by A. D. Winch
The slower pace allowed Ursula to scan the darkness below her more carefully. Just after the coast, they had passed over a well-lit settlement, but since then there had only been small pockets of light. The search was not helped by rapidly increasing cloud.
Ten minutes passed and mist consumed them. They could see nothing and it felt as if they were flying nowhere. Every so often the cloud broke but the desert was pitch black, and the few lights they saw were sporadic and widely scattered. Ursula's feeling that they were looking for a needle in a haystack was not too far from the truth.
As they flew aimlessly, Ursula had an idea.
"The alien," she muttered, "we need to focus on the alien."
Eric did so and instantly felt a pull coming from the east. They travelled in that direction and very soon broke out from under the cloud. A collection of street lights marking different blocks appeared below, and they could feel that they had found Roswell. Both craft stopped and hovered in the air, high above the town.
"Where do we go now?" Eric asked.
"Let's drop down to the desert and see if we can find somewhere to hide our pods."
They landed in a dry riverbed about three kilometres from the outskirts of Roswell. Even though the sun had set, it was still hot, and the night air was dry. A soft wind blew pushed them towards the town, and the approaching clouds threatened rain.
The children changed their clothes slightly, in the hope that their modern fashion would stand out less in nineteen forty-seven. They both still wore their desert cargo pants, but Ursula had stripped down to her vest and Eric his t-shirt.
"Ready," Eric asked.
"I am if you are," Ursula replied.
"Then let's go."
As they set off from the pods, clouds covered the moon and the desert became much darker. In the distance, they could see lights from the buildings of Roswell and headed in that direction. There were rocks and crevices all around them but by using their instincts they managed to avoid most of them. After a while the ground under their feet changed, and they found they were walking in two grooves on a desert track. It led towards the town and turned into a wider road as it reached the outskirts. The ground had been compacted, and a thin layer of dirt from the desert covered the baked Earth.
The road led towards one-storey high buildings. As they walked cautiously past them, Eric was reminded of arriving in Ciudad Jaurez with Johan. They had parked their jeep near similar buildings in similarly deserted streets. The memory of his fight with the four Mexican men flooded back to him and put him on edge.
A lone car approached from behind and big circular headlights lit up the street. A loud klaxon sounded, warning Eric and Ursula that it was coming. They stopped and watched it pass. The tyres were white rimmed, there were large arches over the wheels and the windscreen was split in two. It was not a car from their era, and for the first time they had evidence that they had travelled through time.
"We need to ask someone how to get to the cinema or the diners," Ursula urged. "If we don't find Professor Larsen tonight then we'll have to wait another week."
Eric did not answer. He was drawing a trail in the dirt with his foot and thinking about the possible repercussions of interacting with someone else.
"Just asking someone directions is hardly going to change the future, and if your theory is right and we are part of a loop then we have to ask someone."
"Okay, okay," he replied, but he did not sound keen.
Ahead of them was a building with music coming from it. As they got nearer they heard drunken male voices singing, "Chi-baba, chi-baba."
"That doesn't sound American," Ursula said, worried they were in the wrong place.
A huge soldier stumbled out of the bar and sang loudly, "My bambino go to sleep," and immediately fell down onto the sidewalk. He picked himself up, sat in the dark on the kerb and pulled out a cigarette. The children approached him cautiously.
"Excuse me," Ursula asked, "where is the cinema?"
The soldier looked up, trying to find who asked the question but couldn't. The light from the bar shone behind the voices, and he couldn't see who was talking to him.
"I hear voices, and they aren't American," he said to himself, scratching the stubble that covered most of his face and neck.
He didn't continue talking but lit a cigarette instead. It looked tiny in his massive hand, and even though he was sat down, he swayed dangerously as he took his first drag.
"Are you going to come out where I can see you, or am I going to have to come and get you?"
Ursula and Eric moved towards the kerb, and the soldier eyed them both suspiciously in the dim light.
"Thank the Lord, for good manners," he said sarcastically. "And what do we have here? I've seen some strange things this week, but I'm wondering if I need to add you two to my list?" He rubbed his eyes. "Now what do you want?"
Ursula asked again. "Where is the cinema, please?"
"Goddam it! Don’t you folks learn? The movies aren't for your kind! How many times do you have to be told?"
He turned away and fell slowly into the gutter. He lay there, the end of his cigarette glowing red in the darkness as he continued to smoke.
Eric jumped into the road and stood in front of the soldier.
"Can you tell me where the cinema is?" he asked assertively.
"Word of advice first, son," slurred the smoking soldier. "Be careful of the company you keep. The Klan may not be meeting in Roswell anymore, but its views still hold."
"The cinema?" pressed Eric.
"Three blocks down," he stopped to yawn. "You'll reach North Main Street. You'll see..." Before he had finished his sentence, his eyes closed and his hand fell away from his mouth. The cigarette rolled into the dirt.
"And is there a diner too?" Eric asked.
The soldier grunted.
"Thanks."
Eric walked off leaving the soldier to sleep off his drinks, but Ursula did not move. She was seething and wanted to do something to the soldier in front of her. Eric grabbed her wrist before she had a chance to, and pulled her onwards.
"Keep walking. Asking directions of a drunk man who probably won't even remember he met us, probably won't change anything. But what you are thinking of doing to that soldier would make an impact. We should have thought about this. We're in a different world. This is before Martin Luther King. Racism is normal here. We are going to have to be careful."
"We already are being careful," Ursula spat, fighting the desire to return to the sleeping soldier.
"We'll stay in the shadows, and if we see anyone, we'll keep our heads down. The street lights are so weak that this shouldn't be difficult."
Storm clouds were forming above their heads and there was a low rumble of thunder from far away. They walked on for another two blocks, but crossed the street every time people approached them, and they reached North Main Street without any problem. Four cars, similar to the one they had seen earlier, drove up and down the street, and past the various buildings.
The cinema was easy to spot. It was three storeys high and all the windows had been blacked out. A long sign that read 'Yucca,' hung down from the top floor and below it was the main entrance. Film posters had been stuck around the foyer, and large black letters told moviegoers that 'Possessed' starring Joan Crawford and Van Helfin was the main feature.
Couples promenaded past the cinema, and small groups of soldiers jostled as they headed for a bar. Eric and Ursula kept their distance from people as they walked down the street looking for a diner. The first one they found was so smokey that it was hard to see who was inside, but the children could make out that they were all wearing army uniforms.
"I don't think they'll be in there. Let's see if there's another one," Ursula suggested. She had no desire to run into more soldiers.
They walked back the way they had come. A little further past the cinema, on the opposite side of the street, was another diner. It was less busy but no less smokey. Fortunately, they d
id not need to move any closer to peer inside.
A couple sat in the window, hand in hand. The man had jet black hair and wore a blue jacket with matching tie over a cream shirt. He was smiling and holding a woman's hand lovingly. She was staring back at him with sky blue eyes, but she seemed vacant and kept playing with the curls in her long blond hair. She was also smiling but occasionally stared out of the window. When she did so, her face changed, and her brow wrinkled. The look of confusion vanished each time she turned to her companion, and her smile returned.
Eric and Ursula watched them from a dark alleyway.
"Johan's so young," Eric whispered.
"And his wife is beautiful," Ursula added. "I love her yellow dress."
"She's not his wife yet. They got engaged a few days after the crash, but I don’t think they are married. Johan said it was a quick wedding, but he didn't say when."
"What are we going to do now? We can't just walk in and pull her out. Especially after what happened earlier with the soldier."
"We stick to the plan."
"I will stick to the plan, but my worry is you. You must not speak to Johan, Eric, promise me. I know you are thinking about telling him, but we agreed that he must not be involved. Promise me."
"I promise," Eric grudgingly replied.
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***
Chapter 35 - The Future Mrs Schwarzkopf
From far in the distance came another clap of thunder. It was louder than the previous clap and it was clear that a storm was coming. Everyone on the street looked up to the cloudy sky before walking a little quicker towards their destinations. However, Eric and Ursula did not move from the shadows of the alleyway. Only a few people saw them, but nobody stopped to look further. It was the perfect place to watch Johan and Ingrid. They looked happy together and talked as they ate their meal. Every so often the conversation seemed to dry up, or something was said that caused Ingrid to look out of the window and gaze towards the hidden children.
"She knows we're here," Eric said.
"I don't think so," Ursula replied, "we're opposite where they're sitting. It is the only place she can look."
"I'm not so sure."
Johan pulled up his sleeve and looked at his watch. He waved to the waitress for the check, and once he had paid they left. The couple looked up as lightning lit the sky over the desert. The coming storm did not rush them, and they crossed the road hand in hand as they strolled towards the cinema.
Eric and Ursula came out of the alleyway a few metres behind and followed the couple to the ticket kiosk in the cinema's outside foyer. There was a short queue, and as they joined it, Ingrid looked around her and saw the two children. She froze momentarily before looking away. Thunder rumbled closer.
"Is anything wrong, Liebling?" Johan asked. "You look as if you have seen a ghost."
"I'm fine, darling. I was just startled by the storm," she replied. "Do you mind if I take a look at the forthcoming attractions?"
"Please do. I will buy the tickets."
Ingrid walked away from the queue and towards the movie posters. The children stood beside one for 'Life with Father' and waited as Professor Larsen neared. She stood next to them but did not look their way. Her fingers fiddled nervously with the buttons on her dress, and she seemed preoccupied. Eric looked towards the ticket kiosk; Johan was the second in the queue and removing dollar bills from his wallet.
"Professor Larsen, we need your help. Please listen to what we have to say," Ursula said, seizing the moment.
The lady beside them did not respond and stared intently at the actor William Powell on the poster.
Eric looked at Ursula; they had considered that Professor Larsen may need to be convinced, but they hadn't expected to be ignored completely.
"We need to go home. We need your help," Ursula pleaded.
There was still no response, but her fingers moved with increasing speed over her buttons.
"Please nod, if you heard us," Eric added.
Professor Larsen took a moment, but then she moved her head up and down nervously.
"After the film has started, please leave but don't come with," Eric paused. He was about to say 'Johan,' but he had agreed with Ursula that they would not say anything that would hint at what they knew. "Please leave your man in the movie theatre and meet us out here. We need to talk to you alone."
"You need my help. Why?" she whispered and stared incredulously at the children.
Eric answered, "Because you and I have both seen inside the alien's mind."
Ingrid visibly stiffened, and her eyes widened.
"Ingrid, I have the tickets," Johan shouted across the cinema foyer. "We can go inside."
"Coming, darling," Ingrid replied, and ran off without indicating to the children that she would join them.
She took Johan's arm and pushed him toward the door. As they entered, she looked over her shoulder at Eric and Ursula. In her eyes, there was fear.
The children felt exposed on the main street. Lightning illuminated them, and the queue for the movie was growing. They were attracting unwanted attention and slunk around the cinema and onto a plot of land covered in rubble. Off the main street, it was darker and they felt safer.
Every time the sidewalk was empty, Eric would jump up and see if Professor Larsen had come outside to meet them. Fat raindrops began to fall and darkened the ground. After fifteen minutes, she appeared and beckoned them nervously to her.
They met in the empty lobby of the cinema. Ingrid led them over chess board tiles to the corner of the room.
"Prof…" Ursula did not get to finish.
"Please listen to me," Ingrid said fearfully, her sky-blue eyes open wide. "I have a vague memory of you both, but they are not my memories. I have considered the facts and there is only one logical conclusion. But please, do not interrupt me. Do not speak to me. Do not tell me anything. I do not want to know. I must not know!"
Eric and Ursula did not open their mouths. They had not expected that Professor Larsen would remember them, and they gazed at her, wondering what she was going to say next. She took a cigarette from her purse and held it in a shaking hand without lighting it.
"My mind is full of many things that I cannot explain. You need to understand what I am going to tell you, and you need to understand that this is not my knowledge. I am only aware of the theory. The practical application is currently not possible." She looked at the children knowingly and stopped herself asking the question she wanted to ask. "I shall try to make the explanations clear in order to help you.
"Number one. We live in three spatial dimensions. We can move left to right, up and down, or forwards and backwards.
"Two. There is a fourth dimension - time. Right now, I am in the corner of the lobby. If I move to the middle I have changed my coordinates, and if it takes me three seconds to reach there then I have also moved through time as well. But time is elastic, it is possible to accelerate it and decelerate it, depending on the speed that you are travelling.
"Three. It is possible to travel through time. There are narrow tunnels of energy everywhere in the universe. They are as old as the universe itself but extremely thin, and they cannot be seen with the naked eye. Their gravitational pull is so strong that these time tunnels can accelerate objects to such speeds that you can travel to where you want, and more importantly, when you want.
"Four. These tunnels are very narrow. To enter them, you need to have a drilling motion. Imagine drilling a hole in a wall. You start with the smallest drill bit and make a tiny hole that your drill enters. By adding increasingly bigger drill bits, it is possible to make a larger and larger hole until you can pass through it. You did this in coming here. You must now repeat this to get back to your own time. You must return to the time tunnel that brought you here. It will take you home."
"But how do we find it?" Eric asked quickly.
"It will be in the same place. When there is a crack in three dimensions, it does not move. Over long
lengths of time, it may grow or shrink but it keeps its basic coordinates. Cracks in four dimensions are no different. You need to go back to where you came. This is all I can tell you. This is all I currently understand." She looked scared again and pushed past them, dropping the unsmoked cigarette into an ashtray. "I need to go, or my darling Johan will worry about me. And you need to go too."
She pushed past the children, opened the theatre door and was gone.
The children trudged to the main entrance and stood by the vacant ticket booth. Rain fell heavily outside the cinema, and they watched the storm. There was already a thin layer of water on North Main Street, and there was no longer anybody out. Thunder followed loud cracks of lightning, but neither Eric nor Ursula noticed. They were both considering what Professor Larsen had said to them and trying to work out if it was helpful or not.
"I think we should try tonight," Ursula began. "We find the place we think we entered from and ascend to the same height as last time. If we can make a wing grow from the silver body of the pods then I am sure we can make a sharp, pointed drill shape. Once we've done that, we drop and make our pods spin."
"How do we know we'll find this tunnel Professor Larsen spoke about?"
"We don't."
"And how do we know that we'll come out at the right time?"
"We don't, but if we focus on someone back in our time, then maybe we'll be taken there. She said it would take us home. To get here, all we did was focus on following the dart. The pods did the rest."
A small stream appeared on the sidewalk, and they watched it grow, reluctant to step out into the storm.
"Let's wait for the storm to the pass over and then we can go back to the pods," Eric said, not wanting to get too wet.
Suddenly, Ursula screamed. "The pods!"
"What about them?"
"We left them in a dried-up river, but now it's raining. If there is a flash flood… "
Ursula sprang out of the foyer and into the storm. She sent water splashing as she ran across the deserted road. Her limbs began to ache almost instantly but she willed herself to continue. She had to return to her family. Eric followed but he struggled to keep up as they sprinted through the town.
