Chapter 44: It’s About Time

Recap: One thing of concern I had was about Drozul. He had been an on-again, off-again companion in my head for two decades. He was missing in action. I was getting to be concerned. I knew he had the money and the political clout to run interference.

After the fourth day, we returned to the village. I came down with Jade acting as my second spouse. We left Tall sleeping in bed on the ship. The previous day Tall had three women there doing moccasins. All I had to do was kiss them. Tall acted as a friend, neighbor, confidant, and teacher to each. The teaching part was the issue. It took time and patience.

99’ contacted me and said a man was headed towards the wickiup. I had on my latest native togs already.

I sent, “Bubba, if someone comes, be sure to alert us.”

As soon as he whined loudly the first time, I stepped outside and met a tall guy about to scratch at the doorway.

I said, “I am Tom.”

He said I am Speckled Deer. My mate is Chulëns. I am here to thank you for your help. I have been away. Three of us traveled up the river to visit another village. I saw the small scar and was told by neighbors that you healed her.”

I said, “It is nothing. I have an ability.’ He grinned and said, “She said you were mean; you left the boar there at our wickiup. Our neighbors wanted it and argued for a long time. They all wanted most of the meat. Those people who did nothing when she was attacked. Now she does not talk to them. She said I was to come over here and wrestle with you. I think she is crazy; you are too big to make angry.”

I laughed. “I don’t get angry.”

He said, “I can see why for you are certainly big. Chulëns also said you had a special bow. Very powerful.”

I said, “Come in. I will show you.”

We went in and I picked up the fancy re-curve bow and showed it to him. I showed him an arrow.

I moved my hand to the Northeast and said, “This I traded for many months away from here. I have none like this to trade. Are you interested in a better bow and arrows? I am interested in showing someone how to make a better bow and arrows. This would be good for your village to make better bows. It is very easy to hunt with this. It shoots far and goes deep.”

He said, “What hunter would not want a good bow and arrows?”

I said, “There is a little more to it. It takes time and effort to make the bow. I have special tools to make this easier. I will show you if you agree to make more of them for other hunters. You could make them and trade them to the hunters. You could sit in the shade making bows while they hunt and bring you food.”

He said, “I have not thought of that. I wanted to see this bow because Chulëns made me think about it. It is the best bow I have ever seen. Do you think I could make a better bow?”

I said, “Not like mine, but much greater than your people have now. If you listen to the words I say when I show you. It will be good. It takes a certain kind of man to do this. You seem to be the one I have been looking for. Would you do this for me and your village?”

He said, “I will. I still have to hunt from time to time.”

I said, ‘We all must eat to be strong.”

He said, “You are not strange. Chulëns told me you spit on her leg and it got better in a few days.”

I said, “I did spit on it. It did heal her. I did not even return to check it. I knew her leg would heal.”

He said, “How is this so?”

I said, “Magic. I met a man who had great magic. He shared some of his magic with me. My sixth wife, Tall, was very sick when I found her. She walked into the water to die. I pulled her into my canoe and healed her. She is resting right now. You can see her tomorrow. Her face is very smooth now. She is so beautiful I ache when I look upon her. She is healed everywhere and looks like a young maiden, not a grown woman.”

He said, “Yes. I have heard people whispering about Tall. We grew up at the same time. I know her well. I have heard stories. I will come back tomorrow and will learn to make better bows.”

I said, “I will see you tomorrow then?”

He said, “I will be here after checking my snares. I have found a spot where turkeys visit. Turkeys are much harder to snare. They are cunning and tricky to catch. But they are large and feed us for a few days and they are delicious.”

I knew this was true, wild turkeys smell and taste so much better than store-bought ones.

I went back inside.

Jade was there with a woman. I got her ubiquitous kiss after she muddled in my close presence. Jade went back to teaching the woman how to decorate moccasins.

I sent, “99. I would like to hunt something. Bring me up, and we will go flying and looking for a game.”

I got my compound bow and hunting arrows together and went aft as 99 headed west looking for game.

99’ sent, “The only game of any size I detect around here are white-tailed deer. Mostly it seems this land has various small animals in the rodent family. Game here is comprised mostly of rabbits, muskrats, otters, and raccoons. There are many smaller species like squirrels, chipmunks, and mice. Then there are the birds. The only game that is worthy here is deer. Do you want a deer?”

I said, “Not really, we did that the other day. How about we go fishing.”

99’ said, “You know we can be in Pennsylvania in less than an hour. Would you consider an elk?”

I said, “Hell yes! An elk sounds like fun.”

I had a cup of coffee and watched the trees and rivers go by as 99’ zipped northwest. I selected the browning 6.8 bolt action which has a rotary magazine. I grew up with bolt-action rifles. I never had a misfeed with one. Semi-autos are another matter.

I felt something and the trees flying past blurred for a second.

“99’ what just happened.”

He said, “We shifted time.” I found data that the best time to hunt elk is from September - October when they are in a rut.’ I said, “So, you phase shifted us in time to later in the year?”

It said, “Yes. It’s perfectly safe. We do something similar every time you or the women portal to Fort. Lauderdale to shop.”

I said, “Why in the world would we need to do that?”

99’ said, “Earth 0 and Earth 23 are not in the same place in their travel around theirs suns. So that affects the time of day. They are on slightly different tracks around the sun and have different times. They are also at slightly different distances from the sun. We arrived here in late spring. You left Fort Lauderdale in late summer, four months later than it was here on Earth 0.”

“Jesus! I did not notice the season change.”

It said, “Why should you? You are from Florida. This is a decidedly different climate here in this area. There are no palm trees, the hardwoods and pines are different species.”

My mind started to work on the possibilities. We were soon in a semi-mountainous region of Pennsylvania. From the flyover it all looked like mountains covered with lots and lots of trees.

I was aft looking down from the bottom step of the stairs and saw why 99’ stopped here. There were two bucks fighting in a small clearing.

99 said, “We are here.”

They could not see me, so 99’ got me as close as possible, and I took the shot at the smaller of the two bucks. Anyone could see the bigger one had been winning. I shot the smaller buck and it froze in place and slowly toppled over with its legs convulsing. The big guy sniffed it and then hauled ass when it smelled blood.

99’s put me on the ground and I walked up to the buck.

I said, “Shit.”

99’ said, “What’s wrong?”

I said, “I had thought to bring this back to the village and hand it over to someone to divvy up. This is double the size of the little scrub deer they get in the Delaware area. It’s obviously a different breed of deer with a dark, woolly-looking mane. I can’t bring this back and I hate to waste good meat.”

Izzets sent. “Can we have it? We have a science team on our ship that will dissect it and use it for science. Much of the meat will be well cooked and small pieces shared with the crew.”

I said, “Great, that’s a good solution. Let me have some of it to make a small roast with. This was a less than enjoyable foray into big game hunting. I think I am more of a fisherman.”

The elk disappeared from the ground and we headed back in time and place to Delaware.

I got a bowl of Organic granola cereal for a snack as I let my mind think about the time travel shit.

I sent, “Drozul, are you back yet?”

I got nothing.

“Izzets, What the Fuck is going on! Drozul has been missing for days now. What gives.’ She sent, “He is setting up the new Entertainments channel and assisting his brother. His brother was raised to be an actor and being a producer is a big step up for his brother. Drozul will return soon I think. Is there something I can do for you?”

I sent, “I just learned we can time travel.”

“Yes?”

I sent, “This world is not proscribed. I and 99’ can go around and do literally anything we want here with impunity, is that correct?”

She sent, “Uh, yes?”

I sent, “Does that include time shifting?”

She sent, “Of course. Why?”

I sent, “One of the missions for me here is to spread Exos. There is a secondary mission of spreading my genome around. My current situation at the village precludes a lot of genome spreading. There are only so many females.”

“If I can visit other native villages I can do that by time shifting. I can bring a female aboard 99’ and muddle her. Then I can impregnate her and return her to a time just a moment later.”

She sent, “I see. So you want to grab up women and pass on Exos and a baby to them at the same time?”

I sent, “That’s it in a nutshell. Uh, on second thought they should not be maidens.”

I will pass this to legal for a final resolution to this question, but on the surface this looks legal and easy to do. The long-range plan is to advance this civilization and have it swallow up the Denisovans. This will be far in the future here. The Denisovans are an excrement on Earth 0.