by Grant Eagar
She gave him a wan smile. “I’ll take my chances and I’m making progress at forgiving you, just give me another fifty years and I’ll pardon you for making a copy of me.” She waved at the disapproving Colonel. “Ta-ta let us go for a joy ride, we ladies must be impressed by all means,” she whispered through her smile.
Henry pushed the throttle on the steam engine and the wings flapped. The ship slowly rose into the air and then moved forward. They made several low flying circuits of the fields, landing then taking off again. Henry landed and made a few adjustments to some control cables and climbed back inside the ship. He glanced at Sophie and smiled at her. “Are you ready?” She nodded. He winked at her then he pushed the throttle wide open and they rose high enough to clear the trees. He activated the dark energy, and the wings beat at a much faster rate. One last wave to those below and they soared high into the air.
After they had been aloft for several minutes Sophie asked, “Henry, why are the wings glowing?” She then looked at her hands. “Why am I glowing? The last time this happened Riana was born. I hope to god you know what you're doing!”
“You’re such a cynic, but I accept that. Given what I have put you through. I did have to use a bit of energetic gel to fuel the long distance travel I require. So where do you wish me to take you? Bristol, Bath, Manchester, Scotland, Ireland or Paris?”
She turned and gave him a pensive smile. “Let us start with something simple, say a trip to my father's estate, a mere distance of five miles. That should be a fine first flight.”
“Excellent notion my dear, can I offer you a cup of tea? The pot is ringing.” He poured a cup and handed it along with a biscuit to her.
Sophie accepted the cup with an anxious look on her face. “Thank you, but I would prefer you concentrate on flying the ship rather than tinkering with the tea pot. Now how exactly does this contraption work?”
“I’m glad you asked. Let me try to remember- okay from what I can recall I have the mechanism set so every mile we travel the mechanism will release some dark energy and the oven will produce one biscuit. This way the pilot will never be short on food.”
Sophie rolled her eyes. “I was talking about how the airship worked. Are biscuits and tea all that are important to you?” She then took several biscuits which had popped out of the oven, applied jam to them, then bit into one. “These are not bad; you now have officially invented something which works. Bravo!” She then offered some polite applause.
“Thank you my dear, I appreciate your vote of confidence. Flying is much more enjoyable with you along.” He then took a bite of a biscuit. “This is not bad at all if I do say so myself.”
Suddenly they were in the midst of dark clouds with rain falling all around them. Several minutes later the clouds were gone. Henry said, “That was the strangest storm I’ve ever seen, here one minute gone the next.”
“You call yourself an Englishman and you complain about the unpredictability of the weather?”
After they had flown five more minutes he said, “Is that not your estate below us? That did not take long.” They glanced down at the Thomas grounds far below and Henry slowed the beating of the wings and gently put the ship into a landing pattern. After taking several turns around the property he glided to a stop on the manicured lawn in front the manor. Henry glanced over at Sophie and smiled. “Is that not a perfect landing?”
He was interrupted by a teenage girl who wandering by laying out string for a kite. Sophie glanced around and her eyes widened. “Henry! I'm going to kill you; you have gone and made another copy of me. I'm sorry Henry, but this has gone too far.” She grabbed him by the throat and began throttling him.
He frantically glanced about and gasped, “S-Sophie i-it appears the energgetic gel did have some peculiar side effects. I think we’ve made a visit to the past.”
She looked about in surprise, removed her hands from his throat, and dusted them off. “Now you have really done it up good this time. Is it hard to simply make an airship which flies about without doing something peculiar as well?” She focused on the girl. “Why hasn't she noticed us? It’s as if everything is a little blurry and not quite real. Are we in a dream?” She attempted to pinch herself and thought better of it and pinched Henry instead. After he yelped she rubbed his cheek. “I remember this day; it was five years ago. Now that I think of it, five years to the day. I performed an experiment with the kite I had built.”
Henry gave her a concerned look, “Are you alright looking at yourself and all. It’s not going to make you go crazy is it?”
Her eyes narrowed and she poked him. “I'm used to seeing myself, given I eat breakfast with my doppelganger every morning thanks to you.”
They climbed out of the ship and cautiously approached the girl who released her kite into the gentle breeze. The line soon became tangled in a bush. Henry attempted to untangle it, but could not touch the string. His hands passed right through it. He was shocked when the younger Sophie walked right through him; she took a step then turned back with a confused look. After glancing about she untangled the line and continued on her way.
Sophie touched his arm. “Henry, I think we’re in some kind of ghost state here. We can observe, but we don’t have the power to interact. How is this possible?”
Henry gazed at the younger girl for a moment then said, “She suspected someone was here, but the interaction was not direct. I don’t know the rules which govern this place, but like you said it appears we’re just here to observe.” They watched as the teenage girl worked the kite until it was several hundred feet in the air. The corners of his mouth turned up. “Sophie, you’ve always been lovely.”
“This is the part where my string breaks and I lose the kite. I was so excited about my invention. I had never seen a kite fly so high before.” A gust of wind caught the kite and carried it higher. Then a man in a white suit with a blue bowler hat and matching cumber bun walked across the lawn and approached her. He took out a knife, and cut the string to the kite. The kite took off flying a quarter mile then got caught in the branches of a massive oak tree and broke into pieces. Sophie’s eyes narrowed. “So that is how my string broke.”
The man noticed Henry and Sophie and approached them. With a severe look he asked, “What are you two doing here? Do you not know it’s strictly forbidden to enter the past?”
Henry said, “That was rude breaking her kite string and all. How come you can see us and can affect the past while we can just watch?”
The man reached inside his breast pocket and showed them a badge which read ‘Angel first- class’. “I earned the right and have been certified from management. She does not let anyone randomly affect the future, there are rules and bylaws. Now I repeat, what are you two doing here?”
Sophie pinched Henry‘s arm. “Another of his inventions has gone awry. We at present are attempting to figure it all out. Why was it necessary to break my kite? That was a grand invention; I had worked on it for several months.”
He scowled. “Your future was to be in national defense not science. I was given orders to give you a bit of a nudge in that direction. I know how much to change and how much to leave alone.” He then turned to Henry. “So you’re the inventor, well you can't stay here. You'll need to return to your own time: you have much work ahead of you. The future of the world is in your hands. You don’t have the luxury of lollygagging about.” He glanced at Sophie. “As do you young lady. I best be on my way, my next assignment is in ten minutes.” He tipped his hat then quickly walked towards a shimmering doorway in the air.
“How are we to get back?” asked Henry just as the man entered the door way.
He turned and regarded the airship. “You were smart enough to travel into the past; I leave it up to you to figure out how to get back. Maybe next time you invent something you’ll think it through a bit more.” He turned and disappeared through the doorway which vanished behind him.
They approached the young girl who had a disappointed look on
her face. She reeled in the string and turned to face an older woman who had come out onto the lawn. There was a sob and Henry turned and saw Sophie was in tears. She ran up to the old woman. “Nana, is it really you?” She attempted to hug the older woman then stepped back and watched her console the young girl. Henry put his arms around Sophie's shoulders and held her. “Henry, you and your terrible, miserable inventions, how could you? I felt I had gotten over her loss and now here she is again?” Sophie then sat down and wept like a child.
He sat next to her on the grass, pulled out a handkerchief then used it to wipe tears from her cheek. They sat there for several minutes and finally Henry asked, “Do you feel better now?”
She gave him a tight smile. “Actually this has been a marvelous gift, thank you.” She leaned over and gently kissed him on the cheek. “The term bittersweet has never meant more to me than what it means right now. I not only mourn Nana, but my fourteen year old self which is just as painful ... and sweet.”
Henry turned and noticed a slight flutter of the airship's wings. “Someone is on board the ship!” They turned and ran towards the ship and saw Captain Johnson at the controls. He stood and aimed the cannon at them. “Stay back if you value your lives.” The wings lazily beat and the ship left the ground. “Sorry, but I must take this ship to Count Von-Friedrich. Thank you for your contribution to the war effort.” The ship was now twenty feet off the ground.
Henry yelled, “You fool! This is not simply an airship; it’s also a time machine. You'll never find Von-Friedrich, for the love of god land so we can return to our own time.”
Johnson beamed and asked, “Me the fool? I'm the one with an airship and cannon. Don't talk to me about foolishness. Now a little present from the count before I leave. He aimed the cannon at them and lit the fuse and there was a great explosion. The barrel of the cannon was peeled back like a banana and Johnson was blackened without a hair on his head.”
“You-you incompetent moron! Now look what you’ve done to me. Another of your inventions gone terribly wrong; don’t you test these things out before you deploy them?”
The corners of Henry’s mouth turned up. “Thank you Johnson for testing my cannon out, I can ascertain that the charge of powder was excessive and the quality of the cast iron rather poor. Obviously my cannon requires a bit of work. The hard part of creating an invention is the testing. It can be an extremely painful and dangerous process. Now if you would be as kind as to land and we can return together.”
“I-I may not have killed you, but I have the ship. I will not return to the count as a failure again.” There was the sound of the boiler whistling and the wings beating frantically then the ship rose and flew off in the direction of France.
Sophie ran after him. “You can’t just leave us here.”
Johnson peered around and said, “Sophie, I don’t know what you are talking about. You’re acting looney, this is your home.”
Sophie shook her fist. “You vile pig! You oily three legged dog! You filthy, feral rat!”
“You don’t know what you’re doing!” yelled Henry. He and Sophie continued to run after the ship for another hundred yards until the ship disappeared as if it had entered some form of cloud bank. Henry leaned over out of breathe. When he finally had regained his breathe he stood up and turned to Sophie. “Where do you think he went?”
“He doesn't realize he’s going back in time. The fool will most likely deliver the ship to Count Von-Friedrich in Dunkirk, France.”
“He’ll be quite surprised.”
“Henry, what do you propose we do about this mess? How are we going to get home?”
He walked over and sat in the middle of a fountain and passed his hand through the falling water. He pulled out his pocket watch and examined it. “It’s still ticking and the time has not stopped. It is my guess time is still passing back where we started. It's eleven o’clock in the morning here as well as back at the farm. We have traveled five miles and five years exactly. Somehow time travel is a function of distance.” He took a pencil and paper out of his breast pocket and did a calculation. “So every step we take should be approximately four hours into the past or the future according to whether we are going towards or away from where we took off from.”
Sophie looked at him and her eyebrows knit together in concentration. She looked back at the manor then back at Henry. “We have moved around quite a bit since we landed, but I don't see any difference in time. Maybe we are required to be flying for this to happen. Or we could have gone back five years as soon as we reached altitude and the length of time we traveled into the past is a function of flying time not distance.”
Henry rubbed his forehead and said “If your theory is true Johnson and the ship would have disappeared as soon as it reached altitude. It flew quite a ways before disappearing.”
She asked, “How far did the ship fly before it vanished?”
He turned and looked at the manor then back to a knoll where the ship had disappeared. “I think about three quarters of a mile. It’s my hunch we gain or lose a year in each mile, something to do with the biscuit baking machine. Not only does it provide a biscuit in each mile, but also a year in the past. Johnson - may god watch over the poor bastard. Dunkirk is approximately one hundred and twenty miles from here. When he arrives he’ll be in the last century. If the ship runs out of fuel he'll be stranded in whatever time he lands in.”
She raised an eyebrow, “If you didn't notice, we are stranded here without the tea and biscuits, will we not starve? We can’t eat anything here.”
He turned and stared in the direction they had come. “The angel did not think it was such a big deal. He would have told us if it was impossible. I suggest we walk, five miles on a bright sunny afternoon sounds pleasant enough.” He took her hand and they walked back towards the house together. “I would consider waiting for Johnson to see if he’ll return, but I know he doesn’t have our best interests at heart.”
She glanced at him and pushed a stray lock of hair out of his eyes. “Henry, I'm glad I'm on this adventure with you. It would be quite lonely to walk through time alone.”
He squeezed her hand. “It was good of you to tag along; you're tolerable company as long as you are not attempting to throttle me.”
She smirked and put him in a head lock, mused up his hair then released him. She then glanced at the manor.
CHAPTER 15
A Walk through Time
Johnson flew south across the English Channel. He grinned to himself; I will definitely get a medal and maybe a promotion for taking the boy’s ship. They’ll no longer call me Johnson the blunderer, Johnson the bed wetter, Johnson the lumberwort. Henry you fool, there is nothing you can build which I cannot take away from you. He continued to fly towards Dunkirk expecting to see Count Von-Friedrich's camp any time. He flew over the area several times.
Has the camp been moved without informing me? There is no way they could have moved that many men and horses so quickly. He noticed a farmer working in an orchard; he landed in a clearing and approached the farmer who was pruning a tree. After making several inquiries in French which the farmer ignored the man walked right through him. Johnson screamed and stepped back He touched the tree the man had been pruning and his hand went right through it. The blasted boy told the truth I’m somehow in some strange world. So the blasted kids were telling the truth when they said this was a time machine; curse you Henry.
He approached the airship then pulled a pistol out of his breast pocket and loaded it. “Henry, I may not be able to take your ship to France, but I’ll put an end to your miserable existence. England won’t benefit from you.” He then climbed into the airship and took off heading back the way he had come.
HENRY AND SOPHIE WERE once again in the manor with her family. “Henry, before we leave would you mind it if I spent half an hour here with my grandmother?”
He smiled. “Take as long as you need, I'll take some time to examine your father’s collections and do a bit
of exploring.”
“Well don't go too far; I'd like to go back together.”
He went into the observatory and examined the tropical plants.
Sophie attempted to sit on a kitchen chair which had been pulled out, but thought it best to stand. Her grandmother gave the younger Sophie advice about boys which made her blush with a shy smile.
The older Sophie blushed as well, smiled, wiped a tear from her eyes, then walked over and kissed her grandmother on the forehead. As she stood up the old woman absently touched her head where she had been kissed. Sophie's eyes widened and she leaned over and nuzzled the old woman then reached over and touched the girl’s hand and mussed the younger Sophie’s hair.
Her grandmother smiled. “I feel as if I've been hugged by an angel.”
“You too, I felt someone touch my hand and my head as well,” said the girl.
Sophie's eyes widened and she sat down. After half an hour she kissed her grandmother again then walked into the observatory where Henry sat. “Are you done exploring?”
“Were you able to say good bye to her?”
“Yes, I was able to communicate with them after a fashion. It was nice to tell Nana good bye. I'm ready to go now.”
“So what do you propose we do about this mess?” asked Henry.
They walked down the lane towards the road. “This area around the manor appears to be in a given time, therefore I have a theory that as we walk towards my home we’ll be able to go forward in time until we reach the point where the ship took off from. If we get separated concentrate on getting back to the manor.” He then took her hand. “This is so we don't get separated.”
She smirked and said, “You do have such a creative mind devising ruses, I think you just enjoy holding my hand.” He didn’t smile. She squeezed his hand. “I’ve never seen you so serious. Don't worry so; I have faith things will turn out alright. Your disasters usually do. You haven’t been killed yet.”
