Valerie just stood there, staring. How could this be here? In the middle of a random forest, at the foot of a tree, there sat a gravestone.
A gravestone with her name on it.
Aside from her name, there was nothing on it except the letters D. I. G. Had R. I. P. Gone out of style? Replaced with what? “Death Is Gross”?
Or maybe it was more literal. Valerie decided to risk desecrating her own grave. It belonged to her, anyway. She selected a trowel from her watch, and started to dig.
It was covered with grass. Once she found Floyd again, she’d have a little help understanding this. But Valerie had a hunch that she should keep this to herself. For now.
The grass was the toughest part. Once she got through that, the tight packed dirt was easy enough to clear. She dug down along the gravestone about 10 inches deep before she hit pay dirt. It was a metal box, a bit bigger than a shoe box.
Valerie dug around it and wiggled the box loose. What could be inside? She hoped it wasn’t something like a dead cat that happened to share her exact name.
Whatever it was had a ton of plastic covering it. She opened zip bags, plastic wrap, grocery bags, all in the vague shape of a rectangle. At the center of it was a journal. A nice journal.
Hardcover, letter paper size, and the paper was the good kind that didn’t bleed if you used a gel pen. Valerie sniffed it. There was a hint of glue. She found a pocket in the back of the journal. No, it was an envelope. She peeled it loose, and took out the paper inside.
“Hello, Past Self!” Valerie double checked the gravestone, just to be sure. It did sound like something she would write. Apparently she had a future self. That was nice to know.
Three pages. Valerie skimmed the first paragraph. She didn’t like what she saw. Crashing from nearby made her decision. She stuffed everything back into the box. The watch wouldn’t recognize the object. It needed a preliminary scan.
Fine!
Valerie held her wrist as still as she could. She heard Floyd calling her name. He couldn’t see this. The box finally dematerialized. Valerie got up and ran away from the hole, calling Floyd away from the gravestone.
Shouting Floyd’s name, Valerie ran with heavy footsteps. Anything in this forest could hear her coming and run away from her. She did not expect to round a clump of trees and collide with a horse’s backside. She dropped to the ground, narrowly missing getting kicked in the head. Two other horses stared down at her.
They seemed calm enough. But the ground was still not a safe place. If she moved too slowly, they’d think she was a predator, stalking them. If she moved too quick, they’d spook anyway and probably trample her if they were panicked enough.
Valerie scooted backward. She turned away and wrapped her arms around a narrow tree. She made exaggerated grunts as she pulled herself up to stand. It struck a balance between scary and helpless. Maybe. She was guessing.
It worked. The horses just stood there, watching her. Once she turned around, she could see there were more horses scattered next to the trees. About twelve of them. From her angle, she could see that most of them were stallions. Usually, bachelor bands were only two or three at a time.
Something was off here.
Valerie heard Floyd’s voice again. She called out to him, and the nearby horses backed up a few steps. From the sound of hoof beats, she expected tot see Floyd round the corner. But it was a grulla mare. A big grulla mare.
She was beautiful. It took Valerie a few seconds to recognize that she was also very upset. Valerie stood very still. Careful not to antagonize the mare, she waited for Floyd to come.
“You made it!” He called out to her. He came toward the group, but stopped when the mare snorted at him. There was no doubt who was in charge. The mare turned her attention
They communicated with each other the way that horses did. Valerie didn’t understand a word. The mare blew out her lips, and led the group away. Floyd came closer to Valerie.
“What’s going on?” Valerie asked.
“They think you’re weird.” Floyd said.
“What?”
“The other horses. They think you’re weird, even for a human.”
“Well!” Valerie stretched her arms in front of her. “They are excellent judges of character.”
“We’ve got to keep up.” Floyd bumped her shoulder with his nose.
“Who is she?” Valerie jogged to keep pace with the herd ahead of them.
“My daughter.”
“Your daughter! That means she’s a cyberquine too?” Valerie knew it was a dumb question. She glanced down at Floyd’s legs when he came up next to her. There were cuts on his legs.
“What happened to you? This wasn’t brambles or branches that did this.”
“I killed a drone.” Floyd said. As if it was the most natural thing in the world.
“Okay… was it ever alive?”
“Only artificially” He didn’t say any more. This was a side of Floyd she hadn’t seen before. He was angry. Properly angry. She needed to help him focus somehow. Silence was her strategy for now. That, and trying to keep up with the herd.
“Do you want me to take off your tack?”
“When we get there.”
The herd slowed, and Valerie tapped Floyd’s neck. He bent down, and she took off the bridle. She didn’t look at him once.
“Is something wrong?” Floyd asked. Valerie shook her head.
“Just thinking I should take the tack off while we’re in a war zone.”
She took everything else off of him, and set it carefully on the grass. Then she aiimed her watch at the pile, and it disappeared. He stared at her.
“What?” Valerie stood and crossed her arms.
“I didn’t teach you that.” Floyd was baffled. A woman from the 21st century just used the advanced tech like an old pro.
“I figured it out.” She shrugged.
“When?”
Valerie didn’t answer him.
