Men in Black

Avalon 9.10 July Crisis, part 4 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Klaus, Man in Black, Europe, drove the Mercedes to the stables where they picked up the wagon and two horses, a gift of Count Stefan von Hoffmann.  Stefan saw that the horses were saddled and ready when they arrived.  Nanette got right up on the buckboard and asked Klaus a question.

“Do you have a last name?”

“Novak,” Klaus said.  “It is honestly Nowak, a Polish name.  I am only half-Prussian.  Klaus is a good German name, and I stick mostly with that.  It raises no questions.”

“My husband is Milton Decker, but he says he does not like the name Milton.”

“A good English name,” Klaus said as they started out.  “Perhaps he does not like the name because he is not an Englishman.”

“No,” Nanette said.  “He just doesn’t like it.  He says he even got his mother to call him Decker.  The people we traveled with all called him Decker.  Other people call him Decker or Colonel Decker.”

“What do you call him?”

“I tried calling him Milton a couple of times, but it did not fit him.  I call him Decker.  I guess I am getting used to it.”

Decker and Tony came up to the front and Tony asked, “So why didn’t we take the train to Paris?”

Klaus raised his voice a bit to answer.  “They are beginning to stop the trains heading into the west.  Your papers are in order, and they should not bother Americans, but you never know.  We are three days from Saarbrucken on the border with Lorraine.  Another two days will get us to Metz on the border with France.  We will probably have to show our papers twice, but then we will move on.  Even if the soldiers on the train do not question your papers, personally, we may be stuck in the station for a day, maybe a week while they check everyone else.”

“Better to keep moving,” Decker agreed.  He was not sure when the war would start.  He thought maybe August fourteenth.  He did not have Lincoln there to look it up in the database.  Maybe that was just as well.  Less chance he could screw something up.  Better to get out of Germany without stopping.

Klaus got Tony’s attention.  “You have the purse Count Stefan provided?”  Tony nodded. It was mostly paper Marks and Francs, not the gold, silver, and copper coins he was used to.  He patted his britches leg glad Lincoln showed him a few things he could do in shaping his fairy weave to hide the money.

The travelers did get stopped on the border of Lorraine, as predicted.  The province had only been in German hands for forty-three years, and while that might sound like plenty of time to adjust, it is a mere drop in the bucket the way Europeans read time.  Before 1871, the area was French, and the French sympathies in the province still ran strong along with some resentment against the imposition of the German language on everyday life.

As expected, though, they did not wait long.  Decker tried his line.  “I’ve been recalled, what with all the potential trouble on the continent.  I have a ship for the United States waiting in Le Havre.”

“Why didn’t you take the train?” the man asked.

Tony took up the answer.  “Trains get stopped and face unexpected delays.”

The man nodded and returned their papers.  He did not know if that was true, but it sounded right.

“Besides,” Tony said.  “On the train we would miss all the good people we have seen in our travels.”  He smiled, so the man smiled and gave a small salute as Tony and Decker mounted and they all continued down the road to Metz.

They also got stopped after Metz, on the actual border with France, again as expected.  These guards were tougher and nosier.  They wanted to search the wagon and wanted Decker and Tony to give up their service revolvers.  One soldier lifted the blanket in the back of the wagon and asked, “What is this?”

Nanette watched from the buckboard and held her wand in her lap.  The blanket mysteriously slipped from the soldier’s hand.

Tony and Klaus were up front arguing with the sergeant in charge.  Tony was afraid they found Decker’s rifle, but Decker was right there to answer.  “It is a prototype grill for the general.  He likes outdoor cooking.  This grills without the need for a fire.”  He made it up.

“How does it work?”  The man lifted the blanket again only to have it slip once again from his fingers.

“The black screen.  It collects the sunlight and focuses it, like a magnifying glass.”

“You have two?”  The man tried one last time on the blanket.  This time, he grabbed a chunk of blanket and held it firmly.

“No. It is taken apart.  They work together.”  Decker yanked the blanket out of the man’s hand and recovered the equipment.  He smiled at Nanette and yelled.  “Sergeant.  You better check with your commanding officer before you go any further.  You might be fighting the Russians, French, and British if things don’t settle down.  Do you really want to anger the United States as well with an international incident?  Klaus, get in the driver’s seat.  Tony, mount up. We are going.”

The sergeant felt suddenly like he wanted to let them go.  He thought about the international incident while Nanette put her wand back into her lap.  He moved his soldiers back and let the Americans ride on.  He only later decided he should have looked in the wagon himself and found out what they had back there, but it was too late.

Klaus explained when they got fully into French territory.  “It is a communication device.  There are two of them.”

“They look like monitors,” Decker said.  “I assume they project video as well as audio.”

Klaus shrugged and looked at Tony and Nanette, but they were no help being native to that time and place.  “A ship came down in the Crimea.  We salvaged these four units and brought them to Mishka.  Martok worked on them. Do you know what I mean?”  They did.  Martok was another life of the Kairos, one from the far future who was an engineer and mathematician.  That was about all they knew, but they knew who he was talking about.

“She said she was going to leave a week earlier, only a week after the Archduke got assassinated, but she had to do extra work on your communicator so it would function properly on American electricity.  I didn’t even know there were different kinds of electricity.”

“Anyway,” Decker prompted.

“Anyway, we need three right now in Europe.  Men in Black from satellite offices in Athens, Warsaw, and Scandinavia are headed to Moscow.  Men from the central offices like Istanbul, Sophia, and Vienna, are all headed to Berlin.  Western Europeans, including from the main Men in Black European office in London are meeting in Paris.  Mishka says your job is to deliver the fourth device to the main North American office in Washington.  She says you won’t get there before the first meeting, but it will be needed in the future, as you well know… Whatever that means.”

“World War Two?” Tony blurted out.

“Thanks Lincoln,” Decker said with a grin for Nanette.  “Not for public consumption might have been a better thing to say.”

“Oh.  Yeah.  Sorry.” Tony said.

“So, what are you all meeting about?” Nanette asked to move away from Tony’s embarrassment.

“Mostly about sticking to our job and not getting drawn in if the world goes to war.  We need to watch for aliens and alien threats and let the human race do whatever it needs to do.”

“And the Masters.”  Nanette added.  “We need to watch out for the Masters, too.”

Klaus nodded before he killed that thought.  “The trouble is we have no way of knowing in advance what is or is not supposed to happen, historically.  Only the Kairos can know that.  Maybe if some obscure German arms maker comes up with an alien type of ray-gun. That might indicate something is amiss, but even then, we are just guessing.”

“So, I need to be watchful,” Decker said in part to himself.  Then he spoke to everyone.  “But first we need to get to Paris, then to Le Havre, then back to the United States.  I’m looking forward to all that back pay.”

Nanette nodded.  “I’m looking forward to spending it.  But mostly I can’t wait until you meet my mother.”

Decker made a face like he might want to put that off for as long as possible.  He tried not to let Nanette see.  Tony saw and grinned.  Nanette grinned as well because she saw without having to see.

************************

MONDAY

9.11 Blitz. Elder Stow finds himself in the midst of London’ darkest hours. Don’t miss it, and remember, the episode will run Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, AND Thursday. Enjoy, and Happy Reading

*

Avalon 9.9 California Dreaming, part 3 of 6

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Come two o’clock, the eight travelers followed the couple through the gate.  “They are making some H. G. Wells time travel movie,” the man told the security guard.  “They need some costume shots at the last minute.  That is why you don’t have them down on your list.”

The security guard did have something.  “I have a note for Mister and Major Lockhart.  The doctor said she returned early from her out-of-town conference because she had an emergency call to the Orange County Hospital.  I don’t know the emergency, but she may be gone for a while.  Make yourselves at home.”

“Major Lockhart?” the man asked Lockhart, but Lockhart pointed at Katie.

“My wife is a major in the marine corps.  In the future, you know.”

The woman looked happy.  “I love this modern world.”

The man pointed at the woman.  “Montana farm girl.”  He paused to see that he was talking to Decker.  “And a black marine colonel.”

“I love it,” the woman shouted.

“She’s a Democrat,” the man confided to Decker, rightly assuming that Decker was a Republican.  Decker laughed.  “So, Mister Lockhart, you aren’t playing a military officer?”

“Men in Black.  Assistant director.”  When the man had no idea what he meant, he added, “I hunt aliens.”

The man shook his head.  “You try to pitch this to Thalberg, and he will have you ejected from the lot.  Mayer won’t go for it either unless you have some dancing girls.”

“Selznik?” the woman asked.

“Not even him.  Too complicated.  You need a good plot, like by Dashiell Hammett, and stay away from the little green men and mermaids.  No one will ever believe it if you make a film with mermaids.”

At the moment, Katie was explaining to Sukki that the street they walked down was not honestly made of buildings.  “They are mostly false fronts just painted to look real.”  She paused when she saw three workmen trying to raise a grand piano with ropes and pulleys.  She imagined the second floor of the building was just another false front, but maybe not.  Of course, Sukki wanted to go over to the building to look in the window and see what Katie meant by false front.

One of the workers moved to warn her away from that spot and Katie grabbed her to keep her from walking under the piano.  Having the piano fall on her head was one cliché they did not need to do.

Everything changed all at once.

The lot looked suddenly like a war zone, changing around them, and the couple, and the workman who let out a shout like an enraged elephant, went with the travelers.  Red and bright white energy beams shot back and forth across the street ahead of them, where the buildings, real buildings, looked like they had been bombed to rubble.

“Everyone get down.”

“Everyone down.”

“Get down,”

They all scrambled behind a wall into what looked like it had once been a kitchen.  The travelers pulled their guns and got ready to defend the group, but they did not know who to shoot, or whose side they should be on.

Four human looking men jogged up to get behind the same wall.  One stayed by what used to be a window, but the other three faced the travelers and their guests.  They all touched something on their shoulders and the full head and face coverings they wore retracted revealing one old man, one woman with short hair, and one young black man who spoke.

“Who are you people?  This whole area was supposed to be evacuated before the fighting began.”

“Who are we fighting?” Decker asked.

“We are time travelers who stumbled into your battle,” Lockhart said.

“My ancestor was said to be a time traveler,” the black man said and stared hard at Decker.

“Time travel is mathematically impossible, sir,” the woman said.

“The Duba are coming,” the man by the window shouted.

Helmets went back on, and the soldiers ran to the wall.  The travelers joined them as Elder Stow shouted.

“Decker Wall established.”

Something like octopuses in armor came floating across the street, firing their white heat weapons.  Those energy strikes began to bounce off Elder Stow’s wall, before the octopuses themselves came to the wall and could go no further.  The corresponding fire from the humans, including the travelers, had no such restriction.  The octopuses did not seem to know enough to retreat when their charge stalled.  They started to be killed, and it did not take long to finish them.

The young black man lowered his helmet again and said something like a shout at Decker and Nanette, but the voice got cut off and everyone found themselves back on the studio lot.

“Time displacement,” Katie called it, as the workman made that elephant sound.  They heard another call.

“People.  Photographer.”  Someone did not sound happy.

“You might sell that idea,” the woman spoke up first.

“I smell a story there,” the man agreed.

“People.  We can’t do a photo shoot without my actors,” the shout came from down the way.

“Hark.”  The man posed with a hand to his ear.  “I hear the call of the publicity train.  Track twenty-five.  All aboard.”

The woman pulled herself together.  “That building with the red cross on it.  That is the doctor’s office,” she pointed and turned to shout.  “Coming.”  She turned one last time to Nanette.  “Your guns are real, aren’t they?”

Nanette nodded and Tony said, “Time travel is not always safe.”

The man nodded.  “Anywhere else in the world would be a big problem, but in Hollywood, people assume everything is a prop.  Come along Missus C.”

They walked off together, the woman saying something in the man’s ear.  The travelers turned to the doctor’s office, but Sukki had to pause.  That movement through time shook something up, even if they did not move at all and the future time area moved to them.  She threw up by the door.  Nanette swallowed her own bile.  Tony watched, like he was just thinking the same thing.

“Quick,” Katie said.  “Let’s get her inside.”

A man met them in the waiting room and directed Sukki and Katie to the bathroom.  Tony collapsed to a chair and said he felt tired, and he had a headache.  Nanette agreed with him, but also held her stomach.  Decker helped her to sit.

“David Brine.  I’m Doctor Mishka’s nurse,” the man said as he felt Nanette’s forehead, looking for fever.  He moved to Tony and asked, “Any sore throat?  Any trouble breathing?”

“A little,” Tony said.

“How about you?” David asked Lockhart, Decker, Elder Stow, and Lincoln.  “Any influenza-like symptoms?”  Lockhart and Decker shook their heads.  Lincoln, a bit of a hypochondriac, looked like he might develop symptoms if he thought about it too much.  Elder Stow already had his scanner out and the diagnosis attachment. With that, he could analyze things down to the atomic level.  In this case, he could search Tony, Nanette, and Sukki for hostile bacteria or viruses.

“I thought we were immunized against everything,” Lincoln complained.

“We are,” Lockhart answered.  “But Sukki was made human when we picked up Tony and Nanette.  I don’t know how much protection those three received before we moved out of range of the gods.”

Katie came out with Sukki who looked flush and needed to sit, and Katie added, “I remember Constantinople.  That doctor thought we would carry and spread the plague.”

“Doctor Malory,” Lincoln and Decker said at the same time to identify the suspect in 1934.

Elder Stow turned his scanner on Lockhart and then Lincoln before he spoke.  “We are all infected.”  He checked Decker and Katie.  “You call it Poliovirus.”

************************

MONDAY

Polio stops the travelers in their tracks. They try to find the  source of the outbreak and run into another serious time displacement. Until Monday, Happy Reading.

*

Avalon 9.6 Earth and Sky, part 1 of 6

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After 1690 A.D. Delaware Valley

Kairos lifetime 117: Lars of the Lenape

Recording …

Elder Stow found a trail that headed generally toward the south.  It was not exactly a road, certainly not made for horses, but it was a trail well used by the local natives, so not in bad shape and not hard to follow.  Elder Stow stayed out front, one eye on his scanner in case the trail petered out or brought them to a cliff or to a native village.  Sukki took his place on the wing, but she did not ride far from the group.  The trees in the forest grew too close together in places, making her movements difficult.  Besides, she did not want to wander through the dark places.

Decker somehow managed to vanish out on the other wing.  Nanette looked for him now and then, but he disappeared among the trees.  Behind her, Tony kept quiet and brought Ghost along slowly.  He seemed to be contemplating something, so she did not disturb him.  Lincoln in front of her tried to read from the database, but the trail was such that he mostly had to pay attention to where his horse was going.    When they reached a spot where the trail crossed an open meadow, she spurred her horse to get in front of Lincoln.  Lockhart and Katie were up front and had some sort of conversation going on.

“So, Elizabeth knew all about Bishop what’s-his-name,” Lockhart said.

“Peter Cameron,” Katie said.  “She said settling the Earth’s place in the Reichgo-Kargill conflict took the priority, not to mention dealing with whatever Wolv might be running around tearing up people.”

“It was interesting putting a new crop of Men in Black through basic indoctrination.  I guess the first crop.  Of course, some of the things like communications and such did not apply.”

“No,” Katie said.  “I needed that for myself.  And Lincoln helped with the orientation.”

“So, you definitely want to work for the Men in Black when we get home?”

“Robert!  I go where you go.”  Katie looked back and saw a grin on Nanette’s face.  Nanette took that opportunity to enter the conversation.

“One question.  I did not know—no one knew about so many aliens.  I mean, in 1905, no one even imagined such a thing except maybe Mister Wells.  But we have found and been confronted by so many aliens in our travels.  Why is that, and how is it that nothing ever made the history books?”

“Well. the Kairos is usually somewhere around where the aliens tend to arrive,” Lockhart explained.  “The Kairos can make sure things don’t get written down, and even erase some memories, if necessary, I suppose.  I think the Men in Black got started at this time because the encounters become more frequent as time goes forward.  The Kairos can’t be everywhere.”

“Maybe since Catherine of Jaca’s day,” Katie suggested.  “When the Masters sent a signal into deep space inviting aliens to invade the Earth.”

“The Masters is another question,” Nanette said, quietly.

“In the twentieth century, reports start coming in from all around the globe.  You know, UFOs, lights flying in the sky, sightings from airplanes and eventually space shuttles, and so on.”

“You mean weather balloons?” Katie said with a grin.

“But the Masters…” Nanette dd not finish her thought.

“They are the real problem,” Lockhart said to acknowledge Nanette’s concern.

“They are subtle,” Katie agreed.  “They are not like the Aliens flying around in obvious spaceships.”

“The Masters seem to be everywhere, hidden in the ordinary human population, trying to destroy things.”

“Trying to change history,” Katie said.

“I think they are demons,” Nanette said.  “Or demon possessed people.”

“That covers two theories. There are other ideas,” Lockhart admitted before he came to a stop.  The path wandered back into the thick woods, and Elder Stow stopped, so Sukki moved in beside Nanette and everyone stopped.

“We have company,” Elder Stow said.  Katie and Lockhart saw the movement in the trees and only paused as they heard Decker’s rifle in the distance.

“Colonel?”  Katie got on her wristwatch communicator.

“Be right there.”

“We have company.”

“I know.  Out.”

Lockhart called to the trees.  “You might as well come out.  We mean you no harm.”

Three natives came to the path in front of them.  They wore buckskin leggings and vests against the early spring chill in the air.  The one who spoke wore a collar of claws and shells and appeared to have some scarlet die in his hair.  He expressed some surprise.  “You sound Mohawk.  Why do you not speak English or French?”

“Because you are Mohawk?” Lockhart responded, making an obvious guess.  “If you were English or French, I would speak to you in English or French.”

“We should remove these people from our land,” one of the men behind said in French.

“Hold that thought for a minute,” Katie said.  Her words came out in French, though she made no conscious effort to speak the language.  It all just sounded like English to her, as to the other travelers, though it may have all sounded like Gott-Druk to Elder Stow.

Katie pulled her rifle.  She sat on her horse, the rifle relaxed in her arms, but she saw something and quickly drew up the weapon, looking down the site at a dozen or so deer that warily crossed the path in the distance.  Katie squeezed the trigger and one of the deer fell.  The rest scattered and Katie turned to the natives.  “Join us for lunch.  Making friends is better than making enemies.”

“Trouble?”  Decker’s word came through the communication wristwatches in English, so Lockhart answered in English.

“Katie just shot a deer and invited our guests to have lunch with us.”

“I’ve got a second deer, if there are many of them,” Decker responded.  “Be there in a minute.  Out.”

Lockhart looked at the natives and his words came out in the Mohawk language.  “How many for lunch?”

The head man with the red hair waved and shouted.  Six more men came from the trees, making nine natives in all.

“Where should we build the fire?” Elder Stow asked the red head.  “My name is Elder Stow, if you are interested.”

“Louis,” the native gave a French name and led them to a small clearing a stone’s throw from the path.  Men began to gather wood from the forest.  Louis got out his flint, but Sukki arrived and placed her hand over the wood.  The wood burst into flame as she controlled the power inside her.  It did not turn instantly to ash.  She had been practicing.

Decker and Lockhart cut the various parts of the deer, expertly at that point.  They had not only been cutting deer for a number of years by then, but they also learned from people over six thousand years of history.  They learned how to prepare much of the meat so they could eat over the next couple of days, and how to cut some thinner, tenderloin steaks for immediate consumption.  Several Mohawk had suggestions, but they were mostly surprised by the knowledge and skill of the travelers.

Lunch took about three hours.  They had to take their time with fresh kills.  Normally, they hunted in the afternoon so they could cook and fix the meat overnight for travel, but in this case, the deer presented themselves and they took advantage of that.

Nanette and Sukki did the cooking with Lincoln’s help.  They found some greens to boil, and the Mohawk added some beans to the pot.  Nanette also boiled some water for the elf crackers.  Just a couple of hot drops of water turned the crackers into loaves of warm, fresh, like just baked bread.  The Mohawk were amazed by Sukki being a firestarter, and by the bread, but they appeared shocked when Lincoln changed his fairy weave clothes into something similar to the Mohawk clothing.  One man screamed and two others had to hold him to keep him from running away.  Elder Stow and Decker stuck with what they had, but Lockhart followed Lincoln’s suggestion, to appear less like a colonist who might not be on the best terms with the natives, and Tony joined him when he came in from seeing to the horses.  The women kept their riding pants and loose tops, not having seen any native women to imitate.

“Who are you people,” Louis asked.  “I think you are not English or French.”  Louis was the only one who spoke to the travelers, other than a few words and grunts here and there.

“We are travelers,” Lockhart answered plainly enough.  “Right now, we are looking for a particular person, and after we find him, about a week later, we will leave this world altogether.”  Louis just stared, stuck somewhere between surprised and not surprised by what Lockhart said.  “Lincoln,” Lockhart continued.  “Who is it we are looking for?”

Lincoln looked reluctant.  He had gotten in trouble in the past for blurting out information like that.  This time, he prefaced his words.  “The Mohawk are Iroquois speakers, from the five or six nations.  The Lenape are Algonquin speakers, traditional enemies.”  He took a breath.  “We are looking for Lars of the Lenape.  He was Swedish born and came to be adopted with the name Moonwalker.”  He stared at Louis, looking for a reaction, but Louis just nodded.

“The big Swede,” he said.

“Do you know him?” Katie asked.

“Only by reputation,” Louis said, and he seemed satisfied by something.  That these very strange strangers would be looking for the Swede, of all people, made sense with some of what he heard.

Overall, it was a pleasant lunch, though the Mohawk stayed on one side of the fire, mostly talking among themselves, and the travelers stayed on the other side.  They had Louis as a go between.  The travelers told some stories, mostly from the ancient days, and the Mohawk listened and appreciated the events described.  They even laughed at the appropriate places.  Decker and Lockhart tried some jokes, and the Mohawk thought they were funny, though some did not translate well.

When they finished lunch, the Mohawk took the lion’s share of the remaining deer and left, all but Louis.  He volunteered to lead them safely though the territory and to Lenape land.  Lockhart shared his unused tent with Louis when the stopped that first evening so he would not have to sleep outdoors.  It was spring, but early enough where the nights could be cold, and it began to storm from that first night.

Louis only seemed mildly surprised when Lockhart threw a wad of cloth at the ground with the word, “Tent,” and the cloth shaped itself into a tent.

Avalon 9.5 Men in Black, part 2 of 6

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“First, let me introduce the clan.   Please be seated.  Jack Horner, I believe there is a seat back in the corner, if you don’t mind.  Sorry. Only cake.  No Christmas pie.  Christmas was several weeks ago.”  Elizabeth smiled at her own joke which no one else understood.  She cleared her throat. “You may know James and John, my retainers.  Erin is my maid.  You gentlemen will see plenty of her over this next week.  The three big men seated behind are Conner O’Neil, an Irish Catholic, Duncan MacDonald, a royalist, and Stephen Campbell, a covenanter, who you may note are not killing each other.  In this group, there must be peace and petty squabbles are not allowed.”  She pointed at the three men.  Only the Irishman responded.

“You have my word.  I will not bother the Englishmen.”

“All right,” Elizabeth continued.  “The three in front are our guests.  Charles deWindt is Dutch Reformed.  Jean Duchamp is French, Catholic, and works with a few people in Paris.  David Wallace is German and Jewish.”  She paused to let the word Jewish sink in.  “David’s family took the name Wallach, but here in Scotland, Wallace fits better.  All three of these men have either experience in what we are facing, or stories from their parents or grandparents, or both, so they know something of the truth of what we will be facing.  We will leave for Loch Lomond in two days.  You may wish to question these men and hear their tales.”

“None from the Mediterranean, either Iberia or Italy?” Sir Leslie wondered.  The question was not entirely sarcastic.

“I have a small group in Jamaica, another in the Alps, and a group working in Toledo, keeping their eyes open since the 1490s, so they have several generations of watchfulness. I have a couple of small groups in East Asia, in Japan and China.  You get the idea.  Where we are going is not in the history books, and it needs to stay out of the history books.  What we will be doing is not for the public.  I am inviting you men and fully expect your wives to join the most secret society on earth.  You will be my Men in Black.  Eventually, I will have to set up small groups in southeast Asia, India and central Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, north and south, as well as the Americas.”

“But what exactly would you have us do?” Sir Leslie asked, this time without the sarcasm.

Elizabeth fought the urge to grab a piece of cake.  She swallowed and came out with it.  “We will mostly watch and investigate what is strange and unusual.  We will be defending Planet Earth from people—aliens who are not native to this planet.  We will send them away in peace wherever possible.  Some we may have to fight.  Some we may have to call on Cromwell’s New Model Army.”

Jack stood in the back.  He was not the tallest of men, but Elizabeth noticed and paused to let him speak.  “Mister Cromwell mentioned something about that.”  He sat as Elizabeth nodded.

“One of those two times of supposedly saving his life was from the aliens I have dubbed the New Exterminators.”  She paused to get her thoughts in order and decided most questions could wait until tomorrow.  “We will meet here again the same time tomorrow.  You will have questions, and I will answer what I can.  For now, lest you think I am just making things up, or perhaps mad, let me share some evidence.  Erin.”  She reached back and Erin handed her something that the men recognized as a rifle of sorts.  Where Erin got it from, they could not say.  “Please follow me out back.  I would not want to fire this weapon indoors.”

When the men gathered around to watch, they saw a typical target set up some yards away.  It was the kind used for musket practice with which they were all familiar.  Elizabeth said nothing.  When she felt ready, she raised the rifle to her shoulder and spied down what functioned as a sight.  She slowly let her breath out like one used to firing a musket, though the rifle she held had no kick to it.  She squeezed the trigger and a red streak appeared.  It burned a hole through the target before the target exploded.  The metal sheet she had set up behind the target began to melt before she stopped firing.  James and John ran out with buckets of water to douse the flames and cool the metal, and Elizabeth spoke.

“The rifle was taken from the New Exterminators who were banished from this planet and will stay away if they know what is good for them.  Think on it.  Any of you who cannot keep your mouths shut in the general public, or who do not wish to be part of defending the Earth, you must decide now.  You may leave without penalty.  Tomorrow at this time, I will share some information which is not ever to be shared except between you and God in the privacy of your prayers.  Some may feel the need to share in confession, but even there I warn you to guard your tongue.  Once we leave for Loch Lomond, you will be committed for life, and not only you, but you will carefully have to select the next generation to follow after you.  Pray that you may spend your lives in watchfulness and investigating dead ends.  Given communication in this age, you will be mostly on your own for the next two or three hundred years.”

Erin stepped up to whisper.  “Lady.  I hear the children fussing.”

Elizabeth looked up at the second-floor window and nodded.  “Leslie, Sir Winthrop.”  She had to call him twice to get his attention.  He had to close his mouth.  “Jack Horner.  You will have to bunk in the barn with the big men.  No fighting.  Be nice to each other.” she shouted and turned to Leslie.  “Come.  I will take you to your room. We have three rooms that are serving as guest rooms.  DeWindt and Duchamp are sharing one.  David has one.  No one will room with him for fear that they might get Jewish cooties or something stupid.  You get the third.”

“Children?”  Leslie asked.

“Young Robert is six.  Bridget is nearly four.  That is what she will say.  Nearly four.”

“Makes you sound human enough.  But say, how did you ever get mixed up in this strange adventure?  And now I am afraid to ask what may be happening at Lake Lomond.”

“Loch,” Elizabeth said.  “Tomorrow.”

When tomorrow arrived, Elizabeth introduced the men to the Kairos.  She made Sir Leslie and Jack Horner hold her hands in an age-old tradition, and traded places with the Contessa Catherine of Aragon.  Leslie let go and shrieked.  Several men made noise. Jack held on because he promised, but he seriously began to sweat.

Catherine told about how in 1470, a servant of the Masters broadcasted a message into space.  That took some explaining, but basically the message invited aliens to come and invade the earth.  “That message is still echoing among the stars,” she said.  “It is time humanity had a group of people prepared for that.”

She changed to Hans and told some things about his day, including his experiments in chocolate.  He changed to Captain Hawk who winked at Charles DeWindt and spoke some in Dutch.  He confessed to being the Flying Dutchman and then told them about the spiders on Hispaniola.  He scared their stockings off, as any good pirate would in telling such a tale.  Elizabeth was not happy, but he said he did not want the men to misunderstand what they were signing up for.

When Elizabeth came back, she introduced Erin once again.  The men all said what a lovely young woman she was.  Then Elizabeth removed Erin’s glamour and reintroduced her as her elf maid.  Erin folded her hands in front of her dress, looked at the floor, and her face turned pink while her pointed ears turned red.  Elizabeth restored Erin’s glamour of humanity fairly quickly and was pleased to see no one jumped up and ran from the room, screaming.

“I have had the grace to have several elf maids over the millennia, all volunteers, and all lovely.  And I love Erin, dearly, so you men better treat her right or you will have to answer to Captain Hawk, or worse.”

“And I love my lady,” Erin whispered.  “Even when you embarrass me.”

“Millennia?” Sir Leslie could not resist the question.

“Yes,” Elizabeth said, but did not stop to properly answer him.  Instead, she looked up.  “Heather.  Please come down and sit on my shoulder.”  They all saw a streak of light come from the ceiling.  It hid in Elizabeth’s hair and Duncan and Stephen both spouted.

“A wee one.”

“Don’t usually see them until I’ve had a keg.”

“I should have said that,” Conner the Irishman protested while rubbing his beard, and all three men laughed.

Elizabeth was not finished.  “Lord Roan.  You have a report.”

Another fairy fluttered down and put his back to the men.  Then he surprised them all when he got big and looked like a well-dressed Lord.  He reported.  “The Wolv has got free.”

###

“It looks miserable out there,” Lincoln said.  “Can’t we just wait until Spring?”

People ignored him.

Angus set them up with three men who were merchants in fine woolen tartans.  Ewan and William Mackenzie and Graeme Grant would take the coastal road all the way to Perth.  They had two wagons full.  One for the Duncan clan, and the other had kilts for Hay, Lindsay, and Macduff.  The plan was four days to Aberdeen and three more to Perth.

“Three more days from there, through Stirling to Edinburgh,” Katie said.  “I checked the map.”

“That is nearly two weeks just to reach the Kairos,” Lockhart said, sounding like Lincoln complaining.  “I hope it is not another two weeks to the time gate.”

“We might move faster, but in this weather, it is not recommended, and who knows what weather obstacles we may encounter.”   Katie tried to be reasonable.

“Weather obstacles is what I am talking about,” Lincoln griped.

“I like all the travel and all the places we have been,” Nanette said.  “I never imagined doing that sort of thing before.  Taking a steamship to Rome was the most exotic and unexpected thing I ever did.”

Tony countered her thought.  “The thing is, the closer we get to home, the more impatient the men are becoming.”

“Amen to that,” Decker said.

Elder Stow added, “Ditto.”

“I agree with my sister,” Sukki protested.  “I am learning so much about history—about being human.  Lincoln lets me read about the places after we leave, and he is so nice to help me with some of the words.”  Lincoln shrugged.

“I love the adventure of it all,” Nanette agreed.

“If it wasn’t so cold,” Lincoln mumbled.

“The same guy who complained about Cuba being so hot,” Lockhart said.

“I would never retire to Florida,” Lincoln admitted.

Ewan stepped up as Katie finished the conversation.  “Ready to go?”

“William and Graeme have the wagons,” Ewan said.  “We are ready.”

“Lead on, Macduff,” Lockhart said.  “I always wanted to say that.”

“Ha,” Katie said, without laughing, and they headed out into the cold and wet.”

Avalon 8.11 Tax Collectors and Other Thieves, part 5 of 6

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By the time Boston, Sukki, Elder Stow, Lincoln, Alexis, and Tony driving the wagon arrived in Maunsfeld, surrounded by armed men, word had gone out and people, mostly wives and mothers of the men, waited in the street.  Lockhart and Katie were not far behind, and meanwhile, a young girl about thirteen, with platinum locks and hazel-light brown eyes came dragging a dark-haired, blue eyed young woman by the hand.  Two much older women followed the group until suddenly the thirteen-year-old dropped the young beauty’s hand and ran forward yelling.  “Boston.”  The red streak ran into her arms for a wonderful hug.

“You are young again,” Boston said.

“U-huh,” the girl nodded and dragged Boston to meet her friend.  “This is Marian de Furnival.  Her brother is going to marry my sister Maud.  I feel sorry for him, but what are you going to do?  They are in Looove.”

“Helen?”  Lincoln had to ask, and the girl nodded.  “Come on,” she said, but it was not that easy.  They had horses and a wagon to tend.

“You go on,” Lincoln told Alexis.  “Elder Stow, Tony and I will find a place for the horses.”  Alexis nodded, and she, and Sukki, followed Helen and Marian.

“Maid Marian?” Alexis asked and watched Helen and Boston nod.

“That is what Helen called me when we got stopped on the road and kidnapped, to be held for ransom.  She said it was safer.  It was for the men, to tell them they should not touch me.”

“And we all agreed with that,” one of the older ladies who followed spoke.

Helen took them to the tent where a man ran around like a wild chicken.  He had helpers, but he was obviously very busy.  “No time now, Lady,” the man said.  “I got hungry men to feed soon enough.”  They found two deer roasting over a pit and plenty of vegetables to go with it along with great loaves of bread laid out to cool on racks.

“This is Frypan,” Helen said.  “Four squares.  Sunup, noon, teatime or what they call dinner, and supper at sundown.  I don’t know who started three squares in your time.  It’s stupid. Three is a triangle, not a square.””

“Frypan?” Boston asked.

“Yeah,” Helen said.  “He is guarding me.  I am a prisoner, you know.”

“Does he have a name?” Alexis asked.

Helen shrugged.  “Frypan.  It is what everyone calls him.”

“You are being held for ransom?” Boston asked, intrigued by the whole idea.

“Yeah,” Helen repeated, and waved to a boy.  He looked to be about sixteen, and he came straight to her wave.

“Milch,” she named him.  “This is Alexis, Boston, and Sukki, old friends.”

“Oh? Pleased to meet you,” Milch said.  “Old friends?”

“Yeah.”  Boston imitated Helen.  “From about nine hundred years in the future.”  She grinned and turned her grin on Helen, who gave her a snooty face.

“Milch is the miller’s son,” Helen said, and touched the boy’s chest to identify him.  “Most of the flour for the bread comes from his father’s mill down on the river Leen, by Linby.  I call him Milch Miller, but he doesn’t sing so good.”  Alexis laughed.  Boston was not sure if she understood the joke.  Sukki had no idea what Helen was talking about, but before she could ask, Katie came up.

“Katie!” Helen shouted and turned to Milch.  “This is Katie.”

“I guessed.”

“This is Milch, the miller’s son.  And this is Maid Marian.”

“Maid Marian?” Katie said.

“I said the same thing,” Alexis told her, and Katie nodded.

“Oh,” Helen perked up and got everyone’s attention again.  “I need you and Lockhart to go with me and check something out.  We had the strangest thing, just three nights ago.  You missed it.”

Frypan heard and came over, wiping his hands on his apron.  Milch got excited to tell the tale, but Frypan beat him to it.  “A strange ball, not that big.  It came down so fast, people were afraid it was going to crash on their heads, but it stopped, all of a sudden.  It looked suspended in the sky, and it was smoking, like maybe it was on fire.  Big billows of smoke.”

“I saw it first,” Milch said.  “I told everyone.”

“Milch screamed the sky was falling.” Helen interrupted.  “I thought his screams might wake the dead.  Then I told him he should not steal Chicken Little’s line.  He said, who’s Chicken Little?”  Milch shrugged and Frypan picked up the telling.

“Helen here identified the ball as a kind of craft, she said like a big boat, but one flying on the air instead of floating on the river.”  He looked at the travelers to see how they reacted to that idea, but when he saw they had no trouble believing him, he continued.  “It came down maybe a mile or so from here, in the woods.  I know some men went to look for it, but they all reported they found nothing, like it vanished or something.

“It made no sound when it came down,” Milch added.  “I expected it to Crash! and make the ground shake.”  Milch shrugged again.

“So, Katie,” Helen took the conversation.  “I need you and Lockhart to go with me to check it out.  After three days, whoever it is may be in trouble.”

“Shouldn’t Elder Stow come?” Katie asked.

“Maybe, if we need to repair something.  But we need to see who it is first.  Alice has an idea, but I am not committing.”

“You are arguing with yourself?” Sukki asked and sounded surprised.

“What?” Helen said.  “You never argue with yourself?”

Sukki looked at the ground and nodded.  “I do.”

“Now hold on, missy,” Frypan said.  “I was left to watch you to make sure you did not escape and all that kind of thing.  I won’t be seeing you run off, or maybe getting hurt and me not being there.”

Helen clicked her tongue.  She was thirteen.  “I’ll be well protected, and we won’t be far.  I’ll take Milch with me.  He will keep me prisoner.”

“I’ll make sure to protect her and see that she doesn’t get hurt,” Milch said.

“Lady?” Frypan turned to Maid Marian, but she could only shrug like Milch.  One of the ladies spoke up.

“I’ll go and make sure she comes back in one piece.”

“Why us two?”  Katie asked.

“Yeah, why can’t we go?” Boston asked.

“Because…” Helen said and looked and sounded exasperated.  “This is Men in Black business.  You agreed to work for me, did you not?”  Katie nodded, slowly.  “So, baring the director, I need the assistant director.  Besides, I may need your elect senses to watch for danger and maybe to return fire.”

“What about Decker?” Katie asked.

“Nah,” Helen said.  “He is busy thinking about getting married to Nanette, and Lincoln and Alexis don’t need the complication right now, and Boston is too stubborn, and Sukki too scaredy-cat, and Tony still too new at all this, well, relatively speaking.  Besides, I don’t want a whole Scooby gang so whoever it is feels threatened.”

“No.  Miss Helen.  I forbid you to go,” Frypan said.

“You know I will go anyway,” Helen said.

Frypan nodded.  “But at least I have witnesses that I forbid it.  Now be careful.”

“But…” Boston wanted to object to something.

“No,” Helen said sternly, and Boston felt it in her gut.  “I order you to stay here.  Fat lot of good that will do.  Come on, Milch.  Let’s go find Lockhart.”  She reached for Milch’s hand, which made him smile, and she dragged the boy behind her just like she dragged Marian earlier.  After they walked around the corner, Boston spoke again.

“You are stubborn too.”

“Are you thinking of following her?” Sukki asked.  Alexis could not block Sukki’s mouth fast enough, so instead she dropped her face in her hand and shook her head.

“Well, I was thinking about it, but now that you said it, I kind of have to,” Boston said.  Marian caught it and laughed.  Frypan looked like he did not quite follow what just happened.

###

They found Lockhart in the barn talking with Lincoln and Little John.  Will Scarlet was in the corner, rubbing down his horse, or one of the horses.  “Robert,” Katie called him, and he came while she spoke to Lincoln.  “Alexis is by the cooking fires with Frypan checking out what is for supper.”

Lincoln nodded.  “I’ll catch her up,” he said.

“Supper sounds good,” Little John said, and they walked off.

Helen came in and got Will to help Milch saddle three horses.  “No, Will,” she said.  “You don’t need to come with us.  We are just going for a short ride.  Why don’t you find Boston and compare hair colors?”

“Too late,” Will said.  “I already tried that, and she turned me down, flat, elf that she is.”

“But I’ll have Lady Milpryd with me to keep me safe, and Milch will make sure I don’t run off.”

“I am sure he will keep you from running off as hard as he can,” Will said.  “But meanwhile, though I have known you but a week, I know your name is trouble.  If there is any trouble, you will find it and be in the middle of it.  Besides, if you got hurt it would break Maid Marian’s heart and Robin might kill me for that.”

“Ready?”  Katie asked, and everyone got up on their horses.

Helen saw the gang coming down the north road, and said, “Hurry.”  She saw Robin, and Decker and Nanette who were easy enough to see in the setting sunlight.  She saw someone else, and it took a moment to shout it out.  “Friar Tuck! Now my life is complete.  I wondered who was missing.  Just a feeling I had.”

“Hush now,” Katie said to try and get Helen to settle down.

“Good luck with that,” Lady Milpryd said.

Avalon 8.0 Confrontations, part 1 of 6

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After 542 A.D. The Khyber Pass

Kairos lifetime 98: Sanyas, the Queen’s half-sister

Recording …

The campfire sent sparks into the cloudless sky while the sun slid behind the mountains.  The travelers would have another hour of daylight in the hills between the peaks, but the valley would be bathed in twilight before nightfall.  They had enough light for Alexis to finish cooking the sheep, or goat, or whatever animal it was that Decker shot.  Katie called it a Marco Polo sheep, but Lincoln looked it up and called it a mouflon.

“Afghanistan,” Lieutenant Colonel Decker said, and spat into the fire.  The seal-trained marine stared at the mountains.  “I recognize that ridge.  We are northeast of Kabul.”  No one doubted he did a tour in Afghanistan, and probably a couple of tours back when he was Captain Decker, special forces.

Nanette, who knew nothing about fighting in Afghanistan having fallen back in time from 1905, gently slapped Decker’s knee.  She loved the man.  She could not help it.  Aphrodite herself brought the two of them together as a last act before the dissolution of the gods some five hundred and seventy years ago, as Lincoln estimated things.  But she was trying to break his habit of spitting when he got his hands on some jerky to chew.  Spitting was not on her approved list of activities for a future husband.

“No spitting in the fire,” Alexis scolded the man.  She kissed her husband, Lincoln, who looked lost, reading in the database he carried.  It had all the relevant information on the time zones they traveled through as they slowly made their way back to the twenty-first century.  She basted the sheep-goat with some concoction of her own making and considered their predicament.  She was an elf who became human to marry Lincoln.  Her father could not handle that.  He feared she would grow old and die right before his eyes, so he kidnapped her and dragged her back to the time of her supposed happy childhood.  He tried to convince her to seek the Kairos and ask to be made an elf again so she could live her more reasonable thousand years and die well after he was gone.

Alexis looked at Lincoln.  The marriage would not have worked the other way around.  Benjamin would have made a lousy elf.

She basted and thought about when her father knew he got caught and would be in trouble.  He dragged her to the very beginning of history and pushed her into the chaotic void before human history began, hoping to get beyond the reach of those following.  All he did was screw things up.  The Kairos, the Storyteller, had to offer himself to the void in exchange for her.  Now, he is lost, and everything on Avalon is confused, and the time-connection between the many lives of the Kairos are out of sync…

“And we are stuck going from time zone to time zone, from one lifetime of the Kairos to the next, and it is a long way back to the twenty-first century,” she whispered to herself.  Of course, Boston heard with her elf ears.

“I don’t mind,” she said, as she pulled back her red hair into a ponytail.  “This way I get to see every life of the Kairos and love and hug every one that lived before my time.”  Boston pulled out the amulet that showed the way between time gates.  No doubt she wanted to check her direction for the morning.  After a moment, she moved to sit beside Lincoln so she could check her direction against the map in the database for that time zone.

Alexis sighed.  Her father disappeared, and likely died on their journey.  If so, at least he died before her.  Sadly, her baby brother Roland also vanished and is presumed dead, though don’t tell Boston that.  Boston went the opposite way Alexis went.  Boston was born human, though a wild child.  Lockhart called her a Massachusetts redneck.  She rode in rodeos, and hunted, including bear once in Canada, and grew up with brothers.  She was also a bit of a genius, getting her doctorate in electrical engineering by the time she turned twenty-three.  She already thought and acted pretty much like an elf before the Kairos agreed to make her an elf so she could marry Roland.  It felt doubly wrong when Roland vanished.

Alexis sighed and sat on the other side of Lincoln.  “What?” Boston asked and stuck her red head right between Lincoln’s face and the database.

“Nothing,” Alexis said.  It was better not to bring up Roland.  She changed her thoughts.  “I wonder how Elder Stow is coming along in fixing his screen device.  It has come in handy in the past.”

“Yeah,” Boston agreed and turned to nudge Sukki.  “How’s it going?”

Alexis considered Elder Stow, the Gott-Druk—the Neanderthal that traveled with them.  She remembered at the time of the flood, the Gott-Druk were given space flight, a great leap forward for a people who were just beginning to work in copper and bronze.  It seemed the only way at the time that the gods could save them from the global catastrophe.  That was maybe fourteen or fifteen thousand years before Christ.  Over those thousands of years, the Gott-Druk made the expected technological progress.  Elder Stow came from the same future as the rest of the travelers, other than Tony and Nanette, but he had all sorts of technological wonders on his person. He called them toys—mere trinkets such as a ship’s officer might carry.

Boston nudged Sukki again.  “Hey, Amazing Woman.  Earth to Sukki.”

Sukki turned her head.  “I think he has almost got it,” she said.  “Hush.”

Alexis thought how Sukki used to be a Gott-Druk, a very family-oriented people.  She came from those fourteen thousand years in the past, but spent all those millennia in suspended animation, or cryogenic sleep, or whatever it was called.  They found her about thirty time-zones ago, which was about two years ago, travel time.  Though Elder Stow agreed to adopt her as a daughter, she swore she never felt comfortable, being a Gott-Druk as part of a Homo Sapiens family.  She finally prevailed on the Kairos to make her human, as she said.  He—at that time the Kairos was a man—got a number of goddesses to do that, but the goddesses got a bit carried away.  They empowered Sukki like some sort of comic book superhero, and Boston wanted to give her a comic book name.

“Not Amazing Woman,” Alexis said, and Nanette agreed.  Alexis remembered that Athena at least gave Sukki a fundamental understanding of physics and astrophysics, so she could understand when Elder Stow and Boston got lost in all their technical jargon.

Katie and Lockhart stood.

“Where are you going?” Alexis asked. “Food is almost ready.”

“Just checking on Tony,” Katie said.

“Her elect senses are acting up,” Lockhart added, as they walked to where the horses were grazing.  Tony was there, brushing Ghost, the mule that pulled their pioneer wagon, sent with the horses back from the 1870s.  Tony had his eyes on the horizon, and Ghost kept nudging him for more attention.  Ghost turned out to be a big baby.

Lockhart said nothing.  As the Assistant Director of the Men in Black, he was the one charged with leading this unexpected expedition back to the future.  As a former police officer, though, he learned to wait until others revealed what was on their minds.  He doubly learned that lesson on this trip.  Charged with making the hard decisions, he learned to listen closely to the input of others.  He especially listened to his wife, and not necessarily just because she was his wife.

Major Katherine Harper-Lockhart, besides being a marine, and a doctor in ancient and medieval technologies and cultures, she was also an elect, a one-in-a-million warrior woman, who was faster, stronger, more agile, more capable in combat and tactics than most men.  She had a very refined intuition that could sense an enemy or danger to her home and family when the enemy was miles away.

“I’ve got that Rome feeling,” Katie said, and explained for Tony who had not been with them at the time.  “When we came into Italy shortly before Rome got founded, we found all the Latin and other tribes hating and fighting each other.  They all assumed we belonged to a different group, since we were strangers, so they wanted to fight us, too.”

Lockhart pointed up.  Something moved through the sky.  An alien ship of some sort.  It came overhead but did not stop.  Suddenly, it shot off to the east and quickly disappeared from sight.  “Our direction,” Lockhart said.  “Something to look forward to.”

Katie frowned but turned their attention back to the immediate problem.  Tony just pointed.  They saw the dust being kicked up in the distance.

“How many?” Lockhart asked.  Tony shrugged, but Katie paused to concentrate.

“About a hundred,” she said.

“Let’s get the horses in for the night.” Lockhart called for his horse.  “Seahorse!”  The horse looked up, but shook its head and stomped its foot like a child not ready to come in.  Katie’s horse, Bay, came right up.

“Like a faithful puppy,” she said, and doted on the horse.

The travelers camped in a rock hollow on the side of a hill, not far from the stream in the valley.  They stretched out Decker’s rope and had enough room to tie the horses and Ghost for the night, plus room for their tents and a fire.  They had to leave their wagon outside the entrance from the stream-fed meadow, but otherwise, they felt secure in what Katie called a good defensive position.  Katie, with her rifle, and Lockhart, with his shotgun cradled in his arms waited out by the wagon.  The others looked over the top of the rocks.

“I sense nomads, a scouting party, well prepared to fight, if necessary,” Katie said.  “I don’t sense it is a war party.”

“Tony said they are probably Huna people, though they might be Turks,” Lockhart responded.  Tony was a graduate student in antiquities in 1905 and might have been expected to know things like that.  Of course, Katie had her doctorate, so Lockhart asked, “Huna?”

“Huns,” she said.

“Great,” Lockhart said, sounding like Lincoln when he got sarcastic.  All he could picture was Attila and a hundred warriors coming to do a clean sweep of the area.  “You know, for people who are trying to not disturb history, we use these guns far too often.”

Katie could only nod as the Huns or possibly Turks stopped on the other side of the stream.

Avalon 7.2 Ides of March, part 3 of 6

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The following afternoon, the travelers came to the city gate.  Lockhart and Lincoln put on their best salesman smiles, but it turned out to not be necessary.  The guards knew Evan and Millie and welcomed them back to the city.

‘You’ve been in Capua these last two years?” one guard asked.

“With these friends of mine,” Evan said, not exactly lying.  “And how is the leg?”

“Fine.”  The man limped a little.  “I busted my leg, wide open…”

“Oh, here we go,” one of the other guards mumbled.

“The bone stuck out that far.  I’m not lying.  The Lord Evan fixed me right, he did.  I can walk and got no green.  Yes, sir.  I’m no good running on the watch, but I can hold the gate just fine.  I feared I would have to beg for my bread, but I got a real and proper job, and I can take care of my wife and children just fine.  A man doesn’t forget a thing like that.”

An old man chose that moment to march up, and the gate guards quickly straightened.  The old man ignored the guards but smiled for the travelers.  “Lockhart.  Good thing you got here.  You are almost out of time.”  He opened his arms to the red-headed streak.

“Gee,” Boston said.  “Last time I saw you, you were a cute little four-year-old girl.  Now, you are a big old man.”  The man just smiled for her.

“What do you mean out of time?” Lincoln had to ask.

“Come.  I’ll explain.”  He led them through the streets of Rome to the market where a pottery shop sat alongside a rather modern-looking house.  The house appeared to have been modified in several ways, like a new fireplace added; but it still had wires on the outside where the electric connected, and a metal pipe that once brought in the gas.

“We were lucky,” Evan said.  “It was not just the house, but the property that got sent through time.  That meant we got the back yard and the septic tank, thank God.  It took several years before we got connected to the public sewer system.”

“Professor,” Bodanagus knocked on the door.  A pretty, young black head emerged, before the girl shrieked and ran to hug Evan and Millie.  The shriek attracted a young man, one with dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, not too tall, but a sparkling white smile.  He also had on an apron, and dried clay on his hands, like he might have just come from the potter’s wheel.

“Nanette, you know, sort of,” Katie whispered to Lockhart, but did not exclude Lincoln and Alexis, in case Alexis forgot.  “Anthony Carter’s mother came from Italy and still had family around Rome in 1905, which attracted Anthony to join the expedition.  The Professor is Professor Fleming, the academic head of the expedition that went in search of information regarding the transition from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire.  They got more than they bargained for when they got transported, house and all, to Rome in this time zone.”

“Ashtoreth,” Lockhart nodded and named the culprit.

The old man came last to the door, hacking and coughing along the way.  “Guests?” he said.  “You know I don’t like guests.”

Lockhart thought to step forward and introduce himself.  “Robert Lockhart, assistant director of the Men in Black organization, Washington, D. C., from the year 2010.  My wife, Captain Katherine Lockhart and Major Decker are both United States Marines.  Benjamin and Alexis Lincoln work for me…”

“Men in Black?”  The Professor interrupted.  “I have heard of such a thing, but they are a myth, like elves and fairies.”

“Like the Abominable Snowman?” Katie asked, with a big grin.

“Precisely,” the professor responded, with a second look at the blonde before him. “A woman marine captain, and a darkie major?  2010?  What has my nation come to?”

“We got smart,” Decker said.

“We grew up,” Katie added.

“Boston,” Lockhart hollered.  Boston started showing off for Nanette and Anthony.  “Mary Riley works for me, too, though most call her Boston.  She grew up in Massachusetts.  Elder Stow and Sukki are Gott-Druk, from a place you probably never heard of.”

“Somewhere in the east, like in Austria-Hungary?” the professor guessed.

“A bit further away than that,” Elder Stow said, kindly enough.

“Millie and Evan, you know,” Lockhart finished.  “We thought we would bring them home.”

The professor grunted and began to cough again.  He pulled up some phlegm and spit.

Meanwhile, Millie showed off her friends to Nanette and Tony.  “Boston is a real, live elf,” Millie said.  Tony raised an eyebrow to say he did not believe that, but Nanette shook Boston’s hand.

“I love your red hair.”

“Thanks,” Boston said.  “I used to have it short like yours, but I’m growing it out.”

“And this is my friend, Sukki,” Millie said.

Tony butted in front and reached for Sukki’s hand, much to Sukki’s delight.  “Japanese?” he asked.

“No,” Millie said.  “She isn’t even human.”  Sukki found some tears on hearing that.  She covered her face.

“She is human,” Elder Stow noticed, and went to comfort his daughter.  “She is just not Homo Sapien.”  Sukki began to cry and turned away from the group.

“Well, human or not, I suppose you better come inside,” the professor said.

The travelers found places to tie off their horses and trooped into the house.  Everything looked worn and used, but the living room had comfortable, cushioned chairs, a genuine couch, and what had been a plush carpet.  The dining room had a table to seat twelve, and fancy china in a glass-fronted hutch.  The kitchen had been completely rebuilt, but the travelers expected that.  The toilet paper felt as rough as sandpaper, either that, or they had a sponge to use, but the travelers could hardly wait to take their turn on a genuine toilet.

“So,” Lincoln started like a dog with a bone.  “What do you mean, almost out of time.”

Bodanagus nodded and took a deep breath.  “I am nearly sixty, if I am not sixty already.  I would guess Judith lived about sixty-four years, but that never happens, and women live longer.  Normally, for me, sixty years is the limit.”

“I don’t know why he talks that way,” Nanette scolded Bodanagus ever so sweetly.  “The Lord alone knows the measure of a man’s life, and he will not die a moment too soon.”

“Fine and well,” Bodanagus said.  “But the professor has warned Caesar about the ides of March, and we are at the end of February, 44 BC, by the Professor’s estimate.”  Bodanagus stalled the talk and questions with his hands.  “Don’t tell me what happens.  There is a reason I don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow, or for some years to come.  If I know the details in advance, I might be tempted to change it and thus screw up history forever.  So, hush!”  People hushed, and he continued.

“All I can say is I don’t expect to outlive Caesar.  In fact, I am surprised his political opponents haven’t tried to remove me already, and in this day and age, removing me normally means getting me out of the picture, permanently.  I have already sent young Octavius to Illyria, to a military school, in anticipation of trouble.”

“So, what you are saying is you have reached your age limit,” Lockhart summed it up.  “That means we need to move as fast as we can to the next gate, just to be safe.”

Bodanagus nodded, but Professor Fleming interrupted with a coughing fit and a word.  “Apparently, I have reached my age limit as well, at sixty-eight.”  This time he held up his hands to finish what he had to say.  “Doctor Mishka herself has diagnosed cancer, in the lungs and elsewhere.  She says I have limited time but won’t say how long.  I take it you are from the future and have some means of returning there.  Take Nanette.”

“No,” Nanette protested.

“Now, now,” the Professor said.  “You are no good to me in this condition.  My time is over, but you have a mother and family in the future who deserve to see you again, and a chance to get there.  You are going, and that is final.  No arguments.”  The professor sat heavily in his chair, all out of breath.

“Nanette,” Tony spoke up.  “I can go with you, to see my mother, too.  You don’t have to go alone.”

“Don’t worry, Nanette,” Millie said, as she came from the kitchen and sat on the arm of the Professor’s comfy chair.  Evan came with her and placed one hand on her shoulder for support.  “We will take the best care of the professor.  Evan and I have decided to stay here and have a family, if we can.”

************************

MONDAY

Two men are preparing to die.  One couple is hoping to have children.  Nanette is being tossed from the nest like a baby bird, and Sukki is unhappy about something.  This is life, and they haven’t even told Bodanagus about the brigand/Roman soldiers on their tail.  Until next week, Happy Reading

*

Avalon 3.7: part 4 of 5, Day of the Moon

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“Ambush,” Decker pulled his rifle as Roland came back from the front and Elder Stow came in from the other side.

“How do you know?” Lockhart asked, while he pulled the shotgun and Katie got her own rifle.

Decker looked at Nuwa. “One of your guys came up and said, “hoop, hoop,” and pointed.”

“Any Pendratti?” Nuwa asked. Decker shook his head.

“Not that I saw.”

“Options?” Lockhart looked at the two marines, but Elder Stow spoke first.

“I could set a screen to the side that arrows and such cannot penetrate, that is, if we can ride past them.”

“Can you make it one sided so we can shoot them?” Decker asked. Elder Stow nodded, and Decker explained. “We need to hurt them so they don’t try again, further down the road.”

Lockhart frowned, but he did not say no.Nuwa 4

When the were ready, they did not move very far before the arrow barrage came from the rocks. The arrows all fell short when they hit Elder Stow’s screen. Decker and Katie returned fire, but Katie stopped after a moment. Lockhart had to tell Decker to stop and follow, since he was falling behind. Elder Stow left a parting shot with his sonic device. He loosened some rocks overhead and started a bit of an avalanche. He said something to the group about it.

“It was a good idea when they tried it.”

Nuwa got down from behind Katie once the were in the clear. Katie and Boston walked their horses, with Lockhart near. Roland went back out to the point and Decker and Eder Stow went again to the wings. Lincoln and Alexis appeared to take up where the left off the day before. No one knew what the were talking about, but it felt like a private conversation.

Boston started the questions this time. “So who are these Qinjong?”

“Western people. The live in the Qinghai and the Kunlun Mountains around the headwaters of the He, and they are not Longshan people. They were a quiet, peaceful people all my life until recently. If they were migrating, moving in, becoming part of the people, that would be one thing, but I know of no reason, drought or pestilence or disease or anything to make them change their ways or move out of their place. But in these last few years they have come into our land like a bunch of Saxon raiders, burning whole villages and carting people off as slaves. You don’t understand. They are hunters and gatherers. They have no use for slaves. That is just another mouth to feed. So I thought to find out where the people are going, and I actually did check the mountains first. That is where I found Tien. And now I am checking the south side, on the edge of Tibet.”

Nuwa silk road 2“I think we are close,” Katie said. “If you were off base, they would not be trying so hard to stop you.”

“Not much room here, all things considered. We cross the highland peaks to our right and we end up in the Tarim basin, where the desert is. Go far enough to our left and we run into the Himalayan Mountains.”

“What will you do when you find the Pendratti?” Boston asked.

“I can’t say,” Nuwa answered. “You never know who might be listening in.”

###

That evening, as people relaxed around the fire, Nuwa thought to talk to the couples present. Lockhart was telling old jokes, and Katie was laughing at them like they were brand new. Nuwa thought there was something to be said for the generation gap between those two, but she knew they were simmering and hardly cooked at all, so she moved to the old couple. Alexis and Lincoln were married longer than their present ages. After nibbling on the apple of life, Lincoln turned twenty-nine or so. Alexis could not be older than twenty-five.

“We’ve been married thirty-five years,” Alexis said. “I know it is hard to think this way, especially for Benjamin, but I would like to have another baby.”

“Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad,” Lincoln said, softly, and Nuwa knew she had to intervene.

“I hope you can hold off until you get home,” she said. “Now is not the time to be having a baby. Alexis, you will never make it through your last trimester the way you are moving through time, not if you face any trouble, and more importantly, when the baby is born, it will be time locked in that place. You won’t be able to bring it into the future with you.”Moon 2

Alexis and Lincoln looked at each other like this was something they never considered. then they all looked up at the sound of a distant howl. Lincoln looked for the moon, but Alexis did not doubt it was their werewolf, the one Katie called Bob.

“The sound might travel for miles in this scrub and rocky land,” Lincoln suggested.

“It might,” Nuwa said, and she excused herself to talk to the young lovers.

Roland and Boston were being very quiet. “I thought you two would have walked side by side these last couple of days. What gives?” Nuwa took a seat by the fire where she could eye the both of them

“We’ve been arguing,” Boston admitted. Nuwa said nothing, so Boston looked at Roland and he explained.

“I am now one hundred and twenty-seven years old, if estimates are correct on how long we have been traveling in the time zones, and I have spent months in the company of humans—ordinary humans, an unheard of thing for an elf. What is more, I have had a chance to observe humans and human ways up close, even in these days long before my time, and I have come to appreciate how complex and diverse the human—the homo sapiens race really is, and how fragile it is in the face of a hostile universe. What is more, I am in love with a human and I can’t seem to help it, great sin though it is for my kind.”

“I am ready to become an elf, if you can do that,” Boston interrupted.

“No,” Roland started to protest, but paused when Nuwa held up her hand.

Boston 3b“Very elfishly spoken,” Nuwa said with a smile for Boston. “To interrupt a Bean in the midst of a heart-felt confession.” Nuwa grinned, and Boston grinned with her. “But it is never wrong to be content with who you are. Much of the evil and confusion in the human race is due to people who are unwilling to be who they were born to be.”

“My parents and brothers already think I’m an elf, or a fairy, but I never had a desire to fly. Even Alexis says I have more elf in me than she has.”

Nuwa shook her head. “That is not how you were born.”

“No. I am prepared to become human, and work for Lockhart and the Men in Black,” Roland responded, mostly to Boston. “And no matter how long or short my life, I don’t mind as long as I get to live it with you.” Boston just shook her head and gave Roland an elf grin.

“I’m not going to be responsible for killing your father,” Boston said. “I like him.”

Nuwa held her hand up again to speak. “I accept your application to work for the Men in Black. Report to Lockhart in the morning.” Roland smiled, because he thought she was going to grant his request and make him human. “And Boston, The Almighty, my God will never abandon you, but you are asking for another layer in between your life and Heaven. Are you prepared to have an ordinary human being as your goddess, or god as the case may be, to love you and care about you, and in my own stumbling, fallible human way, to watch over you and direct your steps. You know, I am not Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. I am not always in a good mood.”

Boston nodded. “But I have never met you in any life where I was not drawn to you, and cared about you, and anyway, you are Lockhart’s boss, so I figure most of it won’t change. As for heaven, I trust in the Lord, and I trust in you too, already, so again, I don’t see much changing. And sometimes you scare me already, so that probably won’t change.”

“Everything will be different,” Roland objected. “You have no idea.”

“I’m willing and ready,” Boston said.Alexis 3

“I’m the one to change. I know what I am getting into.”

“You don’t. You can’t” Alexis interrupted her brother. “You have no idea, either one of you.”

Boston and Roland heard, but ran out of things to say, so they stared at Nuwa to make a decision. Nuwa simply stared back before she decided something. “Sleep on it,” she said. “Things may clear up in the morning. Wait until daylight.” She rolled over to sleep, and said nothing more.