Steve saw him first. A single man riding fast towards them. Jayne saw him too.

Guesturing at the rifle stock, Jayne blurted out “wish we had the rest of the rifle.”

Steve looked over at what he was talking about when something that had been nagging at him since the crash finally clicked into place in his mind when he saw the lack of screws in the synthetic rifle stock.

“Jayne, give me my gun.”

“What’er ya talkin’ ‘bout, it’s right there on ya’r belt.”

“No, the rifle stock.”

Jayne handed the man the rifle stock and was amazed when Steve removed the butt of the stock and pulled out a barrel, scope, receiver and two magazines and a small gas cartridge. It didn’t take very long to assemble the gun. The receiver plugged into the stock and the barrel into the receiver. He took an additional .22 long rifle round out of the rear peep-sight and chambered it before inserting one of the magazines. Transformed from a useless rifle stock to a well oiled metal delivery system, a Henry Survival Rifle. This one was custom made for Roberts needs as a scout on the battlefield. There had been additional holes made in the stock to accommodate a small scope and what looked like a small propane cartridge with valve. The propane unit was his own invention, a “super-charger”. Hidden just bellow the bolt on the receiver was a small knob, another custom feature, which was used in conjunction with the super charger to flood the chamber behind the with propane bullet, increasing the speed of the projectile to somewhere just north of “most likely lethal if you take the time to aim carefully”.

Steve looked through the scope at the man riding towards them, and recognized him not by appearance or facial features, but by the gun he wore on a sling over his shoulder. The thug dismounted. Centering his crosshairs over the man’s left eye, Steve rotated a small dial on the super charger until the small window on the dial was over a single white dot, the lowest setting. As he pulled the trigger back the super charger made a small