Smith's Monthly #16

by Smith, Dean Wesley

  He liked the greener area of the state in the center.

  A few minutes later Duster pointed out the window. “Coming up on the Snake River.”

  Kelli leaned over him to see out and he leaned back a little to give her room, the pressure of her hand more on his leg.

  After a moment she glanced at him.

  “Fun, huh?” he asked.

  She laughed and squeezed his leg. “I have a hunch the fun is only beginning.”

  “Sounds good to me,” he said, squeezing her hand.

  Then they both went back to staring out the window at the wide river below, and the mountains ahead.

  After another ten minutes, the helicopter was over the tallest peaks of the mountains.

  “Down in the valley below is the ghost town of Silver City,” Duster said. “We just went over War Eagle Mountain.”

  Again Kelli leaned over him to look out, the pressure of her hand on his leg very comforting.

  Another minute and the helicopter banked and headed in slowly toward a wide meadow on the top of a ridge line a ways above the old ghost town. There didn’t seem to be any trees even close by and from what Jesse could tell from the intense winds from the helicopter blades, the grass was very short.

  “Make sure you grab your bags,” Duster said. “The pilots will not turn off the engines and will be headed back as soon as we are out.”

  “Keep your heads and arms down and stay low when you get out,” a pilot said. “In case we’re tipped slightly one way or the other. And leave the helmets on the floor in front of each seat.”

  After only a moment Jesse felt the helicopter touch down gently, then settle in.

  “Have a nice day,” one pilot said.

  “We will call when we need a ride out,” Duster said. “If you don’t hear from us, come back at four in the afternoon.”

  “Understood,” the pilot said.

  The co-pilot was already out and he opened the large side door. Duster, Bonnie, and Madison all took off their helmets and, staying low, ran away from the helicopter along the grass-covered ridge.

  Dawn went next, then Kelli took off her helmet and followed Dawn out.

  He went out right behind Kelli.

  The sound was intense, seeming to fill every cell of his body. The wind whipped at him and his coat as he carried his bag in one hand and his hat in the other, running bent over to where Duster and the rest stood.

  As he and Kelli turned back toward the helicopter, the co-pilot was climbing back into his seat, the back door already closed.

  After a moment, the co-pilot gave a thumbs-up out the window at them and the helicopter lifted off, turning after about fifty feet in the air and streaking back toward the Boise Valley in the distance.

  After a moment, the intense thundering of the helicopter was replaced by almost perfect silence, broken only by a gentle morning breeze through the grass around their feet.

  They were standing on what looked like a flat area of a ridge that sloped steeply off in two directions. On one side Jesse could see the Treasure Valley and Boise in the distance, and on the other side lower mountains sloping down into what looked like a flat desert.

  “That beats the hell out of the road up here,” Madison said.

  “By about a thousand times,” Dawn said.

  “Just wish we could do it more,” Duster said. “Just don’t dare. Too many times and it would draw attention.”

  “The road is that bad?” Kelli asked.

  “Worse than you can imagine,” Dawn said, shaking her head.

  Jesse had been on his share of bad mountain roads. He was glad he hadn’t had to endure another one today. “So where are we, exactly.”

  “In the Owyhee Mountains about two thousand feet above the ghost town of Silver City, Idaho,” Duster said, pointing over the ridge and down. “And our destination is about a thousand feet in that same direction.”

  At that Duster picked up his case and strode off along the ridge to the left on the Silver City side. With his long duster coat and cowboy hat, he looked perfectly at home.

  Bonnie fell in behind him.

  “Ready for the secret?” Madison asked.

  Jesse glanced at Kelli who smiled and shrugged.

  At this point, what choice did either of them have?

  “Just one mystery right after another,” he said, smiling.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  July 15th, 2016

  Above the ghost town of Silver City, Idaho

  KELLI FOUND HERSELF getting winded easily after just fifteen minutes of walking, even though they were mostly walking either across the hillside, or down, on a fairly well defined trail. Finally it dawned on her why. She had spent most of the last week at sea level. Suddenly she found herself atop a fairly tall mountain.

  “What’s the elevation here?” Kelli asked.

  “Seven thousand feet or so,” Duster said over his shoulder. “We’re almost there.”

  “Can take the breath right out of you, can’t it?” Jesse said from behind her.

  “That and these views can do that,” she said, nodding. It really was spectacular, looking out over the distant valleys.

  Finally, they came around a ridge covered with low pine trees and Duster pointed to a very steep and rough-looking trail that seemed to go almost straight down.

  “That’s the road in here,” he said, turning and following along the hillside. She could see clear tire tracks in the ground, but she had no idea how a car could get up that steep grade, let alone not tip over along this side hill.

  “See what I mean?” Dawn said from in front of Kelli.

  “I don’t even want to try to imagine,” Kelli said.

  Finally, they reached an area of trees.

  “We normally park in these trees,” Madison said, pointing to the trees they were walking through as Duster just kept on going toward what looked to be old mine tailings and a rough old mining shack.

  The trail between the trees and the mine tailings was across what looked like a steep rockslide. It was almost straight down and Kelli could see the ghost town of Silver City below. There were about twenty buildings still standing in one form or another, and about five cars parked in front of what looked to be an old hotel.

  When they all reached the flat top of the old mine tailings, Duster dropped his bag and then Bonnie did as well. The air, even though it was still fairly early in the morning, was starting to warm up, promising a very warm day ahead.

  The flat-top area of the mine tailings was covered with a few dried weeds that had managed to get a hold in the rocks. Otherwise it was weather packed hard.

  The old mining shack looked to be in its last moments of life. The boards were grayed out and rotted and the windows gone. The entire thing leaned sharply downhill and Kelli figured one more good winter and it would be nothing more than a pile of lumber. She had seen old buildings in ghost towns like that a lot.

  Small, narrow gage mining-tracks, mostly rusted, ran from the back of the old shack and into a boarded up mine entrance that had collapsed a very long time ago. Rotted boards at one point had covered the old opening. Some good-sized small trees and brush grew out of where the mine had collapsed.

  Looks like they were at their destination, but Kelli could see nothing at all that looked remotely like anything special.

  She put down her night bag and moved over to the edge of the tailings. In her research, she had heard a lot about Silver City, just never had any reason to research it much for any of her books. Maybe at some point she would find a crime worth researching that brought her back here. The area had an interesting feel of desolation to it.

  “Madison,” Duster said, “you want to head on up the trail to see if anyone is up over the ridge there.”

  Madison nodded, left his bag and headed off the tailings past the cabin and up a clear trail leading up along the hillside.

  He vanished for a few minutes. Then he reappeared and nodded. “Clear up that way.”

  Dus
ter and Bonnie and Dawn in the meantime had taken binoculars from their packs and were slowly scouring the nearby ridges and trees.

  Kelli glanced at Jesse, who was looking as puzzled as she felt. Whatever was here somewhere, Duster and the rest did not want to be seen accessing it.

  “No one in sight,” Duster said after a moment. “But keep an eye out for a few more minutes.”

  Dawn nodded and Bonnie handed Madison her binoculars as he came back to the group and Bonnie moved over to stand beside Duster.

  Duster tucked the binoculars into his bag and then looked at both Jesse and Kelli. Kelli was stunned at how intense he looked right at that moment.

  And Bonnie looked the same way.

  “You have promised,” Duster said, “to not tell anyone about any of this you are about to see.”

  Kelli nodded. “I respect my sources confidentiality.”

  “And you know me,” Jesse said. “Nothing will get beyond me.”

  Both Duster and Bonnie nodded. Then he glanced at Madison and Dawn who were still scanning the hills around them. “Clear?”

  “Clear,” Madison said.

  He and Dawn both went back to their bags and picked them up.

  Duster took out a key from his pocket. It looked like an ancient skeleton key. He twisted the head once and suddenly Kelli got very, very worried.

  Right beside the collapsed mine shaft what looked to be a very large rock slid back silently, and behind it a large metal door opened.

  Dawn, Madison, and Bonnie stepped into the exposed chamber and the rock slid closed.

  “Wow, that’s impressive way up here,” Jesse said.

  “I’ll explain how it’s all powered later,” Duster said. “Grab your stuff and lets get inside.”

  Kelli, still just staring at what appeared to be a massive rock, picked up her bag and stepped over next to Jesse. Duster took one more look around and then twisted the key again and the rock, silently, slid back.

  “That’s just stunning,” Kelli said.

  “That it is,” Jesse said as they stepped inside with Duster and the rock slid closed, plunging them into complete blackness for a two count before a door to Kelli’s right opened.

  “Delay so no light escapes,” Jesse said, nodding. “Nice!”

  Kelli did not much like at all where she now found herself. It was clearly the old mine tunnel in the hill behind where the entrance had collapsed, with rotting old timbers and the rails for the ore car running up the middle.

  Wires ran along one wall with light bulbs that let off a faintly orange glow strung every ten paces. It gave the entire thing a golden tint.

  Bonnie and Madison and Dawn were nowhere to be seen, but from what she could tell, the mine turned to the right about forty paces into the hill. More than likely they were around that way.

  “Nice,” Jesse said, moving out into the mine tunnel and studying the beams. “All redone to be safe.”

  “A major earthquake wouldn’t bring this tunnel down,” Duster said, heading off down the tunnel.

  Jesse glanced back at Kelli. “Ever been in an old mine before?” he asked.

  “Not real excited about being in one now,” Kelli said. And she wasn’t. In fact, every voice in her body was telling her to turn and run before the old beams collapsed on all of them.

  But with the rock and door now closed behind her, there was no place to run.

  Jesse pointed up into the shadows above one beam. “It’s been poured concrete and reinforced. The old look is to scare people and keep them out.”

  “It’s working,” Kelli said.

  Jesse smiled and offered his hand. “Let’s go see this great mystery.”

  She took his hand and felt instantly better.

  Together, they headed up the mine until Duster didn’t make the corner in the mine, but instead just walked through a side wall of the tunnel and vanished.

  Both Kellie and Jesse just stopped in their tracks.

  “That’s just damn mean,” Bonnie said as Duster chuckled like a ghost, his laugh echoing down the tunnel.

  Kelli was getting damn tired of thinking people were ghosts. First Jesse, now the rest of them.

  Suddenly Bonnie appeared from out of the wall.

  “One of the many security features,” she said. “Hologram.”

  She stuck her hand back into the wall.

  She indicated that they should come with her.

  “Close your eyes and just step forward,” Bonnie said after they got right next to the wall.

  Kelli didn’t want to let go of Jesse’s hand, but she did so she could put her hand out in front of her as she closed her eyes and stepped toward what looked like a solid wall of rock.

  She felt nothing and after a few steps opened her eyes and looked back.

  She could see the tunnel, but not where the hologram was.

  “That’s impressive,” Jesse said, glancing back. “I think I’m saying that a lot.”

  “You haven’t seen anything yet,” Bonnie said, indicating they should head for the end of the mine. There was no sign of Duster.

  “Let me guess,” Kelli said, doing her best to keep her nerves under some sort of control. “Another hologram?”

  “Got it in one,” Bonnie said, laughing.

  Jesse and Kelli both followed Bonnie through the second fake wall and into a huge cavern full of racks and racks of period clothing and shelves full of various supplies. Lights hung from the high rock ceiling filled the place with clear light.

  Madison and Dawn were standing at one table, working on unpacking their bags.

  Duster was at another table seemingly doing the same thing.

  Kelli looked over as Jesse stopped beside her.

  “I’m starting to think they were telling us the truth,” she whispered, her voice lost in the big cavern.

  All Jesse could do was nod. Clearly he was feeling the same way.

  And that scared her more than she wanted to admit.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  July 15th, 2016

  Above the ghost town of Silver City, Idaho

  JESSE WAS FLAT impressed with all the security features to get into the big supply cavern at the end of an old gold mine. Something was here and clearly they were all prepared, with all the period costumes and period supplies to go back into time, as they had claimed.

  He wasn’t convinced that was going to happen, but clearly the four of them believed it. And the fact that they did, and he respected all of them, worried him more than he was going to let himself admit at this point.

  Bonnie had him and Kelli pack their modern underwear and supplies in hidden compartments of saddlebags.

  “These are expensive saddlebags for 1900,” Kelli said, glancing over at Bonnie.

  “We always travel as people of means,” Bonnie said.

  “Makes it a ton easier, I’ll bet,” Kelli said.

  “Always,” Bonnie said.

  After everyone was packed, Dawn said, “Madison and I will fix us all some lunch while you show Jesse and Kelli the cavern and take them on a test run.”

  With that, Dawn and Madison headed for the back of the cave where Jesse could see a modern kitchen and living area.

  “Test run?” Kelli asked, glancing around.

  “We’ll show you,” Bonnie said. “Slip this on.”

  Jesse watched as Bonnie had Kelli slip on a period dress over her clothes. “No need to button it. It’s only in case someone sees us from a distance. We’re only going back out front.”

  Jesse and Duster still wore their long coats and cowboy hats, so they would pass easily in just about any time period.

  “Follow me,” Duster said.

  Jesse glanced at Kelli, who was looking as worried as he felt. But they both followed Duster.

  Duster went out of the main cavern into a small tunnel to a door at the back which he unlocked. Then he glanced back at them. “Do not touch the walls.”

  Then he pushed the door open and went into a well-lit ca
vern on the other side.

  Both Jesse and Kelli got about five steps before they both stopped.

  It took Jesse a moment to even begin to understand a part of what he was seeing. The cavern was immense, bigger than most major football stadiums, and one part of it seemed to go off into the distance, sloping downhill.

  The floor was flat and seemed to be just dirt and light gray dust. The walls were covered in quartz crystals of some sort.

  They had a faint pink look and seemed to radiate power. They were all sizes, from tiny ones growing in clusters to massive ones he couldn’t begin to guess size.

  His mind would not accept the scale or the size. He felt like an ant.

  “Never ceases to take my breath away,” Bonnie said.

  Duster was standing off to one side slightly, watching Jesse and Kelli.

  “Every crystal is the physical representation of a timeline,” Duster said. “When you decided to come up here with us, timelines were started off of billions of timelines. We figure this room is just the timelines closest to this timeline.”

  “Where would the timeline crystals be where we did not come up here?” Kelli asked.

  Jesse was impressed that she had asked an intelligent question at all. His mind was still just swirling as he looked around.

  “More than likely miles and miles down in that direction somewhere,” Duster said, pointing off where the massive cavern just vanished into the distance down into the hill.

  Jesse forced himself to clear his mind and look around. About twenty paces from the door, near one wall, was a wooden table with some sort of wooden box on it.

  “Is that the machine that allows you to jump into the crystals?” Jesse asked, pointing to the table.

  “We are in crystals now,” Duster said, nodding. “That allows us to move to another timeline from this one. Nothing more. But this timeline, this crystal we are in, is our home timeline.”

  “So you are saying that the four of us are at this very moment in all these crystals?” Kelli asked.