Chapter 25

Apparently, unbeknownst to us, the portals made a sort of high-pitched sound when they operated. Not within our spectrum of hearing, but it damned sure got Samson and Delilah's attention. Another man popped through and he had some sort or weapon in his hand.

"Sic," I said, and I'll admit I was a little loud about it and might have sounded desperate.

The guy was on the ground at once with about two hundred and thirty or so pounds of German Sheppards snatching pieces out of his ass, and other parts. His toy stunner, or whatever it was, went flying.

"I'll be damned. You musta been right, Jack. That was damned sure some type of weapon he just came through the portal with. Samson, Delilah, stay," Cowboy Jack said, and then he went over with a piggin' string and tied the new arrival up, tight - while he was at it he tied the hands of the two we'd had all along.

"OK. Glenda, you and Kathy are going to have to decide what we're going to do. You're the only ones we can get any input on the Cassandra way of thinking from," I said, but the one on his knees who'd been doing all the talking butted in again.

"That's ridiculous. They don't have the training to decide anything," he said.

"Well you two damned sure don't, and besides, you won't have to worry about it. In a few minutes I'm going to test out the portal's other feature. I'm going to see if it will return your dead asses to Crossroads and then ship them out to Cassandra. I wonder who'll be around when three dead Cassandra men pop through.

Well, that went over like the proverbial turd in the punchbowl. Only reason you couldn't hear a pin drop in Cowboy Jack's little house was because the birds were singing up a storm outside.

"Seriously, Jack, what are we gonna do now?" Kathy asked.

Just then Samson and Delilah perked up watching the portal again and a beautiful, but obviously older, woman popped through.

"Mistress Eva," Glenda and Kathy said, in unison.

Mistress Eva took a look around and she looked especially hard at the three we had bound.

"What's going on here?" Mistress Eva asked, and her tone wasn't the most polite.

"Watch you mouth, Mistress Eva. Cowboy Jack's got more piggin' strings available. You're not on Crossroads, Cassandra, or even Chaos now," I said, and both Glenda and Kathy cringed.

"Excuse me sir. You are quite right. To my mortification I see I am in someone's home at that. I'm Mistress Eva that Be," she said, and reached for my hand to shake it.

"I'm Hero Jack," I said, shaking her hand.

I introduced her to Hero Cowboy Jack then and after he shook her hand I introduced Caretaker Glenda and Caretaker Kathy. She allowed she was acquainted with them, so I introduced her to Samson and Delilah and they promptly put their paws up to shake. That got her goat, but she duly shook hands with them too.

"I'm guessing you know these gentlemen tied up on the floor too - and you have my sympathy."

The whole sordid tale came out then and finally Eva asked what would satisfy me. I told her I could let bygones be bygones if things were just back to normal.

"Of course, I'm going to have to kill the three Cassandra men here," I said, and it was another shocker, especially for her.

Mistress Eva had been trying to hang on to a little of her high-horse act, but it all disappeared then, since she realized if I intended to kill them they would be dead. Dead is dead after all. Everyone involved with the game knew it.

"Can't we persuade you to change your mind? We could allow you to bring anything you want to Crossroads and Chaos," she said, but it looked like it put a bad taste in her mouth to say it.

"That's the last thing I want. I want the rules to be strictly enforced, for everyone, but I don't want them changing every time some Cassandra man gets jealous or has a little snit. I want the rules to be what the portals enforce and I don't want some jackass showing up with some new interpretation to my detriment every time I turn around.

"In fact, I'll bet most Cassandra men couldn't care less about the whole adventure scenario. It seems to me putting Cassandra men in a position of power does something terrible to their delicate psyches, and I recommend they all be excluded from those perilous duties at once. To tell you the truth, I've always felt women were much more capable of making rational decisions in pressure packed situations.

"Let me sum it up. You can satisfy me by removing all men from Powers that Be status and have only Cassandra women in charge of things. Do that, and put the rules back like they were and we'll be Jake. I'll turn these three over to you, for punishment, and I'll expect your guarantee they will never have any authority ever again, anywhere.

"But we will need them to restore the machinery. Some of the women have been in training, but they might not be up to it yet," Mistress Eva said.

"Nonsense. Just restore the software from the latest backup. I know damned well there has to be one," I said, clearly remembering Whooper telling me about restoring my computer via the backup he made for me before I left.

"I think I did hear one of the technicians speaking of something like it, but I'm afraid I don't know a thing about the technical details.

"In that case I'm going to insist I keep these three until the software is restored. Does anyone else know what has happened?" I asked.

"No. We were very tight lipped about things as you can probably imagine."

"I can indeed. Why don't you go back and see if things can be arranged to our mutual satisfaction. Maybe speak to the technicians in training and see if they can do it. If worse comes to worst I will accompany these men to deal with the problem and I will encourage the ones I leave alive to cooperate

"If the backup thing works we should have an agreement. I have the authority to make those decisions, especially in view of the permanent incapacitation of these three."

She said her goodbyes then and walked back through the portal. I immediately dragged the three tied up Cassandra men out of the house and about fifty yards out into the pasture.

"Be very quiet out here. If the dire wolves hear you they'll come to investigate and they'll surely eat you at once. I'd be as still as I could too," I told them, and I didn't even snicker.

Once I was back in the house I had Cowboy Jack help me gather up all the plastic fantastic bows. Hell, might as well take mine and the ten extra I ordered that you didn't know about. I guess we should take the two thousand carbon fibre arrows I ordered too," he said, and I nearly choked.

"But I wasn't trying to take advantage of this situation," I said.

"I know you weren't, and it's something I'm going to have to tutor you on. You should always be alert for changing conditions and be ready to take advantage. Right now, just do it. I was working on a place what said they could make super strong plastic broadheads, but all I've got now are real broadheads, and they're just going to have to do.

Just then Mistress Eva popped back through the portal and said everything was Jake.

"The restoration from the backup will be completed in eight of your hours. Until then we'll have to hope no gross violations occur," she said.

Cowboy Jack, Glenda, and Kathy made themselves scarce then. No doubt they were trying to conceal what we'd been about to try. I sidled up closer to Mistress Eva and whispered in her ear.

"One more thing. What about the Caretakers coming and going with us?" I asked Mistress Eva.

"Well, it is strictly confidential information, but in lieu of your excellent service tonight I'll tell you the Caretakers and the Damsels have always been able to pass either way to and from Earth. In fact, trying to change that is exactly what got the men into trouble and disrupted the portal screens."

"You're secret is safe with me," I said, and I gave her ass a nice fondle just as she was leaving.

I joined the others then and as soon as I sat down Kathy was in my lap.

"That went much better than I expected it to, and don't think I didn't see you give her ass that little squeeze at the last," she said.

"Well, Powers that Be need love too," I said, and the three of them broke out laughing at me.

"What are you gonna do with those three you dragged outside?" Cowboy Jack asked.

"I'm going to wait until the software is back right and then I'll carry them to Crossroads and turn them over to the new Powers that Be. They're being very still and quiet until then so they won't attract dire wolves to come and eat them."

"What in the hell are you talking about? There ain't no dire wolves on earth," Cowboy Jack said.

"I know and you know, but they don't," I said, and finally laughed once myself.

Cowboy Jack and I packed up all the bows and arrows we had into the boxes they came in and then packed them through the portal and set them down in the room near the other portal, the one which went to Chaos.

It was a little odd to be walking back and forth through the portal like it was just another doorway, but that was what it was like. Hell, I noticed Samson and Delilah taking a couple of strolls back and forth and it was almost like they were making a patrol to make sure nothing was bothering anything.

After we had moved all the contraband into the room which held the portal to Chaos I picked up the first boxes and made the leap. I appeared inside a bank vault, called for my boxes and started stuffing things in them It took several trips back and forth to carry it all, and more than a little time to pack it up. When I was done I closed my boxes, they disappeared, and I was back in Kathy Caretaker's apartment. There was a lot of fucking going on in Cowboy Jack's little cabin that night after I made it back

The next morning we weren't up at sunrise, but it felt awfully good to wake up with Kathy in my arms in my own bed on earth. The first thing I noticed was Samson and Delilah walking in and out the portal's door and going nowhere, but outside and then coming back inside. I figured the portal was back in service for real now.

Cowboy Jack and Glenda made breakfast together, with Cowboy Jack doing most of the actual cooking. We all sat down to eat and the women raved about his cooking. I warned them they were going to make his head swell, but they didn't pay me any attention.