[tshiggins]

A.J. also noted that the items with the greatest voltages reacted much more violently than he’d expected, far out of proportion to their normal electrical charge. He suspected the opening of the gate had triggered an energy burst that may have dumped power into the electrical devices on some sort of logarithmic scale.

If that were so, A.J. theorized, the voltage in a ignition-coil of an gasoline vehicle would likely fail catastrophically – so much so that it probably would ignite the fuel-lines.

Beatrice thought that sounded pretty cool, and planned to bring a car battery hooked to a dismantled ignition system, the next month, just to see what would happen.

With that, the group settled in to get some sleep.

They rose before dawn, the next day and, after a brief breakfast, headed into the slot canyon, leaving the camp intact. McShane had explained the portal only stayed open until the new moon set, and they had no desire to get trapped on the other side.

Jeb and Don Reyes agreed to walk in front, while Sunmi and A.J., who returned late from checking the more distant devices, trailed along at the rear with Doc Bascher. Diego and Beatrice realized, with great consternation, that their precautions might have been in vain. Jeb and Señor Reyes were about 20 yards ahead of the group when they crossed the halfway point, and disappeared into the suddenly-rising mist.

After a bad moment or two, Diego and Beatrice waved the group forward. After all, Jeb had not opened up on them with what they figured was his fully-automatic AR-15.

They emerged on the other side to see Jeb and Reyes looking back at them, fully aware of what had occurred, but nobody made an issue of it. The group continued along silently, except for Sunmi, who complained of a bad headache and asked for some ibuprofen.

The silence was broken when Jeb and Don Reyes emerged into the box-canyon, saw the remains of a large bonfire over near the former lair of the siants/ogres, and realized they were being observed. They hit the dirt and shouted for everybody to take cover, as a brief firefight broke out between the group, and the remnants of the Apache war-party they’d fought on their first visit.

As soon as the shooting started, a flock of magpies that had been picking at the bones laying about, scattered in a flurry of wings up the box canyon to the west. However, two huge magpies (three to four times the size of the others) flew over the group’s head and into the portal canyon, where A.J. spotted them circling overhead, chattering at each other.

This time, the party was much better prepared, and Jeb and Beatrice dropped two of the Apaches quickly, Diego accounted for another, and Aurelia put an arrow through the shoulder of the red-headed kid. (Another crit!) Meanwhile, A.J. shouted for Sunmi and Doc Bascher to help him try to scare the giant magpies away from the portal, but to no avail. He took a shot at the fast-moving birds, but watched in dismay as the two oversized scavengers arrowed through the gateway.

The group also saw Señor Reyes pull out a stick, nearly 2 ½ feet long, wave it and shout something in Latin (“Avertus!”), before he hit the dirt and started to take aim with his rifle. The fight ended before he got a shot off.

At the end of the brief fight, they’d killed the leader, put one Apache in critical condition, and seriously wounded the third Apache. The red-headed kid, who had shot at Aurelia with a battered old Colt .45, was barely conscious.

Don Reyes took a look at the prisoners, briefly questioned the kid, and then recommended the group execute them all. The Apaches did the same sorts of things in North America that gypsies did in Europe, he explained. They pretend to take odd-jobs (but do the work poorly), rustle livestock and steal everything that isn’t nailed down. Also, he said, the boy was a member of the Latter Day heresy, and their lives were officially forfeit in La Colonia de Nova España.

Beatrice said the group should follow Reyes’ advice, noting that the choice seemed to be between shooting the bandits or allowing them to die slowly in the hot desert. Aurelia objected strenuously, and asked Diego if he could arrest them and take them back to the modern Earth for medical treatment.

The deputy pointed out that if he arrested anyone, he’d have to arrest everyone (including Jeb and Don Reyes). The other members of the group noted that Diego was way out of his jurisdiction, anyway; he still had 30 days left on his administrative leave and an arrest would raise some serious questions; and passage through the portal would make the prisoners into mages (with all the issues that implied).

Aurelia reluctantly acknowledged the infeasibility of taking them back, but demanded they be left with enough food and water to have a chance of survival. She also insisted upon rendering First Aid.

This proved somewhat counterproductive when Henrietta to cut the bloody shirt off one of the unconscious Apaches and promptly put a shallow cut in his chest. (Another crit fail for her!)

However, Doc Bascher did much better, and brought the other unconscious Apache around, and managed to pull Aurelia’s arrow out of the Mormon boy without doing any additional damage. She also patched up the third Indian, and stitched up the laceration left by Henrietta’s knife.

While Doc Bascher performed her field surgery, Beatrice and Henrietta decided to explore the area with the ATV. Randy, Jeb and Reyes found the four ponies ridden by the war-party. Jeb and his new patron promptly took two of them and rode away.

Diego elected to stay with Aurelia and Doc Bascher, while A.J. and Sunmi went to examine the portal from the 1918 side.

Beatrice and Henrietta found a few small adobe shelters that resembled the Anasazi sites on the 2014 side. In one of them the archeologist also found a sun-wheel symbol positioned on a wall where a sitting person could easily focus on it.

The rest of the adobe shelters were in worse states of repair and, after several hours. the two women returned to the group.

(Continued...)