Castaways in Time

by Robert Adams

  For almost a minute before it was forever gone, the awestruck servants and soldiers saw the always strange brick-and-board house half submerged in a rushing torrent of brownish water. Then it was gone, as if it never had been, and the shrubs and hedges in the space it had occupied—or had it ever?—stood as green and perfect as the rest of the garden expanse.

  Many of the folk assembled moaned and cried out, many more crossed themselves, fumbling for crosses or relics of saints, some of the men and all of the soldiers grasped steel buckles or sword- or knife-hilts, muttering the ancient benison to ward off the Old Evil, "Cauld iron!"

  EPILOGUE

  State Trooper Jerry Erbach dashed the sweat from his forehead with the back of a big skinned and dirty hand, then lowered his beefy body through the hatch of the obsolete armored personnel carrier that the National Guard had contributed to the emergency. Placing the cumbersome headset over his head, he mouthed, "Thishere's Troopuh Erbach, get me th'ough to Lootenunt Gear, rant away, too. Vheanh?"

  Turning to the NG driver of the track, a pink-cheeked Spec-4 from the western part of the state, Erbach grinned. "Gotta keep awn them gals' tails. Leave it t' them, they'd spend awl their time a-jawin' to each othuh 'bout guys they's laid or guys they's gonna lay or—"

  The set crackled and Erbach answered, "Yessir. Yessir, Tuz tryin' to get Lootenant Gear. Yessir, Lootenant Martin Gear. Right Yessir."

  Then, after a pause, "Marty? Thishere's Jerry Erbach. We fin'ly done foun' the roof awf Foster's house, whut's left of 'er, leastways. Huh? Clear down to Quantico, almos', thet's where. Naw, no trace of Foster, the dumb-ass bastid, jest a ol' cat an' the fucker tried to bite me, too, wild as hell."

  "Well, looky here, Marty, thishere driver says we needs POL, bad, so we jest comin' awn in. Heanh? It'll be gittin' awn dark, soon enyhow."

  "He still may turn up, y'know, Marty, what's lef of him, enyways. But I got thishere gut feelin', Marty, thet Mr. Foster ain' no more in thishere world."