The travelers pushed themselves a bit in the cold and got to Fort Sully on the Missouri river around noon on the sixth day.  When they crossed the river to the fort, trading post, and camp dwellings that grew around the fort, they officially left Indian territory for the first time since entering that time zone.  Certainly, there were plenty of Indians in the camp, mostly Crow.  But there was also a montage of people outside the gates.  Some were would-be prospectors preparing to head out for the Black Hills.  Some were farmers and ranchers itching for Indian land to open up, so they could make their fortune, as they saw it.  Some were merchants and traders looking for new markets, a few having closed operations since traffic on the Oregon trail was not what it used to be now that the transcontinental railroad started operations.  Then there were three oddballs who headed straight for the travelers.  Marshal Casidy was not among them.

“You must be Robert Lockhart, future director of the Men in Black,” the front man said.  “I’m Captain Jacob Barnes, secret service.  It is secret, you know.  And you must be Major Harper.”

“Harper-Lockhart,” Katie said as she shook the man’s hand with a glance at Lockhart.

Captain Barnes smiled.  “Of course.  My companions are Doctor Wilhelm Brandt from Pennsylvania and Sergeant Tom Reynolds, formerly of the Confederate States of America.”

Katie took it upon herself to introduce the others.  Army Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Lincoln.  United States Marine Brevet Lieutenant Anthony Carter.  They both work for the Men in Black.  Marine Lieutenant Colonel Decker who thinks for himself, and his wife, Nanette.  Sukki and her adopted father Elder Stow.”

Captain Barnes leaned in.  “Sukki Stow?”

“For now,” Sukki said, and looked at Elder Stow for a moment with big, sad eyes.

“It’s all right,” Elder Stow said, kindly.  “We have discussed things.”

Katie wondered what they discussed, but Captain Barnes was not finished.  “And you are all from the future?”

“Me?” Sukki pointed at herself.  “I was born about fourteen or fifteen thousand years ago.”

“The future, yes,” Lockhart interrupted.  “There are some questions you should not ask.”

“I like your uniforms,” Sergeant Reynolds said.  “They would make Rodrigo go cross-eyed.”

“Rodrigo?” Lincoln asked.

“Our Apache friend,” Doctor Brandt said.  “He is from Arizona, or California, or Mexico.  He is not sure.  And you can call me Doc.”  He sounded very friendly.

“So, where did Marshal Casidy go?” Lockhart had a limit on pleasantries.

“Well…” Captain Barnes said and paused.  There were cavalry soldiers coming to the fort, about a hundred led by a flamboyant dresser.  As they drew near, the commander and two aids came to the gathering and dismounted.

“Captain Barnes,” the man said.  “I see you have added more crazies to your troop.  I thought after Marshal Casidy left we might restore some common sense to the fort.”

“We will leave soon, and you can have peace and quiet,” Barnes said, coming somewhat to attention.  The man ignored Captain Barnes and went straight to the blonde.

“Colonel George A. Custer,” the man introduced himself, reached for Katie’s hand, and leaned in as if wanting to kiss her hand.  “What is that you are wearing?”

Katie snapped to attention and introduced herself with a salute which made Custer withdraw a little.  “Major Katherine Harper-Lockhart, United States Marines, sir.  May I present my husband, Robert.”

Lockhart stuck his hand out with a comment. “He is not quite as tall as me.  I thought he would be at least ten feet tall.”

Custer looked shocked, but then he smiled and shook a finger at Lockhart while he shook hands.  “Barnes.  Explain.” Custer said.

“These marines and special agents are under direct orders from the president.  They are looking for Marshal Casidy with updates on his orders and expecting trouble.  We will be leaving this afternoon for Fort Randall.”

“Indians,” Custer said with a nod.  “They are always trouble.”  He turned to leave but paused. “Marines from the great lakes region?”

“No sir,” Katie said.  “Washington.  The Potomac.”

“Long way,” Custer said, and walked into the fort followed by his aids and the horses.

Katie breathed.  Tony, who stood more or less at attention that whole time let out a great sigh.  Nanette moved, like she stood still the whole time as well.  Doc asked, “What?”

“I didn’t say anything about the future,” Lockhart said.

“Me neither,” Lincoln said, and then almost messed up.  “1876 is just next year.”

“The man has to drip soup from that mustache, bad,” Decker said.

People gave him funny looks, but Sergeant Reynolds laughed.  “I think you are all right for one of them,” the Sergeant said.

“What?  A black man?”

“No.  An officer.”

Decker nodded and both turned to the side and spit at the same time which got a reaction out of Nanette.  “Decker!”

“Doc.  Sergeant,” Captain Barnes said.  “Let’s get the horses and get going before Colonel Crazy thinks of something.”

Two hours later, the group spied another small herd of buffalo.  Kate complained.  “I hate killing these things.  They go all but extinct in the not-too-distant future.”  Decker fired and one of the animals dropped.

“I know,” he said.  “But right now, there is not much choice for us or the natives.”

“I know,” Katie understood.

“Maybe we can help you feel better,” Captain Barnes said.  Doc, Sergeant Reynolds, and Tony all rode out to the kill.  It turned out Sergeant Reynolds had wood out of which he hastily made a travois to drag the beast.  Another half-hour along and they came to a Native village.  “Crow people,” Captain Barnes explained.  “Mostly the women and children that they do not bring too close to the fort.  You see, they have some warriors to protect the camp.”  Those warriors were presently surrounding the travelers but waited to see what they did with the buffalo.

Sergeant Reynolds got his wood back. Doc and Decker expertly cut a big rump steak, and then Lockhart said nice and loud in the Crow tongue.  “The rest is yours.  We will be staying with you tonight if you don’t mind.”  When no Crow objected, he added, “Make camp.  Standard watch.” not that he needed to say it out loud.

Since coming into that time zone where scrub grass stretched for miles with hardly a sign of a tree, the travelers picked up wood to carry with them when they found some.  They would have to pick up some on the next day, but for the present they had plenty and did not need to depend on the Crow for their fire.  Once things were cooking, Nanette and Sukki, with Lincoln and Elder Stow helping, brought plenty of elf bread to share with those women and children.  The Crow were grateful.

Then it got dark, and Katie grabbed Lockhart and took Sukki aside to ask her the question she had bottled up inside. “What did you mean when you said you were Elder Stow’s daughter for now?”

Sukki immediately looked at the dirt and worried her hands.  “I checked.  I read about it in the database.  Lincoln has been teaching me to read English, and Tony has helped.  We only have two more jumps to get to where we belong, except it is not where I belong, exactly.  I have seen the human world.  I am living human—I am human, now.  Elder Stow has been a wonderful father, but I don’t belong there, on the Gott-Druk world.  I can’t go there.  Even with the help of the goddess to understand the math and science it would be too strange for me now.  You are the mother and father of the group.  If you don’t mind…”  Her voice trailed off into the dark.

Even Lockhart understood the cryptic message.  “You want to go with us.”

Sukki looked up with hope and tears mixed in her eyes.

“We can raise another daughter,” Katie said to Lockhart.

“She is a bit old to officially adopt, isn’t she?”

“I lied,” Sukki said quickly and a bit too loud.  “I lied, when you found me,” she said more softly, looking down and worrying her hands again.  “I was fourteen at first.  Elder Stow knows.  I had to tell him, but I was afraid you would treat me like a child.  I’m seventeen now, and Lincoln says that eighteen is full grown enough.  My sisters Nanette and Boston knew I was the youngest sister, even if they did not know how young.  Please.  Can I go with you?”

“Of course you can,” Katie said and reached out to hug the girl who let some of those tears fall.  “And when we get home, we can even make it all legal and forever.”

“I’ll be good.”

Katie smiled.  “Just be a good daughter.”

Lockhart reached over and put his big arms around both girls.  “Daughter number three.  The family is growing.”

“Good,” they heard the word come from the dark.  Elder Stow walked to where they could see him clearly.  “I know eavesdropping is not acceptable behavior, but we Gott-Druk do not keep secrets in our family group.  It is not natural for us.  I struggled keeping Sukki’s age a secret for all this time.”

“You don’t mind if we take her and adopt her?” Lockhart said, letting go of the hug.

“Mind?  I am happy for her and for you.  I know you will love her and care for her like your own. I have seen you do so with Sekhmet and Artie.  But Gott-Druk or human, all we want for our daughters is that they be happy and secure in their days. Is this not so?”

Lockhart surprised everyone as he reached out and hugged Elder Stow briefly.  Then Katie and Sukki both hugged the Neanderthal, and Sukki began to cry, but they were happy tears.  When they returned to the campfire and the others, Captain Barnes had some information to share.

“There you are.  Good.  So, we stopped the Masters from giving Oregon territory to the British Canadians and stopped the Mexicans from sending the army to reclaim California and the southwest, not to mention Texas, which would have started a new Mexican war.  Then a servant of the Masters handed Custer a lump of gold and made sure it got in all the papers, and Marshal Casidy says that is something we cannot stop.  Marshal Casidy killed that man, but it was too late.  But wait.  You haven’t heard the most important thing…”

Doc interrupted.  “A prison ship full of alien monsters crashed in the Potomac during Lincoln’s second inauguration, and we have been chasing bug-eyed monsters all over the place.”

Captain Barnes nodded and pointed at the Doc.  Katie smiled and said, “Lincoln calls them Jell-O-blobs, not bug-eyed monsters.”  Lincoln agreed.

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MONDAY

Of course, it is not as easy as simply catching up with the Kairos, Marshal Casidy. There are aliens and then time displacements to worry about as well. Until Monday, Happy Reading.

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