The Historians
Chapter 2
He senses movement around him, he must have fallen asleep leaning his head and shoulders onto Doc's bed. Gradually he wakes and yet thinks he is still asleep. This is not Doc's room. He lifts his head up – or at least thinks he does – this must all be a dream. It is not Doc's bed either. There are tubes and machines all around the bed, some are making beeping noises and others whirring. Small lights are flashing silently. He looks around the room and sees Kitty asleep in the other chair – but it is not the one he settled her in last night, and the clothes she is wearing – he has never seen before. The dark grey pants drape softly over her shapely legs and hips, and the creamy color blouse looks as soft and delicate as her own skin. She has some gold bangles on her wrist and the outfit is completed by a garment he does not know how to describe – even to himself. It is like a light, soft jacket the color of prairie wheat. Her hair is down and loose, flowing gently over her shoulders. He delays taking his eyes away from his sleeping beauty.
His own attire is not familiar either, but not that different to usual. His gun belt is missing, as are the spurs he was wearing. The boots are not his own either – they are shorter and made of soft leather. He didn't think these would be strong enough to last many days on the trail. Lastly he feels for his badge – it is gone along with the vest he was wearing.
He is about to go over and wake Kitty when the door opens and a familiar figure enters. He is wearing a white coat with his name on a badge clipped to the top pocket. He looks quite at home in these surroundings that are so strange to Matt. The Marshal looks at him.
"Thomas Kedworth," he acknowledges as he goes over to shake hands with the man. "What is going on here?"
"Welcome to my world Matt."
Kitty begins to stir and looks down at the strange clothes she is wearing, then she sees Dillon and remembers Thomas.
"What is going on?" She looks around in dismay, a little fear creeping into her face. She looks over at Doc who lies there in a strange bed with tubes going into his arm and bags of fluid hanging on some kind of stand, and other things she could not find words for. There are lights and beeping sounds going off. She goes over and runs her hand through Matt's arm. He pats her fingers gently.
"Don't worry Kitty," Thomas smiles at her. Doctor Adams is already doing much better. We have been giving him some high power antibiotics.. er medicines that fight infection. In about a week or so he will be back on his feet, I got a good friend of mine who specializes in treating infectious diseases to take care of him."
"I don't understand." She is still looking down at the strange clothes she is wearing. She goes over to Adams and takes his hand. She no longer feels the fever he had when they were in the back room of his office, but then where are they now?
"Come with me, I need to talk with you both," says Thomas watching her. He will be fine, they are monitoring him from the desk. Any change and someone will be here."
"But we can't leave him here alone, supposing he wakes up."
"We won't be long, I really need to talk with you both and tell you what's going on. Listen I want you to follow me, you are going to see things you are not familiar with, just trust me that it is all okay – I'll explain what's going on, but not here. No-one else must know the truth."
They leave the small room and Kitty clings tighter to Matt as Thomas escorts them down some stairs and out onto the street.
The scene that meets their eyes is overwhelming. Horses and boardwalks are replaced with things they have now words for. Kitty believes she saw a picture of a so called 'horseless carriage' in a newspaper from back east, but these carriages are moving around at alarming rates. She points to a tall red carriage, bigger that a house.
"I'll explain in a minute," Thomas exclaims, not here though, just follow me. At some signal all the vehicles stop and he leads them across the street, and down a second narrower street to a tall building. Taking some keys from his pocket he touches the fob to a small, lighted plate next to the door. There is a click and he pushes the door open. He looks towards Matt, " I hope you saw how to do that." The Marshal nods, totally bewildered but unwilling to show it. They obediently follow him along a hallway and he pushes a button on the wall. "We are going to get in a lift – in your country you call them elevators – at least you will do one day."
There is a ding of a bell and part of the wall slides open. The Doctor steps inside. "Come on in unless you want to walk up five flights of stairs. Now push that button – he points to the one with 5 on it."
Kitty reaches out her hand and tentatively pushes the one he indicated. The doors slide closed and they feel pressure on their feet as the contraption carries them up. Finally, to her relief, the doors open again. The hallway appears no different from the one they just left; even so they follow Thomas until they reach a door with 509 on it. He pulls out the keys once more and inserts one in the lock. Pushing the door open he invites them in.
Kitty sees a sitting room with a large couch, what she believes to be a kitchen is in a small area to her left. There is a window straight ahead and letting go of Matt's arm she goes to look out. The street seems far below, there is so much going on down there and she cannot understand any of it.
"I have a lot of explaining to do, I'll make us some coffee – I remember how much of it you would drink when I was in Dodge."
He takes Kitty over to the kitchen and shows her how to use the coffee maker. It does not really make sense to her, there is no fire to heat it, he just flips a switch on the wall. Good thing really – she wondered how you would bring enough wood up here to keep a fire going.
They sit on the couch with blue coffee mugs on the table in front of them. Thomas sits in the chair opposite so he can look at both of them.
"Now what I am about to tell you, you must not reveal to anyone else. If you do it could jeopardize Doctor Adams' recovery."
"I know you wondered how I got to be in Dodge City that time, where I had come from and lots of other questions I could not answer. Now I can give you some of those answers." He takes a swallow of coffee before continuing.
"There is a group called the Historians. I don't know when or where they are, but they have a responsibility to see that history takes its rightful course. There are some people who play a pivotal part in how things develop, like your president Lincoln, General Grant and many others. It is important that these people survive to perform the function that they are supposed to contribute to history. Sometimes these people get sick, get hurt or otherwise would not live to do their important task. The historians send one of us back in time to make sure that person survives, just like I was sent to Dodge, Marshal. The historians had decided you were important in the overall plan of things."
Kitty was watching him, "But you didn't know what you were supposed to do when you came to Dodge," she said.
"No but I knew something would happen. I was picked early in my life. I had some form of congenital heart problem when I was born. I should have died, but didn't. A heart surgeon from out of town had arrived on the scene and performed a procedure that no one else knew how to do and afterwards he was never seen again. Later in life I wanted to go to Medical school but couldn't afford it. Somehow all my bills got paid. I never knew how until one day, after I graduated, a man met me and explained that I now owed the Historians a debt. To work the debt off I would be sent to different places and times to save important lives. You were about the fifth mission I was sent on. Now I have to tell you that there will be a debt to pay for Dr. Adam's life. Somehow Matt I think your particular skills will be needed and it will be a job you have to do. I can't tell you more because I don't know what it will be, or how dangerous it will be, but when it comes you will have no choice – it will be payment for Doc's life."
"Whatever it is I will do it," said Matt as he looked at Kitty and took her hand.
There was silence for a few minutes.
"This apartment is for your use as long as you are here, don't worry about bills – they will be paid. I will also show you how to get cash money as you need to – don't worry about that. The year is 2012, by the way, and you are in London, which is way across the Atlantic Ocean from where you live. You cannot tell anyone that you are from a different time, although you can tell where you are from. I also believe that when you return to your own time you will not remember any of this."
"But you remember Dodge," Matt put in.
"That was different. I work for the historians, you are just co-opted into the program for one time. You cannot take any knowledge from here in the future back to your own time. It would mess up the natural order of things. Usually they only send people backwards in time – like me coming to Dodge, but for some reason they must think that this is worth the exception."
The three of them sipped the hot coffee. Matt and Kitty noticed that it was not as strong or as bitter as the brew they were used to, but it was hot and pleasant to the taste.
"The historians gave me instructions as to what I am to explain to you.
Firstly Doc is your Uncle, Kitty – on your mother's side. He apparently grew up here but has been to Dodge to visit a time or two. He is an old country Doctor who is retired and doesn't practice anymore. You two came here on your honeymoon and planned to stay at the small cottage he rents, somewhere in Cornwall, which is the southwestern corner of this country. I do not know what part all this will play, but I have the key here to give to you. Matt you own a cattle ranch back home, which has been in your family for years, and Kitty manages a restaurant in Dodge City for some unnamed man. She has worked there for several years. This is what they call your 'cover story' and is what you can tell anyone who asks. The truth of the matter is that Matt, you work for the United States Government. You have been co-opted by a branch of the CIA for some special mission that I know nothing about. You refer to your department as "the Agency." I have no doubt that someone will be contacting you about that."
Thomas gets up and goes over to a decorative mirror hanging on the wall in the bathroom. He takes it down to reveal a small safe. Inside are a medium sized envelope, a gun and a shoulder holster.
"I'm afraid I can't tell you much about this," he hands the gun and holster to Matt, then spreads the remaining contents of the envelope on the coffee table.
"These things are a whole lot to explain to you," he says pointing to two cell phones, a set of car keys, two plastic credit cards and a leather wallet containing a badge of some kind. There are also some documents for Matt and Kitty to read to further explain their 'cover story.'
"There have been so many changes since Dodge City of 135 years ago. For example in less than 100 years from your time, the United States of America landed a man on the moon. I know that seems impossible to you, I have no idea how you will adapt to all this."
Briefly he describes the use of the cell phones and the credit cards – "The PIN number is 1875 on both of them, that at least should be easy to remember. I think these are your credentials Matt, to replace the badge you wear I suppose." He stops to take a breath and looks at his watch. "I have to leave in a few minutes, I have a busy afternoon schedule. I suggest you fix yourselves something to eat, you'll find the refrigerator," – he points to the white cabinet in the corner of the kitchen, "is pretty well stocked, just help yourselves. Come on back to the hospital when you are ready – just be careful of the traffic when you cross the street. Be sure to use the crossing like I showed you when we came over here. I guess you can find your way back to Doc's room. Here," he hands the keys to the apartment to Matt, keep these with you, I'll have to explain the rest later.
"We'll manage," said Matt – with a lot more confidence than he felt.
Thomas left shortly after that, and Matt sat on the couch looking at the gun he had been given, it was nothing like the Colt he was used to. He was trying to figure out how the shoulder holster worked. Kitty called to him from one of the bedrooms. She had just found the bathroom complete with shower, bathtub and hot water on tap. She thought she was going to like this style of living. The shower looked especially inviting, maybe this evening.. she grinned to herself.
Returning to the kitchen she opened the door on the icebox, what was it Tom had called it? A refrigerator? An amazing invention to keep food cold and make ice continuously, she thought she would like one of these at the Long Branch. She looked inside and found some cold meats, some of which she was not familiar with, and some cheese. Putting them on a plate she goes to join Matt on the couch.
TBC