by Jaxon Reed
Ribbentrop thrust his hand out and flung round discs of light. Rick batted them away with the iron spikes in an irritated motion. He continued closing the distance.
Ribbentrop’s eyes grew wider. He reared his hand back and let loose a gigantic bolt of bright white energy. It arced across the space between them. Rick crossed the iron bars in front of him and absorbed the blast.
The zap lasted several seconds. When it stopped, Rick uncrossed the spikes and kept moving forward, painfully hobbling inexorably toward the fae. His scowl deepened.
“How is that possible?” Ribbentrop said. “You were enveloped in lightning!”
Rick did not answer. He gauged the remaining distance between them and flung one of the spikes, twirling it in the fae’s direction. Ribbentrop jumped to the side, but the iron nicked his hip as it passed. He screamed in pain.
Rick willed his injured leg forward as he moved to close the gap.
Ribbentrop thrust his hands down and the ground rippled in a wave, throwing Rick off his feet.
“Ha! That one worked on you!”
The fae kept his hands pointed at the ground, making it undulate, as if flapping a tablecloth. Rick could not scramble to his feet on his injured leg. He tried rolling to the side, off the moving ground, desperately wishing he could fly. Ribbentrop followed with his hands, keeping the surface under Rick moving.
Doggedly, Rick dragged himself forward. The soil acted like breakers, trying to toss him back. He grabbed tufts of grass and pulled slightly closer, across the rolling ground.
Ribbentrop’s eyes flashed darkly, his gaze never leaving Rick’s. In a far corner of his mind, Rick noted they had turned completely black, glaring at him from under the SS cap.
“You don’t have any fancy weapons, do you?” Ribbentrop said. “No flying rods controlled by AI, no miniature nets that rapidly expand? You’re helpless on this world!”
Rick said nothing. He pulled himself forward a few more inches.
Ribbentrop cackled in delight and increased the power of the spell. Rick found himself going up a ground wave ten feet high then down into a trough below the surface, then up again. He gave up trying to get closer and held on for dear life.
“No, nothing fancy,” Rick said, riding a ground wave up. “Just some low tech . . .”
On the way down he reached into his tuxedo pocket and waited for the wave to bring him back up.
“. . . iron shot!”
He pulled a handful of cast iron pellets out of his pocket and flung them at the fae. Ribbentrop screamed as small pocks of fire erupted over his face, neck and chest.
The pain disrupted the spell and the ground suddenly became flat and motionless again. Rick curled his good leg under him and lunged forward. He came down in a swooping motion with the second iron spike. It pierced Ribbentrop’s shoulder. The fae roared in pain, a sharp animal sound. Rick pulled it out and stabbed again and again, aiming for the neck and face and heart.
PHOOM!
The explosion blew him off Ribbentrop. Rick flew several feet and fell on his back, the wind knocked out of him.
For a long moment nothing happened. He stared up into the night sky, watching light from burning buildings bounce off the clouds.
Jason’s smiling face entered his field of vision, blood dripping from one cheek.
He said, “Good job, buddy! Your first kill.”
He reached down and pulled Rick to his feet. Rick staggered for a moment, unsteady. Jason wrapped an arm around his shoulder. Together they walked back toward Ribbentrop.
On the ground in a pool of clear liquid, a small dark gray body lay spread-eagled. A too-large head featured black round eyes staring at the sky. A small slit for a mouth hung open. Translucent, its organs were visible, although not clearly in the dim light. Its heart was motionless.
“What is that?” Angela said as she, the other Texans, and various diplomats gathered around the odd corpse.
Rick said, “This is the Fae of Eden.”
“From the Bible?”
Rick noted the incredulous tone in her voice. He said, “Well, yeah. Your Bible, at least. Wasn’t mentioned on my world. We didn’t have to deal with this one.”
Ambassador MacGraw cleared his throat. He said, “That is one ugly little feller. He looked better as an overweight Nazi. But I’ve seen that type before. The OSS guys have a couple that look like this one on ice out in New Mexico.”
Jason said, “How did you manage to avoid his suspension spell?”
Rick smiled and quickly unbuttoned his shirt. His undershirt had so many bullet holes in it, he easily ripped it open. Underneath he revealed a thin layer of iron mesh.
Jason took a closer look at the pattern woven on his chest and said, “The Star of David.”
Rick said, “They call it the Shield of David, here. Not sure how it works, but it certainly helps that I’m wearing iron all the way down to my toes. I understand the Crusaders here who fought the fae in chainmail had greater success than anyone else, before or since. It’s been a thousand years since the last crusade, but some people hadn’t forgotten that little fact.”
“Where’d you get set up with this?”
“My Jewish tailor. Apparently they’ve been fighting this guy for generations. Ambassador MacGraw introduced me to Louie, who has been working out some new tactics and weapons for taking on the ‘Fae of Eden.’ He’s been preparing for years. He studied what worked in the past, and designed this mesh undersuit specifically for that purpose. Fortunately, he was willing to let a gentile try it out for him.”
Jason smiled and said, “You’ll have to tell him it worked.”
“I did tell him I couldn’t be killed. Not sure he believed me.”
MacGraw said, “Ah still have a hard time believing it, and Ah’ve seen ample evidence of it. By the way, you both look like rented mules beaten half to death. Beaten and shot.”
Rick and Jason smiled. MacGraw, Angela and the other Texans stared back at them, many with wide-eyed looks of wonder on their faces.
A flash of light appeared in the grassy open area nearby. It rotated and became a bright glimmering ball, spinning a few feet off the ground.
The light grew steadily brighter, and brighter, until everyone watching had to shield their eyes with their hands.
Slowly, a human shape took place. When the spinning stopped, and the light reduced in intensity, a woman stood where the ball once floated. She was average height, with a non-descript face and mousy brown hair.
Jason said, “Cait! I am so glad to see you.”
Cait nodded, displaying no emotion. She said, “I am fully reconstructed on this alternate. You and Rick are in need of healing.”
A golden slit in reality appeared in the air beside her. She reached into it with both hands and pulled out two steaming mugs of tea. She walked over and handed one to Jason, the other to Rick.
She said, “I will attend to the living.”
Another golden slit appeared in the air and she reached into it, this time pulling out a medical kit.
MacGraw watched her quickly get to work on those who had been shot. She moved smoothly and efficiently, applying advanced medication to all the wounds.
He said, “That’s Cait? That’s your . . . computer?”
Rick nodded and said, “Yeah, this is what a very advanced version of ENIAC looks like.”
Cait approached the Indians, several of whom had gunshot wounds. They watched in stony silence as she treated the first one. The wound in his side stopped bleeding and he looked up at her in surprise as the pain faded. He said a few words to the others and their reluctance evaporated. Each one waited patiently for her to tend to their wounds.
When she treated the last one, she said something in their native tongue. They nodded and began gathering up bows and arrows.
Angela said, “What’d she say?”
Jason said, “Probably told them it was time to go back. I should go with them.”
Little Fox gave a parting wa
ve to the Texans and Europeans, then led his men back through the wide doorway into his world.
“How did that door open before she rebooted?” Rick said.
Jason’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “I don’t know.”
“Did she open it first? Before she fully rebooted?”
Jason shrugged.
Angela said, “Wait, a doorway between worlds opened in front of you and you just walked right through it?”
Jason said, “Well, technically I rode a horse. But, yeah. It’s what I do. Been doing it for a long time, too.”
He grinned at her and said, “Besides, Cait had reestablished herself enough on my world that she was able to clue me in, thanks to my neural implant.”
Angela had a confused look on her face. Rick said, “Cait spoke directly in his head.”
Eli walked up leading both horses by their reins. Jason thanked him and swung up onto Earl. Eli mounted his own horse and returned his rifle to the saddle holster.
Jason smiled down at Rick and Angela. He said, “Well, Eli and I are going to ride off into that other world’s sunset. I reckon our location there is about seven hours behind Greenwich Standard Time. It’s fixing to get dark.”
Rick chuckled and said, “Quit talking like a cowboy.”
Jason slipped into a slow drawl and said, “Wull, pardner . . .”
“Stop it. You could stick around here. This world is about to head into a late Second World War.”
“Nah, I’m sure you can handle it. Especially now that you’ve got Cait back. Besides, we’ve got some fences to rebuild back at the ranch. And Eli’s mother is going to be worried sick about him.”
Jason and Eli shared a glance, and Rick realized that Eli’s mother was likely the bigger reason for Jason’s return. He suspected Jason would be staying on that alternate for the rest of her life.
Jason said, “Oh, before I forget . . .”
He reached into a saddlebag and pulled out a smaller leather bag. He said, “Give this to Cait. She’ll know what to do with it.”
As if summoning her presence, Cait appeared and took the bag before Rick could touch it. Another slit in the air appeared. She deposited the bag in the slit and it closed immediately. Then she returned to her first aid tasks.
Jason smiled at Rick and said, “Never mind.”
He nodded at the Texans, tipped his hat to Angela again, and together Jason and Eli gently coaxed their horses back through the large rectangular doorway.
On the other side, with beams from the setting sun behind him, Jason turned and looked back. He waved his hat and shouted, “See you around, Rick!”
The rectangle snapped shut, leaving the night air to rush in its space.
-+-
MacGraw, Angela and Rick walked into the basement of the Texas Embassy and found the front room filled with marines. They all crowded in a circle around Smitty and another man. The newcomer had dark wavy hair. He was dressed in a shiny silver unitard and looked thoroughly out of place.
But Smitty seemed not to notice the odd discrepancies in clothing. The two men were looking at large sheets of paper spread out on a table and talking quietly in technical jargon, oblivious to the armed marines surrounding them.
One other thing Rick noticed as they moved through the crowd: a doorway to a different world stood open in the space behind them. It floated in the air, opening to another room, although he could not make out too many details through the narrow gap.
Rick stopped when he made his way through the last of the marines. Angela and Ambassador MacGraw stood right behind him.
The man in the odd silver clothes said, “So, make these adjustments and your computing speed will increase by 50 percent. Remember to pay special attention to what Turing develops to crack the German’s Enigma machine. Once he finishes that, winning the war will be much easier.”
He turned and looked at the newcomers.
Rick said, “Hey, I know you.”
The man smiled in recognition. He stepped away from the table with an outstretched hand and said, “I’m Darius Booker. We both got swept into the vortex about the same time.”
“Rick Strickland. I’m new.” Rick took his hand and shook it.
Booker nodded and said, “I’m not much ‘older’ than you are. Interesting alternates we ended up on. No United States, huh? Only Texas.”
“Yeah, don’t start singing ‘The stars are bright’ or anything. They’ll all be clapping and singing along.”
“We don’t do that,” Angela said, in a disdainful tone.
With a twinkle in his eye, Rick said, “Oh really? Hey, Darius, give those marines behind me a big loud, ‘Howdy.’”
Booker smiled and turned to the marines. He said, “Howdy!”
To a man, everyone shouted back, “HOWDY!”
Rick arched a triumphant eyebrow at Angela. She shrugged and said, “We’re raised to be polite, that’s all. Not like the Europeans.”
Changing the subject, she turned to Booker and said, “Who are you and how did you get here? This is a secure facility. And how do you know Mr. Strickland?”
“Ah, well, we come from the same place,” Booker said, reddening slightly at her direct tone.
“Yeah, Darius was swept away in the same attack I was,” Rick said. Returning to Booker, he said, “So, where’d you end up? How’d you get here? I take it Cait is sufficiently rebooted on your alternate to open a door?”
“Well . . .” Booker glanced back at the doorway shimmering in the corner. It seemed to be about the same size and shape as a regular doorway, only it opened in the air instead of a wall.
“I ended up in an alternate very similar to this one. In fact, I think it might be the B version of this world. Or, maybe the A version and this is the B. But instead of landing in 1947, I found myself in 2847.”
“Whoa,” Rick said. “Nine hundred years in the future.”
“Yeah. And a lot has changed. They’re in the millennial reign of Christ right now, so there’s no war and everybody is focused on improving things. Technology is jumping forward by leaps and bounds. They’ve got some really neat stuff.”
“So, they figured out trans-dimensional portals, I take it.”
“Well, with a little prodding from me. And a lot of help from Cait. Even not fully functional, she was able to leverage their computers’ processing power and nudge them in the right direction. They’re all into biomolecular quantum computing . . . stuff that is way beyond me.”
Darius smiled at Angela and said, “I’m from this era, myself. Well, I died in the 1920s on my world. So, close to this time.”
Angela’s eyes grew a little wider, but she did not seem overly surprised. Especially in light of recent events, Rick thought, it would take more than a comment about Booker having already died to phase her.
“Anyway,” Darius continued, “with Cait’s help I located you, Rick, since you were the closest to me. Right next door, so to speak. Then we just had to figure out the chrono-logistics of a short transdimensional jump and secure the power needed. Somehow we rigged it all up. After a few false starts . . . sorry about your clipboard, Mr. Smitty.”
Smitty shrugged and said, “Don’t worry about it. Anything for science.”
Booker smiled and said, “After a few false starts we were finally able to open the stable doorway you see behind me. By that time Cait had grown much more powerful and started co-opting other resources. I think she opened a doorway to Jason’s world, too.”
Rick nodded and said, “Yeah, she brought in the cavalry, so to speak, at just the right moment. Where is she? I lost her in all the excitement.”
As if in answer, another doorway opened next to the first one. Through it, distant sirens could be heard wailing. The marines stirred, and a few even raised their guns.
Cait stepped out and most of them lowered their weapons at the sight of the small plain-looking woman. The doorway winked out behind her.
“There you are, Cait,” Rick said. “We were just ta
lking about you. I lost track of you back at the German Embassy.”
“I had more wounded to attend to, but now I am here. I see you have rejoined with Mr. Booker. Now it is time for both of you to return home.”
The first two doorways closed, and a third one opened, a blue-green vertical slit that quickly expanded. Looking through it, Rick could make out a familiar pathway cresting a slight rise not far away. But everything inside looked barren. The fields were empty, filled with only dirt. No grass. No flowers or other foliage.
He said, “Is that the Wildflower Room?”
Cait said, “Yes. I am in the process of rebuilding it. For now it is purely functional, if not aesthetic.”
She walked through the doorway, turned and looked back, waiting.
Booker flashed a grin at Rick. He said, “Can’t wait to get out of these clothes. You look like you could do with a bath, buddy. Maybe a long nap. How many times did you get shot?”
Rick looked down at his blood-stained tuxedo. Louie’s garments were ruined, even though the iron mesh undersuit still held up.
“I’m not sure, I haven’t had time to count.”
The pain from all the bullet holes suddenly made their presence known, as if his body heard the comments and understood that now would be a good time to start complaining about recent mistreatments.
A wave of exhaustion swept over him, too. He recalled that heavy injuries required sleep along with leaves from the Tree of Life. After another cup or two of tea, he could do with a good long sleep.
Booker grinned at him again and followed Cait through the doorway. When he caught up with her he stopped, waiting for Rick.
Rick turned to the others in the room, suddenly conscious of their presence. Angela, the ambassador, Smitty and the marines all stared at him.
MacGraw was the first to respond. He came over and offered his huge hand, the chunky gold Aggie ring flashing in the light. Rick shook it warmly.
“Ah’m sorry to see you go, boy. But remember, you’re a native Texan. No matter what alternate Texas you were born in, you’re always welcome in ours. You’re a full natural born citizen of the Republic of Texas. And I’ve got your passport to prove it.”