“So, your sister doesn’t seem to be crazy about me.”

“You’re not the problem. She’s just one of those types who has very few friends and takes a long time to feel like she knows somebody. If I didn’t have her along, I wouldn’t be strong enough to do this. She supports our cause, but thinks I went overboard with our own money.”

“I hope I’m not being too nosy. What did your family to do earn the fortune your sister says you squandered?”

“That’s part of my motivation. It started out from oil. It’s been a long time since anybody in my family actually owned any mineral rights, and we were a little late getting into other areas. A few inventors approached our company with cleaner technologies back in oil’s heyday, but we just bought and buried the ideas.”

“You’re a conspiracy theorist, huh?” I grinned and threw another rock.

“I wouldn’t say that. Nice skip on that one, by the way. I’m just glad the ideas eventually re-surfaced and made a difference.”

“After your family’s company drained all its oil fields.”

“Right. So, I guess maybe I’m looking for absolution.”

“Well, I’m a large bird of prey, not a priest.”

For the first time, instead of just a grin, I saw her toothy smile.

“So, what about Chura’s father?”

“Nobody knows for sure. He was working in a government lab, top secret clearance. They just told Chethra that an accident killed him. Only love of her life, and Chura never got to know him.”

We both just let that one hang out there.

“Now, shut up and see if you can skip one better than this.” She held the rock close to my face, then stood up and threw it side-armed over the water. It skipped all the way across and glanced off the opposite bank.

“Good one, Aunt Danetta,” came Chura’s voice from behind us.

“Where’s your mom?” Danetta asked.

“She’s looking at the map, and searching in something called a telephone directory.”

Chura leaned down and picked up a rock. Then, in a fluid motion identical to Danetta’s style, she sent it skipping.

“You hit the other side. Okay, what’s the family secret here?” I asked.

“No secret. While mom was getting her education, Aunt Danetta and I spent lots of time together.”

I looked at Danetta. “You didn’t pursue the academic course?”

“Chethra’s mother was a stickler for that. Said that the family’s fortunes may fail one day, and she would need a way to make an honest living.”

“Chethra’s mother?” I asked.

“We’re only half sisters.”

“Oh. That explains a lot.”

“Hey, that’s my mom you’re talking about.”

“Yeah, yeah. So, show me how it’s done,” I said.

I stood and tried to emulate their throwing style. After a few tries and some direction, I got the hang of it. A few of my rocks made it all the way across.

“I always like learning things from impetuous single girls leeching off the family fortune,” I said. “Even after the fortune’s gone.”

We walked around searching for good skipping rocks, a difficult chore even in the full moon’s light. I looked up at the moon, amazed that man’s landing on it still was fresh in the minds of everybody we would see in the coming day. I also wondered what they would think if I told them we haven’t colonized it yet.

Back in the room, Chethra filled us in on what she had found.

“I found one listing under the last name ‘Beers,’” she said. “I think it would be best to approach them in person. The map doesn’t show rural routes, so we’ll have to consult the locals.”

“So much for as little contact as possible,” I said.

“We’ll start with the general store manager. We already know he likes us, or at least tolerates us,” Danetta said. “If he’s lived here any length of time at all, he might be able to point the way.”

Loose plan in place, we managed to fine tune the Zenith enough to tolerate a few replays. Entertainment was not a lot different from what we saw in our time — problems with children, spouses, bosses — but the characters dressed in clothes that looked strange to us and used ancient technology in their everyday lives. The biggest difference was their pale skin. No humans looked like that anymore.

We went over the plan again before going to bed. After finding the location of the Beers family’s residence, we would approach them and offer to buy their house and their land. If they quickly agreed to deal, then we would try to buy out others, too. We had no time to establish a relationship to earn their trust, and hiring a realtor would only take more time and increase the risk of era contamination.

Who am I kidding? We’re about to intentionally commit era contamination.

Whatever happened, upon waking at our democratically decided hour of six o’clock in the morning, the time the general store manager arrived in town to open the store, we would have only a little more than 10 hours to do everything. Beyond that, our DNA would alter to the point that the time chamber’s sensors wouldn’t recognize us and, shortly after that, we would die.

(continue to Part Sixteen)