Chapter 8

Neither one of us was very sleepy after we met the mountain lion, so we passed the time with our favorite pastime. When daylight came, we rolled out of bed and got dressed. Abi whipped up some breakfast while I looked after the livestock. We were on the road to the next potential mine sight a little quicker than normal. Abi said, "Ya know, I must be getting' used to this married life stuff? I ain't near so sore down there as I used ta be." I laughed, but I didn't say anything. After all, what could I say that wouldn't get me into some kind of trouble?

We had gone about 15 miles and it was pushing toward lunch time. There was a shady spot off to our right, so I suggested that we pause there to eat our lunch. Abi thought that was a peach of an idea (her words), so we stopped. She got out the food while I gave each of the animals a little water from my hat (the one without a hole in the crown).

Abi sat down on a convenient rock and passed around the burritos. She had just taken her second bite when she gave a startled scream of pain. A Western Diamondback Rattlesnake had hold of her thigh and had bitten right through her clothes. No telling why it didn't rattle before striking, but that was pretty much beside the point. It withdrew and acted as if it was about to strike again when I shot it. One bullet in the head was all it took.

Shit, this was no time to fool around! I thought to myself, "We need some 23^rd Century medicine, and we need it right now!" The next thing either one of us knew, we were in an emergency room at the Time Patrol base where I had been stationed while I was getting ready for this adventure.

There were two doctors, four nurses, and I don't know how many technicians who descended on Abi and figuratively scared the shit out of her. I kept chanting, "Calm down, Abi. They will take care of you." I must have said that 20 times before I finally got through to her. By that time, they had removed all of her clothes and weapons and had her covered with a light sheet. They were busy doing whatever they do for snakebite before injecting the antivenom, and a nurse was standing by with the hypodermic ready to inject as soon as the doctor gave her OK.

As soon as Abi received the injection, the medical pros all relaxed, so I figured that it was safe for me to do that, too. In fact, I relaxed so much, letting out a breath I had been holding for I don't know how long, that a doctor asked if I had been struck, too, by the rattlesnake. I shook my head in the negative, but I did ask for a place to sit down. That rattlesnake had been so big that I am sure Abi would have died if we had to depend on 1852 medicine.

One of the components of the antivenom was intended to make Abi sleep for at least 12 hours. I was told to go to the reception desk and fill out the paperwork. After that, I could get a room at the VOQ (Visiting Officers Quarters). I did all of that and was finally able to relax in a comfortable bed before I went hunting something to eat.

The next morning when I checked on Abi, I was told that she had to have a second shot of antivenom, and she would be knocked out until sometime tomorrow. They said that snake had to be 8-10 feet long to carry that much venom. I could believe it; that thing looked like a monster.

I received a message to check in with Gen. Clay as soon as I was free. Hell, a mere captain is always free when a general calls. It was about 10:00 AM when I got to the general's office, and he had me ushered right in. He said that he had read all of the reports that I had written, but he wanted an oral report so that he could get a feel for how things were progressing.

I told him everything that had happened, emphasizing the invaluable help I had received from Abi. He grinned a little at that and said, "Son, you sure do love that woman, don't you?"

"Yes, Sir, I do. You know that we are married, according to the law back then, and I am delighted."

"Yes, I can see that. From what you say, she has been of tremendous help to you. Do you think that she would be interested in officially joining the Time Patrol. Of course, she would enter at the rank of recruit, but I don't think that would make any difference to either one of you."

"Sir, that would be great! I am sure that she will agree as soon as I explain all of the ramifications to her. I assume that this would mean that we would work as partners on future assignments, too."

"Oh, certainly. I wouldn't dare try to separate you two," the general said with another grin. Be sure to point out to her that this new job confers virtual immortality as one of its perks, so she need not be in any hurry to become pregnant."

"Yes, Sir. I'll make a point of mentioning that. When will the treatments start?"

"As soon as the young lady agrees to join our merry band, I will pass the order to the medical staff to start the treatments. I suppose there may be some delay before she is recovered from the snake bite, so I have no idea how long it will take to complete the treatments. In any case, there is no time constraint, since you will be returned to NMT the same moment that you left. Our technicians have made some recent advances on the time travel gear, so we have even finer control than we ever had before. I am constantly amazed at what those boffins can do."

There was some detail paperwork I had to do to insure that we would not generate any time paradoxes, so I started on that right after lunch. Abi was still zonked out, so I went back to my room after supper. Mostly I slept, but I sure was uncomfortable seeping without Abi at my side. Hell, I even wore pajamas while I slept!

Abi woke up the next day, and I spent every moment they would let me in her room just talking and holding her hand. Of course, I told her about Gen. Clay's offer to induct her into the Time Patrol and all of the benefits incurred with that. Abi was deliriously happy that we would have so much time to spend together, so she grabbed on to the offer and refused to back off for any reason.

I told her of my experience with all of the things she had to go through to get her body up to standards, but she wasn't fazed by any of it. A few minutes later, a clerk brought in some papers for her to sign, and she was immediately embarrassed—she could neither read nor write! OK, first thing tomorrow, she would go through the machine training to make her literate, then she could sign the papers on her own. I felt kind of odd that I had never noticed that she could neither read nor write. Oh, well, that would be fixed tomorrow.

It took three months for Abi to go through all of the medical details and all of the training machines, but at the end she was a fully qualified Private, First Class in the Time Patrol. She was very proud, and I was too, on the day she graduated. Abi did comment that she wished that her mother could see her now, but she would still shoot her father the next time she saw him! You know, I don't think that she was joking!

We were returned to the exact place and time where we had been picked up. The echo of my gunshot was still ringing through the hills, and the animals never noticed that anything had happened. I restocked my clip, and we were back in business.

We had to ride another 10 miles to get to the mine site, and all of that time out of the saddle had made a difference. Both of us were more than a little saddle sore by the time we got to the place we had intended to dismount. I gave the animals another drink of water before we headed out, this time, gratefully, on foot.

I had requisitioned noise suppressors for our rifles, so we were not worried about taking a shot at a guard, even this close to the mine site. The suppressors were only good for five shots, but I figured that we would have them removed before then, anyway. There was nothing we could do about the shock wave from the supersonic bullet, but that was nothing compared to the sound of the powder charge going off.