The Legend of Indian Stream

by Steven Landry

  “Nonsense,” retorted Kellen Coyle, in a much milder tone. “If women are provided the same educational opportunities as men, they will vote as wisely as men.” Turning to Megan O’Rourke, he said, “Mrs. O’Rourke, by way of example, why don’t you give us your thoughts on the other proposed constitutional change we’re going to consider?”

  The BLE field cook got to her feet and launched into a fifteen minute soliloquy on the shortcomings of the United States Constitution and the Magna Carta vis-a-vis slavery, indentured servitude, voting rights, due process, and equal protection under the law. She then turned to the proposed changes to the Republic Constitution’s Preamble, which spelled out the conditions under which the Republic would consider rejoining either the United States or British Canada.

  “We know that the United States is moving slowly towards eliminating the abomination of slavery, and while Great Britain has already done so, they still allow indentured servitude and have debtor’s prisons. I’ll concede that the Magna Carta will slowly push the British to eliminate both those abominations and diminish the power of the King, but movement is not enough!

  “Moreover, as it says in the King James Bible, ‘God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.’ Male and female are created in God’s image, so who are we to deny God’s plan? We must not and cannot accept integration into any society that arbitrarily denies God-given rights to more than half the population!”

  The room burst into applause.

  When Perkins gave no indication of further objections, Corcoran called for a vote. The amendments passed with overwhelming support. Dwight had voted in favor of them all.

  The Assembly, now effectively doubled in size, then took up the next item of business.

  Newly elected Minister of Defense & Border Protection, Councilor Kellen Coyle, read the bill reauthorizing the Indian Stream Republican Militia, which everyone now called the “ISRM”. In the wake of Captain Hermon Bechtel’s resignation, Mack O’Malley would become Captain. Liam Keating would become First Lieutenant and Harrison Forte, the BLE Security Chief, would become Second Lieutenant. Dwight was to be promoted to First Sergeant.

  Drawn by the lure of the new BLE-made weapons that Mack had introduced a year earlier, two dozen more local men had joined the ISRM. Together with the new Fallon Party men, the total strength was up to seventy militiamen. The company was to be divided into two platoons of three squads, each squad consisting of two fire teams.

  So far, the bill had been pretty vanilla. Then Kellen dropped the bombshell.

  “One fire team will be required to be on duty at all times.”

  There was a chorus of shouts and exclamations. Corcoran, Kellen, and Perkins shouted for order, and eventually calm was restored.

  “I know it’s a hard thing to pull men away from their work, but we’ve little choice,” Kellen said. “Both the United States and British Canada have claimed this land, and they’ll soon be sending their tax collectors once again. We need to enforce our borders against any official incursions by either country. Each fire team will be on duty for two days out of every twenty-four, on a rotating basis. We’ll allow the privates to switch out with one another in the case of a pressing need at home. If a corporal has to switch out, it’ll have to be the entire fire team that switches, since we want to keep some unit integrity.

  “The on-duty fire team will be stationed at Fort Evergreen. We’ll dispatch them from there as needed. Sheriff Sawyer will be able to summon them at a moment’s notice. The men will be trained to operate all-terrain vehicles donated by BLE so they can get to where they’re needed very quickly. Each man will be paid fifty cents for each day on duty,” Fallon concluded. That changed the mood in the room. Two extra dollars every month or so would certainly be welcome, since most families were bringing in at most a dollar per week. The debate wore on for another twenty minutes, but in the end the bill passed.

  * * *

  Republic of Indian Stream, Tuesday, July 15, 1834

  On the morning of Tuesday, July 15, 1834, Harrison Forte informed Corcoran that a BLE-operated drone had detected the Sheriff of Sherbrooke, Lower Canada, entering the Republic. Corcoran summoned Mack to his office at Fort Evergreen.

  During the five months following Mack’s appointment as commander, Corcoran had watched him work assiduously to modernize the ISRM. With the help of Lieutenants Keating and Forte, along with First Sergeant Carver, Mack had introduced new tactics, new weapons, and new equipment. The whole company drilled two consecutive days each month, in addition to the two days per month each fire team was on duty.

  Each man was required to spend at least four hours during each duty period learning how to operate, maintain, and repair the new equipment, which included weapons, communications sets, body armor, load-bearing equipment, navigation equipment, first aid packs, and other gear. During the two-day drills they put it all together to operate as a squad, a platoon and a company.

  Each fire team was allotted a Light Tactical Vehicle, or LTV, and trained on how to operate, maintain, repair and tactically employ it. The four-wheel drive vehicles could go almost anywhere in the Republic. They were heavily armored, able to withstand anything but a direct windscreen hit from a cannonball. Corcoran was confident they could deal with any near-term threats to the Republic’s independence.

  Corcoran’s office was small and spartanly decorated, situated at one end of a repurposed cargo container that also held an office for his secretary and a small conference room. Windows had been cut in the sides of the container that allowed him to see out into Fort Evergreen’s interior compound. He had another office in Assembly Hall, but seldom used it.

  Mack walked into Corcoran’s office and sat in a chair in front of his desk. Forte was already seated to Mack’s left. “I think his intent is to arrest Richard Blanchard, aka ‘Junior’,” Forte said.

  “What’s he wanted for?”

  “Junior ran up a large debt purchasing equipment for his fruitless mining venture. His share of the proceeds from our land purchase wasn’t enough to pay off the debt, even if he’d chosen to do so. Against all sense, the idiot squandered the money on more mining equipment.”

  “This is almost exactly the incident that led to the end of the Republic in the original history. We can’t let this get out of hand.” Corcoran banged his hand on the table for emphasis.

  “I know. Just as in the original history, the hardware store in Sherbrooke holding the note has at last decided that enough is enough. We think they got a court order to have Junior arrested and thrown into debtor’s prison.”

  “Well, as much as I hate a welcher, the Republic’s Constitution will allow no such thing. We’ll have to stop him before he drags Junior off to Sherbrooke and gets our fellow citizens riled up. Mack, let Sheriff Sawyer know about the illegal border crossing and have him intercept the Sherbrooke man before he gets to Blanchard’s homestead. Have the on-duty ISRM fire team standing by, just in case the man won’t take no for an answer.”

  Mack got Sheriff Sawyer on the radio and explained to him what needed to be done, with an emphasis on avoiding violence if possible. The fire team was instructed to park their LTV close enough to the interception site to be visible to the interloper, without being overtly threatening. They provided a video feed back to Corcoran’s office, but were too far away for good audio.

  Sawyer was a good man. Mack and Corcoran watched as he explained to the Sherbrooke Sheriff, whose name was Robert Mackenzie, that if the store’s owner were to show up at the Republic’s courthouse in Pittsburg with the signed notes, then he could place a claim against Junior’s assets, which would be seized and sold at a sheriff’s auction to repay the debt.

  Mackenzie wasn’t in a position to press the issue. They watched as he turned his horse around and headed back to Sherbrooke. The fire team tracked him all the way to the border. Corcoran knew that wouldn’t be the end of it. History had already proven itself to be a tough advers
ary.

  * * *

  Republic of Indian Stream, Monday, July 21, 1834

  The following Monday morning Sheriff Mackenzie returned to the Republic, this time accompanied by a forty-man platoon of British Dragoons. They were met at Tabor Notch, just on the Republic’s side of Hall’s Stream, by Harrison Forte’s ISRM platoon. There was a brief skirmish, during which the ISRM troops used their AA12 shotguns loaded with non-lethal Taser rounds. Along with Sheriff Mackenzie, all forty British soldiers quickly went down, one sustaining a serious back injury when he fell from his horse. No ISRM soldiers were injured.

  Mack and Corcoran both felt the tug of events spiraling out of their control. Perhaps a show of mercy would help. They jumped in an LTV and raced to the site.

  By the time they arrived, the uninjured dragoons and the sheriff had been zip-tied with their hands behind their backs. Once they regained control of their faculties, they would be frog-marched back across the border, along with their horses. Forte had confiscated their weapons.

  Corcoran informed the dragoons’ commander that the injured man would be transported to St. Patrick’s Hospital for treatment, then brought to Sherbrooke when he was well enough to travel. Unimpressed, the British Captain made a number of threats, which Corcoran dismissed.

  “Don’t come back if you know what’s good for you.” They watched as the dragoons marched off in search of someone to cut their hands free.

  Later that afternoon, Corcoran called an emergency meeting of the Supreme Council to discuss the options available to respond to any further incursions by the British Army. History reared its ugly head again when Nathaniel Perkins suggested they consider asking for help from the New Hampshire Militia. That was exactly how the Republic had lost its independence in the original history.

  “But why are we going to war with the British over this one idiot?” Perkins asked. “We can’t possibly defeat the British Empire. We’re risking everything!”

  “The British have only got two regiments of regulars in Lower Canada,” Mack said. “You’ve seen the militia’s new machine guns and mortars in action. Plus we’ve got a few more surprises in store for them if they come in strength. Believe me, we can beat them. We can’t show weakness by bowing to the British. They’ll keep trying to drag us back into the Empire if we do.” And end any chance we have of defeating the plague. “I do suggest we mobilize the entire militia as a precaution for the next few weeks.”

  “This is folly,” Perkins grumbled. But he agreed to the mobilization, so Corcoran wrote out the order for Mack.

  * * *

  Republic of Indian Stream, Wednesday, July 23, 1834

  This time the British came in strength, an entire battalion of Dragoons supplemented by a four-gun battery of artillery. Once again, the ISRM met them at Tabor Notch. Mack dug in his two platoons along the military crest of the notch overlooking Hall’s Stream. They dug firing pits for the men and built berms for the LTV’s, reducing their vulnerability to cannon fire. Dragon Fire II mortars were placed a kilometer back from the border, and sited in with smoke rounds.

  When the British Commander saw the forces arrayed against him, he ordered his men to charge. The moment the first horsemen hit the stream, Mack ordered his men to open fire. It was a bloodbath. The M240 machine guns mounted on the LTVs and the ISRM soldier’s automatic rifles chewed through the horsemen. The seventh squad’s mortar crews walked a rolling barrage of destruction through the British ranks while the M32 grenadiers concentrated on destroying the artillery battery. The dragoons soon retreated from the border.

  Two ISRM militiamen had sustained injuries in the fight. The lone shot the British artillery battery had gotten off had hit the berm in front of their foxhole. Both men had multiple fractures and facial injuries, and were given first aid by their squad mates. Satisfied that the dragoons weren’t going to attempt another charge any time soon, Mack ordered one of the drivers in seventh squad to transport the two injured men to St. Patrick’s in his LTV.

  About fifteen minutes after the engagement, a rider emerged on the road holding a white flag aloft. Mack met the British Lieutenant at the stream. The lieutenant, who appeared badly shaken from the battle, asked permission to retrieve the dead and wounded. For the next two hours Mack watched warily as the British collected their comrades and began their march back towards Sherbrooke.

  One of the half-dozen Shadow drones that constantly flew above the Republic and surrounding area had been tasked to keep an eye on the departing British. Once they passed through Saint-Malo with no signs of stopping, Mack ordered most of the company back to Fort Evergreen. The on-duty fire team remained near the border in case there were any stray British soldiers lurking about.

  After a bumpy ride, the two wounded ISRM soldiers arrived at St. Patrick’s. Corcoran was there to offer support to them and their families. They were ushered into the shiny new emergency department, where doctors Flynn and O’Shea were waiting, along with Darcy O’Brien and Corcoran’s stepdaughter, Aileen.

  Mack hung around long enough to learn that both men would survive, although they would require multiple surgeries to repair the damage to their faces, and long months of healing and physical therapy.

  Mack fervently hoped that the British had had enough. But they had history on their side. He expected they’d come back sooner or later.

  8 - ANNA

  Temporal Shock: the change that occurs in a three dimensional universe when a temporal tide passes. The temporal shock creates a new reality, one that is altered by any changes that have occurred in the past as a result of the new sequence of events, i.e., it is the propagation of changes to our past into our present. Living beings that survive a temporal shock report a sudden feeling of vertigo followed by a very bad headache. Glossary, An Illustrated History of the Republic, Helen O’Shea, Ed.

  Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, USA, Wednesday, December 12, 1832

  Anna and Mike crossed into Virginia at Harper’s Ferry and spent the first night of their journey in Charles Town. Soon they were back on the bumpy dirt road, riding in the shadow of the towering black oak and chestnut trees.

  “How did you get the time machine?” Anna asked.

  “Time travelers from the 22nd Century were trying to prevent a disaster that occurred in 2030. Hopefully the disaster was averted, but I left before it would’ve happened.”

  “What kind of disaster?”

  “Biological warfare on a global scale. Billions of people died in a man-made plague. Once they thought they had set things right, they pursued other uses of the temporal artifacts.”

  She held up her hand. “But are you sure they stopped the plague?”

  “Obviously not, since I left before it would’ve started. But the time travelers seemed to think they had stopped it,” he replied.

  “And if they didn’t?” she asked.

  “Nothing you or I can do about it,” he said, then picked up his explanation of the temporal artifacts from the previous day. “Anyway, if we’re very careful, we can visit the temporal artifacts and bring things back from them. For example, a bag of gold coins being carried into the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia will fall to the ground next to the lifeless guard and lie there waiting for an inter-dimensional time traveler to pick it up. And we can pick it up many, many times since it will be there once for each moment the guard was carrying it across the sidewalk.”

  “How long is a moment?”

  “The best we can resolve a moment to be is about ten nano-seconds. Which means that if it took the guard five seconds to walk across the sidewalk into the bank, there are half a billion bags of gold just waiting to be snatched.”

  “That doesn’t explain how you were able to snatch me, and come to this, a very much alive world,” Anna said.

  “True. After much trial and error using robots, scientists became able to travel to dead universes and back from the same moment. Then they learned how to travel backwards in time in the dead universes. Without all the paradoxes po
sed by the presence of life, this was relatively easy, and perfectly allowed by Einstein’s theories.

  “The hardest part was making the jump back to a living universe in the past. In theory, the mechanics of moving from a dead artifact of the past to the living universe are simply the reverse of moving from the living universe to a dead one, but there was one big unknown: How would interfering with the past affect the present? Could a very small change in the past have dramatic effects on the present? To use a classic example, if you went back and smothered Hitler as a baby, would World War II and the Holocaust be prevented?”

  Probably not. Hitler was just the spark. Anna had studied German history from both the East German and West German viewpoints. Someone else would have come along. Maybe someone worse, though that was hard to imagine.

  Mike went on before she could share the thought. “It was cockroaches that solved the mystery.”

  “Really, those nasty little bugs,” she said.

  “Roaches are very hardy little creatures. They survive much longer than people in the artifacts, long enough to breed several generations. The scientists set up a contained colony of the bugs in an artifact and experimented on them, jumping back and forth in time to alter the starting conditions and observe the end result. They discovered two things. First, there were very small but notable changes in the colony based on making changes in its past. Second, those changes were not instantaneous, but rippled through time at exactly twice Pi times the normal rate.”

  “But you said that I couldn’t affect my own past,” Anna objected. “If I were to go to Germany and kill my ancestors, wouldn’t it ultimately affect me?”

  “Think about it,” Mike replied. “I snatched you in 1988. That’s one hundred and fifty-six years in the future. The temporal tide we started here in 1832 will take almost fifty years to reach your birth in 1964, but that’s only twenty-four years in your own past, so you’ll be safely out of the way here when it passes. Unfortunately there will be consequences for the people left behind. As the temporal tide passes, they will experience severe vertigo, followed by a migraine headache. But it’ll pass in few hours.”