The Grandfather Paradox by Steve Burgauer

Author:Steve Burgauer [Burgauer, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

PART II

22

Upstream

It was May 20, 1861, and the game was straight poker. Armed with their new identities, the two time-travelers were onboard the steamer Nebraska headed north. Zebulon Leavenworth was at the wheel, and he was agitated. They had heard war-talk at each stop along the way, and although they’d avoided a confrontation so far, at Memphis they had barely escaped the blockade.

Andu and Prime Alpha had set the Tachyon down in a marsh outside Caruthersville in southeastern Missouri, then sent it aloft again remotely, this time placing the ship in a polar orbit where it wasn’t apt to draw the attention of the few telescopes of the time. They could recall the Drift On in an emergency using the slender metal device Andu kept hidden in his shirt pocket.

After stealing a fresh set of clothes from off a farmer’s clothesline, they proceeded next to the docks to await the arrival of the next riverboat. There they made a shocking discovery. They had arrived on Earth nearly a full year ahead of time’.

It couldn’t be helped, of course, and the pair might still need every spare minute of time to track down Byron Matthewson before it was too late. Just catching up with the man would require two parts luck and one part ingenuity. Their plan was to first make their way upstream to Hannibal, then crosscountry east to Peoria. But even before that, they needed currency to replace what little they had raised selling some of Alpha’s things. Hence, the game of chance.

All they had for collateral was a pocketwatch they had found among Brigham Young XIV’s belongings. It had the name of Joseph Smith inscribed in block letters on the back, along with a date—September 22, 1827—and the words, “On To Deseret.” Though the watch was simple and unadorned, it had been enough of a stake to get them seated at the table.

Prime Alpha had sized-up the game fairly quickly, pointing out in an aside to Andu that here was an instance where being telepathic was bound to be of some help.

To the three other men and one woman seated around the table, Andu was Henry Blake and Prime Alpha was Margaret Hoolehan, two names they had decided on after viewing several episodes of a twentieth-century drama-fiche about a mobile army surgical hospital unit caught up in the middle of some war. Henry and Margaret were traveling as husband and wife-to-be on their way to visit friends in Hannibal. Margaret had now won four hands in a row, calling one particularly good player’s bluff, and tempers around the table were beginning to flare. She and Henry had only been invited to join the game in the first place because the two had given every indication of being rubes ripe for the picking. Thus far, though, it wasn’t quite working out that way for the other players, and the ones who had been looking forward to doing the picking were beginning to get a little hot under the collar.

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