Campfire on the desert! How cozy!
Time-traveler Sadie Outlaw did her part in recovering the stolen bank money secured by the bandit gang the Dillsby's. While her good deed felt right something still nagged at her the more, she stared at the sturdy locked box. Her posse pals Dorieann Finn and the borrowed outlaw NErD Potter were asleep in one another's arms. A sad moment in watching how happy they were Sadie sighed. She knew she had to return Ned to the custody of Sheriff Jim Barrett in Sugar Plum but also knew that by giving up the location of the loot Ned's gang would turn on him. Sure, she could just let him go but that would make things worse, and it could get her in hot water. The timeline was constantly in flux with her every decision. Her own fault mind you, she could have followed the rules but no, her heart was worn on her sleeve.
"I know what you're thinking Sadie."
"Course ya do, Tilly Ford. I can't sleep!"
"With Chasing Wind in your lap, I can see why."
"She finally bawled her eyes out over losing her man Gnawing Beaver. She'll be better by mornin'. I can only imagine how this turn of events is gonna effect my relations with the Comanche nation over at Waters Edge. Snake in Reeds dead on top of it ain't going to settle well with the Chief."
"Chasing Wind will vouch for you. She is his plaything. In the long run Chief Hawk in Flight is no better than Reeds. Beaver let him use his mate. As much as I am opposed to your changing future events, by my thoughts you might have done the chief a favor. Now he has Chasing Wind all to himself."
"Weird how that all works! His wife Sitting Bottom lets it all happen. Makes me wonder why."
"Their culture, their rules."
"You know Windy here is going to want to stay with me instead." She caressed the woman's long raven hair in her slumber. "She is a nice travelin' companion."
"She will get in your way Sadie. Before you follow your grandfather Jessup to the end of his road you will have to let her go, all of your new friends as well. Rewriting history is forcing us all underground as you already know."
"Sorry! I get compulsive like that. Hell, for all I know the artwork I left for Boone and Newton up at Eagles Aerie will fade away too. Chances are I'll never see them again. Or my mom! Or... Uncle Brandon now that I know he's alive. How do you cope Tilly?"
"Do I cope? I cry quite a lot. Thank goodness I have no further need to wear mascara."
"Warpaint! I never missed make-up. Only wore it when I hooked up with guys back home." In a strange moment she looked out through the moonlit darkness in the direction of the mesa she arrived her on.
"You consider what the shaman Wild Turkey told you."
"How did Newton Tickle Bear not even know of Turkey Shoots wall art?"
"Perhaps he did and thought better to hide it from others."
"I reckon that's possible. Then again, I'm still figurin' out all that paradox stuff. If I had hung out more at the Aerie as a kid, I might have spotted my own message. I mean I did leave it here in 1876 so surely it would have been there, right?"
"The variables are infinite Sadie. Again, maybe Newton did know of even those."
"Wouldn't he have warned me to ignore goin' to work for Wyndham if he did? As much as I hate the notion maybe Newton worked for Wyndham himself."
"If he did that knowledge was beyond my pay grade. The project had so many secrets it is truly hard to know."
"Here's a question... if they found Jessup's horse in the desert and his possessions, they had his coordinates. Why not land a traveler the second his horse dropped? In my theory it would have been the smarter move, don't ya think?"
"Perhaps!"
"A whole lot about this time stuff has me boggled. Like you and my connection. I get the nanites in my system fuel me, track me, and link me with you, but still. Pending on how long you and I are sharing a cozy shack in my brain shouldn't I be hearing different eras of you? Think about it. Let's say I fail in this tracking Jessup gig, wouldn't the boys at Wyndham already know it? The future in yer time goes on jus like mine."
"Which is why I tell you to stop changing things there in 1876. It makes our... my job that much harder."
"Wyndham adapts to its environment if you folks are trapped underground. They have to know if I fail or succeed."
"Do they? Most of our work lies underground anyway. The immediate corporate side above us is a front. Yes, we might have lost a few good secretaries due to your influence in 1876. The more you fudge with the timeline those variables grow."
"Like that hot ass tour guide, Cindy? I bet she's a stripper now. Body like hers and the way she flirted with everyone she could do better. Hell, I tipped her on the way out of my interview. Come on Tilly, you know as well as I do that can't be helped. General Westmore picked me because of my kinship to Brandon... like even the town I grew up in."
"He also chose you because you were a top-notch soldier. You followed orders. Not to mention you were rather groomed even from a child."
"There is that, but I wouldn't give up one second of everything Brandon taught me. I was born to be a warrior. On the battlefield yes. I'm not a soldier anymore, now I'm a cow gal who can't keep her name straight."
"You will forever be a soldier Sadie Lynn Outlaw."
"Maybe! But not in no service to the Armed Forces. I got out. So, I thought!"
"Perhaps your war never ends. The same goes for Brandon."
"Ya think that peyote stunt with Tarnation did any damage?"
"I have heard nothing. But again, would Wyndham tell me and distract me from you?"
"Probably not! That Chasm gal learn anything new?"
"Agent Delancy has yet to drop by. All I know is her thoughts in passing. She must not tip her hand or distrust will ruin her career. Give the woman time. Teresa will come through for us."
"Knuckles-crossed!"
"You should sleep."
"My nanites keep me wired these days. I sleep when I feel the fatigue, but bein' ramped up to the stamina of three athletes plus my own strength has its advantages. Besides, I hear coyotes prowlin', they probably smell Gnawing Beaver's corpse. Not much we can wrap him up with out here so he's jus' draped over a saddle with his blanket respectin' him. Tarnation is with the horses, so he'll keep the scavengers at bay. Hold up! You were mentally connected to Brandon when he came back here, weren't you?"
"On a lesser level but yes. If you are wondering exactly why it is that I cannot speak with a horse's brain you must know animals are quite difficult to decipher when you don't read mammalese. Brandon might truly be inside the horse in spirit or soul, but I am certain speech and thought are lost."
"Mammalese!" She giggled in her thoughts! "Writin' yer own dictionary, Tilly Ford? Did you ever try?"
"Many times, since we discovered their connection. Just like Brandon himself in our time, his insanity had left me without understanding. Also, since his travel to the past Wyndham's tech has increased. What connection I had with him was scrambled and less useful. Also, remember the nanites were in Brandon, not the horse he adopted."
"Ever run into Brandon when you traveled back to maybe warn him? It is all the same timeframe for every traveler, right?"
"As much as I wanted to... no. I sadly followed protocol."
"Did your time car land on the mesa like mine did? Brandon's? That might help explain what Turkey saw up there. For that matter, how did none of them detect Turkey snooping around."
"Good point! No, I landed near Dallas where Jessup is now. A valley ten miles outside of Dallas. In my case once I left the site my car returned to the future."
"So, why is mine hangin' around? Other cars in the backyard maybe."
"I honestly do not know. As you mentioned earlier the future continues with or without us. Those other cars might be from further in the future."
"Meanin' I have uninvited guests from maybe the 22nd century."
"I do not have an answer."
"Me neither! Okay Tilly Ford, now my eight eyelids are gettin' droopy."
"Eight eyelids? Ah! You refer to the athletes as if they were real."
"Yup! One more I'd have nine lives! Night, Ford Tough!"
"Goodnight, Sadie Sack!" Sad Sack! Military jest!
Funny! Eye shine in the darkness watched her intently!