Chapter Five:

  Back at the railway station, the air was heavy with the smell of the damp musk of penned livestock. Mostly it was their own stock of Stegos and Trics, but there were also several pens full of Colossus Capras, a giant goat species bred for milk and meat. Likely headed east as well. The huge genetically altered species was extremely common throughout the continent and was the main source of dairy. The large horned beasts were not nearly as big as the Trics, and Stegos, but still several times larger than their extinct predecessors. There were several goat ranches back home. They didn’t have any on the Thundersaur however, their constant percussive bleating would make even the dinos crazy after a while.

  Mateo McClintock and the trail boss, John, were both sitting on the fence bordering the livestock chutes, watching the last of the herd get loaded into the massive train cars for the journey East. Jase was in the assessors office finishing the mountain of paperwork and collecting the final payment. Ranch hands scurried about securing equipment and guiding the last of the Stegosaurs into the chutes. Mateo pulled his leather hat down against the glare of the noon sun. He subtly touched the control pad on his arm bracer to activate his optic lenses. A useful little tool of his own design, these lenses, no bigger than regular contact lenses, allowed him to enhance his normal vision or even record video to the recorder on his bracer. By making slight gestures with the muscles around his eyes, he could zoom in and out, giving him precise binocular vision. He was examining the activity across the tracks where a passenger train, coming from the east, had just rolled in. As passengers and porters moved about, unloading luggage and finding their way off the platform, Mateo zoomed in on the rushing crowd.

  “Hey John,” Mateo said, nudging the trail boss and pointing toward the train. “Is that Paul Tinhorn? Third car forward from the caboose.”

  John pulled out his regular binoculars and swept the crowd until he spotted him. “I believe you're right. I knew he had gone east a few weeks ago on business. Looks like he's headed back home. I’ll message Marsh and Calli. They'll probably want us to ask him if he wants to ride back…,” John suddenly trailed off, a look of concern appearing on the normally stoic man's face.

  “What, what is it?” Mateo asked, noticing his shift in demeanor.

  John pointed back to the train,“Look who’s getting off behind him.”

  Mateo zoomed back in. His gut did a flip, and he instinctively looked back to see where Jase was. He zoomed in again to be sure. She was more grown up now, which made sense because it had been four years since she left for school, but that was definitely her face. And there was no mistaking that fire-red hair. Ciara Tinhorn was home from college.

  John shared a knowing look with Mateo. “I’ll go tell Marsh and Calli. They’ll wanna know right away.”

  “We can just send them a message,” Mateo started to say to John, but he was too quick. Mateo kicked himself for not thinking of that little out himself, but it was too late. Mateo steeled himself, and took a moment to say a quick prayer,then looked back to the office where Jase was shaking hands with the men behind the counter and saying his goodbyes. “Well, at least it won’t be a boring ride back home,” Mateo said, forcing the words out.

  Mateo jogged over to his brother as he exited the building. “Hey, so we're all done here?”

  “Yeah, dealing with processors and livestock inspectors can be more stressful than riding a wide herd down a narrow canyon sometimes. I’ve had physical exams that were less intrusive,” Jase said, shaking his head and stretching.

  “Hey, maybe we should head over to the supply shops one more time and see if there’s anything we forgot to load up on,” Mateo said, his voice laced with too much urgency.

  Jase noticed the strange tone and gave him a questioning look. “We took care of all that yesterday, and we didn’t forget anything. Grandpa and the riders already picked up everything and brought it back to camp, I checked. What are you up to?” Jase narrowed his eyes.

  “Nothing,” Mateo said in his best innocent voice. “nothing,I just think we should double-check and be sure. Remember what the Chief said: 'Assumption is the path to destruction.' Oh, I know, we could get some emergency rations for when grandpa makes one of his ‘delicacies’ again. We’ll store it in Mambo's trailer, It’ll be our secret emergency stash! Insurance against more dino balls, goat brains or whatever grandpa cooks next."

  Jase got very serious. “Out with it, Mateo. What are you up to? Is there something wrong with the herd? Did you get in trouble with one of your pranks again? If you set off one of your Stego stink bombs again, I’m not helping you clean it up this time. It took two days to clean up that last mess at the emporium, and it still smells bad there on days when it's hot..”

  Mateo waved his hands frantically, eyes darting about. “No, nothing like that, I swear. We just need to get going.”

  “Mateo, is that you?” said a familiar feminine voice from behind Jase.

  Jase froze, eyes going wide in shock. Mateo smiled sheepishly, removed his hat, and replied, “Hey Ciara, good to see ya. Hello, Mr. Tinhorn.”

  Jase turned slowly to see the pair. He met Ciara’s eyes and noted a sudden similar look of shock on her face. They stood there silently for what seemed like a very long time. Mateo nudged his brother back to his senses. Jase shook himself and also removed his hat. “Hello, Mr. Tinhorn. Hello, Ciara,” he said almost reverently.

  Mr. Tinhorn warmly replied, “Hello fellas, good to see ya,” and put a hand on his daughter’s shoulder, which seemed to bring her out of her trance.

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  “Hello, Jase,” Ciara said in an uncharacteristically quiet voice, not breaking eye contact with the young man.

  Paul looked back and forth between the two, then settled on Mateo. “So, your pa apparently found out we arrived and messaged me. He said you might still be here by the assessor's office. He invited us to ride back with you all to the Valley, said he’d get a wagon headed this way to get us. This works out great for us since we were going to have to wait a few weeks for a wagon train headed west otherwise. Personally, I can't wait to get out in the open again. Six weeks stuck in big cities is way too much for me.” He laughed.

  Jase finally snapped back to reality. “Yes, yes, of course. Please follow us, we’re headed back to camp now.” He gestured to Ciara's trunk. “Can I help you with that?”

  Ciara also seemed to wake up, taking on her more normally confident tone. “Yes, please. That's very kind of you.”

  The two started walking away side-by-side in silence. Mateo and Paul were left standing by the station. Mateo turned his head and met Paul's eyes as a moment passed in silence.

  “Don’t look at me, I’m just as surprised as you are. I was certain they would have started arguing already,” Paul muttered.

  “I know right,” Mateo nodded. “It's almost more terrifying this way, like waiting for a bomb to go off.”

  Paul shook his head. “And I was really hoping for a quiet trip home.” The two men shared a smirk and a laugh before Mateo patted the older man on the back and they set off to follow the others back to camp.

  Jase and Ciara walked quietly together. Jase racked his mind for something to say. He remembered the last time he had spoken to her, years ago, after the funeral, and how she had said she wanted nothing to do with him or the Valley ever again. He remembered the guilt he felt over what had happened when her older brother Mike had died. Everyone including her had said it wasn’t his fault, but he had still died, him and Blitz. Blitz, who had died saving him after he failed. Jase shook his head, purposely forcing the memory away.

  He shifted the heavy trunk from one shoulder to another, finally saying the only thing he could think of: “So, how was school?” he said awkwardly.

  Ciara simply replied, “It was very educational.” She had only just noticed that he was shouldering the heavy trunk with one hand. It was designed to be rolled using the built in wheels on one end. It had taken two porters to lift it in and out of the train and it had been a struggle for both men together, but he was carrying it with one hand. She remembered him being strong, like most ranch hands, like her father. But this was down right impressive. “ You know that trunk has wheels if you just want to roll it.”

  “Oh, ha ha, yeah, that makes sense. It’s okay, it’s not that heavy.” Jase chuckled.

  Ciara pushed past her awe and continued. “I really enjoyed the experience, getting to learn new things. The university had professors from all over the continent, and they had an amazing amount of recovered information from before the nano disaster centuries ago. It really opens up a perspective into the past. And Kansas City itself was such an amazing place, filled with buildings so tall you can’t even see the skyline, and packed with millions of people.”

  “It sounds amazing,” Jase said, a flicker of dejection passing through him, quickly masked. “Are you still planning to get a job at the Agricultural Trade Office in the capital in Oklahoma like your mom wanted?”

  She paused. ”No”, she glanced at Jase,”It's not for me.”

  Jase’s mood lightened a little, “As I got closer to graduation I found myself more and more uncertain about my predetermined career path. I didn’t want the drudgery of a bureaucratic job, and I think I’ve had my fill of the urban chaos, much to my mothers disappointment. Mrs. Hanagan and I have been exchanging letters about once a month ever since I left for school.”

  “Not surprising. You always were the teacher's pet,” Jase said sarcastically, immediately regretting the small jab.”Sorry” he said with a grimace. He braced himself for the boom.

  Ciara looked pointedly at him, but quickly softened and smirked. Jase thought he was about to see the old Ciara he remembered but maybe she’s grown up a bit, he liked to think that he had since they had last seen each other.

  “Anyways,” she continued,” towards the end of my last semester she wrote that she was preparing to retire, and Father Jeffry and the school had begun searching for a replacement.”

  “Mrs. Hanagan is going to retire finally? She's been there a long time , I think my pa was one of her first students” Jase added.

  Ciara nodded,“She's probably been teaching for almost 60 years. I took it as a sign, I always loved school and teaching others. I often got part time jobs tutoring while I was at college. So I decided to contact the school and applied and they accepted me. I think Mrs. Hanagan had a say in it.”

  “What did your parents think about that?” Jase asked.

  “My father was pretty happy about it, he always said he was hopeful me being in the Ag office would help smooth out some of the problems farmers from the west had with the central office, but when I told him he was happier than I’d seen him in a long time.” Ciara said in a positive tone. “But my mother was not as pleased. I believe the exact quote was, ‘Why would anyone want to leave civilization to live like an animal back in Thundersaur Valley!’” Ciara said, crossing her arms and perfectly mimicking her mother’s high-pitched snobby tone.

  Jase winced, remembering some of the conversation he had had with Ciara’s mother. Nellie Tinhorn was not known to be a kind woman. She had left the valley when Ciara and her brothers were just kids. She would come to visit once in a great while but she always stayed in town, Oak Creek, where the rail station is, refusing to venture out to the homesteads.

  She straightened and raised her head higher. “She just wants to parade me like a prized trophy dino in front of her high society friends. Schmoozing with all those stuck up snobs, dancing with one self-important jerk after another at their fancy parties just so she can eventually marry me off like prize sow. No thank you!”

  Ciara forcefully calmed herself and looked at Jase. “What about you? How have you been? When your father messaged, he was just leaving the Marshall's office, is everything okay?”

  “As far as I know, everything is good, especially if he was leaving the Marshalls office and not being detained,” Jase said with half a smile. “We had a little incident out there on the trail, no one was hurt though. None of our people, anyway.”

  “Jase and the McClintock gang found trouble? I’m shocked!” Ciara said with a great amount of sarcasm.

  “Hey, this time it found us. We were minding our own business, just moving along the trail, and BOOM, trouble. Right in our faces,” Jase said with an assured tone.

  “Yeah, that happens, doesn’t it, with trouble.” Ciara said, her face taking a troubled, distant expression. “Happens quickly, out of nowhere.”

  Ciara noticed Jase looking at her with concern, and her expression quickly snapped back to a smile. Jase decided not to press her on the statement, and the two walked in silence for a moment.

  One of the battery-powered supply wagons the group used in town rolled up to the group, Mateo had called them remotely. Jase loaded the trunk into the back of the trailer and then offered his hand to help her into the passenger seat with her father.

  “It's nice to see you again, Ciara. Hopefully we can talk again soon?” Jase said with a smile.

  “Likewise, I’m glad to see you as well. And Jase,” Ciara said with a smile, leaning down and gesturing to him to come closer. Jase approached and removed his hat.

  She grabbed his left ear, fast as a viper strike, and twisted, hard! Just like when they were kids. She leaned in close, her face turning serious and commanding. “Don’t ever call me a teacher’s pet again.”

  “YES MA’AM!” Jase said, wincing in pain.

  She released him, holding her gaze on him until she settled in the wagon. Jase delicately rubbed at his sore ear as Mateo walked up, smirking.

  “Nice to see the old Ciara is still in there somewhere. I was getting worried,” Mateo said a little too loudly.

  She turned her head slightly and smiled at Mateo as her father drove the wagon away.