A polite chime sounded, signalling the atmosphere had stabilized. The airlock opened behind him.
Billy’s was crowded that night, the little roadhouse bar spilling music and laughter out into the parking lot. Edith parked her battered old work truck, with ‘Crane Farrier and Blacksmithing’ stencilled on the side, at the end of the parking lot, got out and stretched. It had been a long day. She had shoed five horses that day. Her business was picking up, but it meant that she had spent a lot of time bent over double, and some horses were lazy about supporting their own weight.
“Edith Crane!” shouted Melissa Andrews from over by the front deck with a bunch of friends. “’Bout time you got here!”
Edith made her way over to the group and slid into an empty space on the bench. Melissa poured her a beer from the pitcher and Edith sipped and relaxed.
“Oh my, that’s good.” Edith looked around at all of her friends. There was Melissa and her boyfriend Brian, and a half-dozen people her age, all young, all making their way in the little Tennessee town of Pilot’s Forge.
Melissa leaned across the table towards Edith and spoke low. “Listen, Edith, have you heard from Sam Grenady?”
Edith felt a shiver of unease. She and Sam had dated briefly when she came to town. She was drawn by his rough good looks and a kindred liking for physical labour. He was a carpenter and jack-of-all-trades, and had an easy smile that, she realized after about a month, he could put on and take off as easy as a jacket. The smile and the charm hid a sizeable chip on his shoulder that came out when he drank, and he drank a lot. He had lots of plans for her, he told her. Big plans that she had no say in. After three dates she made sure they were at Billy’s when she told him she wasn’t the girl for him. The expression he gave her was cold and empty. And then he smiled, gave her a kiss on the cheek, paid for their beer, and walked away. She hadn’t talked to him since.
“Why, what’s up?” She asked it carefully.
Melissa said, “He’s been heard making noise about you. Says you lamed Cindy Dupre’s warmblood with lousy shoeing.”
Edith’s heart sank. Pilot’s Forge was a small town and Sam was an old-timer. He could sink her business in no time. “That son of a bitch.”
Melissa snorted. “Don’t I know it. He sweet-talks plenty, but the minute he doesn’t get his way, he goes ballistic. He was always like that, even when we were in high school.”
Edith was reminded again that she was the newcomer. It didn’t matter that her grandparents farmed here eighty years ago. If Sam Grenady wanted her out of Pilot’s Forge, all he had to do was spread a few rumours. Well, she wasn’t going to go without a fight. She’d call Cindy Dupre and all of her clients and let them know that Sam was full of it.
She looked straight at Melissa. “If you hear anything else, you let me know.”
“You know it, California girl. I’ve been telling everyone that this town has always needed someone to put it on the map, and that’s going to have to be you.”
Edith laughed. “Melissa, I shoe horses. That’s not glamorous,”
“Oh, honey, in small towns you have to make your own fun.”
It was late when Edith drove up the mountain road to her old farmhouse, her pickup growling in low gear as it rounded the turns towards home. Trees massed around her, and now and again her headlights reflected on the eyes of animals in the dark. A whitetail bounded on stick-thin legs across the road in front of her, its twin fawns leaping behind it. She was glad to be heading home but Sam’s lies made her uneasy. She remembered his expression when she broke up with him. Should have known it wouldn’t be that easy, she thought. She would have to look out for him.
Her porch light was a welcoming sight as she pulled in to her driveway. She got out, locked her truck, and the cool summer air swept over her. Overhead the stars glittered between the trees. She hadn’t even seen the Milky Way before she moved out here from smog-filled Los Angeles. The swath of stars filled her with peace and awe.
Edith yawned. Straight to bed for me, she thought, but she needed to check on her horses. She let herself in, turned on lights, and went through her kitchen, with its jumble of mismatchedcrockery, Formica table and chairs, and old stove that came with the house when it was remodelled in the 1950s. Out back was the barn, well over 100 years old and still sound.
The only light came from the dusty night light by the door. Katahdin, her big seventeen-hand retired show horse nickered, but Cowboy and Blackjack both slept – Cowboy curled up like a foal. Edith made sure he wasn’t cast in his stall; a cast horse could break a leg trying to get to his feet. But Cowboy had plenty of room. Edith was about to leave when she heard the noise.
She turned towards her tack-room door. It sounded like there was a machine in there. She could feel the thrumming of an engine deep in her bones. Edith backed away, fumbling for the iron crowbar she left in the corner of the barn. Behind her Blackjack snorted and whinnied, and Cowboy lunged to his feet.
Katahdin kicked at the back of his stall, shaking the wall of the barn. Edith jumped. The tack-room door jerked open and someone stumbled out.
She had little time to register before whoever it was, in a streamlined G-suit, collapsed in front of her.
Oh my God. There’s a dead astronaut in my barn.
Merritt opened his eyes and wondered if he was still cycling in D-space. A woman with dark curly hair, dark eyes – and a long metal bar poised to strike – stood over him. She was good-looking too, he noted; trim figure in a simple shirt and trousers. And scared and determined enough to smash him with the crowbar. She didn’t look like Beauchamps crew – where the hell was he? And where was the man from the freighter?
He stayed as still as he could. Sometimes the best thing to do was play dead and hope for the best. With her free hand the woman fumbled for something in her pocket.
“Don’t move,” she said, her voice coming through his helmet’s comm. “I’m calling the police.”
Crap. That was all he needed. He started to get up.
“I said, don’t move!” Her voice rose.
He didn’t have time for this. He might only have a few minutes before whoever was chasing him on theGodolphincame through the airlock after him. He pulled his gun and trained it on her. Her eyes got big and she backed away.
