There were many people in the area around the two large buildings. Cordelia had been here before and she knew this was a safe place to be. The large number of people would provide a good cover against most anyone who might try something funny. Cordelia stood in the shade of one of the buildings and scanned the area. Agent Hendrix either wasn't there yet or he was hiding somewhere with Mrs Orwald, but Cordelia didn't believe that was his style.
After several minutes she saw the man walk onto the square, with a woman next to him. Cordelia searched her mind, trying to remember Mrs Orwald. What came up was someone entirely different. Problem was that she had only met the woman a few times back home in the 23rd century. It was fashionable to change one's appearance radically, and also it was very easy to make this happen, so she would just have to trust Hendrix to bring the actual person instead of another agent.
Cordelia held her hand in the pocket where the tiny gun rested. She didn't want to hurt people unless there was no other way to get herself out of a difficult situation. She walked up to the two and waited.
"Miss Lexington. Please meet Mrs Orwald." Mr Hendrix smiled.
"Miss... Lexington? I recall your name is Brown." The face wasn't what Cordelia remembered but the voice was the same. This had to be Mrs Orwald.
"I am using a different name here," Cordelia said. "Either name is fine with me. So here we are, as you asked."
"I sense hostility, Miss Brown," Mrs Orwald said, reaching out to pat Cordelia on an arm. Cordelia remembered that move from the woman as well. She was now convinced this was the real one. "Yes. I asked Mr Hendrix and Mr Parker to locate you for me because it is imperative that we talk." Mrs Orwald looked around her. "Do we have to talk in this crowded environment?"
Cordelia said it wasn't necessary but she felt safer here.
"Very well, but I would appreciate it if we can move about a little, Miss Brown. These crowds make me somewhat nervous." As the three started walking around on the square between the two huge buildings, Mrs Orwald told Cordelia that there was nothing she had to be afraid of if she wanted to return to 2254. That made Cordelia realise how long she'd been gone already.
"All charges against you have been dropped, Miss Brown," the woman continued. "There were several investigations as to how my former husband died. During one of them, a few female employees of STAR Production INC stepped forward and claimed that Monroe had approached them in an incorrect manner. Two of the ladies had actual video footage of such meetings. Their statements made it very clear that he had tried to approach you in a wrongful manner as well. At the time of his death on the factory floor, he had no reason to be there. Charts showed you were indeed working on the STAR model that vanished around that time. I won't bother you with many more bits of evidence that have been found after that, but let it be enough to say that your name is cleared and if you decide to return to STAR Production INC, you will be taking your new position as Advanced Temporal Science Doctor immediately."
"My what?" Cordelia stopped walking as she heard that. She had always hoped to be an advanced temporal science doctor, but Monroe Branson had never allowed her the promotion. There always was someone else who was better, he'd claimed to the team, while she knew he just did that because she wouldn't sleep with him.
"Yes. Monroe had told me about your skills, Miss Brown, and how you should make it to that position. Somehow it never happened, did it?"
Cordelia shook her head. This was a bit much to take in. Her name cleared, her job back, and a promotion. How could that be? And why would Branson have mentioned that to his wife while the dirtbag had always known he wouldn't let her have that position anyway?
"No. It didn't." She wondered if this woman had already figured out the reason. She probably had. Mrs Orwald was a smart person. You could say about Monroe Branson what you wanted but he would never put up with stupid folks. Cordelia didn't know what more to say about that. This hadn't been on her mind for years so she needed to let this sink in.
"Do you know who put that bounty-hunter on my tail?" she asked Mrs Orwald. It was a long shot but it didn't hurt to ask. The woman didn't flinch.
"I do not. Mr Hendrix told me about that awful person and I cannot imagine anyone wanting to use the services of someone like that."
Mr Hendrix added that Parker and himself had accidentally run into the bounty-hunter while looking for Cordelia. "Since we knew this woman was out to get you, we had our weapons with us, that afternoon in Lexington." That explained the presence of the Skreller-gun. "We tried to hold her for questioning but she proved not to be the kind to answer questions."
Cordelia had noticed that. "But then I wonder who hired her. Bounty-hunters are expensive. They don't go after people for fun." Both Mr Hendrix and Mrs Orwald agreed with her, but they had no answer to that question.
"Do you already know when you will return so you can take your new chair at the company?" Mrs Orwald seemed convinced that she had made an offer Cordelia couldn't refuse.
"I don't. I'm sorry." Cordelia wasn't even certain if going back there would even be a good idea after everything she had been through. And how would David adjust to that totally different world? He'd been good about all the crazy changes she'd put him through, but living in 2254 would be different. "There are a number of things I first have to deal with. Obligations." And a David to rescue.
"Of course." Mrs Orwald handed Cordelia a note. It was hand-written on a very expensive kind of grellum. "These are a few moments I have reserved in my schedule for you. In case you wish to visit and talk." The woman smiled. "And this is not only to talk about work. We will leave you to your obligations now, Miss Brown. And I will see you on one of those dates." She looked at Mr Hendrix who quickly nodded a goodbye at Cordelia and then the two walked off.
Cordelia watched them leave, her mind still in turmoil.
She walked around a little, trying to make sense of everything she'd just heard. Her mind was still reeling. Was this real? Was this a trick to get her back home where the police would be waiting for her? Would there be a way for her to go back without being noticed, so she could ask around a bit? Cordelia was skilled enough with disguising herself that she could walk around in Lexington Mississippi without being recognised visually. The thing that would probably give her away was the lack of electronics she'd carry. It was so easy to keep track of people in 2251, with all the electronics they had with them, either in their pockets, on their body or even inside their body. E-implants had been very popular when she had left and they probably still were.
No. Going back to snoop around wasn't a good plan for now. Cordelia got up from the bench where she'd been sitting to get her thoughts in a row and walked back to the warehouse where the STAR was waiting for her. Just before going inside, she heard the voice.
"Hey you." Those two words conveyed trouble. Cordelia turned around to find two young men standing there.
"Go away," she said. "I don't want trouble and you don't want trouble."
"We don't want no trouble. We want some fun. And some money." One of the men took a big knife from somewhere behind his back. "Play nice or we have to convince you."
Cordelia slipped a hand in the pocket where the tiny gun was. "Go away," she said again, "or do I need to convince you?" She took the gun out and pointed it at the two. The man with the knife laughed and called it a pea-shooter. The other one suddenly had a gun in his hand as well. A big, heavy one, built to impress.
"Let's all go inside," the gunman said, "and get down to business." He sounded convinced he had the situation in hand.
"No. I will go inside and if you are stupid enough to come after me, you will regret that. And I am not making empty threats, boys," Cordelia said, switching the tiny gun on. It wouldn't stop an army, but it had enough power to take down three of four people.
The two men were stupid. They both ran up to Cordelia as fast as they could but they weren't fast enough. She only needed one discharge of the gun to hit both of them. It looked as if a big hand slapped the two backwards. They ended up on their backs, stunned for at least half an hour. Quickly Cordelia switched off the gun to preserve power. This thing packed a bigger punch than she had expected. In an impulse she walked over to the two men and took away their weapons.
"Sorry boys. I told you." Cordelia wished she could get to the sheath the knife fit into but she didn't want to waste time here. She looked at the two once more, then turned and went into the warehouse.
"We're going home, Norbert." The system intelligence didn't respond; it just waited for her to enter the coordinates.
~
Cordelia spent the rest of the day thinking about the meeting with Mrs Orwald. She had seemed honest. Somehow the idea of going back and accepting her new job was intriguing and she wondered why she wondered about doing this. A lot had happened. She'd thrown her life away and started a new one. One that was far more exciting. Okay, also a lot more dangerous but it made her feel alive.
After taking a bath, she started to make plans to go to March 2199, to save David. She knew she'd already done it - she'd seen it herself - but still that didn't mean she had to be sloppy with her preparations. In her mind she replayed everything she had seen. This had to go right because David's life was at stake. For a moment she wondered if she should go now. Get David back and deal with that bounty-hunter as soon as possible.
"You should sleep, woman," she told herself after some introspection. "You need to have your wits about you if you're going to do this so go to bed and deal with that leather butch-bitch tomorrow."
The self-inflicted advice and a glass of sherry made that she slept surprisingly well. The next morning she felt confident that today would be a good day. Today she would bring David home.
The first signs that brought a crack in her good mood was an envelope she saw on the floor. Overnight, someone had shoved it underneath the door.
"What is... Oh." The Royal emblem answered that question. As she turned to go for breakfast, there was a knock on the door. Another envelope? She opened the door to find "Mr Brown" there.
"Miss Lexington." The man didn't blink to see her in her morning gown. "I have an urgent package to conceal."
"How urgent exactly?" Cordelia didn't want to annoy him because a quick trip to store something was hardly extra work. To her surprise, the man looked to the side and waved his hand. Two children came into view.
"These two, Miss Lexington. They are my sister's kids. Stanley and Selma"
Of everything she could possibly have imagined, this was not part of it.
"Her husband is a no good drunk..." He fell silent as he looked at the children, the boy around six years of age, the girl perhaps five. "Well, he's good for nothing. He put their mother in the hospital and now he is after these two and I hoped..."
Cordelia stood as nailed to the floor. What was she going to do with two children? You didn't leave children behind somewhere in history! And then there was the Royal telegram; she hadn't even opened that.
"We can help clean, Miss," the boy said, looking up at her. His face radiated the hope that his words made a difference. The girl sniffled and rubbed her nose.
"You had better come in," Cordelia said as she stepped to the side. Mr Brown made the children step inside. "You too, Mr Brown. This is something completely different."
"I can pay for anything," the man assured her, staying outside.
"This is not about money. Come in." Cordelia didn't want to discuss this with him standing there. She knew it wasn't very ladylike to command someone like that, but what he did right now wasn't exactly the fine gentleman's way of dealing with children. Even when it spoke in his favour that he was so worried about his nephew and niece.
Cordelia took them to the kitchen and made them sit at the table while she started to make tea. She was glad to have enough chairs for all of them!
"How long do you think this will take?" She looked at Mr Brown over her shoulder. "The affair with your brother-in-law, I mean."
"Brother-in-law." Mr Brown spat out the words. "He don't know no law if it would bite him in the rear end, Miss Lexington. A few days, I s'pose. At most. I have some friends looking out for him and they will, ehm, deal with him. I'll come and tell you as soon as I know."
As he spoke, Cordelia still tried to work out where she could leave the children. She had to get to that telegram, which probably meant another trip. She knew she would have to recharge the STAR soon also. Suddenly she thought of something and smiled.
"I think I know where Stanley and Selma can stay for a while," she said, putting the tea mugs on the table. Both children said, "Thank you, miss." Mr Brown then did too.
"That would be wonderful, Miss Lexington." He turned to the children and told them to do as Miss Lexington told them to, otherwise he would give them to their father. His words had a huge impact as Cordelia saw the kids shy away from him. It was good that he could get his point across, but this was probably not the best way, she knew. It did tell her something about the children's father.
"Sit and drink your tea," she said. "I do need to get dressed." And have breakfast, she added for herself, but first she wanted to be presentable for the visitors.
After checking her arm and getting into a dress, she went to the kitchen again where no one seemed to have moved. Cordelia asked the children if they needed something to eat. Their eyes shot to Mr Brown, which already told her they hadn't eaten that morning. She made a stack of sandwiches that vanished like snow in the desert sun. Even Mr Brown had one as she presented it to him.
After dealing with breakfast, she told Mr Brown she would make certain the children would be safe and well looked after.
"I know they will be, Miss Lexington. If there is one person I trust, it's you."
She knew he didn't exaggerate. She had so many items of his in 'storage' that she deserved his trust. Cordelia showed him out and locked the door.
"Right. Now it's you and I. I need to tell you something before we go. I am going to take you to a place that will look very strange, but you need not worry." She saw the two heads nod and only now noticed how smudgy they were. She had no time to do anything about that, though. "And we will go there in a strange way too. I hope you won't be scared." Again that nod. Something told her these two children had seen a lot of trouble and misery. They wouldn't be scared so easily.
Cordelia grabbed her purse and guided Stanley and Selma into the cellar. She explained what they would see there, so they wouldn't be too surprised. As they saw the STAR, they didn't really react to it, as if they were dead tired, or mentally so messed up that they just didn't care any more.
She opened the hatch. "Come, inside." The two climbed in without any questions. She showed them where to sit and how to hold on to the straps. "I am going to take you to a person who will look after you for a while." She took a note from her purse and set the coordinates. After making sure the two children were secure, she pressed "Go".