Time Ship (Book One): A Time Travel Romantic Adventure: The ideal Beach Book for reading on Holiday!

by IAN C. P. IRVINE

  They wouldn't like it. The guys up there were a lazy bunch. Nothing ever happened there, and that's the way they liked it, and they would probably already be changing out of their uniform to go home.

  If nothing was wrong, Trevor knew the boys would give him a hard time about it tomorrow night.

  Still, it was better to be safe than sorry. He only had a year to go...

  --------------------

  Suite 217

  The Blue Emerald Bay Resort

  Puerto Rico

  Sally-Anne Davis stepped out of the shower, and toweled herself down. She liked to have a long shower in the mornings, before she headed down to breakfast and started the day.

  At twenty-nine, Sally became the youngest manager that the Nicolson Hotel Chain had ever appointed. She knew she had the eyes of the board on her, and the responsibility of running the third largest resort complex in the Caribbean was something that she did not take lightly.

  She had worked twice as hard as any other Hotel Manager she knew, and for the past three years, hotel profits had risen by an average of thirty percent each year.

  Now thirty-four, she was determined to up the game and increase profits in the next year by forty percent. That would herald unprecedented growth and assure her promotion to the manager's role at the new Blue Emerald Bay Resort in Dubai, that was due to be open in eighteen months time and was widely predicted to be the most exclusive hotel resort in the world.

  When she had been chosen for the job at the Blue Emerald in Puerto Rico, she had been under no illusions that it was purely down to her management skills. As a former Miss World contestant, and a Vogue cover girl, she had once been called 'the most beautiful businesswoman in the world'. The Nicolson team had considered her a catch, and maximized the free publicity it provided by allowing Time, Vogue and Business Week, amongst others, to each do interviews and full cover spreads of her and the resort. There had been numerous appearances on TV and radio, and by the time the publicity had run its course, bookings were up twenty percent.

  Sally had been given two gifts when she was born: her looks and her brains, and she used both of them to their full effect to achieve what she wanted.

  Yesterday had been a long day, and last night had been a late night for her.

  During the day she had overseen the clean-up of the hotel resort. Luckily the hurricanes that had threatened to devastate the Caribbean Islands if they had continued further west had mysteriously petered out, and effectively disappeared.

  Still, they had experienced the edge of Hurricane Josephine, with high-winds and rain causing a lot of mess, but thankfully not much damage. And in case the worst had happened, the hotel had been in lock-down for the past three days. Everything mobile had been cleared away, and large windows had been covered over. Yesterday they had spent a whole day uncovering everything which they had just covered over, and putting back everything they had put away.

  Then in the evening, she had been playing catch-up until 2 a.m., working on details and plans to decorate the newly built extra wing at the hotel, and had not fallen asleep until 3 a.m. Exhausted. She knew she would be tired today, but that was not an excuse not to be present to check the executive breakfast bar in the main restaurant before they opened at 6.30 a.m. as she did every day before she started her duties.

  When the first phone had rung in her room, she was just getting into the shower. She had missed that call, as she had the second and third. To be fair, in the three years she had run the hotel, she had only been disturbed once between the hours of 3 a.m. and 6 a.m., and that was due to the death of a very famous actor who had overdosed on cocaine, and Sally had been called to deal with the situation before the news got out.

  In the end, his death had been reported as a heart attack taken whilst making love to his wife. She had been flown in just in time to speak to the cameras.

  Sally was sitting at her breakfast bar, just finishing her muesli, orange juice and toast when the phone rang for the fourth time.

  Within two minutes she was out of the door, and within four she was approaching the entrance to the main restaurant.

  By the time five minutes had passed, she was sitting in a circle on the floor in the center of the hall, a pistol and cutlass persuading her to keep quiet.

  This was not going to be a good day.

  --------------------

  The Blue Emerald Bay Resort

  Puerto Rico

  The Blue Emerald Bay Resort catered for three hundred guests, offering them the amenities and services of the most exclusive five star resort in Puerto Rico. There were six restaurants, ten bars, fifteen pools, a nightclub, an entertainment theatre, spa, beach house, sports complex, a water sports center and a golf club.

  Only the rich could afford to come to the Blue Emerald , and only the rich did.

  It was 6.30 a.m. Guests were beginning to turn up at the doors to the main restaurant hall for breakfast.

  James Silver welcomed them all into the hall. In spite of the orders from Captain Rob, he had begun to realise just how rich the inhabitants of this palace were, and as he instructed them to join the others and sit on the floor in the middle of the great banqueting hall, he had offered them the opportunity to relieve themselves of their jewelry and amulets, and any coins they may be carrying. The bag that had been circulated around their captives was slowly beginning to fill up. It was already surprisingly heavy.

  James Silver was an enterprising man, and he was sure the other pirates would appreciate the decision he had made to take advantage of the situation as it presented itself.

  At 6.35 a.m. Richard Tyler walked through the door to the hall, marshaling in four palace guards that they had just captured. One had been wounded, and was bleeding profusely from a chest wound. Blood was everywhere.

  Silver instructed one of the pirates to take him to another room they had found at the back of the hall. Richard Tyler reported that when they had stumbled upon the palace guards outside the banqueting hall, one had threatened them with his musket. In response, one of the riggers in his party had thrown his dirk, landing it deep in the guard's chest. A few shots had been exchanged, and then the palace guards had surrendered. Surprisingly they had not put up much resistance.

  Tyler had explained quickly what they had seen and done.

  Silver had fought in many battles, and he knew that although they were in command at that moment, it was only through the earlier element of surprise that they had achieved this.

  Now the palace was waking up, there were potentially hundreds of people beyond the confines of this hall who would soon start to realise what was happening and organize themselves against them.

  Until they had transported the food back to the ship, Silver did not want to leave: because of their lack of food and water, he and his men were desperate - things could only really improve by holding on to what they had found.

  He now also regretted having not enough knowledge about the size and scope of the palace. Silver knew nothing of its defenses, or how many guards the palace had. Begrudgingly he recognised and affirmed the strategy that Richard Tyler had adopted, and he sent him and two of his men back out to complete their circumnavigation of the palace and ascertain its true size.

  He then sent a further five men out to round up any other residents they found in the palace and accompany them back to the banqueting hall for imprisonment.

  Hopefully, if they were able to capture a sufficient number of hostages, their own security may be assured until they were able to transport all the food and water back to the ship, enabling the Sea Dancer to leave with the provisions they so urgently needed.

  With the decision made, the nature of their mission changed from 'search and find food' to 'catch and imprison as many hostages as possible'.

  Silver looked at the hall. The banqueting hall was soon going to get very full indeed.

  Just then one of the pirates behind James Silver sneezed.

  Chapter 20

  The Sea Dancer />
  Puerto Rico

  6.50 a.m.

  Captain Rob was worried. Mr Bones had just visited him in his cabin, and broken the bad news. Three more of the crew had come down with the mystery illness that was beginning to affect those sailing on the Sea Dancer. That brought the total to six. Mr Bones had also explained that the condition of two of those already suffering from the sickness had deteriorated significantly. Mr Bones feared that they would expire before the next sunrise.

  Captain Rob had ordered that everyone who was affected by the illness should be moved to the cabins at the rear of the ship, and that the other crew members should not socialize with them in any way at all.

  Whatever this sickness was, Captain Rob needed to stop it spreading. He ordered two of the crew to go below decks and swab the cabins and stairwells, and check for any dead rats. Any that they found should be thrown overboard immediately.

  Illness was common amongst seafarers, particularly after visiting a new port in a new country. Captain Rob had often wondered about the connection between visiting new places and the number of crew who would get ill within a week or two after leaving a new port.

  It was not uncommon for some sailors to spend months at sea or crossing the Atlantic Ocean, only to die from an unexplained illness within weeks of arriving in the Caribbean. Captain Rob did not know where illnesses came from, or how they spread, but he did know that sometimes going ashore in a landing party held unseen risks that you could not predict. In hindsight, it was often better to remain aboard rather than visit new places and come into contact with new people.

  He had once heard tell of a fully laden ship being found drifting in the mid-Atlantic. When the ship was boarded, they found that everyone on board had died from a mysterious disease: the ship had recently visited an island off the coast of Africa, and two weeks later there was no one left alive.

  Although he could not tell anyone else of his fears, Captain Rob was beginning to worry that the treasure was not the only thing they had taken with them from Puerto Bello de la Cruz.

  Just then, Captain Rob was ripped from his thoughts by a voice coming from the sea below.

  "Captain Rob, sir. Permission to come aboard?"

  Looking over the side, Captain Rob saw that it was Paddy O'Brian, returned with the last boat to go ashore.

  "Aye, lad. Come up and make yer report. Join me in my cabin!"

  "So, Mr O'Brian. You say this is a palace belonging to a Spanish King? And that you have found all the food and water we will need for a year? Well, that's sounds wonderful, just wonderful. Congratulations!...But tell me more of the musket shots that we heard. What resistance have you encountered?"

  Captain Rob smiled when he heard that the resistance so far had been almost non-existent, but he frowned when he heard of the hostages that Silver had taken and marshaled into the banqueting hall.

  "So, in summary, Mr Silver wants me to send ashore as many men as I can afford, along with all the remaining empty barrels and containers that we can find. I have already sent two score of barrels ashore to be filled with fresh water, but I fancy we can find a few more. As for men, well, let me see, we have almost fifty able bodied men left on board, and could spare about forty. But I will lead them myself. If this palace is as great and strange as you say, I have to see it with my own eyes - particularly the fires that burn from the ceilings of the palace banqueting hall and have Mr Silver burrowing holes in the ground to hide like a rabbit! I will leave you in charge Mr O'Brian. Mr Simons is below deck, made ill by the fever, and I fear that he will not be leaving his bed for a while. You are the next able bodied man who I would trust to manage the ship in the absence of Silver, and myself. Mr Tanner will answer to you in my absence. I will see to it. I will leave immediately. For now, please check all the cannons on the port side. I have trained them on the shore. The tide is changing now, so ensure that they are kept ready and targeted on the shore and the buildings beyond. Borrow the spyglass from Mr Tanner and keep checking for any signals from myself from the beach ...And it goes without saying, but keep a guard on the booty. Repel any boarders who you do not recognise and do not give the codeword. And unless I am with them, no one is to be given access to the hold. Do you understand?"

  "Aye aye, Captain. That I do."

  The sun was making good progress above the horizon as Captain McGregor strode ashore, jumping into the water from the prow of the boat, and helping to drag it up onto the sand.

  He helped unload the first ten barrels, and hoisted one on his shoulders and started carrying it towards the center of the palace, as previously described and directed by Mr O'Brian. The other men followed him.

  With an inkling of trouble to come, McGregor had loaded another two pistols and stuffed them both into his belt, giving him a total of three, as well as his cutlass and his dirk. Strung across his shoulder was also the large Spanish musket that O'Brian had at first abandoned after using it to accidentally kill two of his men en route back to the boat, O'Brian had seen it being carried by another of the pirates, and had taken it off him. He had given it to the Captain with a word of warning and caution.

  "If you press the lever underneath its belly it will destroy anyone in its path, but it kicks like a donkey, and will likely kill you too, if you are not careful. Fear it, as I do, but I believe that once mastered, it will be more useful than a cannon!"

  After spending a few minutes marveling at the spring of water that flowed through the pipe whenever they so desired it, he was within two feet of the tree line when a tremendous roar rose from out of nowhere. Dropping the barrel onto the sand, he drew his cutlass and prepared to be attacked, searching frantically for any aggressors. Suddenly an enormous bird, bigger even than their ship’s pinnace, flew out from above the trees. It stopped abruptly above the boats and the men loading barrels of water, and it hovered stationary like a kestrel in the air.

  The men looked up, dropped their barrels and ran in all different directions. Some dived into the water and started swimming frantically towards the ship. Others ran past McGregor into the trees.

  A tremendous wind blew down from the bird, knocking his tri-cornered hat off and blowing it back into the scrub underneath the coconut palms.

  Looking up at the bird, McGregor was stunned to see the almost humanoid form of two creatures sitting inside the bird, looking down at him. Human in shape in all but one consideration: their heads were enormous- big round balls of black that sat upon their shoulders, their form reminding him of ants’ heads in all but magnitude. One of the creatures raised something onto his shoulders and pointed it at the boats below. As he did so, a hand went up to the big black ball on his shoulders and it pushed the front of the ball upwards. Immediately McGregor could see that there was a human face within. The big black ball was some form of hat! As he stared in disbelief, the man turned towards him, and it seemed as if their eyes met. The man moved the weapon on his shoulders and pointed it towards the Captain.

  Instinctively, the Captain pulled one of the pistols from his belt and let lose a shot at the man sitting in the bird.

  He saw the man visibly recoil, and knew that his ball had flown straight and true: the man had been hit!

  A second later, the monster bird turned on its side and flew swiftly away from him towards the Sea Dancer. It circled the ship once, hovered momentarily above it, and then flew further out to sea, turning right beyond the entrance to the bay, and flying back along the coast until it was lost from sight.

  A cheer went up from the men behind him, who now slowly emerged from the trees and ran to the Captain, praising him and congratulating him on his marksmanship.

  "Captain. You wounded the bird with one shot of your pistol!"

  "Three cheers for the Cap'n! Slayer of monsters!"

  "Gratitude men, but make ye haste back to your duties. There is a lot to do, and the sooner we leave this devil's lair behind, the happier I will be! The rest of ye, follow me quickly."

  With each man carrying a barrel or empty
wooden box on their shoulders, they hurried around the blue lagoons, past the body of Mr Wright, and soon made contact with some of the other pirates who were busy rousing locals from their slumber and accompanying them as hostages to the banqueting hall.

  "More hostages?", the Captain cried aloud in frustration and anger. "Are we to eat people? We need FOOD and WATER, not Spaniards!"

  As Captain McGregor entered the hall with another forty pirates - after first marveling with all the others at the doors that swept open in advance of their coming - he dropped his barrel loudly at the entrance to the large hall, staring in disbelief at the sight before him.

  Whilst hundreds of people lay on the floor and watched on, Silver was engaged in a shouting battle with the most beautiful woman that Captain McGregor had ever seen!

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  The Blue Emerald Bay Resort

  Main Restaurant

  Puerto Rico

  As Sally had hurried towards the main restaurant of the Blue Emerald, two men brandishing cutlasses and guns, had stopped her in her tracks and forced her to the ground. Handling her roughly, they had bent her arms behind her back, lifted her to her feet and then frog-marched her into the main hall.

  She was aghast by what she discovered there: at least a hundred and fifty guests sitting on the floor, surrounded by a horde of dirty, disheveled and disgustingly smelly bandits. The guests were obviously petrified. They sat quietly, many white with fear. Some had vomited, and the smell combined with the rank smell of the bandits to form a concoction of aromas she would never forget for the rest of her life.

  How could anyone smell so bad, and not be disgusted with themselves? Why did they not wash?