The Six-Gun Solution (TimeWars 12)

“Yeah. He wants our trust, only he won’t give us his.”

“Maybe he can’t afford to.” she said. “It’s like he said, if we know more than we should, it could affect the outcome.”

“Only what is the outcome?” Lucas asked, with exasperation. He paused as several people passed by, then turned to Andre. “What happened in the future, where he came from? Was it a timestream split? A chain reaction? An invasion from the parallel timeline? What?”

“There’s no way we can know” she said. “We don’t know what time period he came from. Even if we were crazy enough to take the risk and clock ahead, we wouldn’t know which sector to check out. Or if we’d be able to make it back.”

“He made it back.”

“He’s faster than light. We’re not. Don’t even think about it. Lucas. It would be crazy. It’s against all the rules.”

“How do we know he’s playing by the rules?”

“We don’t.” she said. “Rut where he came from, the rules might have ceased to matter. We’ve got to trust him. Lucas. We have no other choice. Remember what he said. When the time comes for whatever it is we have to do, there’ll be no time for doubt or hesitation.”

“I know. I’ve been thinking about that. It tells me that whatever it is that’s going to happen, or that has already happened from his temporal point of view, is going to happen so fast that a split second could make all the difference. And that scares the hell out of me.”

“It scares me, too,” she said “But I have to believe that Darkness knows what he’s doing. After all. if it hadn’t been for him, I would have lost you.”

Lucas looked at her and took her hands in his. “I’m very much aware of that myself.” he said. He smiled. “I wouldn’t have come back from the dead for just anyone, you know.”

“Just don’t die on me again,” she said, “or so help me. I’ll kill you. Remember, you promi

sed to marry me.”

He grinned. “That promise was extorted under false pretenses.”

“I might hold you to it just the same.”

“We’ll talk about it later. In about eight hundred years. Meanwhile, let’s split up and see what we can learn. I’ll meet you back here later.”

Jenny was sitting beside a dapper man who was dealing in a card game when Scott came into the Oriental Saloon. The moment she saw him, she whispered something to the man, got up and rushed over to him.

“Hi. stranger.” she said, with a dazzling smile. “I missed you.”

“Who was that man you were sitting with?” asked Scott, as he stepped up to the bar. Frank Leslie set a glass of whiskey before him with a wink.

You jealous?” Jenny asked, coyly.

Scott was surprised to discover that he was. That wasn’t a good sign. It wasn’t a good sign at all. He couldn’t afford to get involved. Or was he already involved?

“Maybe,” he said. “What if I am?”

“I think I like that,” Jenny said, pressing up against him and rubbing his chest.

“Who is he?”

“That’s Ben Stone. He’s the gambler I told you about. Came to town just a little while before you did.”

“About the same time my friends were killed?” asked Scott, softly.

She looked at him wide-eyed “You think he might have had something to do with it?”

“I don’t know.” said Scott. “What do you think?”

She bit her lower lip. “I don’t think I’d be surprised,” she said. “Not that I know he did,” she added quickly, seeing Scotts sharp glance. “Only there’s something about him… something strange. And dangerous. He gives me chills.”

You ever been with him?” asked Scott, uneasily.