Steelhead Adventures: Dead Man's Hand

Sheriff's Office

Using his Sonic Screwdriver, Purdie sealed the last pane of glass into the window frame. He stepped back and looked at Lunar.

"There," he said, "now try it"

Lunar picked up a rock and threw it at the window. They both ducked as the rock bounced off the window and flew past them, hitting the jail cell. Willard the Jail Rat ran out of his cell and jumped up on Fuzzball's desk, squeaking at both of them. Neither one spoke "rat", but knew that some foul language was being used.

"Forgive us, Willard" Lunar said, holding up his hand "We're just trying to protect Fuzz"

Willard let out a sigh, then sat down on the desk and watched to two as they continued.

"So," Lunar said, "this will be bullet proof? NOTHING can penetrate the glass?"

Purdie nodded, "Nothing..,....in this time period. Miss Tensai can use her most powerful explosives, town hall would be demolished, these panes of glass will not have a scratch on them."

He looked at Lunar, "Have you read the journal I sent to you?"

"Glanced through it," Lunar replied "will go over it further with my wife later. Some of what I read.....seems very intense."

Purdie nodded, "I have seen many things in my travels. Dangers and evils that you would not believe. But, what I saw in those visions, what I wrote in the journal.....gave me chills."

"If what you saw is a possible future, then we will do out best to prevent it from happening."

Purdie smiled, "Good."

The two looked to see Tensai pulling a cannon into Fuzz's office.

"Ok," she said, "Let's see how strong these windows REALLY are."

The Steelhead Saloon

Forelle Boek walked into the saloon and looked around. He found Fuzz sitting at a table, playing cards with Hotspur O'Toole, Hawc DeCosta, and Oolon Sputnik. He walked over and stood by Fuzz's chair.

"Fuzz," he said, "I need to speak with you."

Fuzz didn't look up from his cards as he replied, "If you wish to speak with me as Steelhead's Entertainment Director, office hours are Monday thru Friday, 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM. If you wish to speak with me as Steelhead's Justice Of The Peace, you'll need to make an appointment. If you need to speak to me as Steelhead's Manager, Lunar, Tensai, and I have a box that you can drop all requests in. If you need to speak to me as Steelhead's sheriff.......I'm playing cards."

"Visitors have stepped off the train," Forelle continued, "scholars from Harvard who're giving a talk at the library this weekend."

Oolon looked up from his cards, "If it was Oxbridge, I'd be impressed."

"What does this have to do with me?" Fuzz asked

"The Jaeger's are holding them at gunpoint." Forelle replied, "I'm having a little trouble understanding them.....but I think they believe the scholars are here to shoot you."

"OH for the Love of Lycoan" Fuzz said, as he threw his cards on the table, "I'm out. THIS is getting ridiculous, haven't been shot at in over a week, everyone's suspicious of all newcomers to Steelhead...."

Fuzz continued griping to himself as he left. Hotspur picked up Fuzz's discarded cards and looked at the hand.

"Shit." he said

The others looked as Hotspur laid the cards down on the table, revealing the hand Fuzz had. An Ace of Spades, an Ace of Clubs, an 8 of Spades, an 8 of Clubs, and a Queen Of Diamonds.

"Oh boy," Hawc said, as he looked at the cards, "talk about bad timing."

"Indeed." Oolon said

Forelle looked at the cards, then looked at the other three, "I've heard of this hand."

Hotspur nodded, "The same hand, according to Deadwood, that Wild Bill Hickock had the day he was shot."

"Dead Man's Hand" all four said

Oolon got up, "If you will excuse me. I'll need to find Purdie."

"Time Traveler Business?" Hotspur asked

"To help the Sheriff, yes" the Time Lord replied, "Unfortunately, with the time stream off kilter, thanks to the Mason family, our talents are temporarily limited. But there are plans"

Near the Train Station

Fuzz was still griping to himself as he walked to the station, "......and SteelCobra has to eat all the cookies all the time. I like cookies"

He stopped to find an old man in overalls standing in front of him, staring at him.

"Hello, Bob" Fuzz said

"boB" Old boB Ballyhoo snapped, "Get it right"

"Sorry, boB" Fuzz said. boB was once a resident of Ambertown, before the flood. He had survived the disaster, but was suffering from mental problems. Despite that, he was harmless. He never bothered anyone, was always friendly, unless you mispronounced his name. Nobody knew why he spelled his name backwards. "What can I do for you?"

"Just noticing," boB replied, "Ye ain't changed a bit."

boB wandered off into the direction of the saloon. Fuzz watched him, then heard a loud explosion coming from town hall. With Fuzz's keen hearing, he was able to determine that it was coming from his office. He started to head there, but then heard Tensai yell "Hoo"

"God, I love Steelhead" Fuzz said, as he turned and headed towards the station.

Victoria City, Caledon

Koen sat on a bench at the railway platform, watching the people disembark the train.

"Caledonian, Caledonian, Winterfeller," he whispered as he looked at the people, "New Babbage....Babbagian...Babbager....umm...."

"I'd just go with Citizen of New Babbage if I wasn't sure" a female voice suggested

Koen jumped at the voice, he didn't hear anyone approach. He looked to see a tall beautiful blonde woman standing by the bench.

"Mrs...Trescothick?" he asked

"That's actually my stage name" Angelica replied, "But you can call me Angelica. You're Koen, right?"

"Yes'm" Koen replied, "Miss Katt let me use her airship. Captain Swann is waiting for us."

Angelica nodded, then gestured towards her bag. Koen smiled and picked it up for her. As they started to leave the platform. Angelica stopped as a breeze blew across the platform. Koen stopped too as the breeze sent a shiver up his spine.

"Change is coming," Angelica said, staring up at the clouds, "I hope we're not too late."

The two continued walking towards the air ship port. Shortly after, the airship was heading back towards Steelhead City.

To Be Continued