THE DEATH MERCHANT -- by Bob & Wanda Duncan
Tony and Doug land at Gettysburg and find themselves for o time
on opposite sides in the conflict.
Tumbling out of the Vortex onto a battlefield, Tony and Doug stumble
over the body of a Union soldier. They see Michaels, a strange-looking
dark man with a giant mastiff pass by, and then, nearly caught, in a
skirmish between Union and Confederate soldiers, they try to outrun a
burst of shellfire, but Tony is hit. A Union Major tells Doug that his
friend is dead. When he finds that Doug has seen the man with the
dog, he orders him to come with him. The Major finds a uniform for
Doug and informs him the man, Michaels, is planning to sell gun-powder
to the Rebs and must be:topped or more lives will be lost at Gettysburg.
Ann, Kirk and Swain, reading their instruments in the Tunnel, realize Tony
must be dead, but Ann gets permission to try a power surge which might
shock him back to life. The experiment is successful. When Tony comes
to, a confederate Sergeant mistakes him for their courier who was bringing
money for Michaels. The Sergeant, realizinq Tony has lost his memory and
can't help them, takcs him alonq as he sets out to follow the Union Major
he's sure is on Michael's trail. The Major and Doug finally locate Michaels
in a cabin. Refusing to surrender, he cuts down the Major with a rapier and
disarms Doug. Tending the dying Major's wounds, Doug finds a rapier and
engages Michaels but again he is disarmed. Noticing the manuscript that
Michaels has been working on, Doug realizes that Michaels is actually
Machiavelli, somehow cought in the vortex of time and moved to America
during the Civil War. Michael is not bothered by it and is enjoying the
slaughter of war. The technicians in the Tunnel, learninq that Machiavelli's
signal is identical to Doug's,search feverishly for a way to separate them.
Meanwhile, Tony and the Confederate Sergeant arrive at the cabin, and
Tony, not recognizing Doug, nearly kills him, but getting the gun-powder is
more important, and Michaels agrees to lead them to it. Doug makes a
dash for freedom, and Michaels send's the mastiff after him. Watching
from the Tunnel, Kirk orders a reversal in time for the mastiff, and the
savage beast disappears. Then Doug, expecting Tony, hides behind a
tree until he appears. Michaels then leads Tony, Doug and the Sergeant
through the brush toward the cave, where the gunpowder is hidden.
Dodging shells, Tony tries to get a wagon to move the powder, and Doug
follows. Puzzled when Doug saves his life, Tony returns and finds that the
Sergeant has been shot by Michaels. Arriving at the cave, Tony rushes
in to load the powder into the wagon, but Doug attempts to destroy the
powder and the two battle. Suddenly Tony regains his memory, but
Michaels lights the powder just before the technicians in the Tunnel can
pluck him off the battlefield. As the fire reaches the powder, Tony and
Doug disappear, and the cave is enveloped in a giant explosion.
|
