After 1889 A.D. Hollywood

Kairos lifetime 120: Nadia Iliana Kolchenkov, Doctor Mishka

Recording …

Tommy let the cows out at sunrise.  He got in the loft and started dumping hay to the floor, hay that he would later shove into the stalls.  He held tight to the pitchfork and groused about having to clean the stalls first.  He thought, If Grandpa ever died, Dad would inherit the farm.  Tommy would get it when Dad passed away, but that might be years from now.  Then, he might have a son to follow him and clean the stalls for him if Nancy ever said yes.  He threw a fork full of hay to the ground and picked up another when he saw a shimmering in the air right in the middle of the barn floor.  A woman, a very good-looking young woman in an old timey dress appeared out of thin air.  He accidentally dumped some hay on her head.  She looked up at him and smiled as seven more people, all dressed in old fashioned clothes, came from nowhere.

Tommy dropped the pitchfork, raced down the ladder, and ran out the barn door shouting like he had seen a ghost.  “Dad.  Mom.  Dad.  Grandpa. Help!”

Sukki turned to Katie.  “It looks like the same barn, sort of,” she said, and got out her amulet to check their direction.  Katie got her own amulet out.  Katie had the experimental version.  Sukki had the new and improved model.  But both paused, played with the setting, and looked at each other strangely.

“It can’t be the same barn,” Lincoln said.

“New and improved,” Lockhart suggested.

“It may be the same barn,” Elder Stow said as he stared at his scanner.

“Smells like the same barn,” Decker said, and Tony chuckled while Nanette and Sukki grinned.

“That would be three times we left one time zone and entered a new time zone without moving—with the time gate in the exact same place,” Lincoln said.

“Third time’s the charm,” Lockhart quipped.

“Three strikes you’re out,” Lincoln countered.

“People.”  Katie raised her voice to get everyone’s attention.  “We have a problem here.  Sukki and I had to maximize the range just to pick up the time gate. It is moving away from us, rapidly, a long way west of here.” She pointed in the correct direction, and several looked, but they could only see barn.

“The time gate we just came through zoomed off to the west as soon as it deactivated,” Sukki said.

“Like maybe it is heading to California which would be a thousand miles away,” Katie added.

Elder Stow fiddled with his scanner.  “At maximum range, I am not seeing the time gate at all. Maybe if I… Wait…”

The barn door swung open.  A man in his late forties stood there in the early morning sun, and he did not look happy.  “What are you people doing in my barn?”

“Just passing through,” Lockhart said and tried to smile but the twenty-something-year-old man behind the older man’s shoulder interrupted.

“They just appeared out of nowhere…”

“Hold on Tommy,” the middle-aged man said.  “How did you get in there without anyone seeing you?  Where did you come from?”

“We came from 1875,” Lockhart admitted.  “What year is it now.”

“1934,” an old voice said from behind.  “Early May.  Look out, Tommy,” the voice said, and an old man pushed forward and smiled for the travelers.  “Got any more strange looking soldiers?”

“God, I hope not,” Lincoln mumbled.

“Don’t tell me,” Katie stepped up beside Lockhart.  “Bjorn?”

The old man nodded. “I was younger than Tommy when you came through in 1875.  I’m almost seventy-three now, but I never quit hoping you would come back.”  He laughed, drooled a bit, and held on to his dentures.  “This is my son, William, er, Bill, and my grandson Tommy.  I’m sorry I don’t remember your names, exactly.”

“Katie and Robert Lockhart, and our daughter Sukki.  Mister and Missus Decker.  Anthony Carter, Benjamin Lincoln, and Elder Stow.” Katie felt genuinely happy even as Lincoln mumbled.

“I guess it is the same barn.”

“Good to see you after all these years,” Katie finished.

“But I show the years,” Bjorn said.  “You don’t look a day older than the last time I saw you.”

“Not true,” Lincoln spoke up.  “We are all one day older.  We faced the soldiers, got a night’s sleep, and came through first thing in the morning like we promised.  It is the next day for us.”

“We didn’t know we would end up here,” Lockhart said.

“Had any breakfast?” Bjorn asked.  “Come on up to the house.  My daughter-in-law Betty is a great cook.  Don’t tell her I said that.  And we will feed you for free seeing as you already paid hotel rates for the night.”  He laughed and held on to his teeth again.

“Dad.  Who are these people?  Where did they come from?”  Bill sounded perplexed.

“They appeared out of nowhere, like Tommy said.”  Bjorn answered as he walked, or more accurately, hobbled up to the house.  “You should listen to your son once in a while.”

During breakfast, Lincoln whispered to Lockhart and Katie that Doctor Mishka was in Los Angeles in 1934.  “Hollywood, actually.”

Lockhart looked confused by the sudden great distance between the time gates, but Katie explained what she thought she understood.  “We left the horse and buggy days far behind and entered the days of diesel engines, cars, trucks, trains, ships, and even airplanes.  My guess would be Doctor Mishka took off from maybe Denver airport and flew back to Los Angeles right after or as we came through the time gate.  The distance ordinary people travel has massively increased.  I think maybe the distance between time gates has compensated.”

“But from here to Los Angeles is a long way. An equal distance from Los Angeles west will put us out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean,” Lincoln complained.

“No, Lincoln,” Katie said.  “I think the distance was here to Denver and maybe Las Vegas as the next time gate. But with the airplane, the gate moved quickly to a new location, that’s all.”

“Still probably out in the Pacific,” Lincoln griped.

Lockhart nodded but said, “Let’s find the good doctor first and see what she has in mind.”  They left it at that.

After a ride to town in the back of a farm truck with Lockhart, Katie, and Sukki squeezed into the back seat of the 1929 Hudson Sedan, they said goodbye to their friend, Bjorn, and saddled up to the ticket window in the Union Pacific Station.  Lincoln grumbled that it cost him so much for eight tickets and eight beds.  He claimed to have hardly anything left for when they got to San Francisco and had to take another train—a Southern Pacific train to Los Angeles.  Lockhart reminded him Marshal Casidy put money on account with Wells Fargo. Maybe they could get some money there.

“Two days and two nights on the train for eight people,” Tony said.  “That price is not too inflated after another thirty years since our day in 1905.”

“I imagine the price has even gone down since the crash of twenty-nine,” Decker suggested.  He had changed his fairy weave clothes into his marine dress uniform, thinking a black naval officer would raise less questions in the dining car than a black farmer.  Nanette still dressed like a farm girl, but she would change her clothes as they saw more examples of appropriate attire.

Lockhart agreed.  “Probably not as many people riding the trains now after the crash.”

“But father,” Sukki got Lockhart’s attention and smiled at the word father.  “Why didn’t we take the direct train to Los Angeles?”

“Big stopover in Salt Lake City—something like six hours, and there is nothing to do there other than desert heat and listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.”

“We could swim in the Salt Lake,” Katie said, but Lockhart shook his head.

“In May?  Besides.  Dry you out and make your skin all wizzly.”

Katie took Sukki by the arm and explained like a real mom to a daughter.  “There are things to do in San Francisco like the wharf and seeing the Redwoods.  Our train is scheduled to arrive at nine or ten in the morning and the other train has regular runs between Oakland and Los Angeles.  We can catch the train to LA anytime we are ready and get to Los Angeles about the same time we would have arrived on the direct route, and at about the same cost.”

“Ugh,” Lincoln said, having overheard about the cost.

When they started out, Sukki insisted on a window seat.  That did not last for long, because they all went down to the lounge car as soon as their rooms were settled.  They took two couch-like benches that faced each other and talked as well as they could, sometimes raising their voices against the constant click-clack of the train, until the smoke in the lounge became unbearable.  The spring heatwave was also a factor that did not help matters.  One of the stewards turned up the air conditioning, but that just stirred the puffs of smoke from the other passengers, so it did not help much.

“Things improved after they air condition these cars,” Lincoln said.  “At least we are not attacked by smoke and cinders from the engine through open windows.

Katie waved him off and turned to Tony, Nanette, and Sukki.  “So how did you like riding in a car, or truck as the case may be?”

Elder Stow answered.  “Bouncy.  A good antigrav unit would work wonders.”

“Wonderful,” Sukki said with a great big smile. “But the train is even better—even better than the steamboat.”  She turned her eyes again to the outside to watch the cows fly past.

Lockhart looked curious, but Katie explained.  “This is all new to her.”  Of course, he knew that.

“I must say,” Tony said.  “I never expected to see so many automobiles all over the road, and on concrete streets. That must have cost plenty.  Even New York has bricks or blocks in most places.”

“Pavement,” Lincoln said.  “In the sixties they used to sing about the whole world being paved over.”

“And concrete sidewalks,” Nanette added.  “I’m used to wooden ones, like when we first came to Omaha back in 1875.”

“Nineteen thirty-four is a bit after your time,” Katie said, and Decker took the floor.

“Yeah.  How are we going to get back to 1914 where we belong?  We have already passed that date.”

Katie looked at Lockhart and Lockhart said, “We discussed that.”

Katie took over.  “This is the point where Doctor Mishka is presently living, and the time gates can only lead to the next time zone at whatever time that is.  At least, we think that is the case.  I think Tony, Nanette, and the others were picked up at a random time through the Heart of Time and out of sync or whatever with the time gates.  You may have to go with us to the future and then to Avalon to go back through the Heart of Time to your proper time period.”

“Lady Alice can do that,” Lockhart said.  “And from what little I know of her, having met her a couple of times, I would guess she would be glad to do it.”

“Oh, yes,” Decker said.  “I had completely forgotten about Alice and the Heart of Time.  I think I shoved that whole business out of my mind.”  He grinned.  “PTSE.  Post-Traumatic Stress Experience, you know.”

“Great,” Lincoln said, the sarcasm echoing in his voice.  “Now I’m going to worry about getting home and having to deal with PTSD from this trip.”

“No, you’re not,” Nanette said.  “You just want to get home to Alexis, and you are going to be grumpy until we get there.”  Lockhart laughed softly as Nanette continued.  “I’m worried about seeing too much of the future and messing it up after I get home.”

Decker shook his head and took her hand.  “I was born and raised in the future,” he said, and looked at Elder Stow.  “I have also learned a few things on this journey.  Number one is don’t change history.  When we get to 1914, I can keep my mouth shut.”

Lincoln looked up.  “And number two is don’t let the servants of the Masters change history, either.  But I am worried.  When we get home, unless they have some technology or something they should not have, how will we even recognize the Masters?”

No one had an answer for that one.