Chapter 18

“Rapier calling Victor’s Secret. Come in Grant.”

“John?” Grant replied. “What’s going on?”

“I’m in the neighborhood and thought I’d drop off some supplies for you.”

“And what’s the Rapier?”

“It’s Stiletto’s big brother. We also have Saber and Cutlass, along with the Big Daddy, Broadsword. They’re new gifts from Oscar.”

“Any instructions or additional crew?”

“Negative, so I guess we’ll have to train our own. They do have one great feature ... if push came to shove, on all but Broadsword, a single crewman could handle an open water battle. Now, where’s your current location.”

“We’re approaching what will be Wrightsville Beach. From the best I can tell, we just passed Topsail Island.”

“Anything on your radar?”

“Not at the moment, but we did have a ship seem to be shadowing us earlier. We lowered the sail and used the diesel. We’re only doing about ten knots pulling the Amanda Dear, but it still enabled us to pull away from our shadow.”

“Then I’ll be there in a few minutes. I’m instructed to bring you and all non-essential crew home with me. I can also spare some fuel, if that will help.”

“It will. See you in a few.”

“Now Admiral, it sounds like the playing field has changed again. You may become a sea Admiral again.”

“Only if it’s to serve my King,” Victor responded, leaving Grant wondering just how serious the man was.

“We’ll discuss that later. Pick those you need as a crew, so that everyone else can be preparing to leave.”

“Barbara,” Grant called as he left the bridge.

“Yes, Your Highness,” she giggled.

“Now cut that out!”

“Jack Benny did that better.”

Grant shook his head. He was chuckling too hard at her antics to get mad at her, but this was getting out of hand. At least they were doing it out of respect and not mocking him.

“I just got a call from my second in command and we’ve been sent some new boats. He’ll be here in a few minutes with some supplies, but he says he has orders to bring me and all non-essential uptimers back home. Victor is deciding the crew he needs, so I need you to help everyone else get ready to board.”

“We can’t get everyone on the Stiletto?”

“John called it the Rapier and said it was Stiletto’s big brother. Since he knows we’ve downtimers aboard they must have made a decision that keeping our technology a secret is not crucial at the moment.”

“If you’re the leader, who would have that authority?” asked a surprised Barbara.

“My two wives, plus John and his wife were left in control during my absence. I trust them implicitly to do the best thing for me, my family, my people and my country.”

“I can’t wait to meet them, as that’s a rather strong statement coming from you.”

“Thank you. I doubt it would make a difference, but I want you to know a couple of things. John and Sioux are Indians and don’t dare call them Native Americans, and second, Sabrina is still a teenager. Remember, that in this time, at nineteen she’s seen as an old maid, and also remember that she chose me, not the other way around. In fact, both women did.”

“Thanks for the warning, but you’re right, it wouldn’t have changed my feelings for them in any manner. I’ll also clue in the others so that no one’s feelings get hurt.”

Grant returned to his room and found his stuff packed. Sam was sitting on the bed, holding his daughter Elizabeth, or Liz, and Mary was next to him holding Zac. Kwan was sitting in a lotus position in one of the corners and Teng was sitting in a chair holding Su Lin.

“Our stuff is ready Master,” informed Su Lin.

Grant pursed his lips, sighed, and then said, “Okay Su Lin, what is going on?”

“Sam has already been discussed, and though she is grateful to you for sparing Sam’s life, Mary has decided she wants be an employee and not a servant. It’s her hope that at least she and Sam will still be able to live together with their children. Kwan says he owes you his life and is committed to you as deeply as his culture will allow, and that’s pretty deep. Teng and I love your heart and the way you care for people, so that places you in a very special place. At the same time, the two of us, as well as Kwan, have been placed in an awkward situation ... there is no way in this time that we can live here independently from some form of white master ... a powerful white master. If this is required, we’d rather that master also care and respect us and understand our true selves. That person has to be you.”

Grant contemplated what was being said, and realized he did have a unique situation. It was his desire to eliminate as much hatred and bigotry as possible in this land. With Jane and Janice, John and Sioux, and the people in this room, he had representatives of most of the groups who’ve been persecuted in this country.

“Then, I accept and honor your requests, except for one thing. All of you will be paid for the work you do, even Kwan.”

“But what can Kwan and I do?” asked Su Lin.

“He can learn English, and you can teach him. As we find more Asians they’ll also need to learn, even if they speak a different language or dialect. It’ll be your job to help them learn in some manner, even if it means importing a translator. In addition, I hope you know how to cook Chinese dishes, because if I don’t get an occasional Chinese meal I’ll go stark raving mad.”

“Then we’ll need also to find a Mexican and an Italian,” laughed Su Lin.

“Put it on the list, but no Scottish Cook. Beautiful country, wonderful people, but the most god awful food I’ve ever eaten.” replied Grant.

“Now, before we head to our home, just a few things you need to understand. First, Su Lin, we also have a woman at the house named Sioux, but it’s spelled S-I-O-U-X, like the Indian. She got that name in college because she’s a Lakota Sioux and John, her husband, is a Cherokee.”

“You have heathen living in your house?” exclaimed Mary as she held tightly to her son.

“Mary, other than the color of their skin, they’re people just like you and I. They wear the same clothes, eat the same food and take the same baths as we do. In addition, they’re both college graduates and John served in our military and was seriously wounded on the other side of the world.”

“I don’t understand any of this,” cried Mary, “and it scares me.”

“Mary, do you understand what the term uptimer means?”

“I’ve heard it used, but I didn’t really understand it. I was drawn to you and these people and wanted to stay with my husband. I know that the uptimers I’ve met are different, but they were all friendly and respectful and what I didn’t understand didn’t seem to matter at that moment. I guess I assumed it was another country.”

“Mary, uptimer means we came from the future. It wasn’t our choice, but someone or something, we might as well think of him as God, sent us here to make things better for the people of this time, as well as the people of our time. All the wonders you’ve seen on this boat that may seem like magic are just uptimer machines, many of which are just improvements of what you are already familiar with.”

“Thank you, Sir. That does help.”

Grant took a moment and showed her the lighter and how it related to what she already knew. The smile on her face, at the end, was definitely worth the effort.

“Do you feel better?” he asked Mary.

“Oh yes, Sir. Will we be able to learn to use these things?”

“Of course you will. Mary, besides education and training, there are no differences between the people in my house, or in the world I hope to help build.

“To quickly get back to what I was saying, you now know about John and Sioux. I seem to have acquired two wives, or they’ll be my wives. One is an uptimer named Elizabeth, just like you, little one. The difference is she’s called Beth. The other wife is a downtimer named Sabrina and though it shouldn’t shock you Mary, but it might be a surprise to Su Lin and Teng. Sabrina is nineteen.”

“Isn’t that a little young for you?” asked a surprised Su Lin.

Mary quickly countered, “It’s good you marry her before she is considered a spinster.”

Stunned at Mary’s retort, Su Lin replied, “I don’t understand.”

Grant answered, “In this time, a girl is expected to marry shortly after she’s fourteen, and if she hasn’t married by the time she’s eighteen she’s considered an old maid.”

“So in addition to warning me, you’re also telling us that we’ve got as much to learn as do the downtimers.”

“Exactly. We’re not going to superimpose our culture on them, but we’re all going to learn to adapt and throw out a lot of things considered right by tradition.”

“What does tradition have to do with things?” asked Teng.

“Mary, Zac has a high fever. What does the doctor do?”

“He uses leaches, of course, to remove the bad blood from Zac’s body.”

Su put her hand to her mouth in shock.

“Su, that’s the traditional way to treat this, and both the doctor and Mary are sure that it’s the right solution. It’s tradition.”

“Oh Shit,” Su Lin exclaimed. “How do we deal with this?”

“Education, mostly. Remember, these people, including the doctors, have never heard of bacteria, virus, sanitation, antibiotics and even aspirin.”

There was a knock at the door and Barbara announced, “John wants you on the radio.”

“I’ll be right there.”

Turning back to his little group, he asked, “Are there any other questions?”

They all nodded, and Su Lin stated, “Millions, master, but they can wait. We can also learn to help each other.”

With a fake oriental accent, Grant replied, “Then this time together has been most successful, Grasshopper,” and left the room.