Time Salvager (Time Salvager #1)(89)

James watched as she let go of him, though not before she gave him one last visible squeeze on the arm, and then sauntered down the ramp to greet all the gaping tribespeople as if she were some goddess that had come down from the heavens to meet the primitives groveling in the mud. The looks on the tribe’s faces ranged anywhere from fascination, bewilderment, to, in Elise’s case, barely suppressed hostility.

His initial concern with bringing Grace back was the elderly woman’s adjustment to such a grim place. Now he realized that the Mother of Time could thrive anywhere. It was everyone else who would have to adjust to her. He was pretty sure if Grace and Elise went at it, poor Elise would come out far behind, even though she was a third Grace’s age. The two women sized each other up, Elise with her hands on her hips and Grace barely acknowledging her with an upturned slant of the mouth.

“What a precious little dear. Could you call your father for me?” Grace said.

“I’d better bring him to you,” Elise countered. “We should probably get you a hover carrier as well. Most of our camp isn’t wheelchair accessible.”

“I think I’ll manage.” Grace bared her teeth. “I like to stay in vigorous shape.” She looked back to James. “Isn’t that right, pet?”

Elise’s scowl deepened. James shrank. He should have never listened to that voice in his head telling him this was a good idea. Well, he couldn’t change the past—actually, that was more untrue than it had ever been—so now he just had to face the consequences of his actions. Just in case, he stepped in between the two.

“Grace, this is Elise Kim, the biologist from the late twenty-first century who is going to save the planet from the Earth Plague.” He gestured to Grace. “Elise, this is—”

“Grace Priestly.” Grace lifted her chin. “The Mother of Time, High Scion of the Technology Isolationists, one of the six great millennial minds—”

“And my new assistant,” Elise snapped.

That stopped Grace in her tracks, and for a second, James withered, this time under both their glares.

“Is that right?” Grace said, regaining her composure a second later. “We’ll just have to see about that.”

The two stared each other down. James wanted nothing more than to get back into his collie and hide away for a few hours. Maybe this was a bad idea after all. Grace would never take a backseat to anyone, especially to someone she deemed inferior. He’d have to pull them apart and reason with them separately if these two were ever to get along.

“Why don’t you show Grace the lab,” James said, hoping to break the tension. “I know you’re both eager to get started on the cure.”

Elise nodded and gestured for Grace to follow. Grace responded by taking her time. He heard them start up an argument as they walked up the ramp.

“Is the Mother of Technology knowledgeable in World English?” Elise asked.

“Only that and eighteen other languages,” Grace said.

James watched them leave, looking bewildered. He hoped they didn’t stay at each other’s throats for long. Right before they disappeared from view, Grace looked his way with a mischievous glint in her eyes. That woman was without a doubt someone he had to watch out for. She was a slippery one; Elise was going to have to be on her toes, too. Chawr, who was standing nearby, grinned from ear to ear. He couldn’t understand the exchange that had just taken place, but he knew enough from their facial expressions to fill in the blanks.

“What are you looking at?” said James good-naturedly. The young hothead and his friends had come to him shortly after the night they tried to leave and offered to help in any way they could if James would teach them how to fly a ship. He agreed and made them the collie’s pit crew. “Go charge the batteries,” he grinned, “like I showed you.”

“Yes, Elder,” Chawr said, signaling to his guys to help him plug the solar generator in.

“James,” Smitt blurted into his head. “How did the retrieval go?”

“As planned. Thanks for the logistics. A little close on the entry but it saved some travel time. What about on your end?”

Smitt sighed. “They assigned me four new chronmen to take your place. Three Tier-5s and a Tier-4.”

James chuckled. “Babysitting, eh? What are you retrieving? Coal? Seeds?”

“Worse. Wood. I’m literally jumping these damn fodders into forests days before massive fires and having them chop wood. It’s so degrading. I mean, does ChronoCom realize who I am?”

“A guy who failed his chronman advancement?”

“I’m a Tier-1 handler! And thanks for rubbing it in. Seems you’ve found a sense of humor since you’ve been away. I don’t like it.”

James grinned to no one in particular. “You just don’t like me becoming a better person.”

“The improvement is debatable,” Smitt said. “Listen, my friend, I need to warn you. Your little operation here came up on one of the wasteland surveillance reports. Just a blip. Planetary regency likes to keep tabs on what’s happening with the savages, and your region’s caused some recent energy spikes. If this continues, you’ll either need to regulate your energy usage or disperse the concentration.”

That was a problem. The past month had become such an unexpected relief that he had almost forgotten that ChronoCom was hunting them. He’d have to be more careful with his movements, possibly park his collie a day’s journey away just to be sure. Anything to keep Elise safe.