Suddenly, the knowledge came to her. Jon had wished to travel through time "to the old West, as in Westerns." However, the old West portrayed in Westerns never existed. Popular assumptions about the Wild West were mostly a creation of Hollywood and TV shows.
As such, the stone could not take Jon and Karyn to the actual Wild West and still fulfill the specifics of their wish. So, instead of bringing them to the past, it took them to a future time that most resembled the Western ideal. Thus, they found themselves in the town of Krilby on the planet, Dallas 4, at the very edge of human expansion into the stars. What started out as a small colony had over two centuries spread outward across the planet's western hemisphere, leaving scattered settlements with little support from each other. Isolated in harsh conditions, society had degraded somewhat, which caused daily life to resemble that of the Wild West legends.
As such, the two girls now found themselves in the old west of a new future.
Haruko peeked out the window. She could see people milling about in the dirty streets. Their attire really looked like western clothing, with women in long skirts (though a few wore loose trousers or even denim jeans) and men in full cowboy gear. Here and there, a few people rode by on a horse-like vehicle that belched smoke as it cantered along the middle of the path, its spindly legs kicking up clouds of dust in its wake.
"This is getting too weird," muttered the Japanese girl to herself.
