The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance (56 page)

Rand straightened at the mention of air flight. The driver said the attack came from the air. Maybe what she was saying did make some kind of sense. “And time travel?”

“And time travel. The problem is regulating it. There are those who think anyone should be able to go anywhere and do whatever they want.”

“Which leads to history being changed which changes the future.”

“Yes. There’s a group who think they can change things for the better. One of them, a guy named Wiley, managed to jump into time and he’s trying to corner the market on time travel by being the first to invent it. Then he can control it.”

“And offer it to the highest bidder.”

“Greed is something that’s pretty much the same no matter what time you are in.”

“What good is it going to do him in the future if he’s back here?”

“He’s hoping to keep it in the family. He can trace his lineage back pretty far and apparently whoever his ancestor is in this time was rich, smart and greedy.”

Rand rubbed his fingers over his eyes. “You’re giving me a headache.”

“It’s not me.” Shay pointed to the hash marks in the sand. “You’ve been split.”

“What?”

“There are two of you now. The blast that announced my arrival? It ripped your time line. So now there are two of you in two separate – yet parallel – time lines. It’s why you feel weak. You’re half of what you were.”

Rand staggered to his feet. The sudden movement made him dizzy and he wobbled enough so that he grabbed on to the boulder for support.

“I know it’s hard to believe but it’s true. You feel horrible because your life just got cut in half. If it happens again, you’ll be split again. Another fracture, another parallel time line.”

“How do we fix it?”

“Go to the source. So why don’t you tell me what it is that you know?”

“About time travel? Nothing. All I’ve got is a partner and a prisoner who look as if they were melted together like candle wax, a dead driver who said the attack came from the air, and lightning in the sky without thunder.” He went to his pack. “And this.” He handed Shay the strange piece of metal. “I found this in my partner’s body.”

“They were using them to experiment on,” Shay said.

Rand’s stomach turned at the thought. “Bastards.” He had no idea what had been done to Tom, but the results of it were enough to make him think that it had to have been horrible for anyone involved. Even to a cold-hearted killer like Hank Miller.

The touch of her hand on his arm was meant to be gentle and soothing but still his body reacted in ways that were far from gentle. Rand looked into her eyes and saw gold flecks over green and a clear calm gaze that gave him no doubt that she was entirely truthful with him.

“Help me stop them,” she said.

He was so very tired. Rand let out a sigh and picked up his rig. “Beats getting drunk.”

Still no word from Topher. Her display read three hours until she could jump. If she were
able
to jump. She stood on a rock by the river, hoping the added height would give her a better signal. She really needed to get up higher. She needed to see the lie of the land. Rand was convinced that the river held the clue since the bodies had come from somewhere upstream.

The river wasn’t much more than a trickle now. It was hard to believe that it had enough power to carry these huge boulders downstream but apparently it had. The lightning was closer now. Daggers of it shot across the sky, right over her head. If she’d had a metal rod, she probably could have pulled it to her. It had to be the source of the time machine. What else could it be?

Shay looked at Rand, who stood at the head of his horse, stroking its neck as he murmured in its ear. The poor beast was done in. Its head hung limply and its body trembled with weakness. It could go no further. They’d run out of room. There was no place to go but up and it looked as if it would be a difficult climb. The walls of the canyon were narrow and the terrain rocky.

“Sorry old man,” Rand said. “I promised you sweet grass and fat mares but it looks like I can’t come through for you.” His voice broke as he touched his forehead to the animal’s. “I’m sorry I let you down.” He unsaddled the horse and slipped its bridle off.

Shay felt a strange welling in her throat. Where did that come from? She was getting all emotional over a cowboy and his horse. Life was like that. People died. Pets died. It happened all the time.

But how many times did it happen because of some idiot playing around with a time machine? Being in the wrong place at the wrong time totally sucked. The man was just doing his job and his life was ruined.

He pulled his gun from his holster. Was he actually planning on shooting the horse? Shay jumped down from the rock and ran to him just as he put the barrel of his gun against the horse’s head. “What are you doing?”

The face he turned on her was tortured, haggard and weary. The effects of the time rip on his body were already showing.

“I can’t just leave him here to die. He’d starve. Slowly. And the buzzards would be at him. He deserves better than that. We all do.”

“He’s your friend?” she asked.

Rand turned away. “Yes.”

She rubbed her hand down the face of the horse. Its eyes looked flat and hollow in the moonlight, full of pain. The essence of the horse was gone, leaving nothing behind but a shell that obeyed because that was what it was trained to do. “I’ll do it,” she said. He started to protest but she stopped him with a look. “My way will be kinder, I promise.” She took her med kit from her belt and loaded all twelve tranks into the hypo-gun. She spoke soothing words as she found the pulse in the animal’s neck. She quickly shot in the dose and the horse blinked, one time, slowly dropped to its knees and lay down with a heavy sigh.

The ranger looked at her.

“It’s like he’s going to sleep,” she said. “Talk to him. Tell him it’s OK to go.”

Rand knelt down next to the horse and spoke into its ear as he rubbed down the long arch of its neck. The animal let out its breath and was still. Shay watched as Rand wiped his arm across his eyes and then slowly he stood.

“How long do I have?” he asked. “Before the same thing happens to me.”

Shay shrugged. It would be nice if she had an easy answer. “It depends upon your life expectancy. Your horse was already old before the split. Without knowing when and how you die, I can’t say.” She looked at him. He was all hollows and angles in the moonlight and she still could not tell what colour his eyes were. “You could die in the next five minutes or it could be years. I just don’t know.”

His laughter sounded bitter and hollow. “Sounds like another typical day.” He slung his saddlebags and rifle over his shoulder. “If we’re going to get this bastard before I die then we’d best get a move on.”

“Well, that explains a lot,” Rand said an hour later. They were lying on a ridge overlooking a lake. Dawn was still a few hours away and clouds were moving in, yet the moon cast enough of a reflection across the water to give them a good view of the surrounding area.

A dam lay across the mouth of the river. In the middle of it was a large sluice gate, which was operated with gears and pulleys. Beside it was a building with an open roof. Steam rose from one side of the building and occasionally a flash of light would flare out.

“I don’t know exactly what it is it explains but it’s got to mean something,” he added. He rolled over on his back and threw his arm over his eyes. He felt like he’d been run over after a hard night of drinking. Yet he still felt the clench in his gut every time he looked at Shay.

If he was going to go out, he might as well do it in the arms of a beautiful woman. The hard part would be convincing her to oblige him. Surely any woman that walked around in pants that hugged every muscle of her long legs and the curve of her luscious behind wouldn’t mind helping a guy who was about to die.

“I wonder how they got this stuff out here?” It wasn’t exactly what he was thinking but still he wondered. The building was pretty big and there’d been no sign of a wagon train, coach, or even a spur off the railroad.

“Probably by airship,” she said. “I think it’s docked over to the left.” She moved her head, still scanning the area. “He’s using solar power.” She was looking through a pair of binoculars that had the same strange lights on them as the thing on her arm. “The sun heats the water and creates steam. The steam turns the turbines, which turns the platform. I’m betting it’s got mirrors all around it. It seems like I remember seeing a drawing of something similar in the archives.”

“You can tell all that from looking through those binoculars.”

“They’re infra-red.” She spared him a look. “They can read heat.” She handed them to him and he rolled over on his stomach next to her.

He peered through them and sure enough saw bright red spots. “So if the big spots are heat from the steam, then does that make the little spots people?”

“Yes, it does.”

“So what are those?” Rand pointed towards the ravine. The glasses showed some smaller red spots that were moving towards their position. He dropped the glasses and peered into the darkness. “Rats?” It was the only logical answer. Still, he had yet to meet a rat that wore spurs.

The noise was getting louder. They could see nothing, but they heard small rocks tumbling down the ravine. The moon was behind the clouds so it was difficult to see. Though without a doubt Rand knew something was there. He’d learned several years ago never to ignore the feeling of being stalked and he drew his gun. Shay dropped her pack and did the same.

“What is it?”

“Since I have to guess, I’m going with some sort of steam-powered guard dogs,” Shay said. “Let me take them out.”

Rand cocked his pistol. “You’re kidding, right?”

She stood and took aim at the ridge. “Nope. You’ll make too much noise. They’ll know we’re up here.” Shay fired her gun and a blast of blue light came out of it. It made a buzzing sound, like a swarm of angry bees. He had to admit it was much quieter than his .45 yet he hated not being able to fight back. Especially since there were more things swarming towards them.

It looked as if the ground was alive and moving. The moon suddenly split a cloud and Rand saw what was stalking them. There had to be a hundred or more, metal scorpions, as big as cats, with hinged legs that moved across the rocks and pincers raised and clacking together. They were looking for targets.

“Don’t let them touch you.” Shay was blasting as quickly as they came at her.

“Yeah . . . right.” Rand slid his pistol into the holster and picked up his rifle. He swung it like a club at the things and they flew apart with the impact. They kept on coming and he was soon breathing hard and his arms ached. Shay kept on firing until her weapon died on her, then all she could do was kick them in Rand’s direction and let him finish them off. She danced away from the last one as its claws nipped at her ankles. She bumped into Rand who had just launched one into the canyon and they stumbled backwards. He slammed his rifle into a boulder and the stock cracked. He lost his balance and they both went down. Rand caught her in his arms and twisted so he took the full impact of the fall.

She was sturdy. The impact of their bodies hitting the ground made him grunt and they lay still for a moment as they caught their breath. Shay’s body lay on top of his, chest to chest, thigh to thigh, and hip to hip. She was a perfect fit and his body recognized it. He could not help but tighten his hold on her. Her head lay up under his chin and the scent of her tousled curls filled his nostrils. The aroma was unlike anything he’d ever experienced and a vision of blue skies and a grassy meadow bursting with flowers of every colour filled his mind. Was it heaven? If it was it was as close as he ever hoped to get and there was only one thing missing.

“Are you OK?” he asked.

Shay raised her head. Her eyes held the moon in them. She parted her lips to speak but before she could say anything he kissed her. Rand moved his hand into her hair as his lips touched hers, and he was surprised, yet grateful, when her lips moved against his and her hands framed his face. She gasped, enough so that her lips parted, and he took advantage of the opportunity to trace her bottom lip with his tongue. She responded and it felt like a kick in the gut. The feel of her body against his, her hips pressing against him stoked the fire. He rolled her over quickly, and she moved against him. His hand found her breast and she sighed as their tongues caressed.

“Five-one come in. Five-one are you there? Shay!”

Rand raised his head and looked at her in confusion. Her eyes glinted silver in the moonlight before she closed them, her face clenched in frustration, a mirror of his, he was certain.

“What is that?”

She pushed him aside and he rolled, painfully, away.

“It’s base,” she said. She touched her arm. “This is five-one. Check three.”

“Thank God,” the voice said. “We thought we’d lost you.”

“I hit a bump.” She stood up and ran her hand through her hair.

“Yeah. Any side-effects?”

Rand sat up and took a long drink from his canteen as Shay looked down at him. She handed him her flask. “Drink this.” She mouthed the words then continued with her conversation. “One. No make that two. One down. One with me.”