Separation!

In the flat, desert landscape under the featureless indigo sky, Jed faced Plisp. It all came flooding back: their time together as boys, growing up and working. And the acrimony in Farkin’s eyes as he turned away.

Plisp’s lips rippled like water.

Good; you remember. You couldn’t go on forever the way you have been: riding around from town to town, laying down the law, and bringing bushwhackers to justice. Who appointed you, Jed? Who said you have the right? Who made you gunslinger?

Jed frowned. He couldn’t remember embarking on his present way of life.

It was the Horse, Jed. Whether it got it from you or from me, it saw how much you enjoyed the old cowboy stories from Earth and so it made you what you are. It’s been playing you all along, pulling your strings, but you’re so blinded by your bond with that critter, you’ve never seen what it’s been doing all along.

“No,” Jed grumbled. “You’re wrong.”

He couldn’t believe that of Horse; he would never believe that Horse had anything but Jed’s best interests at heart.

Think about it, Jed. Open your eyes - they are still your eyes, aren’t they? Or have you been given new ones somewhere down the line?

“No!” Jed repeated. “This is your jealousy talking. Horse is not like you, Farkin. Yes, we can be together, all three of us, but you have to stop all this - this - What you’re doing is wrong. You’re destroying your own world and for what? Vengeance? Against whom? The Pioneers are all gone. Their descendants are innocent.”

Plisp gave a derisive snort. The glow in his head flashed orange and gold.

This world was ruined when your people arrived. It has taken me many years to get to this point - you don’t even realise! It’s not about laying waste to Vultures’ Moon. It’s about escape! The hub is almost ready - can you imagine it? The ship will rise again and leave this cursed rock behind. Those fools in the city have been working on it unwittingly, thanks to a mutant strain of the dark dust I introduced to the water supply. The ship will rise - a smaller, reduced capacity version, I admit. But it will take me to the stars. I will follow the course the Pioneers intended. I will meet up with the rest of them wherever they settled.

And - the glow flared to a searing white - I will eradicate them.

***

“You’re back!” Horse’s nose nudged Jed between his shoulder blades. Jed shook himself and saw he was back in Tarnation. The dark dust was still rolling around. The people were still hiding in the buildings and the soldiers were all dead.

Of Farkin Plisp there was no sign.

Deputy Dawson approached. “Thought you was a goner there for a moment, Jed. You just seemed to turn to stone.”

“Where’s Plisp?” Jed grabbed Dawson by the shirt front.

“Who?”

“The skinny fellow in the long black coat. Which way did he go?”

Dawson, open-mouthed, shook his head. Jed released him. He could see from the deputy’s eyes that Plisp had used the forgetting trick on him, on the whole population most likely.

“I’ve got to stop him,” Jed sounded desperate.

“Come on then,” said Horse. “Let’s go.”

But Jed was walking up the street. “One more thing,” he called over his shoulder. He headed directly for Doc Brandy’s place and found his old friend swigging guiltily at a bottle of moonshine.

“J-Jed?” Doc Brandy spluttered. “Come in, come in! What can I do for you today, my boy? Come to get that ear fixed at last?”

“Can it, Doc,” Jed snarled. “Farkin Plisp. How can I stop him?”

“Wh- whut? How would I...?”

Jed glared at the man he had known for years as his physician as his friend. The doctor must have gone through countless changes over the years to keep himself alive for so long. There was probably very little of the original man left.

“Cut the play-acting, Doctor Prosper, and tell me what I have to do.”

***

“I have done nothing but in care of thee,” Doc Prosper began. Jed frowned and asked the old man to speak plainly and in his own words. “I was so delighted when you first came to me to be patched up, my boy. I knew it was you even though the last time I saw you, you were a mere stripling. My own handiwork confirmed it. It really was you, after all that time. Of course I couldn’t tell you who I really was; I couldn’t risk you running away from me again. And I was so pleased to see you had ended your association with that - that demon. And better yet, you had found the Horse I built especially for you. Every knight should have his charger. You have exceeded everything I hoped for you, my son. You are a fighter for truth and decency, a hero to many. You make your father proud, my son, my darling, darling son.”

Jed grunted. “What about Plisp? You know more about him than anyone. You’ve had him in pieces and put him back together again - mostly.” He glanced at his hands. They were his to use again, suggesting Plisp was at some distance.

“I can’t help you - I won’t. The risk to you is too great. You have parts of him in you. Destroying him might destroy you.”

“Not destruction then, but how can I stop him?”

“You cain’t.” Doc Prosper slumped against his table. “He’s always one step ahead. You must have noticed how some things have fallen out rather easily for you. It’s all him, manipulating you - think about it, Jed!”

Jed’s brow creased.

“It was kind of easy to get into the fort...”

“Other occasions too, I’m sure if you put your mind to it. He knows how you think and what you think, often before you think it.”

Jed thought about this and seemed to decide something. He made for the door.

“Jed! Son! Will you come back?”

Jed turned in the doorway. “If there’s something to come back to,” he said flatly. “Maybe.”

***

Jed felt bad about leaving Dawson to see to things alone. He told him to just keep folk indoors and out of the dust. All being well, Jed would return to help. He clapped the deputy on the shoulder and climbed into the saddle.

Seconds later, Horse was high above Tarnation and shooting through the sky.

“You’ve got an idea. I know you have,” said Horse. “But I can’t tell what it is.”

“I have to keep it to myself,” Jed whispered. “You’ll see why.”

Horse wasn’t pleased but it didn’t press the issue.

“To Wheelhub?” it asked, changing the subject.

“Not just yet,” Jed replied. “If I know anything about our mutual friend, he’s got one last attempt at persuading us to join him up his sleeve.”