Chapter 7

The voice had made he hesitate; then think. If these few were saved, the land would still be Mexico and Sam Houston might not have rallied so many people to have the State of Texas even formed. I put away the device and sadly watched those men and women slaughtered. Around me I heard sobbing and saw three girls averting their eyes away from the killing. I also lowered my eyes, not wanting to see anymore. When it was over, the voice spoke again. "Now you have learned another lesson. Not everything bad should be changed, and not all changes to the future will result in good things."

We stayed there until the next morning, thinking on what we had seen and heard.

We woke up, food and water before us and once refreshed, we were ready again. How these girls were able to take so long to get ready, not having any clothes, was beyond me, it seemed for them to take forever getting to those things women, even young girls needed to do. That reminded me, next time the voice was with us I needed a shave and those girls should have something to wear, maybe not.

I could not get something, no someone, out of my mind. It was Cleopatra; I had never met anyone like her in my entire life. For a girl 14 or 15 she, and my girls too seemed so wise and so mature that it was difficult to think of them to be only as young as they looked. Of course it was hard to look at any naked girl and still think, but these were so special.

I, should I say we, decided to try to help her. I know that Octavian was to battle Marc Anthony and win, that Cleopatra would kill herself by embracing an asp to her breast. Just maybe, if Octavian lost she would be safe. I set the device and we were transported. The Queen's palace was nearby, as we entered, things seemed strange. There were no guards; the grounds were empty. We entered her Palace, no one was there. There was a gasp, then another, we followed the sounds and came upon a scene that stopped us all in our tracks.

Before a golden statue, resting her head on the breasts of a handmaiden lay the body of Cleopatra. Beside them; the body of another young girl. We were too late; Cleopatra had already killed herself. My girls rushed to them, Morning Star looked at me and shook here raven-haired head. I fell to my knees, we had been too late. I don't know why I did it, it just seemed an instinctive reaction, but I dialed in for a modern Cairo Hospital, ICU unit and we were all transported.

The nurse and doctor there had been talking, they took one look at the 5 naked girls, 3 of which looked dead or dying and asked, "What?" "Snake bites" I said, "Asps". The nurse ran to a glass cabinet, got vials and syringes out and returned to us. The young doctor checked the three girls for a pulse, breathing and any signs of life. "Are you certain they were bit by an Asp? They seldom still exist, we mostly see cobra and sea snake bites anymore."

"They were bitten by an Asp, please try to help them." The nurse handed the vial for a cobra bite, "this is the closest thing we have doctor" he nodded and all three girls received an injection. "I need to wait and see if they can be saved, this is highly unusual, they all may need more and two of them look like it is already too late to help them."

After 5-10 minutes, they were examined again, the doctor looked at me and shook his head, "I do not see any improvement; in fact I don't even think any of them are even alive." "Please doctor give them more, they don't deserve to die, not this way, not this time." So he did, seeing the bite marks, now also the one on Cleopatra's breast, he cut deeply, making an X and applying a suction bulb to remove both blood and poison. In about 20 minutes, after checking the three girls; he said two seem to be responding, they are alive and getting better, one however just does not respond, if I give here more of the antidote it may even kill her." Cleopatra, weakly placed her hand on that of the doctor's, "please try, she was willing to die with me and now she must live again for me."

By some power unknown to me; Cleopatra placed her lips over those of the young girl and seemed to breath life into her still form. She began to move, and the nurse and doctor stared at each other. We seem to have witnessed a true miracle. The girls were placed on beds, one girls would not leave Cleopatra's side, my girls held the other, trying to comfort her. The doctor came up to me, cleared his throat and asked me, if I realized that these 5 girls were naked? I looked at him, just smiled, and told him it was quite warm where we came from. He shook his head and walked away. Soon the nurse brought sheets and blankets to cover the girls, they took them, looked at them then dropped them on the ground.