah. From the moment I first saw you, there was something that stirred within me. You were frightened, out of place, and yet you didn’t cower in fear. You have an inner strength in you, a confidence that others only dream about. I saw you tackle three armed criminals with nothing more than a sedation stick. You’re a tigress and a fawn. Do you know my biggest fear about you?”

“No…”

“That I’m capable of smothering you. You move my heart to action and my actions want to protect you even though you seem to need little protecting.”

“I’m a fighter and I’m strong and capable. I’ve been alone all my life and yet I never felt so cared for as the day you risked your life to rescue me. You’re correct in that I’m a fawn and also a tigress for I will protect those I love with a vengeance.”

“You would protect me?”

“I will, because I love you.”

Our swaying paused and the music faded. Cade’s lips began kissing my neck and then my cheek, moving ever so slowly to my lips. When I couldn’t bear it any longer, I turned my head so our lips could meet.

When we parted, I stared into his eyes wondering what I had just done. Everyone around us was staring. It was at that moment that Cade spoke something I found a little strange.

“You’re going to love my mother. We have to go see her soon.”

It was Charlotte that grabbed my hand and practically dragged me back to my room. She sat me down and I was rather confused by everything.

“Do you know what just happened there?”

She didn’t sound angry, just surprised.

“I’m pretty sure I said I loved him, we kissed, and then he responded by suggesting we go see his mother.”

Charlotte paced a little. “I guess I should welcome you to the family then. You seem to genuinely care for Cade, but this is just a little unorthodox.”

Bethany entered the room and looked at Charlotte. “Did I hear Cade correctly?”

Next it was Cade that barged in. “Why did you take Sarah away?”

Charlotte looked angrily at Cade. “What were you thinking, Cade? Sarah doesn’t understand our customs or traditions.”

“What’s going on?”

Everyone finally stopped talking and turned to look at me.

Cade sat down next to me and held my hand. “We’re engaged to be married.”

“Engaged? You and me?”

“That’s the way it works. You confess your love for me, I invite you to my parents for their approval.”

“That’s not how it works!”

Charlotte and Bethany were now staring at us.

“Yes. It is.”

“I confess, I do love you. You drive me wild and sometimes crazy, but the way it works is for you go to my parents and ask their permission to court me. Then, if they approve and over a year or so you prove your good intentions towards me, a date is set, and we’re married.”

Bethany laughed. “Chalk this up to one four-hundred-year change in customs. I do like Sarah’s version much better. That seems more appropriate to force the guy to prove himself for a year.”

Cade was looking upset. “So, you don’t want to marry me?”

“You never asked.”

“I did! All right… Will you marry me?”

“Yes.”

Cade got up and pulled me up with him. “Great. Let’s go!”

“Where are we going?”

“You have to come stay with me now.”

I sat back down much to everyone’s and my own dismay. “I can’t stay with you. That’s not right. We can’t stay with each other until after the wedding. This gives us time to get to know each other.”

“Let me get this straight. Four hundred years ago, a man would go to your parents to ask if he could court you. It’s pretty hard for me to check in with your parents. How long does courting go on for?”

“Usually one to two years. During that time, the prospective husband builds a homestead.”

“Two years and I have to build a house? Then what?”

“Then the pair would formally get engaged and set a date for the wedding. Only after the wedding is performed and the two are united under God can they consummate their vows to each other.”

Charlotte smiled. “This is the way it should be. I see that now.”

Cade looked at Charlotte. “You’re not helping.” He turned back to me and sat down. “I’m willing to do anything. I just know I can’t live without you. I love you, Sarah.”

“Then to make me feel comfortable, when and if your mother approves of me, we can set a date to be married. After we marry, I’ll be happy to stay with you then.”

Charlotte and Bethany were giggling away. “This is so perfect! Cade’s never had to wait for anything. It will teach him patience.”

Cade turned to Charlotte and Bethany and ushered them out the door so we could have a little privacy. He closed the door and turned towards me. I was feeling a little sheepish, but I was also excited.

“You’re sure you want to marry me, Sarah?”

“Why would you ask that? Do you think I might find someone better? No one moves my heart like you do. Yes, this feels sudden, but I feel comfortable and safe with you, as if this was meant to be. You’re sure you’re willing to wait for marriage?”

“It will be the hardest test of my patience ever. You have no idea how hard it is to resist you.”

I blushed. “I have a pretty good idea.”

“Are we allowed to kiss under your new mating ritual?”

“Of course. Just nothing beyond kissing.”

“That’s at least something. I’ll be taking cold showers for months.”

***

Cade had left soon after our chat about marriage and more than one kiss goodnight. I was both grateful for the time to get to know Cade better, but also frustrated that my body was working faster than my mind. However long it might be until we get married, might be too long.

Today was a new day and Cade had promised to help me get ready to be a scout. I met him at the canteen for breakfast and I was happy I had no buyer’s regret; like the time I bought a horse that died a week later. My heart still skipped a beat when I saw him and my body told my mind to shut up as it ran into his arms for a kiss.

When I finally detangled myself, I could see Cade was pleased with the outcome.

“I’m excited about learning how to scout.”

“There’s not much too it. Just some procedures and you’ll need to get used to some of the technology we use to hide and protect ourselves. We’ve never had a female scout before, so I’ll leave it up to you how you want to clothe yourself, but I can imagine a dress might not work as well as pants as some of the areas we move through can be overgrown and filled with thorns.”

After breakfast, Cade collected some gear and led me outside.

“This first item will mask your heat signature. Charlotte used one when we saw the airship on our way to the village. They consume a lot of energy so we use them sparingly. Push the red button, and you are protected from heat scanners for fifteen minutes. Airships can still visibly see you so it is best to do this when you are also undercover.”

“Got it.”

“This…” Cade handed me a long shiny stick. “…is a magnetic rail gun that shoots electrified, hardened alloy bullets. It uses laser light to target and is powerful enough to blow a hole through a wild animal or a person, however, it will do nothing against an armored airship or a government enforcer as they both have shields that react to the electrified bullet to nullify it. It’s mainly for protection against wild animals.”

Cade let me practice a few shots, but I remained skeptical of the device. “It seems like it has a lot of stuff going on with it. Don’t they break easily?”

“They do occasionally. You also have your knife and you appear to know how to use it. We also have an encrypted radio transmitter.” Cade hooked something up around my neck and put something into my ear. “Go ahead and say hello. The team in the village will hear you and respond.”

“Hello?”

In my ear I heard someone reply. “You must be Sarah. Cade said he would get you set up this morning. Welcome aboard.”

“This is so strange to have someone speaking in my head.”

Cade reached over and showed me a little button. “This deactivates the radio. When you need to talk, press it once and everything you say will be heard by everyone using the system. We expect our scouts to report in every hour.”

“Okay.”

“Finally, we have these optics.”

Cade put some tinted glass windows in front of my eyes, but when I looked through them, I saw information as well as my surroundings.

“You have three buttons on the side of your optics. The first allows you to zoom in. Press it now.”

Cade guided my finger to the first button and I pressed it. The world suddenly became larger and I put my other hand out in front of me to make sure I wasn’t going to crash into a tree. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

“The optics also allow us back in the village to see what you see. They connect through your radio to send us the video feed of what you see and provides us your position. With the zoom, you can see things much further away.”

“Like an airship.”

“Exactly. When we scout, we like to get up high and use the zoom to see miles away and then use the radio to report anything incoming. The second button returns your view back to normal. The third, changes the mode. You can switch to night vision mode to see in the dark, or heat vision to look through foliage to see if there is an animal nearby.”

“Amazing.”

“Just one thing left to do. We need to go to the store to get you clothed properly.”

In my heart, I had become accustomed to dresses and wearing pants seemed somewhat revolting. I never knew just how wonderful it felt to wear a dress. Cade directed me to a pile of women’s pants.

“Women wear pants?”

“It’s not as common these days, but it used to be very common at the time of the Great War.”

“Did men wear dresses then?”

“Not that I’ve ever heard or seen.”

“I shouldn’t pick anything too bright and with everything so green a dark green or brown would help me blend in.”

“I agree, bright colors aren’t very good. There’s a small room over there if you want to try something on.”

I grabbed a half-dozen pairs of pants and some blouses and headed into the little room. I found a pair of durable brown pants that had lots of pockets on them and fit well. I also found a green blouse that allowed the sleeves to roll up. Combined with a belt to hold my knife and some knee-length boots, and I looked a little like pictures of explorers from the past.

“How do I look?”

“Don’t get me wrong, as I love women in dresses, but a dress doesn’t show how shapely your legs or backside is. You look amazing.”

“Really?”

“Without a doubt. Now you will want a jacket and a backpack, and possibly a hat. There are some dark green ones over here that will help you blend in.”

“Do you have any bow and arrows?”

“Unfortunately, no. During the Great War, the government confiscated all weapons.”

“I can make a set.”

“We have the guns to protect ourselves.”

“Not against enforcers. A bow and arrow will take out an enforcer.”

“I’m skeptical. But if you think you can make one, I’m all for it. You’re all set. Let’s move to our post for the day.”

Cade led me east until we found a tall tower of stone and steel. Starting at the bottom, we carefully made our way until we were on a stone platform that had a view in all directions. Cade pressed his button to talk.

“This is Cade and Sarah checking in from scout post four. All clear here.”

I could hear the response in my ear. “We can pinpoint you. Look back towards Sarah for me. Wow! When is it my turn to take Sarah out scouting?”

“Sarah is spoken for, Caleb.”

“I was only thinking of helping her get trained.”

“Sure, you were. Cade out.” Cade turned to me. “You realize you could easily marry any man in the village? You cause quite a stir.”

“You mean I could choose anyone to marry? Maybe I was too quick to say yes. Oh well. I guess I’ll live with my decisions.”

Cade was about to respond when I spotted something on the horizon. “Is that an airship?”

“Zoom in with your optics. Yes. Go ahead and report it.”

I pressed the talk button and spoke, unsure exactly what to say. “This is Sarah and Cade at scout post four. Airship spotted due east.”

“We see it now, Sarah. Get to cover.”

“Will do. Sarah out.”

Pressing the button to stop my talking to the village, I found Cade’s hand already reaching for mine. “Let’s get below one floor. If we can see them, they can see us. You’re a natural, Sarah.”

“I just mimicked what you did.”

We moved down further into the building, but found an opening to watch the airship. “Keep an eye on it. The village can see what you see.”

In my ear, I could hear other scouts. “This is Adam in scout position three. I’ve got visual on the airship. Looks like it may be turning around. Adam out.”

Sure enough, the airship slowly turned and headed back east. The rest of the day was pretty much sitting around keeping a watch on things. Cade had me lead us back to the village to test my orienteering skills and he seemed very impressed that I brought us directly back to the village.

“Can I go out on my own tomorrow?”

Cade looked hesitant. “I’m not sure you’re ready yet.”

“To the southwest there is a ridge I spotted. It would take me through some of the unexplored area and possibly open up a new scouting post.”

“I’ll think about it but it sounds like an overnight trip and we don’t allow fires in the open at night. Too easy for the airships to spot.”

“I want to prove to you and everyone I’m capable and not a burden.”

“I understand, but you’re not a burden and I’ll have words with anyone that claims otherwise.”

I leaned into Cade and felt his strong arms slip around my waist. “My protector.”

“You think you can just bat your eyes and I’ll give in?”

“It’s worth a try.”

“It means that much to you?”

“It does. I need to find myself. I know that sounds strange, but I used to be alone most of my life and ever since I arrived here I’ve had crazy artificial intelligence systems monitoring me and little time where I felt I could just sit and think. I don’t want you to get the wrong impression, as I love being with you. There’s something about being alone in the wilderness that forces introspection. I woke up four hundred years later in a new body. There’s much to ponder.”

“All right. You can go as long as you don’t ponder yourself away from me.”

“If that’s what you’re worried about I can assure you it will never happen.”

“I do worry I’ll lose you and now that I finally found the woman of my dreams, I want to protect you and to keep you safe.”

“You’ve done a great job of that so far.”

***

The next morning, I got up early, had breakfast with Cade, packed my things and headed out. While I missed Cade, there was something incredibly freeing about not being monitored and having the ability to choose my own direction. I hated the enforcer bracelet that dictated everything I was supposed to do.

I headed southwest and through the unexplored areas of the old city. Cade told me my optics would record the surroundings so it could be all mapped. I tapped my voice button.

“This is Sarah checking in.”

It was Cade’s voice that came into my ear. “Everything all right?”

“Doing fine. I’m about three miles southwest of you. Lots of signs of animals and some fruit trees with unripe fruit on them.”

“Be careful entering buildings as some of them can be unstable.”

“I will. I estimate I have another eight or nine miles to go.”

“Take your time and head back here if you need to. Cade out.”

“Sarah out.”

Just hearing Cade’s voice made me feel all warm inside. I appreciated his trust in me to handle this on my own. I continued southwest for a few more miles until I spotted a large, mostly intact building.

Tapping my voice button, I alerted the village that I was entering. “Are you seeing this?”

“We can see what you’re seeing.”

While the walls had been intact, the interior had obviously been burned. There were large piles of ashes that had been mixed with leaves and debris over time. The building was useless and I found nothing valuable inside. I was about to exit when something caught my eye. Reaching down, I brushed away dirt and ash to find what was left of a book. It was dry and brittle and missing the lower third.

“Tom Sawyer… I read this book. What was this place?”

“It appears to be a library, Sarah. Back in the Great War, there were buildings filled with books that people could borrow and read. The government came in and burned them all to make sure information that went against their beliefs would be destroyed.”

“Burning books is burning knowledge and history. It’s hard to believe anyone would do such a thing.”

I tossed the book back into the ash pile with a growing resentment against the government.

“I’m continuing towards the ridge. Sarah out.”

A few more hours of hiking brought me to the summit of the ridge. Most of the top of the ridge was open and exposed from the forest a little way below. This offered me good views in all directions. I ate some food and drank some water while I marveled at how well this body coped with such a strenuous hike.

I took a moment to stare at my hand and then down towards my generous breasts as they pushed my blouse outward. Strands of blonde hair drifted in front of my eyes and I smiled. I never would have believed I would be happy and content as a woman and yet I would never want to go back. Somewhere southeast of here were the remains of my old body. Friends I had were no more than dust now.

I would have never chosen this path for my life, but it was as if God himself intervened on my behalf, giving me everything I always wanted. It was with this revelation as dusk fell, that I knew I needed to head back to Cade and my future.

Standing, I took one last look around. All was quiet. All was normal except for some light flashing due south of me. Using my optics, I zoomed in and gasped.

“This is Sarah at the southwestern ridge! I see six airships! They seem to be landing not far from me.”

Cade was instantly on the radio. “Get out of there, Sarah! Get off the ridge!”

I scrambled down and back into the forest, which was far darker than the ridge. “They appeared to be staging themselves. Do you think they might know where the village is?”

“Switch to night vision so you can see where you’re going, Sarah. Hopefully you just found a base and there’s nothing more to it.”

“Switching to night vision. I don’t think it’s a base as otherwise I would have seen it earlier.” The darkness of the forest lit up even though there was no color. It made my way down the hillside much easier. “This doesn’t make sense, Cade. Wouldn’t we be spotting airships coming up from the south instead of east? I fear they’re getting ready to attack.”

“There’s no way they know where we are, Sarah. We must be cautious and keep an eye on things.”

I paused. “Maybe I should try to get closer to them under the cover of darkness?”

“No. They can spot you easily. There wasn’t much cover between you and them. You better settle in for the night and head back to the village as soon as you can.”

“All right. Sarah out.”

“Be safe, Sarah. Cade out.”

I was steadily working my way down the mountain and things were leveling off some when I heard loud noises of brush breaking behind me. Switching my mode to heat, I could see four large animals getting close. It was hard to tell from the optics, but they looked like wolves. Switching back to night vision, I called to the village as I increased my speed.

“Sarah here. I’m being followed by what appears to be four large animals. Are there wolves out here?”

Cade’s voice was frantic. “Find a spot where you can protect your back and use your weapon.”

“Not much here… I’m almost…” The ground disappeared beneath my feet and I fell a good ten feet to a hard surface below, landed hard, and rolled. As I slowly got to my feet I knew I would have quite a few bruises, but nothing seemed broken, however, my weapon and radio weren’t so lucky as both were in pieces. I have no way of contacting the village now.

A series of growls from above me sent me scrambling away from the hole that had been partially covered with forest debris. My optics still had their night vision working and this gave me a glimpse of what I had fallen into. As with the library, this appeared to be a large home that had been burned out.

With the growls getting closer, I hastily looked for an exit. Moving to the far end of the building, I came across shelving, but one unit appeared to be slightly ajar. With no other avenue of escape, I pulled on the shelf to find a platform and stairs descending several stories.

This area seemed untouched by the ravages of fire and the steel stairs appeared strong and solid. I moved quickly into the depths hoping this wasn’t a dead-end. Reaching the bottom platform, I could see I was in some sort of small stone room with one door. It looked more like a safe door with a large spindle-like wheel. The growls had turned into yelps and howls and it sounded like the wolves must have found their way inside the building.

I grabbed one of the metal spindles and tried to turn it. At first, I didn’t think it even moved, but slowly, inch-by-inch, the handle begrudgingly shifted. I could now hear the nails of the wild beasts on the metal staircase as they eagerly made their way down towards me. Putting everything I had into it, I turned the handles until I heard a click and the door pulled open with a whoosh of stale metallic air. Not wanting to spend another second waiting for my doom, I slipped inside to another room and pulled the heavy door closed behind me just as the snarling face of a wolf launched itself at me.

With a click the door sealed and the sound of the wolves almost completely vanished. The door was so heavy and thick the sound could barely penetrate. Turning away from the door, I could see shelves of sealed containers, books, and weapons. There were a lot of weapons. Most reminded me a little of what I used to use, but these were sleek modern rifles and handguns. There was no doubt this had been some sort of protective shelter. Everything looked in immaculate condition and dust free.

I did a cursory review, found there was no other exit, and began selecting what I could use to get me out of my current situation. Of note were two silver-plated .45 caliber revolvers. The other handguns were of an interesting design, but the revolvers were something I was at least familiar with. I found thigh holsters to hold those and a belt that held thirty additional bullets.

In addition to the revolvers, I discovered a high-powered rifle, but this was far more modern than I was used to. There was a clip that held close to a dozen four-inch long bullets and a sighting mechanism with optical zoom. I had only read about such optics before but had never seen anything like this.

Unfortunately, a revolver or rifle aren’t the best for close quarters aiming and dealing with vicious wolves. That’s when my eye spied a shotgun. Again, like most of the other weapons, this was modern and had a sophisticated pump action load, however, it was simple enough to figure out, easy to use, and in case it failed to fire would offer something to swing at the beasts.

I tossed extra rounds in my backpack for all three weapons, strapped on the revolvers and belt, and set the high-powered rifle to the side. Making sure I had a round loaded in the shotgun, I slowly unlatched the heavy door. With the door opening outward, this allowed me to control the gap and close it quickly if things got out of control.

As soon as the door was wide enough for the barrel of the shotgun the snarling face of a wolf tried to force its way in. Bracing myself, I squeezed the trigger and was shocked and surprised when the gun actually fired. The sound was deafening and the blast sent what was left of the wolf crashing back into the others.

At first, the three remaining wolves scattered, but they quickly regrouped. One was biting into the dead the carcass and the other two had their sights on me. With a quick pump, I ejected the shell and loaded a fresh round and fired. With another boom, the second wolf spun away in a bloody mess. One wolf ran up the stairs while the other turned menacingly towards me.

I managed to pump the shotgun one more time, but this time it failed to fire when I pulled the trigger. The wolf leapt, pushing me backwards into the gun room. Its teeth ground on the metal of the shotgun, pinning me down on the ground. Risking everything, I let go of the shotgun with one hand and reached for a revolver on my thigh. As I squeezed the trigger, the pistol recoiled hard against my weaker female wrist and spun out of my hand. The heavy wolf collapsed on top of me dead with a hole through its chest.

Breathing hard, it took great effort to push the beast off me. The shotgun looked to be intact with a few scratches on the barrel. I ejected the misfired shell just in case the fourth wolf decided to come back. I waited and listened, my ears still ringing from the shots in such a closed in area.

After a good five minutes of waiting, I found my revolver and slipped it back into the holster. I dragged the wolf out of the gun room, and sat down on the floor with my back to the wall and facing the opening. I stayed that way the rest of the night until the first light of dawn filtered down the stairwell beyond.

I stood and stretched, briefly massaging the bruises from my fall before I moved back into the stairwell. I sealed and closed the heavy door behind me and I looked at the remains of the three wolves. There was blood everywhere and parts of wolves splattered across the stone walls. That had been a close call.

Making my way up and out of the building, I stood on the roof to get my bearings. To the northeast, I could easily see one of the scout towers a few miles away. From where I was and assuming there would at least be a scout there, it would be the fastest way to communicate back to the village.

I moved quickly and as I got close to the tower I could hear the sound of an airship. Diving under a bush, I tossed out the heat masking device and waited. From my position I could see the top of the tower and the airship moving close to it. I spotted movement in the tower, but so did the airship.

Suddenly, the airship opened fire on the tower. It raked the tower with high-powered ammunition. The stone tower dissolved away in flashes of dust. If the village scout wasn’t already dead, I’d be surprised, but I pulled the rifle from my back and aimed at the airship. The optics gave me a clear view of a man sitting in the airship behind glass.

I checked my breathing, lined up the shot, and fired. I hadn’t expected the older-styled weapon to do anything but bounce off and all I hoped to do was to distract the airship, but the bullet shattered the glass and ripped through the man controlling it. I could hear the airship whine as it spun out of control, crashed into the tower, and fell heavily to the forest floor.

I had to see if our scout was alive but I needed to secure the area first. Stealthily I made my way to the crashed airship and looked inside. Two government enforcers were obviously dead. There were no other enforcers on board. I ran towards the tower only to find our scout had just made it to the bottom. He was badly wounded but alive. I helped him to sit and lean against the wall. His leg was bleeding and he lapsed into unconsciousness. I grabbed his wound with my hands to slow the bleeding.

“Sarah!”

I looked up to see Cade and several others running towards me.

“He’s losing a lot of blood!”

Cade pulled me away from the scout as the other two people from the village immediately took over dressing the wound. My hands and clothes were covered in blood. Cade was carefully checking me over.

“I thought I lost you, Sarah! Are you hurt?”

“No… I’m fine. The blood is from our scout and wolves.” My eyes finally moved from the scout to Cade. “How did you find me?”

“We were coming to find you when we heard the alert from our scout about the airship. We diverted here. You’re sure you’re all right?”

“Better now that you’re here.”

Cade scratched at something dried on my face and kissed me.

“Will he be all right?”

The others nodded.

“What happened to you, Sarah?”

“I fell into an old building. The fall broke my radio and weapon and with four wolves chasing me, I found a stairwell that led me to a sealed room with weapons. Lots of weapons. I used them to defend myself from the wolves and in the morning decided this tower was the closest communication to the village. I heard the airship and when they attacked our scout, I fired at them trying to help the scout get away. The bullet from my rifle killed the man controlling the airship.”

“You brought down an airship with a two-hundred-year-old rifle?”

“You make it sound so old. For me it was two hundred years more modern and the room seemed to have been well sealed. All the weapons looked in perfect condition.”

“You must have stumbled into an old weapons cache that wasn’t found by the government. We’ve found the odd one before, but after so many years, the weapons were useless.”

Cade tapped his radio. “This is Cade. Returning to village with Sarah and Benjamin.”

Cade turned and hugged me, my bloody hands getting his shirt stained. “Let’s get you home. There’s a lot of people worried about you. With that airship down, we can only expect the government will be all over this place.”

The two men Cade had come with unfolded a lightweight stretcher and with help we put Benjamin on it and each of us took a corner. Benjamin had regained consciousness and looked up at me. “You saved me, Sarah. Thank you.”

“Shhh. Rest up. You lost a lot of blood. You were very brave. I’m just glad you got out of there fast enough.”

***

The trek back to the village took several hours and we were greeted by dozens of people. Benjamin was taken to an area to recover and I was left with Cade holding me close and smothering me in kisses.

“I can’t lose you, Sarah.”

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m worried though. I think the village should be evacuated.”

Brent pushed his way through the crowd and slugged Cade. Cade staggered back.

Cade rubbed his jaw but I was impressed he didn’t immediately hit Brent back. “What the hell did you do that for?”

“What were you thinking? You shot down an airship! And why did you let Sarah go off on her own to our south? You’re going to bring the entire government down on us!”

Cade was angry and was about to slug Brent when I stepped between them. “Stop it! It was my fault. I shot the airship down.”

“No, Sarah. It’s not your fault. You protected one of our own at great risk to yourself. However, Brent is right. I should have never sent you into an unexplored area on your own.”

Now I was getting angry. “I seemed to manage to take care of myself, even if I don’t know everything. Had I not gone there I would have never discovered the airships or the weapons cache.”

Brent looked me over and his eyes focused on the new weapons. “You found a weapons cache of useable weapons? When will you ditch this useless guy and have a real man.”

I pointed at the two of them. “I don’t know if this is rutting season or what this is that’s going on between you two, but my actions just endangered this village. You both need to put aside this useless feud and get these people out of here. I’m going to get cleaned up, get some food, and head back out there.”

I started to walk away when I felt a weapon pressed against my side. “You’ve ruined everything!”

It was Brent that had his weapon against my side. Cade made a move, but Brent pressed the weapon into my side all the harder. “Another step and she dies.”

“Let Sarah go, Brent!”

“Or you will do what, Cade? I’m taking Sarah with me. For once you’re not going to get your way.”

Brent pushed me forward towards the exit. I was scared. His behavior reminded me of the Dermit gang members. I knew enough about hostage situations to know I just had to bide my time. Cooperation was key to no one getting hurt.

I was fighting back the tears as I struggled with the concept of losing everything. I felt such loss as I looked at Cade. “Get everyone out.”

“I’ll find you, Sarah.”

“So touching… Now move!”

I was shoved out the entrance of the village and Brent guided me east until we were well out of sight before turning south. “Stop right there.”

I stopped and Brent pulled off my backpack and stuffed my revolvers and knife into it. He then slung my rifle over his back and had me put the backpack back on.

“Why are you doing this, Brent?”

“Take me to the weapons cache.”

I was confused. Certainly, these items weren’t worth that much to him. I began walking slightly southwest. “This can’t be about the weapons cache.”

Brent laughed. “When I show them the weapons cache and you, I’ll get everything I asked for and more.”

I looked back at Brent, but he pushed me forward. “Them? As in the government?”

“You’re pretty smart for someone born four hundred years ago. Yes, the government. The last time I was in the city I was captured. I struck a bargain with them. I give them the location of the villages and they would educate me and insert me into the city.”

“You would lose everything. Why would you do that?”

“Why? You have to ask me why? I can live in the city without the threat of government. It’s clean there and every need is taken care of. There is no more scrapping for food, no more deferring to Cade. I hate him. Everyone listens to Cade. It was my turn to go into the city. I was the one slated to find and rescue you. He decided at the last minute to go in instead. Then we rescue you and you’re falling all over him. This is how I get him back. I’m not sure what the biggest loss he will face will be. When he sees you killed or sterilized and re-educated, or when the airships come over and blow a hole in all his friends back at the village.”

“Did you give them all the village locations?”

Brent’s voice became tinged with anger. “You think I’m stupid? I gave them only one. Once they see my information is credible, then I get my assurance that I’ll be inserted into the city. Only then do they get the rest.”

“They’ll never give you what you want.”

“They will.”

“Do you think the same government that would kill and slaughter innocent women and children would think twice about breaking their promise to you?”

“I’ll take that chance.”

We moved onward for several hours and every second I looked for a way to escape. I could run into the forest, but I was loaded down with my pack. He would easily outpace me. I kept alert and I began seeing signs that maybe we weren’t entirely alone. At first it was a broken branch, then sticks lined up strangely on the ground. I altered my direction to follow the fresh signs.

“Why are you veering?”

“The cache is next to a bluff. We can’t go straight up the bluff, so we need to head more west before we turn south again.”

We walked another ten minutes and I found the signs had led us to a small clearing in the forest. I could see no further signs. Suddenly, Cade burst out of the forest and slammed into Brent’s side. Brent got a shot off, but it fired harmlessly into the forest. While they were fighting on the ground, I dropped the pack and scrambled to pull out a revolver.

This was an all-out brawl. Brent had managed to get his knife drawn. I yelled to Cade, but it was too late. I watched in horror as Brent’s knife cut into Cade’s side. Cade fell back and against a tree holding his side leaving Brent standing in the clear.

The forest quiet was shattered by the sound of my revolver. Brent collapsed to the ground. I knew he was dead. Rushing over to Cade, I could see he was badly wounded. The cut was deep but with care he should survive.

“You came for me.”

Cade winced. “I told you I would.”

I placed the revolver down and held Cade tightly. I started tearing my blouse to make a compress and I applied pressure to his side.

“There’s my little filly.”

I looked back over my shoulder to see Henry Clemmons standing there. He was wearing a collar and looked as evil as ever. I glanced to locate my revolver, but Henry was there in a second and kicked it out of the way.

“We’ll have none of that, little girl. You and me, we’ve got a score to settle.” I watched him spit to the side.

Cade whispered into my ear. “I’m too weak to fight.” I felt him slip the handle of his knife into my hand.

“How did you get out of the city?”

“You see this?” He grabbed at his collar. “It itches a lot. After we last saw you they slapped these slave collars on all three of us. We can do whatever we want as long as they command it. It’s a living prison. I managed to convince them to let me track you down. They want you back, but they didn’t say in what shape you had to be returned. That’s the pretty boy from the dance. He’s not looking too good. I’ll put him out of his misery first.”

Henry took a step forward and I stood protectively over Cade. My knife clearly visible.

“You’ll not touch him!”

“I see it now. You love the pretty boy.” He let out a burst of loud laughter. “If the others could see you now. I’ve changed my mind. I’ll take you first so that pretty boy can watch. Then I’ll open him up so he can bleed out as I drag you back to the city.”

“Over my dead body.” I lunged for Henry and sliced him across his abdomen. It was a shallow cut which only enraged him. He charged me and tackled me to the ground. His hands found my wrists and pounded them into the ground until I dropped the knife.

I struggled, but he had straddled himself over top of me. “I like my fillies feisty like you. You’re going to enjoy this.”

I fought with everything I had, but he had me well pinned. His hand reached for my blouse just as a loud explosion sounded and blood splattered all over me. Henry slumped and sank to my side. Shoving him off of me I ran over to find Cade unconscious holding onto the revolver.

“Don’t you leave me!”

I rolled him over and tore more of my blouse to hold against his wound. Reaching with my foot, I caught the backpack and pulled it close. There was water that I grabbed and dribbled some into his mouth.

Cade sputtered, opened his eyes, and smiled weakly.

“I don’t know what to do. I can’t lose you, Cade. Tell me what I can do.”

Cade coughed. “Going to have to teach you some first aid.”

Charlotte and Thomas burst into the clearing, breathing heavily as if they had been running hard.

“Help me! I can’t lose him!”

Thomas was immediately at Cade’s side and took over. He began pulling things from his pack while Charlotte pulled me away.

“He’ll be fine. Thomas will take care of him.”

“No!” I pulled free of Charlotte’s grasp and held onto Cade.

Thomas injected Cade and then sprayed something over the cut. Before my eyes the cut began to heal and the skin seal itself. I held onto Cade and wept.

Charlotte touched my shoulder. “He will be fine but we should get him somewhere safe. It’s getting dark.”

“The weapons cache is nearby. We can take him there.”

Cade smiled and winced a little as he sat up.

“You see, he’s better already. He’ll do anything for the affections of a pretty girl.”

I helped Cade to his feet while Charlotte grabbed the rest of the belongings.

Cade was still weak and in pain, but he was looking much better. “Good old modern medicine. Lead the way, my love.”

I refused to leave Cade’s side and kept my arm around him for the fifteen-minute walk to the building. There, a hole in the side offered an easier entrance than the roof hole I had fallen through and I directed everyone down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, the three wolves had begun to decay.

“This was your doing?”

“It was.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here with you.”

“Let’s get you inside.”

Thomas opened the door and this time there was no rush of wind. When we stepped inside charlotte whistled.

“It must have been hermetically sealed. Look at all this stuff.”

Thomas pulled a light from his backpack that lit up the entire space. He reached over and picked up a large rifle. “These are ancient but perfectly preserved. Look at the quantity of bullets.”

I sat Cade down in the corner and gave him some water and food.

He smiled. “I could get used to this.”

Charlotte laughed. “Don’t get your hopes up. Mom still needs to approve.”

Talk about Cade’s mother made me realize how much danger they were all in. “Please tell me you evacuated the village.”

“Cade took off right after he gave the evacuation notice. Everyone is heading north. Thomas and I came to see if we could help.”

“Brent made a deal with the government. They promised to insert him into a city and re-educate him if he would give up the locations of the villages. He said he only gave up Phoenix.”

Cade shifted and put his arm around me. “You were right, Sarah. That’s why Brent was so upset.”

“Guys?”

We turned to look at Thomas who held up arrows with thick red pointed heads on the end.

“These are explosive-tipped darts.”

“Arrows.”

They all looked at me. “I’ve never seen arrows like that before, but they are definitely arrows. Is there a bow here?”

Thomas smiled and pulled something down from a shelf that looked like a bow, but it had wheels on it.

“How explosive are they?”

“What do you have in mind?”

***

I had fifteen minutes to get into place behind the temporary airship base. This was tricky to keep to the shadows and cross the open plain in the dark. I’m sure if the government enforcers were vigilant they might have spotted me, but they’ve had the people outside the cities running for their lives for centuries. They weren’t expecting an attack.

We had found a dozen regular arrows, a release clip for the bowstring, and there were a dozen explosive-tipped arrows. Once I proved to them I could shoot, they were more interested in my plan. Everyone except for Cade.

My plan was simple. Silently take out the enforcers with regular arrows as they made their rounds, then at the crack of dawn, test out the explosive arrows on the airships. Thomas and Charlotte had worked their way down to the opposite side of the airship base with high-powered assault rifles. At least that’s what they called them.

Cade, who was still recovering, made his way to the summit of the ridge to help us navigate using the radio headsets.

Pressing my button to talk, I whispered. “I’m in position.”

Cade’s voice sounded in my ear. “You called this an ambush technique? I still don’t see how it will work with three people against a dozen enforcers and five airships.”

“It’s all about timing. Charlotte, are you in position?”

“Yes. Just got here.”

I could feel Cade shaking his head. “Twenty minutes to sunrise. Sarah, if you die, I’ll not bury you.”

I smiled. “You do care.”

“Enough chitchat, lovebirds.”

I waited patiently a few minutes. “Enforcer moving your way, Sarah.”

“Got him in my sights. If he shouts, we let loose with everything we’ve got.”

From a kneeling position I lined up my shot and let the arrow fly. It wasn’t a perfect shot as I was aiming for his neck and the arrow plunged straight through his chest. He dropped silently to the ground. The wheels gave the bow more power and the arrows fly more level and faster than any longbow I had ever used before, but I liked the fact I could hold it so long before releasing it.

Over the next five minutes, I dropped three more enforcers, but people were beginning to stir and it wouldn’t be long before they noticed their fallen comrades.

“Switching to explosive arrows. Is everyone ready?”

Charlotte’s voice sounded. “I’ve got one enforcer in my sights.”

“This is Thomas. I’ve got one in my sights as well.”

“I’m seeing activity down near Sarah. Looks like an enforcer is coming close to one of the bodies. Go now.”

“Here goes nothing.” I whispered and let my arrow fly for the furthest airship.

Everything was silent except for the nearly silent twang of my bowstring. Then the orange glow of dawn vanished against the fiery blaze of an airship shattering in a million pieces. The noise was deafening.

All the enforcers had turned towards the explosion giving me a perfect chance to stand and let another arrow loose. Above the explosions, I could make out the sounds of multiple rifle shots.

“They’ve spotted you, Sarah! Enforcers are running to the remaining airships.”

“I’ve got this.” I let loose another arrow and dove behind the safety of a boulder.

“They’re closing in on you!”

Drawing my revolvers, I rolled out from behind the boulder and began firing. Three enforcers went down without getting a shot off at me.

“You’re clear, Sarah. You’re one hell of a shot when you’re not drugged! Looks like one of the airships is taking off!”

Reaching for the bow, I grabbed an explosive-tipped arrow and lined up my shot.

“They’re getting away.”

“Not on my watch.”

I waited until just the right moment and let the arrow loose. The flying airship exploded and crashed down onto the remaining airship resulting in a large enough explosion that all remaining threats were eliminated.

“All clear.”

I gave a sigh of relief and met up with Charlotte and Thomas. We would still need to clear the area quickly and the Phoenix village location was compromised, but we bought some time for the evacuating people.

We met Cade back on top of the ridge. The first order of business was hugs all around.

Cade looked serious. “We’ve started something today. Brent’s betrayal forced our hand, but you all realize that the government will begin to see us as a real threat now. Sarah was right. We’re in a war that we tried very hard to ignore.”

Charlotte looked me over carefully. “Who would have thought just how much we needed someone from four hundred years ago to teach us what’s important?”

Thomas looked back over the burning and smoking ruins of the airship base. “What do we do now?”

“We probably bought a little time, but this area will be buzzing with activity for some time. Phoenix is compromised. We head back and make sure the village is cleared out and safe, then in a few weeks we will come back and take everything we can from the weapons cache. What do you think, Sarah?”

“Me?”

“You said it was your fight. You have some say in what we do. If it wasn’t for you, we might all be nothing but ash right now and we certainly wouldn’t have found the cache or defeated the enforcers today.”

“If it were really my decision, I would get every able-bodied person together and go on the offensive. I might even try to capture some horses or airships so we can have more mobility. I’d even consider finding ways to communicate with the people of the cities. Eventually, the government might sit down to talk, but I agree, we started something today and we can expect the government to come back in force. While I don’t relish being in another war, I value my freedom and the freedom of everyone else more.”

“Charlotte?”

“I’m all in. I saw what they did to dad. Little by little they have been killing us off.”

“Thomas?”

“I don’t like having to kill people, but if that’s what it takes to truly be free, then It’s worth the fight. These old weapons work well against the enforcers.”

I looked at Cade. “One request before we decide anything?”

“Anything for you.”

“We go see your mother as soon as possible. That way if she doesn’t approve of me I can start looking for a new husband. I don’t want to take on the government without someone by my side. I’ve lived too many years alone for that.”

Cade gave me one of his impressive smiles. “All right then. First stop is the store to get you some new clothes, we check on the village to make sure its secure, then we make our way to mom’s house.”

“You don’t thing tears and blood stains adds character?”

***

Our trip north had been uneventful and took two days. We stopped off at the Phoenix village for me to find a change of clothes and to restock some supplies before the longer twenty-five-mile trek due north. Cade had promised me that there was another store in his mother’s village I could find something to impress.

I discovered they had named the village, Norterra, after a large partially broken sign that was still attached to an impressively large building. That building was where I found a dress suitable to meet Cade’s mother.

As we made our way into the village, I had expected another underground establishment, but I was pleasantly surprised to find each family living in a refurbished home. I called them mansions as they were enormous compared to the homesteads I had been used to.

Children were playing outside. There were flowers and gardens filled with vegetables and fruit. It looked so idyllic.

“Sarah!”

I was tackled by Trina. I lifted her up and gave her a hug which she reciprocated with much enthusiasm. The brief interaction with Trina had instantly shifted my thoughts from war with the government to family and life.

I felt Cade’s hand on my slender waist as we stood and looked into the heart of the village. Many people came out to greet us. It was a joyous occasion. We spent over an hour recounting our stories until Bethany dragged us away from the crowd.

“You must all be tired and hungry.”

“I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m not hungry at all. I’m too nervous.”

“You have nothing to be nervous about, Sarah.”

I looked over at Cade and lowered my voice. “I’ve never wanted anything so much in my life.”

“You’re worried about mom?”

I nodded, feeling quite vulnerable.

Bethany smiled. “I think you’ll do just fine.”

Cade came over and slipped his arm around my shoulder. “What are you two conspiring about?”

“Sarah’s worried about meeting mom.”

Cade looked thoughtful. “She’s never approved of anyone for me before.”

Bethany sighed and I cringed. I turned into Cade’s arms and looked up into his eyes. “I need to find a nicer dress and maybe pick some flowers.”

“Too late.”

A pretty woman with graying hair stood on the front porch of a house. “Are you just going to stand around outside or are you going to come in?”

Cade let me go and walked over to give his mother a hug and kiss on the cheek. “Good to see you, mom. I’d like to introduce to you someone very special. This is Sarah Whitlock.”

My feet felt like they were rooted in place under the woman’s close scrutiny. I slowly stepped up onto the porch and remembering my manners, tipped my head down and performed a slight curtsey. “I’m very pleased to meet you, ma’am.” Reaching into my backpack, I pulled something out and handed it to her.

“Please, call me Margaret. What’s this?”

“Just something I found the other day. I thought you might like it.”

I watched as she reverently held the book I had taken from the weapons cache. “It’s a history book. Where on earth did you find this?”

Cade slipped his arm around my waist. “It’s a rather long story, mom.”

I could see she was very touched by the gift.

Trina ran up the steps and grabbed my leg. “Do you approve, grandma? Is Sarah going to be my auntie?”

I bit my lower lip as she looked over at Cade and then back at me.

“I can’t say just yet. I just met her, but she does make a good first impression. The scouts told me you were all coming hours ago so I’ve got dinner all prepared. Come in.”

Cade entwined his fingers with mine and I followed him inside the house. A table was set for six and there were a steaming bowls of meat, potatoes and other vegetables. It smelled heavenly. Trina plunked herself down in one of the chairs.

“Sit next to me, Sarah.”

I looked at Cade’s mother. “Is it all right if I sit here, Margaret?”

“Sit wherever you like, dear.”

Cade sat down next to me.

“Hope I’m not too late.” Charlotte had just entered the house looking refreshed and changed.

“Just starting.”

Charlotte, Bethany, and Margaret took their seats. Margaret reached out her hands and took a hand on either side of her. This continued until we formed a connected circle.

Cade sighed. “Really, mom? We have a guest with us.”

“All the more reason to give thanks. Perhaps Sarah would like to do the honors?”

“We can’t expect Sarah to…”

I squeezed Cade’s hand. “I’d be more than happy to. Whenever I was with others for a meal we always gave thanks. We called it grace.” I paused and closed my eyes. I could feel the warmth of Trina and Cade’s hands in mine. The smells of delicious food wafted through the air. I felt safe and secure. “I thank you that somehow I’ve been given a second chance at life, in this time, and with these people. I’m thankful for their gracious hospitality and the bountiful food. I thank you for the beautiful girl, Trina, who fills me with joy every time I see her. I thank you for Bethany’s sage advice and Charlotte risking her life for mine to rescue me from the city. Most of all I’m grateful for Cade, who saw something in me that I didn’t see myself; for taking a chance at great risk to himself and the people here on someone as unworthy as me. Thank you for Margaret and her hospitality.” I felt the moisture on my cheeks and couldn’t continue even though I had more to say.

I squeezed the hands next to me and opened my eyes. Everyone was staring at me. Wiping a tear away, I felt embarrassed. “I’m sorry…”

Margaret stood and moved behind me. She wrapped her arms around me. “Thank you for reminding us about our blessings, Sarah. Sometimes we forget what’s most important.” She turned to Cade. “I approve. Don’t scare this one away.”

Cade was beaming and I felt much relief.

Charlotte laughed. “Now you just need to build a homestead. A year from now, you two can be married.”

“I think I might be willing to forego that tradition. I’d like to get married while he’s still in one piece. He seems to get into trouble a lot.”

Cade lifted his chin. “Says the person that was close to being raped, almost sterilized, was attacked by wolves, caused an airship to crash on them… Do I need to go on?”

Bethany giggled. “I’d be happy to start the arrangements for a month from now.”

“A month? I was sort of thinking tomorrow?”

Cade laughed. “I knew it. You find me impossible to resist.”

Margaret took her seat. “I just hope for all our sakes, Sarah, that you can have your polite and pleasant demeanor rub off on Cade. While he hasn’t lacked good influences, he’s never had incentive to change.”

Feeling more secure about my situation, I felt I could joke a little. “If you all would make a list, I could easily withhold certain favors until he complies.”

Cade crossed his arms. “I don’t like the way this is heading. I’m sure I can find some other woman out there that will accept me for who I am.”

I reached for his hand. “In my time, a promise is a promise. You should have thought about that before you asked me to marry you.”

“Fine… I’ll live with it.”

“I’ll make it worth your while.”

Margaret reached for a bowl. “Let’s eat.”

***

The next day Bethany took me and Trina to the store at the edge of the village. We had talked long into the night about how to blend traditions of the past and present. In my day, a woman would wear white if they could afford it, and often there would be a someone special that was also dressed up to give them away. A veil might be used or flowers in the woman’s hair to symbolize love.

Cade certainly wasn’t pleased by the idea the groom couldn’t see the bride until the wedding, but this was certainly pleasing to Bethany and Charlotte who seemed to thrive on Cade’s distress over everything.

“How about this one?”

Bethany had found a gorgeous long white dress. It was sleek and shiny, covered the important parts, but would leave a lasting impression.

“I’ll try it on.” I paused and turned back to Bethany. “I’m sort of new to all of this family and love stuff. I have no question in my mind that I love Cade. Do you think I’m the right one for him?”

“I’ve known Cade my whole life. I’ve seen him pass up women that were perfectly acceptable partners for him, but you should have seen the sparkle in his eyes the first time he told me about you. He never wanted just someone to warm his bed, he wanted someone that would challenge him and be his equal. Someone with equal passion about justice. I look at you and the first thing I see is your outward beauty, but there is so much more to you. You’re graceful and kind and have a refreshingly simplistic way of seeing the world. You’re smart and witty and fiercely protective of those you love. If I had to choose a partner for my brother there is no one that remotely comes close to you. You’re perfect for him.”

“Thank you.”

I stepped into a changing room and put on the dress and looked at myself in a mirror. I smoothed out the silky fabric over my trim waist and flat stomach. I hadn’t thought about the old me in a long time. It felt like another life and that I had been born this way and lived my life with all the desires any woman ever would have. I’m not a woman from 1887, I’m Sarah Whitlock and this is the year 2285.

As I stared into my blue eyes with my blonde hair cascading down across my shoulders and back, I pondered how fate had intervened in my life. I died four hundred years ago only to be reborn with a chance to relive my life with a new set of priorities. What I had done in my previous life was a good thing. What I’m going to do in this life is the right thing.

Stepping out to where Bethany and Trina were waiting, I realized I had never been happier.

“If that dress won’t stop hearts, nothing will.”

I smiled and twirled. “Now we just need to find something for my best friend to wear.”

Trina’s smiled was contagious.

***

The entire village had come out to witness this unique event; a wedding that blended traditions spanning four hundred years. I appreciated the accommodation of my wishes, but according to Margaret everyone was thrilled to connect with the past. She had told me that the future doesn’t exist, the present is how we live now, but the past is what guides us. So much had been lost through the years and this wedding was a symbol to all of gaining back a semblance of who we are. She told me my being here was a chance to regain a lost sense of culture.

People were lined up creating a path for me to walk up through. Charlotte had helped me with my hair and Trina was the one to walk me towards the front. I took it all in; the festive lighting, the food, and the music, but my eyes were on Cade looking handsome and dapper in his suit.

I stepped up to stand next to Cade and stared into his eyes. “You clean up well.”

“Thomas said I had to take my annual shower. You look incredible. I can’t wait until this is all done and I can take you to our new homestead I’ve built. Tonight will be amazing.”

“You realize that in my time there was a waiting period after marriage.”

Cade looked conflicted. “How long?”

I let him sweat it out for a moment. “Maybe two hours. Just enough time to get through the dinner and a few dances. You know, if you like I can still auction you off and you’d be done with me.”

“I think I’ll take my chances with you.”

“That’s good, because I honestly don’t think I can wait even two more hours.”

Cade smiled and kissed me setting off a round of cheers from the crowd.

***

The festivities went on long into the night, but Cade and I disappeared early in the evening. We stood on the porch of a house that he uses when he stays at the village. We turned back to face the village and watched the dancing lights and listened to the merry music.

Cade’s hand slipped around my waist and pulled me close.

“I’m happy if you want to wait, Sarah.”

I smiled and kissed him passionately. “I’ve been dreaming about this since the day I first met you. I don’t plan on dreaming tonight.”

Taking his hand in mine, I led him inside.

***

End of Book 1

***

Author’s note: I’ve planned this novel as a three-story series. Hopefully over the next year I will finish the trilogy with Sarah leading the fight against the oppressive government.

As always, I greatly appreciate any feedback and comments. Take a moment to leave a comment.

Case Brooke