In Search of the Time and Space Mach

by Deborah Abela

  Max was impressed but tried as hard as she could not to show it.

  ‘This Mr Blue has got a lot of explaining to do,’ said Max, as she waited for Ms Peckham to lead the way.

  Linden moved close behind her.

  ‘Max, can you do me a favour?’ he asked. ‘We are talking about an evil mastermind here. Can you not say anything that’s going to upset him?’

  Max kept walking.

  ‘As if I’d do that,’ she said, raising her eyebrows.

  ‘Follow me,’ said Ms Peckham, still beaming.

  Max wondered how anyone could smile so much.

  As they followed Ms Peckham through the door and down a dimly-lit, metal passageway, Max leant next to Linden.

  ‘Do you still have that recording device Ella gave you?’ she whispered.

  ‘It’s a CTR.’

  ‘Whatever. Have you got it?’

  ‘Yeah. It’s in my pack,’ Linden replied.

  ‘Switch it on,’ said Max. ‘We might need it later.’

  Linden felt around in his pack and turned on the CTR.

  They reached another door that again opened when Ms Peckham placed her hand on it. Inside was what looked like a brightly-coloured amusement park. There were TV monitors and video walls everywhere, and all the latest consoles and games, including some neither Max nor Linden had seen before. Lining the walls were shelves containing the largest selection of videos they’d ever seen, including all Linden’s favourites.

  ‘There’s Batman, Indiana Jones, Mission Impossible, old and new versions.’ Linden walked over to them. ‘I could stay here forever.’

  ‘Well, we don’t have forever,’ said Max, grabbing his wrist.

  A bright red chair swung around and a smiling man sat behind a large wooden desk staring at them. Two familiar-looking men stood at his side.

  ‘Sorry about the unusual invitation to my home,’ the seated man said in a smooth TV advertisement voice. ‘It may have seemed a little abrupt but it was necessary for everyone’s safety.’

  He picked up a plate from the table beside him and held it out to them.

  ‘Raspberry donut?’ he asked.

  Linden’s stomach rumbled at the sight of the donut and Max put her hands on her hips.

  ‘What I’d like is an explanation,’ she said. ‘Starting with who you are.’

  ‘Of course, first things first. Please, have a seat,’ he offered.

  Linden’s face fell as the man put the plate back on the table.

  Before Max could protest, he pressed the button of a remote control device on the arm of his seat and two very comfortable chairs rolled across the room from behind them, gently forcing them to sit down.

  Max and Linden looked at each other, puzzled.

  ‘Did those chairs just move across the room?’ asked Linden.

  ‘I think we have enough to think about without asking that,’ said Max.

  The man took a chocolate bar from his pocket and unwrapped it.

  ‘I am Mr Blue,’ he announced, taking a bite of the bar.

  Max’s and Linden’s eyes widened. He was much younger than they expected and looked like a regular guy, not someone who broke up families and wanted to control the world.

  Linden looked longingly at the raspberry donuts and the chocolate bar.

  Mr Blue smiled.

  ‘Sorry for my rudeness. Maybe you’d like something a little more substantial?’

  Mr Blue clapped his hands. Two chefs in tall white hats walked through the door carrying steaming plates of food, which they placed on the desk between Max, Linden and Mr Blue.

  Linden nearly fainted from the smell of it.

  ‘Roast lamb and vegetables,’ he whispered. ‘My favourite.’

  Max looked down at her plate and saw her favourite dish, Thai vegetable curry.

  How did he know what they liked?

  Linden tried to resist, but he hadn’t eaten properly in ages. He grabbed his fork and was about to swallow his first mouthful when Max stopped him.

  ‘It might be poisoned!’ she warned.

  Mr Blue laughed softly.

  ‘I see you need a little convincing. Let me reassure you.’

  Mr Blue took a gold fork from his pocket and tasted both dishes.

  ‘A little too much salt on the lamb, but otherwise they are both perfect.’

  Linden and Max couldn’t wait any longer. They dug in.

  Max pointed her fork at Mr Blue.

  ‘So are you going to tell us why you kidnapped us?’ she demanded.

  Mr Blue smiled.

  ‘I think the word kidnap is a little harsh. I just wanted to show you my wonderful home.’ He paused. ‘And ask you a few questions.’

  Max put down her fork while Linden kept eating.

  ‘Well I have a few questions of my own, like what were your plans for Francis, Ben and the Time and Space Machine?’

  ‘My plans were very honourable, I assure you. With the Time and Space Machine we’d be famous all over the world as saviours of humankind. We’d be able to go back in history and stop wars before they happened, go into the future and find cures for diseases and make the world a better place.’

  Mr Blue paused and smiled at Ms Peckham and his bodyguards.

  ‘Or at least that’s what I told Francis and Ben,’ he laughed.

  Max disliked Mr Blue more and more with each word he said.

  ‘What are your real plans?’ she asked.

  ‘To become the richest man in the world by selling the machine to whoever wants to use it.’

  ‘Even if they buy it for bad reasons?’ asked Max.

  ‘What they do with it after it is theirs is none of my business, my dear,’ said Mr Blue with another smile.

  ‘And what do you want with us?’ asked Max.

  ‘Oh Max, I think you’re clever enough to know that.’

  Max froze.

  ‘How did you know my name?’ she asked, her brave front slipping a little.

  ‘There are a lot of things I know about you, Maxine Anne Remy. I know your dad lives in America and couldn’t be with you these holidays and that your mum works long hours fussing over famous TV personalities all day instead of you.’

  Max and Linden looked at each other.

  ‘And Linden, you live in Mindawarra on a farm with your dad, you love Ben and Eleanor like your second parents and you lost your mother to cancer two years ago.’

  Suddenly Max and Linden lost their appetites.

  Mr Blue examined a fingernail on his right hand as he continued.

  ‘And do you want to know the best part? I know you’re going to help me find the Time and Space Retractor Meter because you don’t want anything to happen to the families you love so much, do you?’

  He looked up sharply at Max.

  She was shaken but didn’t want to let Mr Blue know.

  ‘So you really are the slime bag we were told you were,’ she snarled.

  Mr Blue looked offended.

  ‘Now that’s not very nice. It’s just business, Maxine.’

  ‘It’s Max and I’m not doing business with you!’ she shouted.

  Linden looked worried.

  ‘Max, be careful,’ he whispered.

  Mr Blue’s smile dropped. He looked carefully at Max so that she felt uneasy and shifted in her seat.

  ‘You and I have a lot in common, Max. We’re not the kind of people who give up easily,’ he said in a quiet voice that had a scary edge to it.

  ‘For years I have been trailing Francis to get the Time and Space Retractor Meter, but it seemed nothing I had would tempt him to help me. Until now.’

  Mr Blue stared at Max and Linden like they were two freshly cooked chickens and he was savouring the moment he would devour them. He clicked his fingers and the men in suits moved closer.

  ‘Take them to the Jelly Room and see if that won’t convince them to cooperate. And make sure Francis Williams knows where they are.’

  Max was furious. She hated being pushed a
round by anyone and even though she was facing one of the meanest, most powerful men in the world, she wasn’t about to let him have it all his way.

  ‘I’m not going anywhere until I’ve changed,’ she declared, crossing her arms against her chest.

  ‘Max, be careful,’ Linden cautioned out of the corner of his mouth.

  ‘I’m sorry?’ Mr Blue asked quizzically.

  ‘I’m not going anywhere until I’ve changed back into my own clothes. You can do the tough-guy act all you like but your brain’s completely turned to mush if you think I’m going anywhere dressed like this.’

  Linden saw Mr Blue’s eyes light up with anger, like someone had lit two little warning flares in them.

  ‘Maybe we could just go as we are,’ suggested Linden, thinking that if Max didn’t stop, they were going to end up somewhere a lot worse than the Jelly Room.

  Max stared at Mr Blue as he stood before her with his eyebrows raised. No one had ever spoken to him like this and here was an eleven-year-old girl doing just that. As much as she annoyed him there was something about Max Mr Blue had to admire.

  ‘Fine, Maxine. You may change, but it won’t make a scrap of difference to where you’re going. Take them away.’

  Max and Linden struggled as they were carried outside and back to their rooms. Then they were led down a long corridor and into an elevator that seemed to take forever to stop. When the doors opened, they were herded into a round room with a huge vat of green jelly in the centre.

  ‘The MPM was a much smoother way to travel,’ said Linden as he was jostled forward by the guard.

  In the Jelly Room, the guards made them sit on a small metal plank so that their backpacks leant against each other. They tied their hands behind them with thick rope that they then circled around both their waists. The plank was hoisted up so that they were suspended high above the vat of jelly.

  Mr Blue walked in, his hands clasped behind his back.

  ‘Have you ever eaten green jelly?’ he asked calmly.

  ‘I never was a big fan,’ said Linden.

  ‘This jelly has been found to absorb a formula of ours more readily than other foodstuffs, which enables us to control the thoughts of the young children who eat it,’ explained Mr Blue. ‘Could have lots of advantages in the future. Children are such unpredictable creatures. But back to the jelly. It has a soothing feel at first but after a while it’s like you’re being eaten by the blob and you just sink.’

  Max stared Mr Blue in the eye.

  ‘Let me tell you what is going to happen,’ he continued.

  ‘Do you have to?’ said Linden, not sure he wanted to hear the gory details of his imminent demise.

  Mr Blue smiled.

  ‘Oh, but it’s my favourite bit. In ten minutes, you will be lowered slowly towards the jelly. In half an hour the jelly will begin to sink into your shoes, then rise to your trousers then up to your jumpers and to your necks, soaking into your clothes and leaving a pleasant yet strangely sticky feeling all over you. Then, a short while after that, you will be swimming. And if Francis doesn’t respond to my call, a short while after that you will be a permanent fixture of green.’

  Mr Blue and his guards laughed and turned to leave.

  ‘I’ll let you think about that,’ Mr Blue called over his shoulder as the door closed behind him.

  Max looked down at the jelly and started to breathe quickly.

  ‘Linden,’ she gasped.

  ‘What?’ he asked.

  ‘I’m afraid of heights,’ she whispered.

  ‘The best way to stay calm is don’t look down. And to think about something else,’ said Linden. ‘Like whether the recording device worked. If we got all that Mr Blue said to us, we can use it to finally convince the Government he is evil. You just have to try and get it out of my bag. It’s in the side pocket.’

  He wriggled around so that Max could get a better angle to reach for it. She twisted her hands in the rope, moving closer and closer to the side pocket. After a bit more manoeuvring, she had it. She held it carefully so as not to drop it in the jelly.

  ‘Is it working?’ she asked, holding it out so Linden could get to it.

  Linden strained his neck hard so he could see the CTR in Max’s hands. He wriggled his fingers to the buttons and after rewinding the tape, pressed play.

  ‘My plans were very honourable, I assure you. With the Time and Space Machine, we’d be famous all over the world as saviours of humankind. We’d be able to go back in history and stop wars before they happened, go into the future and find cures for diseases and make the world a better place. Or at least that’s what I told Francis and Ben.’

  ‘It worked!’ Linden said excitedly.

  ‘That’s great,’ said Max, who accidentally glanced at the jelly again.

  ‘Max, are you okay?’ Linden asked.

  ‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘Except we’re going to die!’

  ‘Will you stop looking down!’ Linden cried.

  Max looked up but she was still breathing fast.

  Linden thought hard about how he could make her calm.

  ‘If you could get rid of any vegetable in the world, what would it be?’ he asked.

  Max scowled.

  ‘What?’

  ‘If you could get rid of any vegetable in the world, what would it be?’ Linden repeated.

  ‘I don’t know,’ she said, thinking Linden had lost it.

  ‘Nobody likes every vegetable. Even you. Now, what would it be?’

  Max thought about it.

  ‘Cabbage,’ she said, breathing a little slower.

  ‘I’d get rid of brussel sprouts,’ said Linden. ‘I’ve never seen the point of those and I have to have a dad who grows them.’

  Linden went on.

  ‘If you won a zillion trillion million dollars what would you do with it?’

  ‘Buy the biggest bar of chocolate I could,’ said Max quickly.

  ‘Chocolate? But you’re a health freak,’ said Linden.

  ‘I know, but when I’m worried I like to eat chocolate,’ explained Max.

  Linden tried to think of another question.

  ‘If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?’ he asked.

  Max thought about this one.

  ‘Anything?’ she asked.

  ‘Anything,’ said Linden.

  Max thought some more.

  ‘I’d have a mother and father who both lived with me,’ she said in a much calmer voice.

  ‘Yeah, me too,’ he said quietly.

  Max and Linden looked at each other and smiled.

  ‘Max, what was it you wanted to say to me before we went through the waterfall?’

  ‘Oh, I just wanted to say …’ Max began, but she was interrupted as the suspension bridge suddenly jerked downwards.

  ‘What’s happening?’ she shouted, panicking again.

  ‘We’re being lowered towards the jelly,’ cried Linden.

  Max screamed.

  ‘We’re going to die!’

  In his office, Mr Blue sat with Ms Peckham and his bodyguards over cups of tea.

  ‘Not long now and I’ll have the vital component I need to create history,’ smirked Mr Blue. ‘Once the Time and Space Machine is finished, everyone will want it and we’ll become the richest people in the world. Governments will want it to build economies and win elections, prisoners will want it to escape to safety in another era, rich people will want to take exotic holidays. I don’t care what they use it for, as long as I make lots of money.’

  Mr Blue, Ms Peckham and the bodyguards laughed while on the wall behind them, a monitor displayed the scared faces of Linden and Max being lowered towards the vat of green jelly.

  Ms Peckham’s mobile phone rang.

  ‘Hello?’

  There was a pause while Ms Peckham listened.

  ‘Send him up,’ she said and turned to Mr Blue. ‘Not long now until the past, present and future of the world is ours.’

  The door ope
ned and Francis entered the room.

  ‘How wonderful to see you again, Francis.’

  Mr Blue stood up and held out his hand.

  Francis didn’t move.

  ‘Where are Max and Linden?’ he said, his face looking stern.

  ‘They’re busy for the moment, which gives us a chance to catch up and talk about old times,’ said Mr Blue.

  ‘I didn’t come here to talk, I came to get Max and Linden,’ said Francis. ‘They have no business with you!’

  ‘Oh, but they do.’ Mr Blue added with a smarmy grin, ‘Let me show you.’

  Mr Blue pointed to the monitor where Francis saw Linden and Max dangling less than a metre above the jelly and getting lower each minute.

  Francis lunged at Mr Blue but the bodyguards stepped in front and held him back.

  ‘They haven’t done anything! What do you want with them?’ yelled Francis.

  Mr Blue sat down in his chair and took a sip of his tea.

  ‘Oh, I think you know that, Francis,’ he said. ‘You’re going to hand over the Time and Space Retractor Meter or Max and Linden will be on tonight’s menu as dessert.’

  Francis tried to wrestle free from the guards but they were too strong for him.

  ‘You only want the machine so you can use it for your evil scheming ways,’ he shouted.

  ‘Evil is in the eye of the beholder,’ said Mr Blue with a sickly sweet smile.

  Francis stared at the monitor not knowing what to do. He had to save Linden and Max before they drowned in the vat of jelly, but he also knew if Mr Blue got his hands on the Time and Space Retractor Meter, the world would never be the same again.

  Mr Blue turned to the bodyguards.

  ‘Take him down to the Jelly Room where he can enjoy the show up close. Maybe that will convince him to help me.’

  The guards dragged Francis away.

  ‘You’ll never get away with this, Blue!’ Francis shouted.

  ‘We’re going to die!’ screamed Max for what seemed like the tenth time.

  ‘Don’t you have anything more useful to say?’ asked Linden, sick of hearing her predict their end.

  ‘Not when we’re going to die!’ Max yelled.

  She’d really lost it this time, Linden realised, as their shoes reached the top of the green jelly. It couldn’t end like this. Not after they’d come so far and got so close to completing Mission Matter Transporter.