OUTER RANGE THE MYSTERY CONTINUES

 

OUTER RANGE: THE MYSTERY CONTINUES

By the time the young woman, Autumn, would regain consciousness, the elder would have taken her finger-prints, had them, discreetly, tested, and was not shocked by the results.

When he, and his wife, asked the woman “HOW?”, she told them “I was there when you came through the port.” When the man asked “Is that what you call it? A port? What KIND of port?”

Autumn would say “We have no idea. We have run every test that we could think of. I mean we have even shot radar down it, with no return. We thought it might come out, on the other side of the world, but it doesn’t.”

When the elder would ask “Then, why, and HOW, precisely, did you get here?”

Autumn would say “After you fell from the whole, in my time, then you dropped back in, there was talk of dropping a nuke down the hole. This is when I decided to take action.”

When the wife would ask “What kind of action?” Autumn would say “One of my friends, from before the project, found a copy of that song. The one called “25, or 6 to 4. they send it to me suggesting “What can it hurt, to try?””

When the elder asked “Okay, assuming that this is true. Why did you tell me that you have no memory, from age 9? Was that just a ruse, to get a look at that thing?”

Autumn would say “I swear, grandpa. I have no memory before age nine.” She would then touch her scalp. The elder would ask “That from the night of the fight?” Autumn would say “NO. This is from later. I was told that my mother tried to sell me for drugs. The same reason that she left this place.”

When the elder asked “Who told you?” Autumn said “The police. They said I was delirious, when they found me. It seems that I was doing housekeeping, in a drug house, for my food.”

When the wife asked “Who left you there, and why?” Autumn would say “The most the police got from the druggies was that my mother sold me.”

The elder would say “Okay, so your mother took you, and sold you. Why take so long to come to us?”

Autumn would say “I did not even know WHERE I was from, for so long. I was sent to school, then university, then BY9 brought me an offer, too incredible to refuse.”

The elder would say “That does not answer the question. Why didn’t you come to us?” Autumn would say “I did not know that I had relations, in this area, for several more years. I would only find you, while doing research on the area. I found the missing persons report.”

The elder would ask “What report. We have not filed it, yet. Our granddaughter has not been gone, long enough…” Autumn would say “I KNOW. Grandmother fought the police, for days, until they agreed to file the report.”

Autumn would then look at the wife, asking “Grandma, why did you tell the police that you prayed to God that you were wrong?” The wife would say “You were all I had left. I could not bear losing you.”

This is when the elder brought the discussion back on track, asking “Time Travel is supposed to be impossible. HOW did you do it?” Autumn would say “I think it was a fluke. We set up this gadget. We told the military that we planned to “drop” it down the hole, to see what it looked like, in there.”

When the elder asked “What did you DO?” Autumn would say “We got as close as we dared, then set the coordinates. After that, everything went black, for a second, then I found myself at the edge of this town.”

When the wife asked “You said there were others. Where are they, now?” Autumn would say “I swear, I have no idea.”

At about the same time, Sheriff Joy would come to realize why she, suddenly, had no cell-phone connection. This when she saw an indian encampment, and indians, chasing a herd of bisons, very similar to those she remembered both from reservation school, and from the local, white-man school.

She maintained her silence, as she looked upon what she was certain was a movie location.

She spent hours, circling the encampment, searching for the support trucks. The ones which have satellite telephones.

The problem was that, no matter how long, or hard, that she searched, she could find no sign of any modern equipment.

This is why she backtracked to her sheriff’s rig. There she would find an amplifier, which would boost a cell-signal, anywhere.

Joy would have a good walk, ahead of her, but she knew that, once at her rig, she would find a weeks worth or freeze-dried food, two five-gallon jugs of water, and other supplies.

Joy knew she had walked over atleast two rises, to reach the immitation indian village, so the first two rises did not concern her.

What did concern Joy was when she passed over the second rise. Somehow, even though she had marked her position, well, she must have made a wrong turn.

After all, if she had gone the right way, she would have found not only her rig, but Butchers Road, as well as the slaughterhouse, to which Butchers Road lead.

Joy went a bit farther, then, realizing that she was losing the sun, she did what she could, to make camp.

This is when she knew she felt “eyes” upon her.

Her first instinct was to go for her service revolver, only to remember that she had felt it was not needed. Not just to check out animal noises. No, she had carried her traditional hunting knife.

This is why she called, to the darkness “County Sheriff. If you think this is funny, how would you like to spend some time in my jail?” When no reply came, she said “Suit yourself. I have all night”

Come morning, Joy would find herself surrounded by people in indian make-up and costumes. When she said “Very realistic. I am impressed. Now, who is in charge?”

When Joy heard the ancient dialect, that her own grandfather had taught her, she responded in kind, saying “I am with Talula Tribe. Where is your leader?”

She did not know whether to be surprised, or suspicious, when a warrior, came forth, saying “We take you to tribe. You speak our tongue. How do you learn this?” In tribal language, Joy would say “Honorable grandfather taught me.”

Inside an hour, Joy realized that this was either the most realistic movie set ever deployed, or she was in big trouble.

BY the time Joy was realizing that things were not right, her deputies were trying to find not only her, but as many as a dozen, other, people.

There was, also, the question of just WHERE, in the Lords name, that the Bison herd had come from.

Ranchers were doing what they could, to corral the beasts, but no one had any idea of WHERE they had come from.

Joy was two days into her “journey”, when she realized that tribal members were wondering what she spoke about. What was “sheriff”, “SUV”, and “radio”.

This is when Joy wished that she had a childs ability to draw. As an adult, and a law enforcer, all she even had to draw was search grids.

When she drew a crude outline, of the village, no member, of the “tribe” seemed to recognize it. This is why, in tribal writing, she made a list of what she would need to reach her “ride”.

The next day, she would start out, again, this time with two braves, as “body-guards”.

This while the state police would send out off-road vehicles, as well as helicopters. This while deputies were asked about ransom demands.

It would take all of one hour for the helicopters to report the position, on Butchers Road, where the Sheriffs SUV was parked.

Once the SUV was recovered, the helicopters would return to base, while horses took up the pursuit, along with the off-roaders.

What even the best, local, trackers could not believe was how the sheriff’s footprints lead from the SUV, maybe 500 feet, then just vanished. Not over rock, just stopped.

The trackers would tell the deputies “Doesn’t make sense. If she left tracks to this point, where did they go?”

Even when some of the reservations best trackers agreed to join the hunt, everything seemed to end at one point.

About the only “clue” that the trackers had was a disturbance which fouled electronics, and gave skin a “creepy” feeling.

At the Abbott Ranch, Autumn would say “I wonder if anyone will, ever, figure it out.”

All the elder could say was “I dropped a body into it and the body re-appeared, miles away. That and you know…” Autumn would say “Yes, I admit it. I pushed you in. I THOUGHT it might explain how you came to be alive two years after dying.”

Autumn would ask “How did you know you would end up, here?” The elder would say “I had no idea where I would end up. My wife told me to run, so I ran.”

Autumn would say “I KNOW that one of your sons died in that truck crash, with the Bisons.” When the wife would ask “How would you know that?” Autumn would say “I read about it, in the old copies. He will be found, maybe three days from now. The woman, who was with him. She was not found.”

When the elder would ask “What about my other son? The one who fell into the hole?” Autumn would suggest “have you tried back copies, for strange appearances. Maybe, people who have just appeared, then were taken to “hospitals”?”

The wife would ask “What are you saying? That my boy may be trapped in the past?” Autumn would say “Or, perhaps, in the distant future. I really wish that I knew.”

This is when the elder would ask “Okay what do you need?” When Autumn would say “Excuse me?” The elder would say “MY family never goes anywhere without a back-up plan. Now, either you have that device hidden, somewhere, or you need to re-build it. Which is it?”

Autumn would ask “Why?” The elder would say “I want to get my family back.” Autumn would say “IT does not work like that?” The elder would ask “Why not?” Autumn would say “If we dont understand it, fifteen years from now, then HOW do you plan to understand it, in the past?”

The elder would say “I might just have an idea.” His wife knew what that meant.

The elder would swear off of everything except for food, and water.

Neighbors would give all the help that they could. This, especially after the elder made the plan clear.

He planned to drop a torpedo-shaped “time-capsule” into the void, then wait and see what happened.

He would drill into the outer casing the normal information about “If found, return to…”

Ten years later, he would learn what had become of the capsule when the military offered it back, in return for information.

This is when Autumn KNEW she had to leave. She could not risk a time/space paradox.

She managed to “escape” just before the military shut the area down.

As for Joy, after three months of searching land, which she KNEW that various families owned, yet finding no traces, she would take all of her modern day items, place them in a chest, and bury them in a place only she knew about.

She accepted that, somehow, she had “slipped” back in time. Now, she had to make a life, here.

In the present, Joy would be listed as “Missing”. In time, this would change to “Missing: Presumed Dead”.

As for the son, who had fallen into the void, the last thing he remembered was falling in the murky blackness. How LONG he fell, he had no idea.

When he awoke, he saw was seemed impossible.

He remembered that, in school, he only really paid attention during science class. His childhood dream had been of joining Starfleet Command.

This is why he had few friends. All of the locals were preparing for careers in farming, and cattle-ranching. None had any interest in outer space.

He had watched the classic Star Trek series until he knew every line, and every prop.

Still, none of this prepared him for what life presented, at this time.

Once he realized that he was the only human, maybe for miles, he looked around, found a place, and made shelter.

When he returned to his “entry point”, he found some creatures, who looked like they were wearing some sort of uniform. Add that to the “hover-craft” that he saw, and he whispered “Toto, I dont think we are in Kansas, anymore.”

This is when he watched as the “guards” shown a light, which made something look like it was closing, then spoke into a device, which the man did not recognize.

Not know where, or when, he was, the young man gathered his “stuff”, and snuck out of the city.

It was not until well beyond the city limits, that the young man looked back, wondering “Where am I?”

The next day, the young man found what appearred to be a very old set of binoculars. Just not of a design, or maker, that he recognized.

Still, another two days beyond the city, and the young man found some sort of village. Sure, the people looked scruffy, and un-washed, but he knew that he would win no “beauty pageants”, either.

What surprised him was when he found one of the “village” on their own, and he asked them “Where are we?” When the young man asked “I said, Where are we?” his captive said something, which the young man did not understand.

Joy spent weeks, trying to figure out how to send a signal. She thought of everything from flare-guns, to flaming arrows. The problem was that, IF she was where she thought she was, neither would do any good.

It was not until she watched some indian scribes making a visual record, of life, in this region, Joy remembered something she had been taught, may years ago (or, she thought, many years from now).

In the present, even with the off-road vehicles having been recalled, the warrior trackers, and local ranchers, agreed to continue the search. Not out of fear of being heckled, for having lost a sheriff, but out of fear of having lost a friend, and ally.

It would be some school kids who would find one of the search teams and ask “I thought the sheriff told us never to block the trail.” When the rancher said “Thats right. At night, people can be hurt.” The child would ask “Look at mule trail three then. Tell me what you see.”

When another rider said “I was just up there, two days ago” The child would say “I was just there, yesterday.”

While one of the riders called in, saying “We may have something going on, on Mule Trail Three.” The deputies would say “We will be right there.”

Not long thereafter, atleast five digital camera’s were snapping photos of a sheet, of animal skin, on which, in modern English, was written:

To whomever finds this, I will be known as Sheriff Joy. While checking on a report, of animal noises, I have, somehow, found my way into the frontier days. I dont know what year it is since the Indians have no calendar, like we do. Maybe this sign will reveal my location.

If you try to follow, have the best tracking supplies available, since even I do NOT know WHERE I crossed time.”

When the skin was taken to the closest university, all that could be verified was the obvious. There was no question that it was Joy’s handwriting.

The best guess, on the hide, was 300-400 years old. Long before the white man ever came to these parts.

When some deputies would suggest “We need to mount a rescue”, a village leader would say “Even if you could find the sheriff, HOW would you, or she, return? She did not place that sign to be cute.”

This is when a plan was suggested.

“Why dont we send a robot through. We tie a line to its rear, send it in, try to make contact, then, if that does not work, pull it back.”

With a fiber optic cable extending from its rear, the robot would be sent in. The line would remain connected until the robot passed through whatever the disturbance was. After that, all signal was lost.

This is when the team looked at the deputy asking “Any more “bright” ideas?”

Moments later, a scout would call the others over, with everyone asking “Where did that come from?” The scout would say “It was not there a few minutes ago.”

This second message, also, apparently in the sheriff’s own handwriting, would say “Nice try. By the time I found the robot, its power cells were at 10%. Next time, why not try something nuclear. Ha! Ha!”

Taking the sheriffs suggestion seriously, a digital recorder would be hooked to a nuclear power source, then sent through the “thing”.

Not two minutes later, a geiger counter located the device, which had been left in a hole, and covered with grass.

On the digital message, the sheriff would say “I was only kidding about nuclear. You KNOW how I feel about that. If you can figure out how old this is, then you will know where I am, now, living.”

The university confirmed the age of the unit. 355 years old.

No matter who they asked, at university, no one had any idea of HOW to cross time, and space. When asked about the story of “The Time Machine”, all the searchers were told was “You know that was just a book. Science FICTION. Reading material. Nothing like that, even theoretical.”

While Joy was in the deep past, proving her worth as a warrior, the young man was realizing how far, into the future, that he had come.

It would seem that those, who could AFFORD to, had left Earth, a very long time ago.

Those, who could not afford passage, would return to mankinds “roots”, as cave dwellers. This while aliens had terra-formed the planet, into some sort of “travel hub”?

The young man had arrived in a world where humans no-longer had reading, writing, or language. Mankind was an endangered species.

Now, the question was both survival, and how to return to his world? Better yet, HOW to return PRIOR to the event, which caused this problem.

In fact, this same question was being raised in the present.

Not just the question of HOW, but the question of “what if?” What would happen if decisions were changed? What would happen if the dead were made alive, again.

Autumn KNEW how to build the device, and how to power it. What she did not know was how to program it for specific times. To date, all she knew was that the device had powered up, and she had landed in the present. WHERE/WHEN would they land if they used the tech, again?

When a carnival came to town, a gypsy would suggest “If you send a note through, with enough emotional energy, then the woman will return.”

When asked “How much energy, and at what frequency?” The gypsy would say “I can only tell what I see. The woman is in a place, long ago, while the young man is in a place, Far into the future. A time when man no-longer has reading, writing, or language.”

When would a time come when people no-longer had reading, writing, and even basic language?