The Time Portal 5: The Nazi

by Joe Corso

  Now let’s try the other one and see where that leads to, he thought. He walked over to the second portal, took a deep breath, crossed his fingers, and he stepped into it. He took a look out and realized that he was in a workshop of some sort. There were parchment scrolls lying haphazardly all over the place. Models of building and churches lined the shelves. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all made of wood. No one seemed to be around, so he stepped out of the portal and walked slowly around the room, taking everything in with his eyes. A picture of a beautiful young woman holding a mink on her lap stood unfinished on an easel. Lucky appreciated fine art, and whoever painted this picture was really talented. He heard someone turning the doorknob and he skittered back into the portal and waited. His curiosity was aroused. A young man, no more than a boy, entered the room, and began to clear away some of the clutter. He put some of the scrolls back and rearranged things, so that the room had some semblance of order. Then he picked up an easel and began mixing paint. When he was ready, he began to fill in the background of the painting. About twenty minutes later, an older man entered the room, followed by two more young men. Lucky figured the young men were no more than thirteen or fourteen years of age. Probably apprentices to the older man. The older man walked over to the painting that the young man had been busy touching up and filling in, and he studied it for a moment, then he pointed to a spot on the painting and said something to the boy that Lucky couldn’t hear. The boy nodded and mixed a bit of additional paint into the color and began applying it. The old man patted him on the back. He turned and said something to the other two lads, instructions obviously, because they immediately went to the drawer by the wall as you walked in, and pulled out two pastel drawings and, after tacking them up, they began working on them.

  One of the boys was stationed close to the portal and as he talked to the older man, Lucky could make out some words. It was Italian, and he spoke Italian, but the dialect the old man spoke was hard to follow. He decided to make an appearance. Lucky stepped out of the portal and into the room. Lucky hadn’t realized that one of the lads was behind him and he screamed as an apparition appeared before him. The older man rushed over to see what the commotion was, and when he saw Lucky, and how he was dressed, instead of panicking, he stopped and studied him for a moment. The older man smiled and grabbed Lucky’s arm, more to make sure that he was real, instead of an apparition. Satisfied he was real, he asked Lucky to follow him into his private office. “Please have a seat.” He clapped his hands. “Alphonso, wine. Bring some wine for me and my guest.” The boy stopped what he was doing and rushed to fetch the wine. Soon, the door opened, and the boy came rushing in, carrying a tray with a bottle and two glasses on it. “Thank you, Alphonso. Now go back to work. And don’t let anyone bother us. Now who are you?” the man asked in heavily accented Italian.

  Lucky apologized for his poor Italian and introduced himself. “Lucky. My name is Lucky. And you are?”

  The man understood and responded, “Leonardo of Vinci.”

  Lucky gasped. “You are Leonardo da Vinci?”

  “Yes,” he said with a wave of his hand. “Why?”

  “Because in my time, you are a legend.”

  Leonardo scrunched his eye and raised his eyebrows. “What do you mean when you say ‘In your time’?”

  “I have a story to tell you if you would care to listen to it.”

  Leonardo was curious. “Of course I wish to hear your story, I’m sure it will be enlightening. Please tell it to me.”

  Lucky explained all that happened to him from the very beginning. The betrayal, his injury during the attempted assassination, his discovery of the portals and all that had happened to him up to this point. Leonardo listened with interest, as his keen mind thought about all he could learn about the future from this man. “Could you take me through a portal so I could experience it for myself?”

  Lucky smiled. “Come with me. My powers are limited, but I can show you things that should interest you.” Lucky stopped in front of the portal. “The portal that brought me here is right in front of us. Hold onto my arm and don’t let go, no matter what happens.” Lucky stepped forward and immediately Leonardo felt the constriction and started to hyperventilate. Lucky told him to relax; in a moment, they’d be out of the portal. They stepped out onto a beach scene that could have been on a postcard. Leonardo gasped. “It’s true. There are portals that can take one to the past.”

  “Or the future,” Lucky added.

  CHAPTER 23

  TROPICAL ISLAND: DATE UNKNOWN

  Leonardo had never been to a tropical island nor had he ever seen palm trees, nor an ocean so blue, it didn’t look real. Two men; one from the future, another, a genius from the past, walked along the beach until they eventually caught up to Nicky, Dukie, and their new friend, Angelo. Nicky was lying under a palm tree when he heard Lucky approach them. “I guess you found a portal, Lucky. So who’s your friend?”

  “Guys, you’re not going to believe who this is. I discovered two portals. I tried the first portal, and it took me to ancient Japan; the second portal brought me to medieval Italy, and talk about luck, I found myself in Leonardo da Vinci’s workshop. Guys, I’d like you to meet Leonardo da Vinci.” Introductions were made and explanations given until they came to Angelo. Then Lucky explained to Leonardo how Angelo happened to be with them. “We found this man in the middle of a great world war.”

  This interested Leonardo, and he asked to be told more about this great world war. Lucky explained to Leonardo that this was the Second World War, which occurred in the years between 1941 and 1945. The First World War took place during 1914 to 1918. Leonardo absorbed all of the fascinating information gleaned from the time travelers that he could only think was God’s doing. Divine intervention, he thought, and he said a silent prayer.

  “Could you take me to ancient Japan, so I could see it for myself?” Lucky had to laugh because ancient Japan was probably happening in the same century as Leonardo’s. “Sure. Come on and we’ll take a quick look, but your view will be limited by what you can see from the portal.”

  Leonardo was fascinated, watching invisibly from the portal, everything that was taking place in front of his eyes. He stared at the men and women, and was captivated by their dress, the unique architecture of the buildings, the samurais swaggering past. He studied everything that was happening in front of him in ancient Japan with a trained eye. Lucky apologized to Leonardo. “If my powers were back, I would take you to wherever you wanted to go. As you can see, my powers are limited. But I promise you that when I return to normal, I will visit you again, and when I do, I will keep my promise to you.”

  “The two portals you found don’t really help us, do they?” Nicky asked.

  “Not in and of themselves, but at least now we can walk around the Italy of Leonardo’s time, and search for other portals, which I know are there. I just have to discover them.”

  “How about Japan?” Dukie interjected.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea. We don’t speak the language and we’d stick out like a sore thumb. You know, round eyes and such.” They laughed at Lucky’s remark, but there was truth in what he said. Japan wouldn’t be a good choice because of their extreme differences from the local people. But in 15th Century Italy, with the right clothing, they’d blend right in. And even though their Italian dialect was difficult to understand, they could communicate effectively.

  Lucky turned to Leonardo, who was busy studying a coconut. “Leonardo.”

  He turned to Lucky. “Yes?”

  “We need clothing. Can you find us some that we can borrow for a little while? I must look for another portal, one that could get us closer to our time, and we don’t want to walk around wearing what we have on.”

  “Yes. Yes. That will be no problem. I have clothes in my workshop and if we need more, I’ll get them from Jacob the tailor, who has a store down the street from my workshop. But what are these strange looking pods?”

 
Lucky smiled inwardly. The great Leonardo, it appeared, had never seen a coconut. “This is a coconut. It has a liquid, milk if you will, contained inside of it that provides nourishment. The pulp on the inside of the shell is edible and quite enjoyable to eat.”

  Leonardo’s eyes lit up. “I’d like to taste the pulp, and drink the milk. Could you show me how to open this coconut?”

  Lucky took his gun and used its handle to break open the top of the coconut, and when he had a large enough opening to drink out of, he offered it to Leonardo to taste. Leonardo raised the coconut to his lips, spilling some of the liquid on his beard, but drinking its nectar brought a smile of pleasure to Leonardo’s face. “Now the pulp. I must taste that too.” So Lucky cracked open the coconut, and with his knife peeled the pulp away from the shell, which he handed to Leonardo, who ate it more with a scientific investigator’s eye than a gourmet hoping for a satisfying meal. “Very different, but quite good. May I have another piece please?” Lucky handed him a larger piece, which he devoured. “Very interesting. I must make a note of this.” Then his expression changed and he looked at Lucky. “Is it possible to take some of these coconuts back with me? I’d like to write about it in my notebook.”

  “Of course you can. We’ll take as many as you would like.”

  When they were about to enter the portal, Lucky looked around at the island, and couldn’t help noticing how similar it was to the tropical island that not too long ago he took the royal family to picnic on. If it were the same island, he might find remnants of the portal he created that took him here. He made a promise to himself to remember this island; because if he couldn’t find a portal to take him home, he would search this island for the remnants of the portal that brought him here, if in fact this was the same island. He had never thought about this possibility before, and if nothing else worked, it was well worth considering. But for now, he’d continue to look for a portal that would take him back to his own time just like he did in the past. Somewhere, there was a portal waiting to take him home.

  Leonardo cleared off the workbench and then he threw some clothes on it. “These clothes should fit you, and there’s enough here for all of you. Try them on and, if you need more, I’ll get them for you.” The clothes were a little short because the men were taller than most people of Leonardo’s time, but these clothes would do. When they were ready to leave, Lucky noticed Leonardo writing in his notebook and he looked over his shoulder. He was surprised to see him completing a lifelike drawing of a coconut and a description of its nutritional and medical benefits. “You put the coconut in your notebook?”

  “Yes, why?”

  “Because I read all of your notebooks and I never saw this drawing and description in them.”

  “You read my notebooks?”

  “Everyone has. You are as famous in my time as you are in yours. I have read all three of your notebooks.”

  “You are mistaken,” Leonardo said. “I have written five notebooks, not three. This is my sixth.”

  My God, Lucky thought. There are still three da Vinci notebooks yet to be found.

  Lucky and his friends were about to leave the workshop, but Leonardo said, “Come; I will go with you. Everyone knows me, and if you are with me, then no one will question you.”

  They walked for the better part of an hour with no success. Finally, Nicky said, “Let’s go somewhere where we can get a drink of something.”

  “Good idea,” Dukie added.

  Leonardo pointed down the street. “Come. There is an inn where we can get some ale and discuss what to do next.” They sat at a table by a window, facing the alley with a clear view of the front door. Lucky’s throat was parched and the ale was refreshing. He sipped it, wondering what he would do if he couldn’t find another portal. He casually looked out of the window between sips, glancing at nothing in particular, when he chanced to look over his shoulder behind him to his left, and there was no mistaking the shimmering energy radiating from a portal. The problem was foot traffic. There were many people navigating the alley going from one street to the other. They’d have to wait until dark when people were at home and wouldn’t be using the alley.

  Later that night, Lucky, Dukie, Nicky, and Angelo were standing outside the inn, facing the alley. Even Leonardo was there. His curious nature wouldn’t allow him not to be a witness to his new friends disappearing into the unknown. Lucky told everyone to remain there while he checked out where the portal would take them. He slipped into it and disappeared and he baby-stepped to his left and peeked out. He was staring at a cornfield. He looked around for signs of danger, but could see none. Just miles and miles of endless corn, but it looked promising, so he baby-stepped back to his right and stepped out of the portal. “It looks promising, guys.” Then he looked over at Angelo. “What are we gonna do with him? We can’t leave him here - and we can’t take him back to the war and I don’t think he’d feel comfortable living seventy years in the future, so what do we do with him?”

  “Hey, wait a minute. Don’t I get to say a few words on my behalf?”

  “Sure, Angelo. I’m curious as to what you have to say, so go ahead; say a few words.”

  “Well, for one thing, I sure as hell don’t want to go back to the war. I was too close to getting my ass shot off before you guys showed up. I’m fine with staying in the future. I don’t have much of a family and no one would miss me. So I see no problem with my staying in the future. Besides, I’d like to see how much the world has changed in the past seventy years.”

  Lucky looked at the others. “I say we take a vote. If the majority agrees, then Angelo stays; if not, then we take him back.”

  Angelo wanted to say something, anything that would convince them to let him stay, but he kept quiet and held his breath as he watched the vote.

  “Nicky. What do you say?”

  “If he wants to stay, then let him stay. It’s better than him going back and getting his ass shot off.”

  “How about you, Dukie?”

  “I agree with Nicky. Let him stay.”

  “Okay. It’s settled, then. Angelo, you’ll stay with us, but no second thoughts, okay?” Angelo’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. He was a handsome lad, standing about five-foot-eleven, black hair, swarthy Sicilian complexion with a set of pearly white teeth, and when he smiled, the room lit up. He was a very likable character and the guys all took to him. Before stepping into the portal, the men embraced Leonardo and said their farewells to him. Lucky promised that he’d be back to take him on a special tour, which brought a smile to the old man’s craggy face. Then the men held onto one another’s arms and disappeared into the portal. Leonardo turned, and as he started back to his workshop, he shook his head. “So many mysteries to unravel, and I have even glimpsed a little of the future. The men from the future talked about a mobile machine made of metal with a cannon attached to it. I must make a note of this in my journal to design such a device. Who knows, maybe Prince Ludovico Svorza might be interested in such a weapon.”

  The four men were standing on a narrow strip of paved highway, surrounded on either side by cornfields. Lucky looked at his iWatch and was surprised to see that he had a cell signal. He switched to maps and found his location. He was in Iowa. He knew that he was back in his time, so he immediately called Mickey. He knew the era had to be right because if it wasn’t, he wouldn’t be getting a signal. Mickey picked up on the second ring.

  “Lucky, is this really you? Where the hell have you been? Me and the guys were worried sick over you guys.”

  “Get ahold of Bobby Boots and tell him to get his ass out to the Cedar Rapids airport. We’re hitching a ride there now.”

  “You mean you don’t have a ride? You’re walking?”

  “Yeah. That’s right. We passed a road sign with HWY 218 on it about a mile back. Wait a minute. We’re walking past a road sign saying Ripple Road.”

  Mickey absently shook his head. “Forget about Cedar Rapids airport and stay where you are. I’m gonna c
all the professor and have him come and get me, and then we’ll fly out and pick you up in the saucer. It’ll be much faster with the saucer.”

  Lucky thought about it and smiled. “That’s a great idea, Mickey. Write this down. Plug in the intersection of SR 218 and Ripple Road into the saucer’s GPS and you’ll find us, ‘cause we won’t walk another step; we’ll wait right here for you. This saves us the trouble of having to hitch a ride or walk, and besides, who knows how long it’ll be before someone stops to give us a lift. Not many people feel comfortable picking up four guys on a highway. Sort of scary don’t you think?”

  “Yeah, it sure is. It would be real scary to pick up four strangers on a lonely highway.”

  “Okay, so who’s the fourth guy?”

  “Tell you all about it later.”

  CHAPTER 24

  12TH CENTURY

  The arduous task of advancing over the mountain in such frigid conditions was almost accomplished, and Leopold Kiesling was pleased that the hard part was behind him; the deep snow, which had been such a hardship for him to traverse, was all but gone. Now that the snow was no longer a problem, he found that by following the narrow path leading to civilization, he had almost completed the task of winding his way across and down the mountain. In another hour or so, he would enter the little border town situated on the other side of the mountain separating France from England. Now all he had to do was to find King Robert and warn him about the inquisition’s determination to kidnap the princess. Satisfied that he was finally free from the inquisition’s death threat, Keisling was looking forward to a good meal and a hot bath. He had no way of knowing that there was an assassin following him, and the gap between them was quickly closing. Leopold was unaware that instead of being safe from the inquisition, his troubles were just beginning.