Beyond Galactic Marshal
by
Hilltopper

CHAPTER 2

I heard a noise outside and looked out a window. A ship was lowering what I assumed to be the gate. I guess that I was expecting something like those star gates in an old movie I remembered. This was nothing like that. In fact, it had a strange resemblance to a certain device I had been in 3 years ago although about ten times larger. I guess this confirms where the technology came from: the ruins. That was why Mary and I are here. It seems the ruins were built by an ancient civilization that for some reason I have a similar genetic makeup to. This allowed me to operate the devices found in the ruins and no one else, at least so far. Looking at the gate, I had a bad feeling.

Mary looked out beside me.

“Well, you were right.”

“Yeah, I wish I wasn’t. It was bad enough going through all those gadgets at the ruins. This thing brings back memories I would just as soon forget.”

Mary frowned.

“I don’t think I want you to fool with that thing.”

I nodded.

“As long as I stay outside, it should be safe. Let’s wait and see what Tinker wants me to do.”

I exited our house and walked over to Tinker and Bell who were watching the gate being lowered. Tinker looked over at me.

“It will take our scientists a day or two to setup the gate. I thought we would take a tour of the ruins to see if everything is the same as we left it.”

“Sounds good to me, lead on.”

As we entered the ruins, I thought back to the day I first came here in the alien device three years ago. Actually, I went back in time 3 years and was put in suspended animation to catch back up to myself. The memory is not a pleasant one. It has occurred to me that I probably went to an alternate universe but I have not seen anything different from what I remember. This time travel thing is not comfortable to contemplate. We entered what I call the hanger. It is a very large room. I have no idea what it was used for but it is now empty. Off to the side is a room full of various gadgets. They are why I am here.

“Our scientists have cataloged all these devices and have put them in the order they would like to investigate. Unfortunately, we have not determined what most of them are used for. That is, of course, where you will come in.”

I nodded and we continued our tour going into some areas I had not seen before. Nothing really stood out, however.

“Well, everything looks Ok. Do you see anything that has changed?”

“No, other than the emptiness of the hanger room and the fact that the devices in the side room have all been moved around.”

Tinker nodded.

“Let’s go back to your house then.”

“Sure, I’m starved.”

When we reached my home, Tinker begged off going inside.

“I need to talk with the crew setting up the gate. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Tinker walked away and I went inside. Mary looked at Tinker’s back fading away and then warily to me. I spoke up.

“It looks the same inside the ruins. I have to admit, it does bring back some unpleasant memories.”

Mary hugged me and we stood together silently for a few minutes. Finally, I looked down to her.

“How about some lunch?”

Mary smiled.

“You’re not fooling me but, OK, let’s eat.”

I decided to try a hamburger. Within a minute, it stood under the dome. The burger tasted great. I really don’t know how they do it. Tinker is not very forth coming about their technology. It is understandable considering their past with our Planetopolis. That caused me to think about the attack on us yesterday. Could it be our government behind it? There is no doubt that the alien technology is high on the minds of our leaders. I’m sure the fact I’m working with the aliens is a sore point. Still, I would hate to think that my government would come after me. I just hope they don’t find out where we are now. After eating, Mary and I settled onto our new couch. I related my thoughts to her.

“That is not something I considered. Thinking about it, I guess what we are doing could be considered going against our government.”

I shook my head.

“All we are doing is a job. It is not our fault that they have such a bad relationship with the aliens. Besides, what other job was available?”

Mary sighed.

“I just wish I knew where this is headed. I don’t like you fooling with that ancient technology. Our aliens don’t even know what all the consequences will be.”

“Yeah, I’ll be careful.”

We spent the afternoon relaxing, talking, cuddling, etc. About supper time, we received a call from Karen.

“I’m getting worried about the lack of knowledge as to what is going on with those agents we sent packing. I talked with some contacts on Broadskye and they don’t know a thing. It does not appear as if your sex change is common knowledge either.”

I related my thinking about our government. Karen looked pensive a minute.

“You know, you may be right. I’m going to go to Fledora and do some inquiring. I’ll be in touch.”

“OK, just stay safe.”

I turned to Mary.

“Well, it looks like this is bigger than it first appeared.”

Mary stood up.

“I think you should talk with Tinker.”

“I don’t want to start a war.”

“Still, we are caught in the middle. We need to know what they know.”

“OK, I’ll talk with Tinker.”

I put in a call. Bell agreed to come over. When Bell arrived, I put forth our concerns.

“Not to worry, your government can not find us here. We have no desire to have a conflict with them.”

“Still, I don’t want to be the cause of a war.”

Bell stood up.

“You won’t be.”

With that, Bell left. Mary turned to me.

“I’m not sure that was very comforting.”

“I think Bell was being truthful. No one would be a winner in any conflict.”

“I just hope the Planetopolis feels the same way.”

We soon went to bed. I expected an early start tomorrow. At least I would be doing something again. I thought back to our conversation about our government. Could I be a traitor by working for the aliens? I didn’t see it that way but who knows what the Planetopolis felt about it. The fact that they were looking for me did not bode well for the future. We were well outside Planetopolis territory but I knew from my experience as a marshal that distance and lack of jurisdiction did not stop the long arm of the law when the powers that be wanted someone bad enough. The fact that I had been located even though I was now a woman proved that whoever was looking for me had a lot of resources. I finally went to sleep and morning came early as I expected. I was awakened to the voice of Tinker.

“Please meet me outside in 30 minutes.”

This was repeated 5 times. It seems we have an intercom system in our new home. Great!

“Well, Mary, it begins.”

She laughed.

“So it does.”

We ate and I got dressed. I didn’t know for sure what I’d be doing so I wore shorts and a top. I opted for comfortable flats. Being a woman was a lot harder than it looked. It was about 40 minutes after waking up that I went outside. Tinker did not look happy.

“You are late. We need to hurry.”

“What’s the big rush?”

Tinker did not answer. For a little fellow, Tinker moves fast. I hurried along behind. The gate was set up inside the hanger room. To put it mildly, it is awesome and a bit scary. A technician came up to me and pointed at a suit near by. I frowned.

“Hey, that looks like a space suit.”

Tinker nodded.

“It is just a precaution.”

“A precaution for what?”

“We think this gate will transport back to our planet but we could be wrong.”

I frowned harder.

“I thought you only needed me to turn this thing on.”

“No, we have been able to power it up and do lots of testing. However, we have been unable to actually operate it.”

“You mean send something, right?”

“Yes and that is why we need you.”

“What about all those gadgets in the next room?”

Tinker shrugged.

“Unimportant for now. The gate is our primary concern. What we plan to do is send an inanimate object through. We have a team waiting on our planet to receive it.”

“OK, so why the suit?”

“Uh, you must go inside the gate to operate it.”

“Yeah but wouldn’t that send me then?”

Tinker hesitated.

“We don’t think so. The object will be put in the center. You should be able to send it alone.”

“You’re assuming I know how to operate that thing which I don’t!”

“It seems to be pretty straight forward. There should be no problem.”

“I say again, why the suit?”

“As I said, it is just a precaution.”

“Hmm, OK but let’s take things slowly.”

“We won’t do anything until you are ready but our people are standing by.”

I walked over to the suit. With the techs help, I put it on. I have worn many space suits in my time with the marshal service but this one was a beauty. It hardly hampered my movements at all and was very light weight. Tinker came over with a display screen.

“This is a picture of the control center inside the gate.”

I looked at it. To say it looked foreign was an under statement. There were no switches or knobs just strange symbols and depressed areas.

“By applying current in various places, we have been able to power up the control center and work through what some of the depressions control. We can not translate the symbols, however. Without the gate becoming operational, we could not determine a check list to send anything. So, what we want you to do is use this guide and operate each control to see the effects. Once you are comfortable with the operation, we will send the test object to our planet.”

I looked hard at Tinker.

“I’m not comfortable with any of this.”

Tinker just nodded and pointed to the gate. I sighed heavily and put the suit helmet in place. The tech checked all the gauges and gave me the go ahead. Hesitantly, I walked into the gate proper. As soon as I entered, it powered up. Tinker spoke up.

“This proves our theory. We never got it to power up so quickly or completely.”

I looked toward the center and a three foot cube was setting there.

“I take it that this is what you are sending.”

“Yes, we wanted to keep it simple but have the density of a person.”

I shook my head and walked over to the control panel. I could feel a tingling inside my head. It was as if the device was mentally trying to communicate with me. I went through the list of controls that Tinkers pad indicated I should try out. I got a picture in my head of what was happening with each one. It was an eye opening experience and very disconcerting.

“Tinker, I think I should come back out so we can discuss what I have learned.”

Tinker talked with several scientists while I stood in place.

“They want to know if you can send the cube.”

“I think so but there is a lot to this that I am not sure of. It would help if we could read these symbols. I’m getting feelings in my head as to how to do things as if the gate is in communication with my brain but it is hard to know whether I’m doing anything right.”

“That is why we want to send something simple at first.”

“OK, I agree but I still think we should go over what I have experienced before we do that.”

I really had a bad feeling about this. Mary will kill me if I die in here. The scientists huddled and then Tinker gave me the dreaded command.

“Just send the cube and get out. We will take whatever time is needed to confirm the results before we take things to the next step.”

I could feel what I needed to do to send the cube but I had no idea about the other information that was bombarding my brain. With a final sigh, I placed my hand into the depression I felt was the send button so to speak. A huge whine built up and I could feel a lot of power. Before I could turn toward Tinker, everything went black.

Beyond Galactic Marshal
by
Hilltopper

CHAPTER 3

I did not pass out. There just was no light at all or else I was blind. I called out to Tinker but received no answer. I stood still for a few minutes trying to figure things out. It could just be a power outage. With my suit on, I would not be able to hear anything and, with no power, no one could contact me by radio. I eased out of the gate. As soon as I crossed the threshold, light popped on. I got the shock of my life.

It was obvious that I was no longer in the hanger room. What was most disturbing were the three bodies lying in horizontal tubes against the wall to my right. They looked human. This stupid gate had sent me no telling where. I looked back inside. The cube was gone. I guess it made it to the alien planet but why not me.

“This is ridiculous!”

I went back inside to see if I could send myself back. As I entered, the gate did not power up like it did before. I walked over to the control center. It was completely dead.

“Great!”

I pushed every depression and even gave it a couple of swats. Nothing! I went out of the gate and looked at it. The gate looked the same but it was smaller. I sighed.

“Well, what now?”

My space suit had a couple of hours of oxygen but, since I could not get the gate working, it did not matter. I had no idea where I was and, therefore, did not know what the atmosphere in this place was made up of. I decided to crack my helmet.

“Here goes nothing!”

There was breathable air! It smelled stale but not thin. I shucked the suit and got my second huge shock. I was male again!”

“Shit!”

I guess this explains why the gate did not power up. Some how in the transference I was changed back to my old form. I didn’t know how these gate things worked but this was a hard pill to swallow. My very female clothes were stretched pretty tight and, of course, my bra was now empty. Naturally, these were the only clothes I had. With no other choice, I started exploring.

The structure I was in was smaller by far than the hanger room at the ruins but the construction was similar. I think it was built by the same people. The big question is “Where is it?” The gravity on Prowhiness is pretty light and the gravity here seemed similar to Earth. Therefore, I had left the planet which was not good news. Even though I am desperate to get back home, my immediate needs are food, water and clothing.

I avoided for now the area where the bodies were. Walking around the rest of the room was not helping much. There were several desk-like things but I could not get them to power up. Unlike the ruins, everything here did not seem old. I got the feeling that this was not a structure where people permanently stayed. Making a full circuit brought me back to the bodies. They were pale which probably meant that they had been in those tubes for a while. The best I could tell they were human. If they were the ones that built this place and the ruins, we humans could very well be relatives. Of course, that didn’t help me any. I didn’t know how much time had passed back on Prowhiness since I left. I hated to think what Mary was thinking. I know one thing, I wouldn’t want to be Tinker right now. Plopping down against the wall, I was really feeling low. I had failed Mary and put myself in a desperate situation just to please the aliens. She told me not to operate that gate. Now I was lost to her not to mention under going another sex change. After beating myself up for a while, I stood up.

“There has to be a way out of here.”

But was there? For all I knew I could be in orbit. It did not feel like it however. I decided to carefully go around the walls. On the other side of the room, I spotted an anomaly. Looking closer revealed a kind of hatch like in an air lock. There was a manual bar. I turned it and the hatch opened. Going inside there appeared to be a lift. Naturally, it was dead. There were rungs mounted on a rock wall. Wait a minute: rock wall! That was good news.

I had to be on a planet of some kind. Looking up, I could see another hatch about 30 feet above me. The thought occurred to me that, if this was an air lock, the other side of the hatch might not be a hospitable environment. Maybe I should put my space suit back on. That would just delay my fate so I started the climb up. The hatch was like the one below. I held my breathe and opened the hatch. Sticking my head up, I was amazed. The air smelled so clean! Looking about, I saw rolling hills and some small mountains. Everything was green as could be. I had never seen any thing like it. Where ever this planet was, it sure was a paradise. The temperature was even moderate which was a good thing considering my clothing.

OK, now I had a big decision to make. It was obvious that there was nothing close by except maybe water. This meant a possible long trek away from this structure. If someone was able to come to my rescue, they may not find me. Of course, if I stayed here and no one came, I would die. I decided to hike a ways keeping the hatch in sight. Maybe something would turn up.

I climbed out and stood beside the hatch. To my surprise, it looked like a rock out cropping from the outside.

“Wow, this thing is meant to be hidden!”

This was way different from the ruins on Prowhiness. They were just out in the open. It is almost as if this place was an observation post. The question was what were they observing? I could tell that I was about half way up a steep rocky hill. There looked like there might be a stream at the bottom. I decided to leave the hatch open. I sure didn’t want to be trapped outside if I couldn’t get it back open. I started down the hill. My sandals were definitely not made for this type of walking. As I neared the bottom, I heard water running. There was a five meter drop to the creek. About 100 meters further down stream, I found a cut that lead down to the water. I scrambled down to the creek. Stooping down, my reflection looked back at me.

“What the -------!”

This is definitely my day for shocks. John Harper’s face was not in the water. Neither was Jonnie’s. I fell back away from the creek. Since I arrived here from the gate as male, I had assumed the gate had changed me back to what I was before the aliens had made me female in order to be able to operate it and the other ancient devices.

“What the hell did that gate do to me?”

I hesitantly looked back into the water and stared at my reflection. On harder examination, my face did sort of look like my old one but much, I don’t know, softer maybe. I had no beard and no scars. As a teenager acne was a big problem with me. I carried many scars because of that plus some acquired during my time as a marshal. My face now looked smooth as could be. I would almost pass as a teenager; well a very muscular one. How could this have happened? I drank deeply and then took off my clothes. That bra was digging in to me. I eased into the water. It was cold but felt good. After washing off, I got back out. It was then I noticed that my testicles had retreated back inside of me. This brought back a distant memory. The same thing used to happen when I was young. Then it hit me.

“Holy crap! I was intersexed at birth.”

That crazy gate had put me back to my condition at birth. But wait a minute! I knew I had some corrective surgery at an early age but that would not account for my change in appearance. It must have been those vitamins that I started taking when I entered puberty. I shook my head.

“Vitamins wouldn’t do that!”

I had been told once that I had been on hormones but I hadn’t believed it. I had a horrid thought. Maybe they weren’t vitamins after all. I remember my dad was very keen on me taking them. He used to say ‘it will make a man of you’. Of course, that was exactly what I wanted to become for him. Could it be that they, what ever they were, overrode my basic programming in order to make me more masculine? I had never questioned it before. This was a nightmare!

“I guess I now know what I should have looked like.”

I laughed and my testicles popped back out. They were smaller than they should be or the way I remember them anyway. I realized that I was not muscle bound like I was when I had fully grown. Sure, I was still muscular but more lithe I guess. I put my clothes back on minus the bra. Looking around, I noticed fish in the creek and a squirrel running up a tree.

“Holy shit! This has to be Earth.”

But certainly not my Earth. The air is just too clean and I don’t think there is anyplace as tranquil and beautiful as this. That can only mean one thing; I have gone back in time again. The question is; how far? Hmm, well pollution became a big factor in the late 1900’s so it has to be before then. This was not good news. No one can come and rescue me except via that gate.

“Double turds!”

I am thoroughly screwed. Looking up, I realized the sun would set in an hour or less. I certainly did not want to remain out here after dark so I headed back up hill. Upon reaching the hatch, I climbed in and closed it. At the bottom again, I started to enter the lower hatch when I noticed a door I had not seen. It opened easily and I walked into what looked like a store room. I was elated to see lots of supplies including clothes. It occurred to me that, if this was an observation post, all of these items were kept out here to avoid any contamination to the main room. So, these items were used when people ventured outside. That must mean there were people nearby or at least something that the gate people visited. Going through the items, it became obvious that these were things one would have in what was colorfully dubbed ‘the old west days’ in the Americas. I found some jeans, a flannel shirt, and boots that fit me pretty well. This certainly takes care of my clothing problem. Deeper in the room, I found some dried meat of some kind. At least I wouldn’t starve to death. I exited the store room and went into the main room. Everything was still dead. It was sobering to know that basically I was trapped here ----- maybe forever! This room was not a comfortable place to be especially with those bodies present. Which reminds me, what did they die of? Maybe they were abandoned here for some reason. I decided to make a place to sleep back in the store room. I found some blankets and made a pallet. I was dead tired but my situation was ever on my mind. I also missed Mary dearly and worried how she was taking this. Not well, I’m sure. I laid down and was asleep almost immediately.

Beyond Galactic Marshal
by
Hilltopper

CHAPTER 4

“What do you mean Jonnie’s gone?”

Tinker cringed.

“The cube arrived but Jonnie disappeared.”

“What are you talking about? You didn’t have Jonnie try operating that gate did you?”

“It was just a simple test. Jonnie sent a cube to our home planet via the gate and it was successful.”

I was really getting mad now.

“OK, so where is Jonnie?”

“Look, Mary, we are still reviewing the experiment data. We don’t yet know what happened.”

I frowned big time.

“Are you saying that you have lost my partner?”

“As I said, Jonnie is no longer in the gate and did not appear at our planet with the cube test object.”

With that, Tinker hurried out. I sat down hard on the couch. I told Jonnie to not go inside that thing. I guess I lost it. After a long cry session, I went to the kitchen and ordered a large glass of wine. I was on my second one when the vid went off. It was Karen. I started not to answer it but I knew she needed to know.

“Hi, Mary, what’s wrong?”

“Oh Karen, Jonnie has disappeared in that gate thingy.”

“What! Why was she in there?”

“I don’t know. Tinker probably tricked her. It was supposed to be a simple test or something.”

Karen didn’t answer for a few seconds.

“OK, just keep calm. I’ll be back in a couple of days. Hopefully, Jonnie will be found by then. If not, we will confront the aliens together.”

Karen hesitated.

“You know, that might not be a bad idea.”

“What?”

“Oh, I was just thinking. Maybe a call to Sam, Jonnie’s old boss, might help.”

“I don’t see how.”

“Well, according to my sources, there are some in the Planetopolis that are rather miffed about the alien situation and want to blame Jonnie. If Tinker has been using Jonnie, it would be useful for Sam and the Marshal Service to know about it. They did change Jonnie’s sex without asking. Besides, I think Sam is a good guy and a friend of Jonnie’s. We may need all the help we can get.”

I sighed.

“Alright, I’ll try to be reasonable and contact Sam. But something better happen quickly!”

Karen agreed and signed off. I called Sam and explained the situation. He smiled.

“I knew John is a victim here. He was too good a marshal to turn traitor. There is not much we can do at the moment but I will inform the right people about this. Keep me informed.”

“I will and thank you.”

We ended the conversation. I felt a little better but, after picking up Raylan, I broke down again.

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When I awoke, I thought I had been dreaming. That is until I saw where I was.

“Shit!”

Yep, still here. I got up and went back into the main room. Everything was still the same. I sat down to think. There was no point in just staying here. It would accomplish nothing. The best thing to do was to go down to that stream I had found. It was bound to lead to a town or something. The thought occurred to me that I should leave a note in case anyone managed to get that gate working. There was no way to do that in here since none of the screens worked. I went back to the store room to find something to write with. I found a piece of something that looked like chalk. I wrote on one of the screens: ‘have gone down stream, John’. I deliberately signed it John. I hoped that if Mary or Karen saw it, they would know what had happened.

The store room proved to have everything I might need. There were several holsters with single shot revolvers. Things here seemed to be to help one blend in. I had worked hard on a quick draw while I was a teenager back in Kentucky and had gotten quite good. I strapped on one of the holsters. It felt good. Looking further in the store room, I found a funny looking suit of underwear. It looked like one from the 1800’s but felt different. On closer examination, I realized it was a protective suit of some kind. Nothing would penetrate it. Wearing this, I would be bullet proof except for my head of course. I donned the suit and put on another pair of jeans and a shirt. I found a backpack and filled it full of everything I thought I might need. Strapping my six gun back on, my boots, and a hat I found that fit, I headed up to the hatch.

Upon reaching the stream, I started the trek following the water course. The going wasn’t too bad but I took my time. After hiking for about three hours, I had seen nothing but lots of brush and a few animals. I paused to eat some bar things I had found in the store room. They were pretty good. After resting for an hour or so, I started out again. I came to a partial clearing and discovered the remains of a camp fire.

“Hallelujah!”

At least now I knew there were people about. The campfire was fairly old but it was there. I decided that this would be a good place to stop for the night. I rebuilt the campfire and heated up some food I took from my backpack. After eating, I made a bed of leaves and put a blanket over it. This reminded me of camping trips with my dad when I was growing up. Those memories were a little tarnished by knowing what had happened to me after puberty.

“Oh, well!”

The night sounds soon lulled me to sleep. I awoke to the sound of distant gun shots. They seemed to be coming from down stream. There was no way to know how far. I quickly packed everything, put my boots and gun belt on, and headed toward the sound. About 30 minutes later, I happened upon three men. Two were holding guns on a third who was sitting on the ground. One of the men saw me and quickly fired a shot at me. By instinct, I drew and shot him in the chest. He fell backwards and the other man dropped his gun and ran. It was then I noticed that the shot fired at me had in deed been accurate striking me near my heart. I had barely felt it and no damage was done. I thanked the ancients for these underwear. As I walked up to the man on the ground, he looked up with a big smile.

“Man, am I glad to see you.”

I helped him up.

“What was that all about?”

At least he was speaking English although with a slang. He looked at me funny.

“You’re not from these parts, are you?”

Uh oh, I decided to tell a half truth.

“No, I’m from Kentucky.”

Of course, I had no idea where I was now but it certainly wasn’t Kentucky.

“Oh yeah, heard of it. I live down Spring Creek here in Hilltown. Those jaspers are henchmen of our illustrious Marshal Slago. I’m surprised the one you shot missed you. He is --- or was a dead shot.”

I flinched.

“Just lucky, I guess.”

He looked at me funny again.

“Yeah, well, you won’t be so lucky when Marshal Slago finds out you killed his right hand man. You’re really fast by the way.”

I just shrugged.

“Why were they after you?”

“They want to know the location of my silver mine. That Marshal Slago is taking over every claim he can get his hands on; legal or otherwise. We wrote for a U.S. Marshal but we haven’t heard back.”

He looked at me hard.

“You wouldn’t be him, would ya?”

I shook my head.

“Sorry.”

“Hmm, well, you probably wouldn’t tell me if you were. I’m Rosco Jones by the way.”

I held out my hand.

“John Harper”

“Glad to know you. Come on to my place and I’ll fix you supper. It’s the least I can do for you for saving my life.”

“Sure, that sounds good.”

We took off about the way I had come. At the foot of the hill I had come out of and around to the left, was an old shack. I guess this was home. Once inside, he got to work fixing ‘vittles’ as he called it. What ever it was, it tasted great. I decided not to ask the ingredients. As we settled in front of the fire, Rosco turned to me.

“Ah, this feels better. It was a cold one today. Come to think of it, you got no coat. Weren’t you freezing?”

This came as a shock. I hadn’t noticed the temperature at all. Maybe this protective suit does more than just keep me safe from bullets.

“It gets hot down Kentucky way. This actually felt good.”

He laughed.

“Well, it’s damn cold here in the Dakotas.”

OK, I was getting a better picture of where I am; Hilltown on Spring Creek in Dakota Territory some time in the late 1800’s I would guess.

“You know, you might as well spend the night here especially since you got no coat. Besides, I’ve got to go to town in the morning for supplies. You’re pretty handy to have around. Would you mind going with me? I don’t trust that Slago.”

“Sure”

We bedded down. The morning looked to be interesting.

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Nothing happened until evening. Tinker came over looking excited.

“We have determined that Jonnie went to Earth.”

I brightened.

“Great! Let’s go get her.”

Tinker just looked at me a minute.

“We always assumed that these ruins and artifacts were left by an ancient civilization possibly ancestors of your race. It turns out that they are related to your people but not as ancestors; rather your descendants.”

“What?”

“That gate is much more than just a transportation system. It is a time portal as well. Jonnie is on Earth alright but some where in the past.”

“Shit! How far back?”

Tinker shrugged.

“Without being able to fully power up the gate, we can not determine that. It is strange, however. Jonnie should have been able to come back to us. There is one possibility that would prevent her from doing so.”

“What’s that?”

Tinker thought a minute.

“The gate doesn’t physically send anything but the pattern of how to reproduce it. In other words, when that cube reached our planet, it was a reproduction of the cube not the original one. The same thing happens when a person is sent through. The device relies heavily on the DNA of the individual in recreating the person at the other end.”

I looked horrified.

“You mean Jonnie is not Jonnie anymore?”

“Of course she is just every molecule is new. There is one big difference, however, that could account for Jonnie’s inability to return to us.”

“OK, I’m listening.”

Tinker sighed.

“Even though we converted Jonnie to a functioning female, we did not actually alter her DNA significantly. It is complicated. We think that the gate used her DNA to remake her. In which case, she would end up an intersexed male on the other end.”

“Oh, poor Jonnie; converted again. So, if Jonnie can’t operate the gate from her end and you can’t power the gate up, how do we retrieve her?”

“That is going to be a problem. We think the answer lies with Karen. Her DNA is very similar to Jonnie’s. Hopefully, with her help, we can figure something out.”

“Well, I hope she gets here quickly!”

Beyond Galactic Marshal
by
Hilltopper

Chapter 5

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

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

This piqued my interest.

“Who was that?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Hey Mort, this here’s John Harper.”

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

“Well, if it isn’t Rosco Jones.”

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

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

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

His eyes narrowed.

“That’s Marshal Slago to you.”

He noticed me for the first time.

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

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

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

He turned and walked out.

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

“It seems he already knows what happened.”

Rosco laughed.

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

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

“No, I’m not him. Driftin’ is all.”

Mort shook his head.

“You’re no drifter.”

I ignored him and turned to Rosco.

“Is there a hotel around here?”

“Sure, across the street.”

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

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

“I’d like a room.”

He looked up.

“That’ll be two bits in advance.”

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

“Will this do?”

He lifted it and held it a few seconds.

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

“Fine”

He handed me a key.

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

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

“OK, now what?”

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

“John, are ya in there?”

I got up and opened the door.

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

Uh oh, messed up again.

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

Oh, boy!

“OK, so what should I have done?”

Rosco eyed me warily.

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

“No, I guess I’ll hang around here.”

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

“OK, it was good knowing you.”

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

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

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

“You got any Kentucky whiskey?”

“Sure thing but it’s expensive.”

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

“We got some stew cooking.”

“OK, bring me a plate.”

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

“I’m not going back with you!”

She stood and ran out the back door.

“What on earth was that about.”

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

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

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

“Me?”

“Yeah, uh, your genes that is.”

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

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

I called Tinker.

“Our shuttle should be there by now.”

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

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

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

“Well, this is different.”

I blushed.

“I’m glad to see you.”

She smiled.

“Anything more on Jonnie?”

I lost it then.

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

Karen raised her eyebrows.

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

I explained what Tinker had told me. Karen nodded.

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

“I hope so. Otherwise, we’re sunk.”

Karen looked thoughtful.

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

I teared up.

“What else can we do?”

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

“What did you find out?”

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

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

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

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

“OK, that sounds harmless enough.”

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

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

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

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

I looked hard at Tinker.

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

“No, time is at a premium here.”

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

“That has to be Jonnie’s!”

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

“I sure hope this thing goes back!”

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

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

“OK! Come on out.”

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

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

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

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

“Alright”

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

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

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

Mary gave me a sad look.

“I guess we better say ‘he’ now.”

“Yeah, sorry.”

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

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

“Why not send an avatar with me?”

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

Mary stepped forward.

“I’m going with Karen!”

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

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

I looked into Mary’s eyes.

“Are you sure?”

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

“Sure”

Tinker sighed.

“OK, you leave tonight.”

Beyond Galactic Marshal
by
Hilltopper

CHAPTER 6

I turned to see Marshal Slago standing about 5 meters down the alley holding a smoking gun. I looked at him a few seconds and then smiled.

“Well, hello marshal. Can I help you?”

He got a shocked then horrified look on his face.

“Who are you?”

I took a step toward him. He turned and ran down the alley. It was then I realized that it was two .45 slugs that had hit me dead center on my back. Like last time, I had hardly felt them. I was about to leave when I saw movement at the end of the alley. Figuring it was Slago, I walked toward it. When I got to the end, a woman stepped out of the shadows. It was the same one that screamed at me in the saloon.

“Hello again.”

She stared at me shaking her head.

“No, you’re not one of us. Who are you?”

“I seem to be getting that question a lot lately.”

She made a squeaking sound, turned, and ran away. I tried to follow her but it was just too dark. Since I was feeling my drinks some, I decided to go to the hotel and lie down. Once in bed, I reflected on my day.

The underwear had now saved my life twice. On the down side, there were at least three people who suspected I was not what I appeared to be. This could cause major problems. The marshal had the power to come after me but I didn’t think he would. I had definitely scared him but he had the look of a bully; that is a coward. The mystery woman was a different story. Oh she was afraid of me but for very different reasons it seemed. Could she be one of the people that came through the gate? I had to question her further. Then there was Rosco. I had a feeling he knew more than he was telling but I did not think he was one of the ancients. With my mind in turmoil and missing Mary terribly, sleep came hard.

Upon waking and dressing, I went in search of some breakfast. Down the street a ways, a café looked like the place. I sat down but no one came over to take my order. Finally, I went up to the person at the counter.

“I would like some breakfast.”

The man looked at me and then turned around without saying anything. Then it dawned on me. Slago must be behind this. I went to the only other restaurant with the same results. I decided enough was enough and went to the marshal’s office. It was locked up tight.

“Just great!”

I went back to the café and walked into the kitchen.

“Either some one here serves me some breakfast or I’ll get it my self.”

I was angry enough to spit nails and I guess it showed. The cook spooned up eggs, bacon, and fried potatoes onto a plate and handed it to me.

“Just don’t say where you got it.”

I walked back into the dining room and sat down to eat. The counter man, owner I guess, just glared at me while I ate. When I finished, I went up to pay and he turned his back on me again. With a shrug, I walked out. It looked like I was persona non grata. I went back to the hotel. As soon as I entered the lobby, the clerk went into a back room. I got my key out of the slot and climbed the stairs to my room. The only thing I could see to do now was find that girl. The problem was I did not know where she lived. Hell, I didn’t even know her name. The only thing I did know was she worked at The Golden Nugget. I just lounged around in the room until mid afternoon. I couldn’t stand it any longer so I got up. After leaving the hotel, I went to see if Slago’s office was open.

“Shit!”

Yep, still locked up tight. I walked over to The Golden Nugget saloon and entered. All eyes turned to me and it went deathly quiet. I strolled up to the bar and glared at the bartender. Without a word, he set a bottle of Kentucky whiskey and a glass on the counter. I sat down at the same table as last night and poured a drink. Most of the customers left. About two hours later, the girl came into the saloon via the back door. She looked at the bartender.

“This place is dead tonight.”

He pointed at me. She saw me for the first time and bolted for the door. I was faster.

“We need to talk.”

She sagged and I followed her out the door. We walked down a back street in silence. She turned into an alley and walked up to a small house. She opened the door and we entered. The place was plain but neat. She sat down at a table and I did too.

“You want something to drink?”

I shook my head.

“I want answers!”

She sighed.

“When I first saw you, I knew you were a woman in disguise. Therefore, I thought you were one of my people coming to take me back. But after watching you a while, I realized that was not the case. So, who are you?”

This startled me.

“What do you mean ‘woman in disguise’?”

She stared at me with a puzzled expression. I sighed.

“OK, let’s start over. Are you one of the people who built the gate in the observation center?”

She stood up quickly.

“You did come through the gate!”

She shook her head.

“This makes no sense.”

“I did use the gate to get here but it was an accident. I was helping aliens who found a gate on Prowhiness in some ruins. We all thought it was left by an ancient race. When I tried to send an object to the alien’s planet, I ended up in the observation room.”

She nodded.

“So you are a woman!”

I sighed.

“Well, I sort of was but, once through the gate, I was like this.”

“Hmm, only one of us can use the gate. As I said, this makes no sense.”

Suddenly, we heard a commotion outside. Looking out a window, I saw Slago and several deputies surrounding the house.

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Mary and I packed some clothes and toiletries into a case. After her baby sitter arrived, I bade Raylan a tearful good bye. Then we headed for the gate room. Tinker greeted us.

“We have placed all the supplies we thought you might need into a crate. It is awaiting you in the gate. I see no need for space suits this time.”

Karen spoke up.

“Here are our clothes and things.”

Tinker nodded and had them placed into the gate.

“I really don’t know what to say except find Jonnie as quickly as you can and get back here safe.”

I nodded.

“Don’t worry, that is our main goal.”

We entered the gate and it powered up. Karen held my hand while she operated the controls. There was a brief flash and we were looking at a very bright room. I was feeling real good until Karen shook her head.

“This is not the same place!”

“What!”

Just then two women walked into the room. One turned to us and spoke in an unfamiliar language. It kind of sounded like English but I could not make since of any of the words.

“I’m sorry but I don’t understand you.”

The other woman smiled and nodded to the first one. She faced us.

“Welcome! My name is Isham. Please come with us.”

I looked at Karen. She frowned and started pushing on the control center.

“I’m afraid it is quite dead. Please!”

She motioned us out of the gate. With nothing else to do, we complied. We followed them into an adjacent room. Several comfortable looking chairs sat about. She motioned us into them.

“I know you are surprised to be here. Please let me explain. We were alerted to the operation of a gate. After reviewing the data, we realized some one had used an old gate to go to an abandoned observation site. This seemed quite impossible so we arranged for the transportation to be sent here if it was used again.”

I was stunned. We had to be in the future.

“So these are your gates?”

“Yes and we are very interested in finding out how you have accomplished this. You see, only one of us can operate the gates.”

I gave them the story about the aliens, the ruins, and Jonnie helping them.

“When Jonnie disappeared, we went in search of her.”

The two talked to each other a minute.

“Karen, we would like to run some tests on you. This is very surprising. We need to get to the bottom of this.”

I stood up.

“What about Jonnie?”

“We will discuss that and answer all your questions after the tests.”

They stood and left the room. Karen turned to me.

“We are in big trouble.”

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My name is George Bret. I am a Galactic Marshal in district three. I have been summoned to headquarters on an urgent matter. As I approached my boss’s office, he called out to me.

“Come on in, George.”

“Hey Sam, what’s up?”

“That’s what I want to know. You’re aware that former marshal Harper is working on a project with the aliens.”

I nodded. This was an understatement. In fact, there really was no more John Harper. He had been turned into a female in order to help save the alien’s planet. Now, due to extreme prejudice on many levels, he or she is forced to work with the aliens. Since he was my best friend, I am a little bitter. Sam went on.

“A few days ago, I received a call from Mary Brown. She said that they were at some ruins on Prowhiness and that John was helping the aliens test a gate of some kind when he disappeared. She seemed to think that the aliens had tricked John somehow.”

“I can believe that. They are a sly bunch.”

“Yeah, anyway, she said she would get back to me but has not. The kicker came this morning. We got a call from a woman who stated that she worked for Karen Singleton and was baby sitting with Raylan, John’s son, while Mary and Karen went to rescue John using that gate with the aliens help. She said she has not heard from them and now, suddenly, all of the aliens have left the planet without a word. She is stuck at the ruins by herself with Raylan.”

“Shit, this gets worse all the time.”

Sam nodded.

“The Planetopolis leaders look at this as a golden opportunity to find out what the aliens are up to. You and Linda are both very familiar with the alien situation. I’d like you two to take the ship John used and go to Prowhiness.”

“Man, that place is well outside the Planetopolis.”

“I know. You will have no jurisdiction but we have got to know what is going on. Plus, on a personal level, I am very worried about John. Get there as fast as you can and report back. The Planetopolis will have a military detachment standing by to go in and occupy the site when you give the all clear. This is a priority one mission.”

I sat back stunned. Finally, I stood up.

“John is my best friend and saved my life. Of course I will go!”

Beyond Galactic Marshal
by
Hilltopper

CHAPTER 7

“All right Harper or what ever you are, come on out or we’ll burn the house down!”

I turned to the woman (I don’t even know her name).

“It’s Slago! I guess I’ll give myself up. I’m not going to get you involved.”

She looked thoughtful.

“We’ll just get rid of your disguise and walk out together.”

“Huh!”

“Marshal, this is Lilly. I’m here with one of the girls. Can we come out?”

“Sure, go out the back door. But, if Harper comes out with you, we’ll mow all of you down.”

“OK, give us a little time.”

I looked at her puzzled.

“Who else is here?”

She laughed.

“You ninny, just us. You are now one of the girls.”

She went into a back room and returned with some clothes.

“Put these on and come on back.”

I shook my head. This is not going to work. I put on the clothes and walked into the room. She had make-up and a wig ready.

“Sit down, we haven’t much time.”

She got to work and a few minutes later, to my surprise, a pretty woman looked back at me in the mirror.

“You look much better as a woman. Let’s go!”

I guess I was in shock. My change back to male should have made this effort useless. Without a word, we went out the back door. One of the deputies waved us on. Lilly led us to a stable, hitched up a buggy, and we rode it out of town. Once a few kilometers outside of Hilltown, she stopped.

“Well, I reckon we better figure out what to do next.”

I was still stunned.

“I can’t believe that worked!”

“Why not, you really are a woman, right?”

I sighed.

“I’m sorry for getting you into this.”

“I got myself into this by staying here too long. I knew someone would eventually come through the gate. It was security, I guess, being close to the observation site. I always had a place to run to. Maybe we should go there?”

“Well, there is a cabin I know about close to the site.”

She nodded.

“You mean Rosco’s place.”

“You know him?”

She laughed.

“He guards the site for us.”

“I knew there was more to him that met the eye.”

“Yeah, he was mining around there when we first came through. It was a stroke of good luck when we met him. Once he’d seen the real us, it was either bring him on board or ---- well, we couldn’t let him tell on us.”

“That reminds me, when I came into the observation room, there were three bodies lying in tubes.”

She nodded sadly.

“They are the rest of our team but they are not dead. A few years ago, our leader went back to our base and found that it had been attacked, no one was there, and the gate was powered down. In other words, we were stuck here. We checked back regularly for over a year but no one came back to the base and the gate was not useable by us. We were under orders to put ourselves into suspended animation if we were cut off. That is what the ones that you saw have done. I could not do it so I went back to Hilltown to live as one of the natives. It is against all our rules. That is why I was so concerned about you.”

I realized what might be the problem.

“That could cause future time concerns.”

“Yes, I know I did wrong but --------.”

“Who attacked your base?”

“I don’t know for sure. Let’s get to Rosco’s and I’ll fill you in on why we are here in the first place. I’m also very interested in how you managed to get here.”

It was a very bouncy ride to Rosco’s and we rode in silence. He heard us coming and was waiting on the porch. He smiled at Lilly and then looked at me. With a puzzled look, he stepped up to the buggy. Suddenly, he broke into a smile.

“Ha, I knew you were one of them but the fact that you didn’t know me is what threw me.”

I gave him a hard look.

“What makes you think I’m one of them?”

He laughed.

“Only women come through that thing. When we first met, you were already disguised as a man. I can see now that you are indeed a woman.”

I shook my head and muttered to myself.

“If it wasn’t for Fledora, I’d be insulted big time.”

Lilly heard me and whipped her head around.

“What did you say?”

“Oh, this woman thing could try a man’s soul.”

“No, you mentioned Fledora.”

“Yeah, I’m from there. Have you heard of it?”

She seemed in shock.

“Heard of it! That is our legendary home planet.”

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A few minutes later, a woman came in with a strange instrument. She stopped in front of Karen. There was a depression a little larger than a hand in the machine. She placed Karen’s hand into it. Nothing seemed to be happening but, after a minute, she removed Karen’s hand. She nodded and left. Karen looked at me.

“What do you make of that?”

I shrugged.

“The tests I guess.”

Just then the woman who had talked to us came back in and sat down in a chair. She looked a little pale.

“Did the tests go OK?”

She leaned back and stared at Karen.

“Are you from this planet you call Prowhiness?”

Karen shook her head.

“No, that’s just where the ruins are located. We are from Fledora.”

Isham jumped up.

“It’s not possible!”

She ran out of the room. Karen turned to me.

“What did I say?”

“The name Fledora struck a chord. Maybe that’s where we are.”

“No, I get the feeling the tests and the mention of Fledora has thrown them for a loop. Why, I don’t know.”

A while later, someone entered with a cart of food and drinks. She nodded and left. I grinned.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”

Karen laughed.

“Yeah, it looks like we aren’t on bread and water; yet.

We dug in. The food was great although I couldn’t tell you what it was. After eating, we sat back.

“I wonder if they are watching us.”

Karen nodded.

“Almost a certainty.”

“How far in the future do you think we are?”

“No way to know but I have a feeling it is a long way.”

“Yeah”

It was an hour or so before anyone came back. The first two women that met us walked in looking very upset. Isham spoke.

“We may have a big problem. Your tests caused us a great concern. Your mention of Fledora confirmed it. You see, records indicate that our race originated over a thousand of your Earth years ago from a planet called Fledora. Karen’s DNA shows a great resemblance to our own. In fact, it indicates that we are direct descendants from your race. Time travel is a very delicate proposition. The least little interference in the past can cause great effects in the future. Bringing you here could have serious time effects. There is also the matter of your person that went through the gate to Earth. She could have an even bigger effect.”

I frowned.

“Why were you on Earth in the distant past if it’s so dangerous?”

Isham grimaced and spoke to the other woman. With a sigh, she nodded.

“OK, since you are from Fledora, part of the story is known to you. Basically, we evolved away from two genders. The male gender became extinct about 400 years ago or, at least, that is what we thought. About 20 years ago, we detected a planet with males. It apparently is a long lost colony from Earth. Since we have no direct knowledge about the male gender, we decided we needed more information. The colony seemed somewhat primitive so we selected a period of time on Earth similar to establish an observation post. We were very careful to blend in and not cause any time effects.”

“So where do the ruins come in?”

“We first established a base on an uninhabited planet. From there, we went back and forth to the observation site on Earth. That base was attacked several months after we set it up. We don’t know by whom. Therefore, the site was abandoned. Our team on Earth had orders to put themselves into hibernation if cut off. We presume that was done.”

I was stunned. Karen spoke up first.

“You mean you just left them there!”

“We had no choice. The only way there was through the gate at the base. We dared not go back there!”

“So what are you doing about the planet with males?”

She sighed.

“We are still debating the problem.”

I was in disbelief.

“Then send us to the base so we can go after Jonnie. We can check on your team at the same time.”

She shook her head.

“We must be careful.”

I glared at her.

“I know, you must debate the problem.”

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When I got back to my apartment on the station, my wife, Linda, was beside herself.

“What did Sam want? Are Jonnie and Karen OK?”

I shook my head.

“It’s a mess. As you know, John is helping the aliens. It seems that they tricked him into testing one of their devices and he has disappeared.”

“Oh no!”

“It gets worse. Karen and Mary went after him on a rescue mission and they are now missing. Plus, the aliens have departed suddenly leaving Raylan at the ruins in the care of one of Karen’s employees.”

“Shit! George, we have to go get him!”

I nodded.

“That’s the only good part. We have been assigned to go to Prowhiness and figure out what’s going on.”

“I feel a catch here.”

I sighed.

“The Planetopolis will have a force ready to go in as soon as I report back that the aliens are definitely gone.”

“Well, it figures. They have wanted in on this all along. I just hope this doesn’t end up in a war. My only concern here is Jonnie, Karen, and Raylan.”

Linda glared at me.

“Do you understand?”

“Now calm down. I agree with you. We just must walk a fine line or they will opt us out. I think we have some time. We get to use the same ship John had.”

“OK, I’ll go pack.”

Two hours later, we entered the ship.

“Good morning, Marshal Bret.”

“We need to go to Prowhiness post haste. A woman there is going to radio us when we arrive. We will need to home in on her signal.”

“That agrees with my orders. We should be there in 8 hours, 14 minutes.”

Our ship departed and we went to the galley.

“Linda, are you OK with this?”

She smiled.

“It’s a little late to ask me now. I want to find Jonnie and Karen safe and sound as much as you; maybe more. So, yes, I’m with you all the way.”

I frowned.

“I notice you always say Jonnie and haven’t mentioned Mary.”

Linda looked thoughtful.

“I met her when she was undercover as Gina and we became close friends. Later, as Jonnie, she saved my life. I know she is really a he but it is hard for me to see it. As far as Mary is concerned, well, she and Jonnie are married. I can’t warm up to her but I will be a friend. OK?”

I sat back and smiled.

“We certainly have had some interesting times with them. Some of which I’d like to forget.”

Linda looked at me slyly.

“I don’t know, I thought you made a great woman.”

“Hush, let’s keep that to ourselves.”

Linda laughed.

“Sure, macho man.”

I shook my head.

“We might as well doze some or at least lie down.”

I gave Linda a smirk.

“OK, lover boy, come on.”

The 8 hours passed quickly.

Beyond Galactic Marshal
by
Hilltopper

CHAPTER 8

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

“OK, what’s really going on here?”

I put up my hands.

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

Lilly shook her head.

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

Rosco raised his eyebrows.

“You mean you’re not one of them?”

Lilly pounded her chair.

“That’s the problem! Who are you?”

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

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

She then frowned.

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

I nodded.

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

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

“Absolutely!”

She shook her head.

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

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

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

I was shocked.

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

She looked sadly at me.

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

“But what about your people in hibernation?”

She just shook her head.

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

I nodded.

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

She got a serious look on her face.

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

Rosco choked on his tobacco.

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

She nodded.

“Holy shit!”

I patted Rosco on the back.

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

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

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

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

I shook my head.

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

She laughed.

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

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

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

“Yes, I think it best.”

She sighed.

“OK, I’m going inside.”

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

“Oh my god!”

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

“Uh oh!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I guess I hurt her feelings.”

Karen made a sound like hmmpf.

“These people are impossible.”

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

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

I chuckled.

“This reminds me of Jonnie’s ship.”

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

“Home sweet home!”

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

Karen looked at the door.

“Only one way to find out.”

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

“Please open the door.”

The same voice that welcomed us spoke up.

“It is not permitted.”

Karen turned back to me.

“There you go!”

I nodded.

“I guess we are at their mercy.”

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

“Feel better?”

I nodded.

“OK, let’s check this place out.”

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

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

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

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

“Someone will contact you tomorrow.”

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

“So much for that!”

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

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

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

“Sleep well?”

“Surprisingly so.”

“Yep, home sweet home.”

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

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

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

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

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

I jumped up.

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

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

“Why not?”

She looked over at the other woman and sighed.

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

I was shocked.

“What caused the problem?”

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

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

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

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

“No, George.”

“OK, keep trying to make contact.”

I looked at Linda.

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

She nodded.

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

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

“Please over fly this site.”

“Yes, George.”

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

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

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

“I hope Raylan wasn’t in there.”

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

“Thank god!”

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

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

“Did John ever describe those ruins?”

Linda nodded.

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

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

“I wish you would wait until tomorrow.”

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

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

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

“What kind of anomaly?”

“It appears to be two people.”

“What! Where did they come from?”

“No data on that.”

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

“OK, but please be careful.”

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

“Where did you come from?”

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

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

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

“Did you find John?”

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

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

I looked at Karen.

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

Karen nodded.

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

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

“Thank god you’re safe.”

We settled in the galley. Karen related their adventure.

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

Karen sighed.

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

Mary slapped the table.

“No, she’s not! I would know.”

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

Karen shook her head.

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

“So John’s trapped in time!”

Mary started crying. Karen sighed.

“I’m afraid so.”

Beyond Galactic Marshal
by
Hilltopper

Chapter 9

“We have to get out of here, now!

“You think they’ll come here?”

“The alarm indicated that we’ve lost connection to the base. Those pictures were recorded yesterday. I think the base is gone and we’re next!”

“Shit!”

We grabbed all the supplies we could carry and headed downhill. When we reached Rosco’s cabin, Lilly rushed inside and I followed. Rosco looked up startled.

“I thought you two were going to stay at your home up yonder?”

“You need to hitch the wagon and fill it with as much as you can. We may have some visitors and they aren’t friendly.”

“You mean Marshal Slago? I ain’t afraid of him.”

She had printed off a picture of the aliens and gave it to Rosco.

“Holy shit! What the hell are those?”

“Just do as I say. We haven’t much time.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Rosco hitched the wagon and we started carrying supplies to it. When it was about full, Rosco leaned against the side.

“We better stop. Them mules can’t pull much more. John, saddle up my roan. You ride it and Lilly can sit in the wagon beside me.”

“OK”

I hadn’t ridden a horse since on the moon of Broadskye. It is not my favorite mode of transportation. We started down the two track. Rosco was pale as a ghost. We had gone maybe 5 kilometers when there was a bright light and then a loud boom. I looked back at the hill. There was a large cloud of black smoke rising from it. I sighed.

“Well, I guess we’re really on our own now.”

Lilly shook her head.

“Not quite but, right now, we need to get back to Hilltown.”

I stared at her.

“Are you crazy? We just barely got away from there last time.”

Rosco was really scared.

“Are those things coming after us?”

Lilly put her hand on his arm.

“No, we’re safe. They just annihilated our observation site from orbit. I’m real sorry about your cabin.”

“Yeah, well, it wasn’t much of one and I’ve still got all my things that matter.”

He grinned.

“Including my silver and gold.”

I was beside myself.

“Stop the wagon! We need to talk now!”

Lilly flashed a hard look at me.

“Nobody’s making you stay. Ride on if you want.”

Rosco spoke up.

“But not with my horse.”

“Look, I’m not running out on anyone. I just want to know what the plan is. Going into Slago’s clutches doesn’t sound good to me. Besides, your house is probably gone.”

“No, I don’t think so.”

She pulled a small device from around her neck.

“This would have informed me if that had happened. We’ll slip back in after dark.”

I look closely at the pendant.

“What’s that thing?”

She smiled.

“My protection.”

Rosco perked up.

“Oh, like John’s underwear?”

Lilly laughed.

“Not quite but it will let us know if it senses danger.”

We made camp under a stand of trees and fixed some stew. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was. After eating, I pinned Lilly down.

“OK, what is so important about going to Hilltown?”

“I need some things hidden in my house. My people hid a ship just in case. The only problem is I don’t know exactly where it is.”

“Oh, that’s just great!”

She shot me a look.

“Don’t get on your high horse. I have a map of sorts at the house. I believe we can locate the ship.”

“That’s assuming the house is still there.”

She just glared saying nothing. I don’t know why I was being so obstinate. After all, she was offering a possible way out of here. I guess the destruction of the observation site had caused me to almost give up. It meant that Mary and Karen could not now come to my rescue via the gate. I was totally on my own and very lonely. I sat brooding for a while. Rosco came over and squatted down in front of me.

“I know how you feel but don’t give up. I’ve seen these women do some amazing things.”

I nodded.

“Yeah, I guess I’m just a little down and feeling sorry for myself. This all has been quite a shock and I miss my wife and child terribly.”

Lilly walked over.

“We might as well go. It should be dark when we get to town.”

She looked down at me.

“Are you going to be a help or a hindrance?”

I sighed.

“I’m sorry for before. Everything has hit me hard.”

She smiled.

“Me too but at least there is some hope.”

“OK, lead on I’m with you.”

Rosco jumped up.

“OK!”

It was dark when we approached Hilltown. We went in a back way and drove up to the rear of Lilly’s house which was still there. No one seemed to be around. Lilly opened the back door and we walked in. I was a bit hesitant. Marshal Slago might still be watching the place.

“Don’t put on a light.”

“I won’t need one.”

Lilly went to her bedroom, flipped up a rug, and pried up some floor boards. She removed a case about half a meter square.

“OK, let’s get out of here.”

We went back outside. Rosco had stayed with the wagon. Lilly placed the case in the back and climbed on. I was about to mount my horse when I heard a distinctive clicking sound. I dove to the side as a shot rang out. The wagon took off and I scrambled behind some trees. I heard Slago’s voice.

“What’s going on?”

One of his deputies walked behind the house.

“I think I saw that Harper fellow. He might be hit.”

Slago snorted.

“Not likely.”

“Anyway, he crawled over to those trees.”

This wasn’t good. I continued into the trees as quietly as I could. The marshal didn’t seem too anxious to follow me. It was pitch black and I had no idea where I was heading. The one thing I did know, as soon as it was daylight, Slago would be trying to find me. After going about 100 meters into the woods, I came to an old stream bed. It was several hours until the moon would appear so I decided to sit here and wait. Rosco had headed the wagon back the way we had come. My only choice was to go that way as soon as I could see anything. I lay back against the bank and tried to dose a little without much success. I must have drifted off because I was awakened by something licking my face. The moon had come up and I could see a mangy dog panting beside me.

“Well hello there. Are you as lost as I am?”

I stood up. The stream bed seemed to be going in the right direction so I walked on up it. The dog happily followed along. After hiking for a few hours, I thought I saw a light off to my right and up the hill.

“That can’t be a campfire. It’s too white.”

The dog agreed. It could only be Lilly and Rosco. I headed up the hill and quietly peered into the opening containing the light. Lilly and Rosco were sleeping next to the wagon. A lantern of some kind was putting out a soft white glow. My companion, seeing Lilly and Rosco, bounded in and promptly started licking Rosco’s face. It seemed to be a habit. I walked on into the camp.

“Thanks for waiting.”

“Get this stupid mutt off me!”

Lilly sat up.

“We thought you were a goner. This is an old logging road I know. The only thing we could think to do was camp here until morning.”

She laughed.

“Of course, we had no idea what we would do then.”

“Well, Slago will be hot on my trail as soon as he can. He can travel a lot faster than this wagon. We can either wait her and confront them or try to sneak out if you know a way.”

Rosco spoke up.

“There’s an old Indian trail I know about that I’m sure Slago don’t. The only problem is this wagon can’t make it.”

“How far away is it?”

“It’s just over that hill yonder. We can follow the old creek bed to a rocky area and then climb up to the trail. No one could follow us.”

“OK, where does it lead?”

“To Wyoming Territory.”

Lilly raised her eyebrows.

“Aren’t there a lot of Indians there?”

“Yeah, there’s Crow and Northern Cheyenne. We could run into trouble with them.”

I nodded.

“Well, it can’t be worse than we already have. OK, I’m for it.”

Lilly was fiddling with a device she had pulled from her case. I looked over her shoulder.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a tracker to find our ship. I believe it is west of here but I don’t know yet how far.”

“OK, we better get together what we can carry and start out. I’d like to be at that trail by daylight.”

Deciding what to take with us was tough. Rosco, of course, wanted to take his gold. Lilly needed her case of toys. That left me to carry the essentials. We let the mules loose and hid the wagon the best we could. Myself, Lilly, Rosco, and the dog headed toward the old Indian trail.

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George called Sam and let him know the situation. The future women were a shocker. He said that he would pass on the info. I imagine we will have military company very soon. I looked at George.

“What do you think the Planetopolis will do?”

“I don’t know, Mary. This is not part of their territory but nobody really claims it. I guess they can do whatever they want.”

“I was thinking more in terms of what they will do with us; meaning Karen and I.”

George looked thoughtful.

“I hadn’t thought about that. You two are the only ones that have met those future women. Plus, you both are well acquainted with the aliens that left here. This could be bad.”

“The military will certainly want to talk with us.”

George sighed.

“They will do more than that. Karen, if I dropped you two at the resort, can you hide from them?”

Karen grinned.

“Not a problem.”

“Good, let’s get to the shuttle.”

George took us to the resort and went back up to his ship. We went to Karen’s apartment.

“How long do you think we’ve got?”

Karen thought a minute.

“Probably a day or so but I don’t want to risk it. Freshen up and we will go to my ‘office’.”

I had some of my things and Raylan’s here at the apartment. We packed up what we needed and left the rest. We didn’t want to look as if we had run off. Karen took Raylan and me to a part of the resort I had never seen. We faced a building that looked like a private club. However, once inside, we took an elevator down several levels.

“This is my operation center. We do a lot of, uh, traffic control from here.”

I laughed.

“Don’t tell me more. Technically, I’m still a cop.”

“Yeah, well, we will be safe here. Plus, I can monitor all radio signals close by.”

I nodded.

“Thanks, Karen. I hope George and Linda don’t get in any trouble over this.”

“No, I don’t think they will. All George did was take us to the resort to freshen up. It’s not his fault that we disappeared.”

“Is that gate the only way to Jonnie?”

“I believe so unless those future people somehow contact us. It bothers me that the ruins have disappeared but the gate is still there. I’ve got a pretty good physicist on my staff here. Let me go talk to her.”

Karen left and I sat down with Raylan.

“Well, little fellow, you sure have had an interesting start to life. I’ll get Jonnie back if it’s the last thing I do.”

Beyond Galactic Marshal
by
Hilltopper

Chapter 10

It was just daylight when we intersected the Indian trail. Rosco was a little too happy and relieved. I got the feeling that he wasn’t as sure of it as he let on. It was heading down out of the Black Hills and into Wyoming Territory. There were pretty good sized mountains off in the distance. I was having a little abdominal pain. I figured it was Rosco’s cooking. After about mid morning, we came to an opening that had been used for a large encampment in the past.

“Rosco, do you think it’s safe to use this trail? This place looks well used.”

He shrugged.

“It really doesn’t matter at this point. There are Indians around no matter how we head across. At least the going is tolerable using the trail.”

Lilly was fiddling with her tracker again. Suddenly, she yelled out.

“I’ve got it!”

“Great! How far?”

“About 830 kilometers just south of west.”

I thought about my geography.

“Hmm, that would put it about in the Grand Tetons.”

She looked pensive.

“Is that good or bad?”

“Well, it’s beautiful country but rugged. Plus, we have two mountain ranges to cross to get there.”

Rosco nodded.

“Yeah, the Big Horns are crawling with Indians.”

“Why on Earth would your people hide the ship so far away?”

Lilly hesitated.

“Uh, we were performing science observations at something called the Yellowstone Basin. Three flew the ship close to there and hid it. They were supposed to come back after a couple of months. The last we heard from them was just before they left the ship. That was years ago before we lost contact at our base.”

I shook my head.

“I guess we can write them off then. Couldn’t you contact the ship?”

“No, they powered it down to prevent it being detected.”

I raised my eyebrows.

“Detected by whom?”

She shrugged.

“No body told me. I assume it was the ones who attacked the base.”

“This just keeps getting better and better. You know, 800 kilometers is a long way to walk especially over mountains. As much as I hate the idea, we need horses.”

Rosco nodded.

“Yeah or mules. I almost regret now turning my mules loose but they couldn’t have made it. Beside, I didn’t want to take them away from their home area. There are a few homesteads on the grassland west of us if they haven’t been burnt out by the Indians. We should be there in a few days.”

“OK, at least that’s a plan.”

We hiked on until an hour before sunset. Rosco was a good hunter, so we had stew again. I’ll say one thing, when the sunset here, it really gets dark. The sky is amazing and the weather has been good though it does get a little cold at night. My special underwear helped there. About three days later, we spotted a house and corral. To my excitement, there were horses and at least one mule that I could see. Rosco and I went up to the door. Lilly stayed hidden. The man was very glad to see us. Seems he was expecting other company.

“Would you be interested in selling some of your horses?”

He laughed.

“I’ll sell you the whole damn place for all the good it will do you. If I knew which way to go, I’d already be gone.”

I gave him several nuggets and pointed the way we had come.

“We haven’t seen any Indians on our way here.”

He snorted.

“That don’t mean nothing but it’s better than staying here.”

He loaded up a mule, saddled a horse, and looked sadly at us.

“I’ll sorta miss this place but I’d miss my scalp more. Good luck to you.”

With that, he wheeled around and galloped away. Lilly saw him leave and walked on in.

“I see you got us some horses.”

Rosco laughed.

“We got us a whole homestead.”

“Wow, why don’t we stay here a while then?”

“Well, it’s getting late so we should bed down here tonight but I’d feel better getting as far away from here as we can tomorrow. That fellow was convinced that an Indian attack is imminent.”

“I haven’t seen any Indians.”

I just shrugged and walked into the house. It was two rooms and was a mess. Our former tenant was obviously a slob. I turned around and walked back out.

“It’s all yours. I’m sleeping in that lean-to.”

Lilly huffed.

“It can’t be that bad.”

She went in, stayed a few seconds, and came out.

“I’ll join you.”

Rosco walked up, shook his head, and entered the cabin. It was quiet for a few minutes. He stuck his head out the door with a smile.

“Good night.”

He disappeared back inside. I went to the lean-to, unrolled my blankets, and lay down. I guess Lilly came in but I was asleep as soon as my head hit the ground. I awoke to the smell of smoke. I jumped up and looked out. Rosco was frying something over a campfire. I put my boots and holster on and walked up to him.

“Do I want to know what that is?”

“Probably not. Let’s just call it breakfast.”

It wasn’t bad. Lilly came up, looked at it, and left. I smiled and stood up.

“Let’s load up one of the horses with supplies then get out of here. My neck hairs are standing up.”

We salvaged what we could from the cabin, saddled three horses, loaded another with supplies, and rode out. We hadn’t gone more than a half hour away when we saw smoke behind us. Lilly rode up beside me.

“I guess they were watching.”

“Yeah, I wonder why they let us leave?”

Rosco shook his head.

“What makes you think they did?”

He pointed up ahead. About 20 Indians were blocking our path. I sighed.

“Great! What now?”

“Just keep moving forward. There is no point in running.”

As we approached, they parted. We rode through like they weren’t there. When we had left them behind, I turned to Rosco.

“I don’t get it.”

Rosco nodded.

“They are either playing with us or want to know what we are up to. You have to admit, we are an unlikely group to be here.”

“Why so?”

“Lilly for one. No pretty woman would ride into Northern Cheyenne Territory. I think they are also interested in you.”

This surprised me.

“There’s nothing special about me.”

Rosco laughed.

“Everything about you is different. They sense it.”

I scoffed.

“I doubt that.”

“We’ll see.”

We didn’t stop for lunch. By late afternoon, we had reached another dwelling. It was obviously abandoned but would provide shelter and safety. Fortunately, it was not a pig sty like the last one. It appeared that a couple had lived here. I wondered what had happened to them. There was a good fireplace and Rosco soon had a cook fire going. You guessed it, stew again. We were all tired and sacked out soon after eating. I awoke to a commotion outside. Looking around, I was alone. I jumped up and went outside in just my underwear. Rosco and Lilly were being held by several Indians. What looked like a chief was facing me. He made a statement and backed away.

“Rosco, do you speak their language?”

“Some. He seems to think that you have been sent by their gods. A shaman has told him that you are between genders and have great magic.”

This was not good. How did they know I was intersexed.

“Tell him I am just a common man.”

Rosco spoke haltingly at the chief. He said something sharply to Rosco. I don’t think he believed me. He stared a minute and, suddenly, grabbed an arrow from his quiver. He placed it in his bow and shot me in the middle of my chest. Of course, the arrow bounced off harmlessly. He pulled his knife and threw it at me. It also bounced off. I just stood there dumbfounded. My underwear seems to repel anything. The chief yelled something. The braves threw Rosco and Lilly to the ground. The whole bunch ran to their mounts and skedaddled. Rosco was looking at me with his mouth open. Lilly knew what had happened. Rosco walked over to me and fingered my chest.

“Shit! You are magic!”

I smiled.

“No, I just have a very good pair of underwear.”

Lilly laughed.

“Yeah, we wore them when we were scouting about. They are pretty awesome, aren’t they?”

Rosco shook his head.

“No shit!”

“We had better load up and hit the trail before they come back.”

The dog had stayed hidden under the porch so was safe. It didn’t take long to get going. We did not see any signs of the Indians throughout the day. The mountains in the distance were getting closer. As we sat around the campfire in the evening, we discussed the morning’s events. Rosco poked the fire and looked up at me.

“You sure scared the living daylights out of that chief.”

“I don’t know, I think he was sort of expecting it. He just didn’t know what to do when it really happened. The big question is what now.”

“Oh, they’ll dance around and consult their shaman. They definitely think you are heap big medicine. Maybe they will just leave us alone.”

“I get the feeling that you don’t like Indians.”

We bedded down and morning came fast. After breakfast, we headed out again. Once more there were no Indian signs. The Big Horns were getting close. We were considering stopping for the day when we topped a rise and got a big surprise. Before us was a beautiful river valley that was filled with teepees.

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Late in the evening, Karen returned.

“What I learned is both hard to believe and even harder to understand. Apparently, when the gate was used to travel through time, it more or less became outside of normal space and time. So, that is why it is still on the plain even through the original ruins are not. The question is what happened to the ruins and what effect does the disappearance have concerning Jonnie?”

I frowned.

“I thought Jonnie went straight to Earth?”

“True, but I think the room on Earth that Jonnie and I went to was a satellite site.”

I was getting a bad feeling.

“Hmm, if the ruins are gone then that site may be gone as well. If so, how will we get to Jonnie?”

Karen shook her head.

“I don’t think we can. The future women said that, without a gate in place, they cannot precisely pinpoint a place and time. So, if the gate at Earth is gone, there is no way.”

“Maybe it’s still there like the one here?”

Karen sighed.

“My physicist does not think so. She believes only the initiating gate would survive.”

“This is crazy!”

Our vid chimed then. It was George.

“Hey George, are you OK?”

“Oh, I’m fine but we have lots of company here. The Planetopolis military has taken over. They are very interested in talking with Karen but they don’t seem to be looking for you.”

“Are they coming here?”

“They will certainly send some agents but I don’t think the Planetopolis wants to be seen as interfering with the resort. There are a lot of heavy hitters involved with it. To tell you the truth, their presence here probably won’t last long. After all, the only thing here now is the gate and it is dead. Even Karen could not power it up as you said. So, unless the aliens come back, there is nothing here to do.”

“I agree and there is really no reason for the aliens to be here either. Their interest was the ruins and it’s gone. My concern is Jonnie. I fear she is lost to us. My only hope is in the future bunch but they don’t seem too concerned. That does not surprise me because of the threat of time effects. In fact, the disappearance of the ruins seems to confirm that threat.”

“Yeah, there is a scientist here with the military who is saying the same thing. But, without an active gate, we are helpless.”

George signed off. Karen sighed.

“Well, we better stay here at least until the military leaves. They can not find this place. We need to decide what to do then.”

I nodded and got up. I went to the room I was staying in to check on Raylan. He was still asleep and I just stood looking at him. I felt totally lost and my hope was rapidly diminishing.

Beyond Galactic Marshal
by
Hilltopper

Chapter 11

Indians were sitting on ponies on both sides of us. Once again, there was no point in running. We looked at each other and just started down the trail toward the village. I turned to Rosco.

“What do you think is going to happen when we get there?”

“I wish I knew!”

Just before we reached the first of the teepees, two braves and a pretty Indian woman rode up to us. Rosco and Lilly were led away by the braves. I started to follow but was stopped by the woman. She said something and motioned for me to follow her. I looked over at Rosco. He just shrugged. With no other choice, I followed her into the village. Everyone was looking at me and smiling. Well, at least I seemed to be welcome. The dog was welcome also. We stopped at a large teepee near the center of the village. A tall Indian came out and waved the woman away. She rode off and he approached my horse.

“Welcome traveler. Your coming was for told to me after the god bird flew over our village many seasons ago.”

Well, he obviously spoke English. The god bird must be Lilly’s ship.

“What about my companions?”

He looked at me seriously.

“If you will help us, they can go on their way unharmed.”

“Help you how?”

He smiled.

“As a child of god, you will know. It is your special nature that is needed.”

“Can I talk with my friends?”

He frowned.

“It is not permitted.”

I could see no other option. I nodded.

“I will help as I can.”

Suddenly, a brave rode up in a cloud of dust and jumped down off his horse. He spoke sharply to the tall Indian and then came at me. I acted without thinking using a technique taught to me by Mary. He was now on the ground with my knee on his chest. I looked up.

“Tell him I’ll let him up if he has cooled off.”

I realized I was treading on dangerous ground here but I dared not show fear. The first Indian spoke something to the brave under me and he nodded. I stood up and he got up rubbing his shoulder. I knew from experience that it would be tender for a while. The brave gave me a hard look then turned and walked away leading his horse.

“You are indeed special.”

“What was that about?”

He shook his head.

“He is in line to be the next chief and does not believe my vision. Your presence is resented by some. I am Danra and what you would call a shaman.”

“I take it the vision involves me.”

Danra nodded.

“All will be explained. Please come with me.”

I figured that we would go into the large teepee but we walked around it and headed toward a smaller one that set kind of by its self. It was decorated with lots of strange images. He saw me looking them over.

“These were all in my vision.”

We entered the teepee. The Indian woman that had led me into the village was inside.

“This is Tiana. She will be your guide.”

With that, he left.

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We were led to the other side of the village. One of the braves pointed at a campfire that was ablaze. Rosco looked at me.

“I think we are to sit by the fire and wait.”

“Wait for what?”

Rosco sighed.

“Our future.”

We dismounted and sat down. Two women came over carrying what looked like fry bread and some kind of meat. One of the braves spoke. Rosco interpreted.

“Well, at least we are being given a last meal.”

I grimaced.

“Is it that bad?”

“I don’t know. It seems they are waiting to hear from their chief about John. I’m not sure what it is they want from him.”

I saw someone approaching after we had eaten. It was the same chief we saw yesterday. He stopped and talked with the braves that were holding us then turned to Rosco. I didn’t like the look on Rosco’s face.

“It seems we are free to go as long as its west.”

“What about John?”

Rosco shook his head.

“Well, we won’t go then!”

He sighed.

“I’m afraid that is not an option. I think, if we refuse, we will be killed.”

“Does that mean that John is to be killed?”

“No, for some reason, they look to him as a chosen one.”

I nodded.

“I guess we have no choice. We will continue on to find my ship then we will come back.”

I smiled.

“That should shake them up!”

We were given back our supplies and horses. Our escorts rode with us until we were out of site of the village. They pointed toward the mountains and waited while we headed on.

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I awoke the next morning to a pounding on my door. Groggily, I got up. Raylan seemed oblivious. I opened the door to an energized Karen.

“Get dressed. We have received a message from Tinker.”

“What!”

She nodded.

“I don’t know what they want but we have set up a meeting at the spaceport.”

“What about the military?”

“I don’t think they have any one here yet. Hurry!”

“OK, OK, give me 30 minutes.”

I took a quick shower, dressed and fed Raylan. We were just about ready when Karen came back.

“Let’s go. I have a vehicle waiting.”

We were soon at the spaceport. I did not see any alien ship. As we waited for a landing, a man drove up and stuck his head out. I did a double take. It was an avatar!

“Hey beautiful, get in and I’ll take you for a ride.”

Karen rolled her eyes. We got in and were driven way into the desert. Finally, he stopped.

“All out for a fun time.”

We got out and he drove off. I huffed.

“Well, this is just great!”

Karen laughed.

“I never did get used to their avatars. They used the men at the resort for models. It leaves a lot to be desired.”

“Yeah, but now what?”

She shrugged.

“What else, we wait.”

We stood around for almost an hour before a shuttle suddenly appeared behind us. I don’t know how they do it but it always surprises me. We walked over to it and the hatch opened. Once inside, the hatch closed and it took off.

“It looks like the aliens are in stealth mode.”

Karen laughed.

“I imagine so. I’m sure they don’t want to be seen by the Planetopolis military.”

The flight up to their ship took about 20 minutes. It was the ship we always associated with Tinker. We docked and entered the ship. Tinker and Bell were waiting for us.

“Welcome, we need to talk.”

I was a little sore.

“You bet we do! Have you any idea of the mess you have caused?”

“We are sorry but it was necessary.”

I was getting really mad now.

“Are you saying that you did that to Jonnie on purpose?”

“No, that was not foreseen. We believed that the builders of the gate would notice its activation and make some kind of contact.”

“So you actually did not think Jonnie would disappear?”

“Certainly not!”

“Then why did all of you leave without warning?”

“We were called home. You two had not come back yet so there was no one to tell.”

I guess that made some sense but I was not satisfied.

“Did you know we would not get to where Jonnie went?”

Tinker and Bell exchanged looks.

“We suspected it might happen.”

Tinker handed Karen and I tablets.

“Please write up every thing that happened then we will make our plans.”

I eyed Tinker.

“Those plans better include rescuing Jonnie!”

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I looked at Tiana. She smiled and said something.

“I’m sorry but I don’t speak your language.”

She frowned and said something else. I just shrugged and shook my head. I couldn’t figure out why she was my guide if we could not understand each other. She seemed to be reaching the same conclusion because I saw frustration on her face. Looking around the teepee, there wasn’t much here. A pile of skins was at the back. I thought they were for sleeping. There was the remains of a fire in the center. A flap at the top opened to let the smoke out but it was closed now. Pots and some items I did not recognize were along the sides. I looked back at Tiana. She appeared to be studying me. I smiled and pointed at a skin beside the fire pit.

“Mind if I sit down?”

She just stared so I sat. Finally, she shook her head, said something sharply, and left.

“Well dog, looks like we’re off to a great start.”

I wondered about Lilly and Rosco. Hopefully, the Indians were keeping their word and had let them go. I figured they would head toward the ship. That might take a couple of weeks assuming they can find it at all. It was starting to get dark and I was very hungry. I looked in the pots and found some dried meat and fry bread. Another pot held water with a dipper made from a gourd. This at least satisfied my stomach. No one had come back so I went over to the pile of skins. Lying on them, I realized that they were actually pretty comfortable. I took my holster and boots off but decided to stay fully clothed. I wasn’t sure what to expect. It was very quiet and very dark now. I thought I would have trouble sleeping but noise and daylight woke me up. I needed a restroom badly. Peeking out the opening, there was no one close bye. Some trees were behind the teepee so I went there. Coming back, I saw the shaman coming out of my teepee. He looked anxious until spotting me. I walked over.

“Had a little business to attend to.”

He nodded.

“I am sorry about last night. In my vision, you could understand our talk. It troubles me that you can not.”

I decided on a half truth.

“Where I come from, your language does not exist.”

He smiled and nodded.

“From the future.”

This took me back.

“How did you know that?”

He raised his eyebrows. I sighed.

“I know, your vision.”

He looked up.

“It has been told to me that a woman from the future would come to us pretending to be a man. This person would not be harmed by arrows or knife. Our chief had said you are the one and I agree.”

I frowned.

“So what is this person supposed to do for you?”

He smiled.

You are our spirit of good fortune. There will be a ceremony proclaiming this. Then we wait.”

“Wait for what?”

“Why good fortune, of course. Your guide has been instructed to help you get ready. Do what she shows you. She has been informed of your dual nature.”

The shaman walked away and I went back into the teepee. This was getting crazier and crazier. I didn’t like the sound of this ceremony. They had me over a barrel however. If they decide that I’m not this spirit person, I was dead and, probably, Lilly and Rosco as well. A few minutes later, Tiana came into the teepee. We stared at each other for a minute. I started to sit down but she stopped me. She then started removing my clothes. I was a bit embarrassed but I figured that I had no choice. Taking off my underwear did concern me. Once naked, she stood back looking me over. I was hairless except for my long head of hair. My testicles had retreated again and my penis was not, uh, substantial. To be honest, I looked like a preteen except for my musculature and mature face. She smiled and nodded. She went to the side and picked up a beautiful beaded deer skin dress. I knew what was coming. Taking it, I slid it over my head. The fit was fine. She then braided my hair and tied it with a small dream catcher. Nodding, she left. It seems that I can’t escape these back and forth transformations. Oh well, at least I have experience with it. I dreaded what would come next however.

Beyond Galactic Marshal
by
Hilltopper

Chapter 12

As soon as Tiana left, the shaman walked back in carrying a pair of beaded moccasins that were almost to the knees. He looked at me and smiled big.

“Now you look like my vision. Our people will accept you as our female spiritual leader.”

Oh joy! He handed me the moccasins and I put them on. Although they were a little tight, they felt good. I could not see myself but, from past experience, I knew that I looked very female. Danya held out his hand and led me out of the teepee.

“When the sun is high, we will have a feast. Other villages have sent chiefs and shamen to witness our ceremony.”

“Uh, what else is involved besides the feast?”

“There will be an afternoon long dance which will be ended at sunset. At that time, you will be declared our spirit of good fortune. Each chief will shoot an arrow at you in turn to prove who you are. Of course, all will bounce off.”

Shit! This was what I was afraid of. It looks like everyone is in for a big surprise. I was led over to a group of women. With a nod, the shaman left. All of the women except one were chattering with each other and at me. The exception was standing off to the side with her arms folded and was staring a hole through me. After a bit, I was able to extricate myself from the gaggle and walked over to her. It was then that I spotted the necklace she was wearing. It was identical to the one Lilly had. She frowned when she saw me eyeing it but said nothing. We stood looking at each other a minute then she said something in the native language.

“Sorry, don’t speak it but I am curious as to where you got that necklace. I have seen another like it.”

I figured that she couldn’t speak English but she seemed to understand me. Finally, she nodded and pointed to a creek near by. I followed her over to it and we knelt down to drink. She looked sideways at me.

“Where did you see it?”

“Oh, one of my companions has one. She was separated from me and, I guess, released.”

She frowned.

“But you do not have one?”

I looked at her hard and shook my head.

“We can’t talk now. All guests will present you with an offering before the final ceremony. I will give you this. It will protect you during the final challenge.”

She stood up and hurried away. I watched her leave. The only thing I could come up with was that she was part of the crew of the space ship. But, if so, why was she here and what became of the ship? I walked back over to the other women. It looked like the feast was about to begin. I followed their lead and ate until I was about to bust. The dog was as well. I had to admit that that the food was terrific. Mary would like it. That thought started a bout of depression. It must have been obvious because Danya came over.

“Have we done something wrong?”

I smiled.

“On the contrary, this feast is great. I was just missing someone.”

He nodded.

“I guess gods have special friends too.”

He turned and walked back over to the men folk. I wasn’t sure what was expected of me but I needed to be alone a bit. I went back to my teepee and sat down. Hopefully, Lilly would find the ship. That woman with the necklace was now a wild card. If she is part of the crew, I needed to talk with her badly. This adventure was getting old fast. After moping a while, I went back to the festivities. The dance had been going on for quite a while and the sun was going to set soon. Danya spotted me and came over.

“Please come with me. Several guests from other villages would like to present you with their offerings.”

I was led to the center teepee and sat down inside on a mound of furs. Indians came in one at a time. I was given a knife, a fossil of some kind, and a beautifully decorated bowl. Finally, the woman came in. She draped the necklace over my head and touched something on the back of the pendant. I felt a tingle. She whispered in my ear.

“Don’t take it off. I will try to talk with you after the ceremony.”

She walked back out and another Indian came in. He bowed and handed me a silver bracelet. After all the guests had delivered their presents, Danya came in.

“It is time for the confirmation.”

He took hold of my hand and escorted me to a large tree. I stood in front of it with my hands down at my side. Four chiefs walked over and stopped about 10 paces in front of me. The shaman started a long speech that I could not understand. When he finished, he motioned to the chiefs. The first one took his bow and launched an arrow at my chest. To my glee, it bounced off. The next chief shot one right at my left eye. When it too fell away harmlessly, I breathed a sigh of relief. That protective underwear would not have saved me from that. This pendant must be covering me with some kind of force field. It sure wasn’t something we had in our time. The final two chiefs shot their arrows also with no effect. The other Indians let off with a loud cheer. I guess I had passed their test. Danya came over to me. He took my hand and we walked slowly through the throng. All were chattering and touching me. When we reached my teepee, he looked me in the eye and smiled.

“You are truly from the gods and will be revered by our people. Rest tonight and tomorrow we will seek a vision.”

He nodded and departed. I went into teepee and sagged to the ground. This had to have been one of the hardest days of my life.

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Rosco and I rode through a pass he knew about in the Big Horns. We had seen no one since we left the Indian village two days ago.

“Rosco, do you think it’s safe to go back to rescue John?”

He shook his head.

“No way! Just because we haven’t seen any Indians doesn’t mean they haven’t been watching us. Our only choice is to ride on west. Do you really think you can find that ship of yours?”

“I think so. The tracker signal is getting stronger. My fear is that I won’t be able to enter it. I’m sure the crew put on some kind of protection system before they left.”

Rosco looked thoughtful.

“I wonder what happened to them. Wouldn’t they have left someone with the ship?”

“No, the ship has an artificial intelligence that will maintain it. However, if they powered down the ship so it couldn’t be detected from space as I suspect, the intelligence will only activate if someone goes near the ship or it is contacted.”

We continued on towards the Rocky’s. This was very desolate country though pretty. I’m glad it is summer. I can imagine how difficult this journey would be in the winter. Game was plentiful and Rosco kept us well fed. We had just entered the first pass when I spotted smoke.

“What do you make of that? Do you think it’s Indians?”

Rosco peered at the rising smoke.

“I’d say it’s chimney smoke. Probably a trapper cabin.”

“Should we bypass it?”

“No, we need information as to what’s ahead. Let’s pay a visit.”

As we rounded a bend, the cabin came into view. It looked sturdy. We rode up to it and a very large man walked out to meet us. He had a very big gun. Rosco suddenly gave a whoop.

“Bill, you ole’ scutter. I didn’t know you was up here?”

“Rosco! Where the hell have you been? It’s been, I don’t know, 10 years I guess.”

“Yep. Man, I thought the Shoshone had got you.”

Bill laughed big.

“Not hardly! I’m real careful. Well, come on in.”

Bill looked me over.

“Whose your friend?”

“Someone I escaped from Hilltown with. Lilly, this here’s my old friend Bill.”

I laughed.

“So I gather. Nice to meet you, Bill.”

“Like wise I’m sure.”

We went inside his cabin. It was small but built well and kept neat. Bill pulled a big pot of coffee off his fireplace and poured us each a cup.

“So, Rosco, who run you out of Hilltown?”

Rosco huffed.

“Marshal Slago but, if it weren’t for Lilly and John, I would’a stayed and fought him.”

Bill laughed and shook his head.

“You sure haven’t changed much. Whose this John feller?”

“John Harper. He was captured by the Cheyenne on the way here. They let Lilly and I go.”

Bill frowned.

“That don’t make sense.”

“They seemed to want John real bad.”

Rosco hesitated.

“Uh, John’s a she pretending to be a he.”

Now Bill nodded with a half smile.

“Aw, dual nature. Them Indians is big on that.”

I perked up.

“What do you mean?”

“Most tribes think people who are both male and female are spirit people with big medicine.”

I nodded.

“So it was John who saved us then.”

“I imagine so. Where are you headed now?”

“Just west.”

“That’s not a good idea. Them Shoshone are worse than the Cheyenne or Lakota Sioux.”

Bill didn’t push it further. I’m glad Rosco kept the details about John to himself. We spent the night with Bill and Rosco swapping tales. I woke up to fish frying. Bill saw me rise up.

“Hope you like fish for breakfast. I ain’t got no eggs or bacon.”

“No problem.”

I looked around and didn’t see Rosco. Bill noticed and pointed at the door.

“He’s out scouting around. I saw Indian signs while I was gettin’ the fish.”

When the fish were eaten, Rosco came back inside.

“It was a hunting party. We better git before they come back. I want to be way up in the mountains by noon.”

We packed up, said our good byes, and trudged on.

“Bill seems like a good sort.”

Rosco snorted.

“If he didn’t know me, we’d be dead. He doesn’t cotton to strangers. The reason the Indians leave him alone is because he’s crazy.”

I was shocked.

“You’re kidding me?”

“Nope, I seen him kill two men with his bare hands because they looked funny. He’s a bad one but we got on fine. I am glad John wasn’t with us. Bill would have gotten mean.”

I just shook my head. What’s next!

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After entering everything I could think of into Tinker’s tablet, I walked into the galley. I handed it to Bell. I was still feeling upset.

“Something has been going on here that we have not been told. I’m getting fed up and I am worried sick about Jonnie.”

Bell looked genuinely sorry.

“It’s not for me to say. I will talk with Tinker when I hand in the tablet.”

Karen came in and handed over her tablet. Bell left to find Tinker.

“Karen, what is going on here?”

She looked thoughtful.

“Do you feel Tinker knew Jonnie would go back in time?”

“No, just the opposite.”

It hit me then.

“That’s why Tinker was so anxious for you and I to go back in to rescue Jonnie so quickly. I wondered about that at the time but didn’t say anything because I was so upset. We could have gone days later and still hit the same time as Jonnie did.”

“Yep!”

Tinker and Bell walked in then. Tinker faced us.

“OK, I guess it’s time for the truth.”

I stared.

“We’re all ears.”

Tinker sighed.

“It started with the device Jonnie used to stabilize our planet.”

I nodded.

“Yes, we know about that. It worked but Jonnie got sent back in time 3 years.”

Tinker looked at Bell then back to me.

“Well, not exactly. We had always thought that the technology in the ruins was from an ancient race. When we started really studying the ruins, it became apparent that they were only about 500 years old. This was a great concern. However, the discovery of the device that ultimately saved our planet put all of those thoughts on the back burner. When Jonnie activated the device, it did what we thought it should except Jonnie disappeared along with it. We had, however, set up some monitoring to see what actually happened as the device was used. To our surprise, Jonnie was first sent over a thousand years into the future and then back to 3 years before our time. Our scientists believed that the people who made the ruins were in the future. So, they brought Jonnie there and then sent her back. Since then, our whole efforts have been in trying to contact them.”

I stood open mouthed.

“I can’t believe what I’ve just heard. And you think Humans area treacherous. We don’t hold a candle to you!”

Beyond Galactic Marshal
by
Hilltopper

Chapter 13

After a bit, the woman that had the necklace came into the teepee. She stared a minute and then held out her hand. I sighed, took off the necklace, and handed it to her.

“Thank you. I wouldn’t have survived without it. I assume you are a member of the crew of the spaceship hid in the Tetons.”

She looked shocked.

“How do you know about that?”

“The companion I mentioned who had a necklace like yours. Her name is Lilly.”

She shook her head.

“Sorry, don’t know her.”

“Well, I guess that’s not her real name since she is not from here. Of course, neither am I.”

I looked at her hard.

“I came through the gate.”

She sucked in her breathe.

“I thought that was shut down.”

I sighed.

“It is now. In fact, it’s gone; blasted from space.”

She frowned.

“We were afraid that would happen. I guess this Lilly is trying for the ship.”

I nodded.

“She may find it but it won’t do her any good. It is locked up tight. We were afraid to leave it unprotected and told the AI to ignore all signals except ones from us. You know, I shouldn’t be telling you anything. I don’t even know who you are or why you’re here.”

“I’m here by accident and all I want is to get back to my own time. I have a spouse and son back there.”

She looked shocked.

“How could you get through the gate by accident. That is impossible.”

“Yeah, so I’ve been told. However, I am here. I have a question. Where is the rest of your crew and why are you here?”

She closed her eyes and sighed heavily.

“They are dead. We were visiting the old caldera when an explosion knocked us down. When I came to, the others were dead and I was not too far from it either. Some Cheyenne found me and nursed me back to health.”

I was puzzled.

“Didn’t the pendant protect you?”

“It certainly saved my life but it has its limitations. The explosion was so severe that the field was overpowered. After I healed, the Indians discovered that I couldn’t be hurt and sort of adopted me as a shaman. That is why I am here; to witness the coming to fruition of the vision that you are a part of. By the way, how did you survive the initial test without my pendant?”

I smiled.

“Underwear”

She looked puzzled a second and then the light bulb went on.

“Oh yeah, I remember those. It’s a good thing they didn’t shoot you in the head.”

“Tell me about it.”

She laughed.

“I need to get back. We will be leaving in the morning. I wish I could talk with you more, however, you will be busy.”

She had a smirk on her face.

“Do you know something I should know?”

“All I will say is ‘been there; done that’. Just go with the flow.”

She stood up and hurried out. I turned to the dog.

“It looks like tomorrow is going to be tough.”

He didn’t seem concerned. I tried to sleep but her words kept echoing in my mind. Lilly would not be able to enter the ship and I am stuck here doing god knows what. I finally drifted off. When I awoke, it was light outside. I had slept in my clothes. My only other clothes were the jeans and flannel shirts I had with me. They might not be viewed as appropriate for the spirit of good fortune. I looked out of the teepee. Everyone was busy until I was spotted. All work stopped. One of the braves poked his head into the shaman’s teepee. A couple of minutes later, he popped out and headed to me.

“Tiana will take you to bathe. Afterwards, we will journey to the sacred place to seek out your vision.”

“What about breakfast?”

He shook his head.

“You must fast or the vision will not come.”

Great! I eat like a horse yesterday and now nothing. Tiana walked up and I followed her to the bathing spot which was just a deep place in the creek. She stood watching me and I just stood and watched her right back. Finally, she sighed and turned around saying something. I probably didn’t want it translated. I took off the dress and moccasins. That was all I was wearing so I was completely naked. Putting a foot into the creek, I was surprised as to how warm it was. Diving in, I swam a minute and stepped out. Naturally, Tiana was staring at me. She motioned to a rock and we set down in the sun. I wished that I could talk with her and imagined she wished the same. After about 20 minutes, I was essentially dry so I got dressed. We walked back to Danya. Tiana said something, pointed at me, and giggled. She then walked away.

“What was that about?”

He turned redder than he was.

“Uh, she was just commenting on your shyness.”

“Oh”

“Come, it is time to seek your vision for our people.”

He headed off toward a strange rock formation. It seemed to be quite far away. The dog and I followed closed behind. After walking for about 3 hours in silence, he stopped and pointed.

“See that notch?”

“Yes”

“Go through that and you will find a flat area of rocks. Sit there and your vision will come. I will check on you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? How long am I to be there?”

He looked at me in surprise.

“As long as it takes.”

He turned and walked back the way we came. This was just great. I hiked on through the notch which took most of the rest of the day. I found the spot he was talking about. There was literally nothing there but rocks; no food, no water, no nothing. I sat down, rubbed the dog’s neck, and looked up.

“OK gods, what now?”

“Head west, fair maiden.”

I fell over backwards.

“What the -------?”

Then I heard a laugh.

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”

I raised my head to see the necklace woman striding toward me.

“I knew this was where you would be sent. After thinking about what you told me, I decided maybe we should go to the ship. We’ve probably messed up the time line enough. My name is Janna by the way.”

I stood up and glared at her.

“You scared the bejesus out of me!”

She laughed again.

“Come on, my camp is over that rise.”

It was about an hour hike. She had some stew cooking and I was famished. We sat down and ate. I gave some to the dog. I thought that I really should give him a name. Oh, well.

“As soon as we finish, we better break camp and make tracks. I don’t want those Cheyenne to find us.”

“I guess they will be pretty pissed when they find me gone.”

She shook her head.

“On the contrary, they will think the gods have taken you back. It will be a good sign to them.”

I then thought of my clothes and things back at the Indian camp.

“Shit! All my things are back with the Indians. I can’t hike in the mountains dressed like this!”

“Why not? That deerskin dress should be comfortable. Besides, we can’t risk going back to the camp.”

I glared at her.

“You don’t understand!”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got two horses staked out behind us.”

I sighed and stood up.

“Fine! Let’s go then.”

We walked to the horses and she mounted up. It hit me.

“I can’t get on a horse with this dress.”

She laughed.

“I won’t look.”

“But I don’t have any underwear.”

“Oh, that might be a problem.”

She reached into her pack and pulled out a scarf.

“Here, put this over the horse blanket. It should prevent any chaffing.”

Defeated, I got on the horse. It didn’t feel too bad but I sure hoped I didn’t run into anyone. Of course, that wasn’t likely. We started down a trail into the mountains. Janna looked over at me.

“OK, now that we have the time, I want to know your story. I still don’t get how you are here.”

So, I told my story including everything that had happened since I came through the gate.

“Wow, that’s some tale. You really are a man then?”

I sighed.

“I’ve been back and forth so much that I don’t know any more. Right now, I’m pretty much male I guess.”

“Well, I can now see why you didn’t want to wear that dress while riding a horse. Does it hurt?”

“No, it is actually OK; just kind of embarrassing.”

She laughed and I had to admit that I looked the part of an Indian. We rode on all day in order to get as far away from the Cheyenne as we could. On towards dusk, we saw smoke on the horizon. Over a rise, a cabin appeared in the distance.

“Hey, that might be a place to spend the night.”

She shivered and shook her head.

“No, that’s crazy Bill’s place. We don’t want any part of him. Let’s go back over the hill and make camp.”

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Rosco and I rode onward the next few days without seeing anyone. The going was pretty rough. My tracker was giving a strong signal and it looked like we would reach the ship soon. I wondered how John was making out with the Indians. They seemed to believe he was something special. I had to admit that I felt that way too. He was very different from the men here in this time and place. Of course, that was probably because he isn’t from here. He had told me that he was a woman before coming through the gate. This may explain things but I wasn’t sure. My people back home thought nothing like him. It could be the reason they set up this experiment in the past. Our planet was stagnating. There was no doubt about it. We had pretty much shunned exploration of the cosmos. John had said that Fledora did the same thing. Since we seemed to be an off chute from them, it made sense. My day dreaming came to a halt when we topped a ridge. Before us was a beautiful sight. Rosco grinned.

“This must be the Tetons.”

“I’d say so.”

“How far do you think that ship is from here?”

I shook my head.

“I’m not sure. Maybe a day or two.”

“OK, let’s make camp here. Tomorrow we can start our search for it.”

With camp set up and supper eaten, I collapsed into my bed roll. Our goal was in sight and I was now feeling the effects of the journey. The next morning, we broke camp and followed the direction the tracker showed. By mid afternoon, we had not found anything. The tracker was pointed toward a narrow canyon. Rosco looked perplexed.

“That canyon is a dead end. If your ship’s not there, we will need to back track and go around that mountain. It could take days.”

“The signal is at max. I’d say it’s there.”

“OK, let’s camp at the entrance. It’ll get dark quick in there. I’d like to have all day to explore it.”

So, even though I was excited and impatient, we camped for the night. Once the sun was well up the next morning, we entered the canyon. The walls were at least 100 meters high on both sides. The floor was rock strewn. Around noon, we came to an unusual formation. Very large rocks blocked the way but there was still more canyon beyond. There was no way the horses could go any farther. After walking along the rocks, we found a crevice we could get through. Once we passed beyond the rocks, a most wonderful vision came into view. It was the ship!

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Tinker did not look the least bit bothered. I sighed.

“So, what now?”

Bell said something in their language. Tinker nodded.

“We have learned that your military is preparing to leave Prowhiness. When they go, we will return to the gate.”

“I thought it is dead.”

I looked over at Karen.

“Yep, as a door nail.”

Tinker’s head shook.

“There is dead and there is really dead.”

I was getting tired off Tinker’s games.

“What the hell does that mean?”

“The gate may be unusable right now for travel but it still might be possible to send a message or at least alert the future race that we are here.”

This was not something I had thought of. There might still be a chance to rescue Jonnie.

“OK. I’m game. If there is any chance of convincing them to help get Jonnie, I want to take it.”

Karen nodded.

“I agree.”

“Good! As soon as it’s safe, we will go down.

Beyond Galactic Marshal
by
Hilltopper

Chapter 14

I was sleeping soundly when a loud yell woke me up. A large man was standing just outside our camp. He seemed mad as hell. Janna was staring at him with her hands on her hips. I stood up and started to ask what was going on when the man suddenly raised a large gun. He yelled and fired. I felt something impact my lower body. Everything turned black.

“John, can you hear me?”

I was very numb but thought someone was talking to me. I opened my eyes and saw Janna looking down at me.

“What?”

“Lie still. That stupid crazy Bill shot you. I’ve put my pendant around you to help stabilize things.”

“You can’t! He might shoot you!”

She looked sad.

“No, he’s gone. You are in bad shape. I’ve contacted my ship and told the AI to pick us up. There is a medical unit on it.”

This stunned me.

“How did you do that?”

She ignored my question.

“I told the AI to pick up Rosco and Lilly if it sees them. I’m so sorry. It all happened so fast. He came out of no where. His hatred of Indians has driven him insane. When you stood up, he saw your Indian dress and just shot before I could react.”

This was all I needed. After everything I have been through to die in the mountains of Wyoming away from my loved ones hundreds of years in the past.

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

Rosco and I walked up to the ship. Rosco looked faint.

“Lilly, this thing is incredible. It can really fly like a bird?”

I laughed.

“Better than that, no bird can go into outer space but this sure can.”

I went to the hatch. Normally the AI would announce itself but nothing happened.

“We would like to enter the ship.”

Still nothing. I turned to Rosco.

“I was afraid of this. The ship is powered down completely.”

“So what do we do?”

“I don’t know. Only one of the crew can activate the AI at this stage.”

Rosco looked at me warily.

“And if the crew is all dead?”

I sighed.

“In that case, so is the ship. I’m just a grunt. Nobody trusted me with ship codes. There is no way to get into the ship unless the AI let’s us.”

Rosco looked at my pendant.

“What about that thing?”

I shrugged.

“It sends out a signal but, if the AI is programmed to ignore it, we are sunk. I guess all we can do for now is camp near the hatch.”

We set up camp. Rosco went looking for supper but had no luck. It is probably because of the ship. We had some jerky and made do with that. I sat wondering about the crew. If they were still alive, they would have come back to the ship. The mission was supposed to be an easy scientific exploration. Apparently, the old caldera was huge and not something normally seen on a planet inhabited by intelligent beings. When it had blown, the result would have been catastrophic. The crew must have run into trouble with the Indians. If so, there is the possibility that they could be alive but being held prisoners. Of course, it has been a long time. With nothing now to do and an aching body, I hit the sack. Rosco had been quiet and moody all evening; not that I blamed him.

“Good night, Rosco. We’ll think of something tomorrow.”

“Yeah”

It was a hard nights sleeping. I dreamed of scary aliens, hostile Indians, and mad trappers. Just before dawn, I finally gave up and made a fire. I was sitting staring into it when Rosco woke up. He joined me in silence. The sun was up now but hidden by the canyon walls. This place obviously didn’t get much sunlight. Suddenly, I heard a noise from the ship. Turning toward it, to my amazement, the hatch was now open.

“Rosco, look!”

He turned.

“How did you open it?”

“I didn’t.”

I stood up and walked to the hatch. A voice bellowed out.

“Get in quickly. I have been recalled.”

What the hell did that mean?

“Rosco, untether the horses. We have got our ride out of here.”

He was standing with his mouth open.

“Hurry!”

He ran to the horses and then back. We entered the ship and the hatch closed.

“Please strap in. We are launching.”

I pushed Rosco into the command center and we got into the chairs. Rosco was obviously awe struck.

“This is unbelievable!”

A count down was showing on a screen; 5---4---3---2---1---. The ship lurched upward. Rosco’s eyes went wide.

“Holy shit!”

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“John, I’ve been in contact with the AI. Rosco and Lilly are aboard and the ship should be here in a few minutes.”

“OK”

I looked around.

“Where’s the dog?”

Janna got a strange look on her face.

“When Bill shot you, he strode into the camp for another go. The dog jumped him. Bill killed the dog but not before he had mortally wounded Bill. I’m real sorry.”

I nodded.

“Poor dog. I’m glad now I didn’t name him. He was a good companion during some tough times.”

I shook my head and some tears ran down my cheeks. A slight whooshing noise now reached my ears. I looked toward the sound. A small but amazing looking ship had passed over the mountains and was heading for us.

“That is one good looking ship; in more ways than one.”

“It is pretty ordinary but a welcome site none the less.”

I looked at her puzzled. Then it hit me.

“I forget how far in the future your culture is from mine.”

“Oh yeah, you’re not from my time are you?”

“Nope”

The ship settled down in a clearing about 50 meters away. After a few minutes, two people exited and ran toward us. They were Rosco and Lilly.

“Oh John, what happened?”

“Some crazy trapper shot me.”

Rosco looked startled.

“Shit! Crazy Bill! Where is he now?”

“Dead”

Rosco nodded sadly.

“I guess it was bound to happen but he befriended me.

Rosco then spotted Janna.

“Janna! I thought you was dead.”

“I almost was. It’s good to see you Rosco.”

She glanced at Lilly.

“I don’t know you.”

“I came through after you left.”

“Hmm, we need to get John into the medical unit. Tell the AI. It will show you a transporter.”

Lilly ran back to the ship and returned followed by a strange looking cart. I was loaded onto it and quickly transported to the ship. Once inside, Janna took off the pendant and I was placed into a medical pod of some kind. It completely enclosed me but was not dark. Before I could panic, I drifted off.

When I awoke, I was lying on a bed. It seemed like no time had passed but I knew that wasn’t true. I felt fine but a little strange. Remembering where I had been shot, I looked down there.

“Uh oh!”

Yep, here we go again. How did I end up female again. Just then, everyone walked in. Lilly came over to the bed.

“Hey John, I’m so glad you are alright.”

“That’s a matter of opinion. I take it the damage was severe.”

Janna walked up.

“You could say that. The strange thing is that the med unit found mature ovaries and a uterus. Care to explain?”

I sighed.

“I was born intersexed. Swapping sexes several times has caused some problems. Before I went to Prowhiness, I was told of the development but I figured the trip through the gate had changed all that.”

“Well, apparently not. The med unit is part of the AI system and makes its own determinations based on the findings of its examination. The report given to me states that there were no male organs present while there were female ones. Basically, all the unit did was to heal your wounds including a vagina. So, congratulations, you are now a woman again.”

I sat back shocked. This was way more than before. Then I was pretending to be a woman; superficially only. Now, I really am female. I looked at Janna.

“Does this mean a fully functioning female?”

She looked puzzled.

“Of course.”

“Shit!”

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

I decided to call George. He should know how things are going with the military. I used the code he had given me. He popped up on the vid.

“Hey Mary, I was wondering what you and Karen were up to. The word I get is that the military can find no sign of you.”

I laughed.

“Well, that was the plan. Karen is an expert at that.”

“Yeah, it sure has ruffled some feathers. With no ruins, a dead gate, and no one else to interview, the Planetopolis has given orders for a recall. The military is packing up now and should be completely gone sometime tomorrow.”

“What about you and Linda?”

“We’ve stayed on the marshal’s ship. I haven’t received any orders as yet.”

“Hmm, maybe I should talk to Sam. We have made contact with the aliens again.”

“No shit! I figured they were gone for good. What do they want?”

“There is a chance we might be able to use the gate to contact the future people. If we can, they might help us find Jonnie.”

“Wow, that is good news, I think. I just don’t trust those aliens. I know they helped me out but they talk out of the side of their mouths.”

I laughed.

“I agree but it is our only hope at this point.”

“OK but I don’t think it’s a good idea to call Sam. He may be monitored or feel that he must pass on the info about the aliens. I’ll talk to him about staying on here for a while.”

“That would be great! Call me when the military has left.”

“Sure thing. Be careful! Out”

His image disappeared. I turned to Karen.

“What do you think?”

She shrugged.

“What else? We wait.”

The next afternoon, George gave us the heads up that the coast was clear. Tinker and Bell already knew. No surprise there. We arranged to meet George and Linda at the gate site. Tinker seemed a little hesitant but finally agreed. Once on the ground, Karen and I rushed over to George’s shuttle.

“Boy it’s good to see you both.”

“The feeling’s mutual, George.”

“I guess Tinker is anxious to get at the gate. How will they activate it? I was told that it had no power.”

“Got me”

I looked out to see Tinker and Bell escorting some kind of wheeled contraption to the gate. Once there, they went inside.

“Well Karen, it looks like they aren’t wasting any time.”

“Yeah, I wonder if I’m supposed to operate the gate.”

“I don’t know since they are only trying to send a message.”

Tinker and Bell came out of the gate and walked over to George’s shuttle. We went out to meet them. Tinker looked at Karen.

“We have attached the power source to the gate that we used in our experimentation with it. The gate now has partial power. We would like you to try to send a pulse through it. Hopefully, the future race will recognize it.”

“OK, I guess.”

We went to the gate and Karen entered it. She called back out.

“It didn’t power up like before. What do you want me to do?”

Tinker looked a little down. I think they thought the gate might power up when Karen entered it.

“Place your right hand into the depression in the center of the command console. This might cause a signal to be sent.”

“OK”

A couple of minutes later, the gate suddenly powered up all the way and there was a bright flash. You guessed it, Karen was gone.

Beyond Galactic Marshal
by
Hilltopper

Chapter 15

With me now healed, we needed to decide where to go. Rosco wanted to go home if it still existed. Lilly was not too thrilled about leaving Earth. So, the consensus was to check on the destroyed observation site.

When we reached the hill where the site was located, every one was pleasantly surprised. It had been a surgical strike. The observation room including the gate had been obliterated but there was very little collateral damage. Rosco yelled.

“My cabin! It’s still there!”

Sure enough, it looked as good as ever. His mules had even found there way home. Janna settled the ship down close to the cabin. I found a jumpsuit like thing on the ship that fit me OK, It was better than the shredded Indian dress. We all disembarked. I looked up toward the damaged site.

“I don’t see how they destroyed it without causing more damage to the surrounding area.”

Janna nodded.

“It was a very accurate strike for one from orbit. I don’t know what kind of weapon was used. The site is gone with not much to suggest it was ever there.”

“Yeah, it reminds me of the weapons portrayed on those old sci-fi videos; disrupters or something.”

Rosco shuttered.

“I just hope their gone.”

Lilly sighed.

“There is no reason for them to stay unless they know about the ship.”

Janna glanced over.

“I don’t think they do. We were very careful in concealing it.”

I looked at her.

“Won’t they spot it when we leave Earth?”

“Probably eventually. It depends on whether they have gone and if they left any probes behind.”

She stared at me a few seconds.

“You seem to want to leave.”

I looked at her in surprise.

“Don’t you?”

She sighed.

“I guess but where would we go. Our base is apparently gone and we are 1500 years in the past.”

Lilly spoke up.

“You’ve convinced me. I’m staying here. Our home isn’t obtainable and I wasn’t that crazy about it when I was there. This is my home now.”

Rosco grinned.

“That’a girl.”

I frowned.

“What about Slago?”

“Oh, he won’t bother us. You’re the one he’s after.”

“True”

Lilly had tears in here eyes.

“I wish you would stay too. There’s nothing out there for you.”

I sighed.

“If there is any hope at all to be rejoined with my family, I’m going to take it. It is a dead end here with the gate gone. The gate at your base may still be there.”

“So might those aliens.”

“I know but I’m for checking it anyway.”

Janna nodded.

“OK, it is a possibility. I’m not keen on staying here so I guess we could go.”

Lilly turned to me tearfully.

“If you go, won’t see you again. I know it!”

I hugged her.

“It’s something I must do.”

“At least stay overnight.”

I shook my head.

“We can‘t risk anyone seeing the ship.”

Janna agreed. We said our good byes and went back on board. I hoped Rosco and Lilly will be OK. They are right to stay. They both have a life here. We got into the command chairs. Janna powered the craft up.

“Let’s go into a low orbit first. If the aliens are still about, we can get back down quickly.”

“Sounds good to me.”

We lifted off and were in orbit before long. The ships sensors started their search. While waiting, we discussed our situation.

“How long will it take to get to Prowhiness?”

Janna looked puzzled and then it registered.

“Oh yeah, that is your name for the planet our base is on. AI, plot the quickest route to the base.”

The AI came right back.

“It will take 13 hours.”

I nodded. Janna looked at me a few seconds.

“So what’s your story anyway?”

I briefly went through how I came to be here. Janna smiled.

“Now I understand why you were startled when waking up from your surgery. Jees! It’s a wonder you’re still sane.”

I grinned big.

“Who says I am?”

This got us both laughing. The AI chimed in.

“There are no probes or ships within range.”

“OK, good, take us to the base post haste.”

Janna looked over at me.

“I imagine you are still recovering. Why don’t you lie down for a while.”

She pointed at a door.

“There is a bed of sorts in there.”

“Yeah, I do need it.”

I went into the room. There was a bunk attached to a wall. It reminded me of the ones on the old warships. I lay back and sighed. What if we don’t find anything on Prowhiness? I don’t think I can handle living in this time like I am now. With another sigh, I dozed off.

I awoke to the ship shaking violently. Rushing out, Janna yelled back at me.

“There’s no damage.”

“What the hell happened?”

“I don’t know. There are no ships showing on sensors. Besides, while traveling in hyperspace, all should be calm.”

“Could it be something wrong with the ship’s drive?”

The AI spoke up.

“All systems are nominal.”

I sat down beside Janna.

“So, any guesses?”

Janna looked thoughtful.

“Just a theory. Time travel into the past is a delicate thing. No matter how careful you are, some changes are going to occur. I’d say we caught up to time waves. They are greatly enhanced while in hyperspace.”

“By time waves, you mean changes in the time line.”

“Exactly”

“Hmm, if time travel is so dangerous, why do it at all?”

“Good question. I’m not privy to our leaders reasoning. The rumors I heard were that the discovery of males on an old Earth colony scared them. I don’t know why.”

I frowned.

“After living on Fledora, I can believe that. Those people are completely paranoid when it comes to the male members of our species. Of course, history does show that male domination is a strong trait and one that has caused many problems for women. I guess that I am unique in that I have experienced both sides.”

“Yeah, but how that could relate to the observation post here in the past is beyond me.”

Just then the AI made an announcement.

“We are approaching the planet. There are two unknown ships orbiting it.”

I looked over at Janna.

“Uh oh!”

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“What just happened?”

Tinker smiled.

“I’d say the future race brought Karen to them.”

I glared at Tinker.

“You expected this!”

“We expected something. This was one of the possibilities.”

“You are despicable!”

I turned and went to George’s shuttle. Once inside, I broke down. Linda rushed over to me.

“I can’t take much more of this.”

Linda patted my back.

“Those alien assholes will get theirs. Where’s Karen?”

“That’s just it! They tricked her into the gate and now she is gone!”

George walked up.

“You mean into the future?”

“That’s what Tinker said.”

I went into the galley and picked up Raylan.

“Oh my angel, what are we to do?”

George was mad as hell.

“I’m going out there and confront them.”

I shook my head.

“No, all we can do is wait.”

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I put my hand into the depression in the gate control. The next thing I knew I was looking at the bright room in the future. Cautiously, I walked out of the gate. The room the gate is in is quite large but contains nothing but the gate. Going over to the door I had gone through last time I was here, I found it to be locked. I pounded on it but, after several minutes, I gave up. I went back to the gate to see if I could operate it. Like last time, it was now dead. Hearing a noise, I turned around. A woman I had not seen before had entered the room. She stared at me a minute and then motioned me to follow her. With no other choice, I complied. We entered a small room with a few chairs. She sat down and just looked at me. So far she had said nothing. With a sigh, I sat.

“OK, enough of the silent treatment, did you bring me here?”

She nodded but said nothing.

“Hmm, you know I’ve been here before.”

She nodded again.

“OK, so how much time was passed?”

She smiled.

“I read about the incident. A debate has been raging for years.”

“Years?”

“Yes, it has been 25 years since you appeared here.”

This stunned me. Of course, with time travel, years mean nothing. She noticed my shock.

“I set a program to automatically return here with any one that tried using the gate again.”

I nodded.

“You said something about a debate. Have any decisions been reached?”

“Some. I guess you deserve to know what has really been going on. I think you were told that the observation site on distant Earth was set up to study male behavior because a planet with males on it had been discovered.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“That is only partially true. We did discover that colony but what puzzled us was the primitive nature of it. On further exploration, it was found that this was the last surviving colony of ancient Earth. All had been wiped out by an alien force.”

This shocked me to the core.

“You mean that in your time the Planetopolis no longer exists?”

“Yes, we and that colony are all that’s left of Humanity. We realized that our planet was most likely next. Our only hope was our secret weapon; time travel. We set up a base in the past on an uninhabited planet to try to determine what the threat was. The Putarks, the aliens you and Jonnie were dealing with, discovered our old base hundreds of years later. At this time, they were under attack by the same aliens. They used some of our technology to stave off an attack using Jonnie to operate it. When she used the device, she was transported here. We sent her back as close to her time as we could with no knowledge that she had been here. The information gleaned by us from the device was invaluable. We realized that our best hope of surviving was to get rid of the aliens when they first entered this part of the galaxy 1500 years ago. We set up the observation site on Earth to attract their attention. The plan is to draw them in before they are ready.”

“In other words, defeat them in the past before they became too strong to handle.”

“Correct. At the same time though, we must do it in such a way to not affect our time line. If we did something in the past that significantly changed our history, we might cause something worse that what the aliens could accomplish.”

“So our going through the gate to Earth was not foreseen.”

“No and it has caused much consternation and discussion.”

I grimaced.

“Wow, I reckon so. What have you decided to do?”

She sighed.

“We are going ahead with our plan of attack and hope that your Jonnie doesn’t screw things up too much.”

Beyond Galactic Marshal
by
Hilltopper

Chapter 16

“This is really bad. AI, hide us behind the nearest moon.”

I looked at Janna. She was spooked.

“Do you think we were spotted?”

“I sure hope not. I don’t think we can out run them. This ship is not made for speed and we have no weapons.”

“Great! Do you know if the gate is still there?”

The AI spoke up.

“I am receiving a signal from the gate. It is intact but is powered down.”

Janna nodded.

“At least that is good news. The trouble is, with those ships stationed around the planet, we can’t get to the gate.”

I thought a minute.

“Can we send a signal to the gate from here?”

“Yes, but I don’t know if it will be forwarded with the gate powered down.”

The AI chimed in again.

“No message can be forwarded through time without physical access to the gate.”

I sighed.

“So, what now?”

“Let’s wait a bit to see if we have been detected.”

We set for a nervous hour or so. Nothing had come for us. Janna pounded the arm of her command chair.

“We can’t stay here much longer.”

Suddenly, the AI sounded an alarm.

“The gate has powered up and several drones have come through it.”

I shook my head.

“God, what now?”

Janna was smiling.

“They must be from my people. Let’s poke our heads out.”

We moved to where we could observe the planet. A bright flash of light almost blinded me. Janna squealed.

“One down!”

“You mean they are attacking the alien ships?”

“They sure are and are too small for the ships to target.”

Just then another flare lit up.

“Whoopee!”

I had a bad thought.

“What about us?”

Janna looked puzzled.

“I mean, are we next?”

She appeared shocked.

“AI, send out a signal as to who we are.”

“Already done. No response as yet.”

We went into a high orbit. So far, nothing had confronted us. After a couple of hours, the AI gave us some welcome news.

“The probes have left this area of space.”

“Janna, should we go down to the gate?”

“I don’t know. It looks like we have gone to war against those aliens. Let’s hang out here a while.”

A few hours later, one of the probes returned and went back through the gate.

“I think it is reporting in. We should hear something soon.”

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The woman suddenly looked up as if hearing something. She turned to me.

“Sorry, Karen, I’ve got to go. Please remain here until I return.”

She hurried out the door. Before the door closed, I heard a lot of commotion. Maybe their attack was starting. About 30 minutes later, she came back in with a big smile on her face.

“It’s going to work! We need to get you back home in case there are significant timeline changes.”

“OK but that doesn’t sound good.”

She just shrugged.

“One never knows.”

We went back to the gate. The room was now filled with dangerous looking probes. She nodded.

“These will be used to defeat the aliens. Please enter the gate.”

I had a lot of questions but realized she was in a hurry. I walked into the gate. It was already at full power. She fiddled with something in her hand. A woman walked up and they appeared to be arguing. The woman took the device from the other woman’s hand and punched something. I was about to come back out of the gate when there was the familiar flash. I was once again on Prowhiness. Unfortunately, the only other thing around was the gate. The ruins were still gone and now the wrecked house was also gone without a trace. There were no ships here either. Could it be that the time line was changing? Whatever the reason, I was now stuck here with no food or water. I tried the gate but, of course, it was now completely dead.

“This is just great!”

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After a few hours with nothing happening, I lay back down. This time line changing thing was weighing on my brain. If I got back home, what would I find? I was now female but in my old world I was male. OK not all the time based on appearances but male none the less. Plus, what if changes occurred that caused me to never have been born. This stuff could drive one insane. I guess I went to sleep because I was aroused by Janna.

“The AI just told me that a swarm of probes has come through the gate and disappeared into the same direction as the other probes. I’d say this is the main attack on the aliens. My big question is why?”

I sat up.

“It would seem that your race is wiping them out in the past. That could only mean that they perceived a threat from them in your time. The question I have is what will this do to the time line; especially in my time. Those attacks are happening in my sector of space.”

Janna looked thoughtful.

“It could be pretty extensive. Let’s see if we can access the gate now.”

We landed beside the gate. Janna went over to it and tried to contact her people. She seemed to be talking to someone. After about 15 minutes, she came back to the ship.

“OK, we can go in a few minutes. The ship will just fit through the gate. It is how we brought it here in the first place.”

I was a bit startled.

“You mean we’re going into the future?”

She laughed.

“Of course but the woman I talked to was a bit vague on how far. I get the feeling we are going to go further in the future from the time I left from. It may have something to do with the attack.”

“Did you mention me?”

She frowned.

“Yes. They already know about you. There seems to be some concern.”

This surprised me. How could they know I had gone to Earth in the past? The ship suddenly lifted and started easing into the gate. Janna nodded.

“The AI is bringing the ship into the gate. The tolerances are too close for me to do it.”

After the ship was entirely inside, there was a bright flash. I then saw a brightly lit and very large room. Janna smiled.

“We’re home! This is the gate room on my planet.”

“Wow, it’s huge.”

The ship exited into the room and settled down on the floor.

“Jonnie, let’s see when we are.”

I laughed. That statement sounded so foreign. As we left the ship, a woman came into the room through a door to our left. We walked over to her. She hugged Janna.

“Welcome back. Your mission was a complete success. The aliens have been eliminated.”

Janna smiled but hesitated.

“It looks like some years have passed since I left.”

The woman nodded.

“Yes, a few.”

She turned to me.

“So this is the infamous Jonnie Harper. You probably don’t know it but you are a hero. Your actions saved your civilization and ours.”

This took be back.

“Uh, thank you but what actions?”

She just laughed.

“Come on. We have a lot to discuss.”

She exited the room and we followed. She stopped at a door after walking a few minutes.

“Jonnie, please go in there and make your self comfortable. We will bring refreshments in shortly. She opened the door, I walked inside, and the door closed. I waited a minute and then tried the door. It opened.

“Well at least I’m not a prisoner.”

Of course, she did call me a hero. What’s up with that? I sat down and a few minutes later, a woman entered with a tray of food. She just smiled, sat the tray down, and left. I was famished and dove in. Shortly after I finished eating, two women came in. One was the one that had met the ship. The other one was very tall and beautiful. She looked me over with her hands on her hips. Finally, she shook her head and smiled.

“Well, you are not what I expected.”

“Uh, sorry to disappoint. I don’t have any other clothes.”

She held up her hands.

“No, no, you are lovely, just not what I was expecting.”

I huffed.

“Me neither. Your gate and ship caused me to look like this.”

She shook her head.

“They only did what your genetics demanded. However, we need to talk seriously. The defeat of the aliens now 1500 years ago will cause significant changes in your time line.”

This, while not surprising, was something I did not want to really face. My life was screwed up enough already. She went on.

“The reason that the Putarks, that’s the race you were working with, needed their planet saved by you was because they were under attack from the aliens. We have now destroyed them. Do you understand what that means?”

“Yeah, all I have done for them now has never happened.”

“Correct almost. It will never have happened as soon as the time waves arrive. But, for you and us, there is an even greater problem. We have determined based on information from you and your sister, that our race is an off shoot from Fledora. In fact, many of us are direct descendants from you two.”

“Wow, that is heavy.”

She laughed.

“I think I know what that means. OK, here is the bad news. It has been determined that the reason your father’s ship crashed on Fledora was that it came under attack by a scout ship of the aliens.”

This stunned me. I could see immediately what that would mean.

“In other words, no crash: no Karen and I.”

“Yes and no us either.”

“Shit!”

We sat there a minute in silence. Finally, she smiled faintly.

“But we have a plan. We have already sent Karen back. You are to take the ship you came here in back in time and join up with her. She knows about the aliens but not about your possible demise. It will be up to you to save us all.”

“How will I do that from my time?”

“That’s just it. We must send you back to before your father crashed.”

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I had been on Prowhiness for a couple of hours. I thought about walking but decided there was no where to walk to. The resort was clear on the other side of the planet. No chance I could make it there. I was really getting down when I suddenly heard the gate power up. As I stood up and turned around, a small but sleek ship was coming out of the gate. I started to run but what was the point. So, I just stood and watched it settle down on the ground. A couple of minutes later, a hatch opened and a beautiful woman emerged. She spotted me and headed my way. When she got close, I thought she looked familiar. Then, it dawned on me.

“Jonnie?”

She laughed.

“In the flesh.”

I rushed to her and we hugged tightly. Tears were flowing freely.

“How on Earth?”

“It’s a long story.”

“God, I didn’t think I would ever see you again.”

She laughed.

“Me either.”

“From the looks of that ship, you must have been in the future.”

“Yep”

I shook my head.

“I can’t get over how you look. Well, I’m glad you’re here. I was stuck for sure. Let’s go find Mary.”

She frowned.

“Uh, as much as I wish I could, there is a bit of a problem. You see, we’re not in our time.”

I didn’t like this at all.

“What do you mean? This is Prowhiness.”

She sighed.

“True but let’s just say we haven’t been born yet and, unless we change the time line, we never will be.”

I sat down hard.

“Shit!”

{Author's note: Well, that's all for now. Stay tuned in the future for Beyond Galactic Marshall II. Thank you for reading and commenting.}