by Michael Berg
“Perhaps, but let’s not talk of such things, it will spoil our time together.”
“We have a lot of time Beth considering where we are in history.”
“Maybe and maybe not. Valeena and I are not bound to this timeline. We can return whenever we want.”
“What about me?”
“You have to remain here Bobby, otherwise our objective would fail. I am sorry to tell you this, but I am sure a man of your stature would find life in these times relatively easy and enjoyable.”
“Maybe I would. This coffee is great. Perhaps I can have another cup?”
“Certainly. I can bring the pot out here to the porch where we can both sit and enjoy another. I’ll be back in a minute Bobby.”
“Thanks Beth.” He watched her depart until she had walked the length of the house and disappeared into the kitchen door. It was then he took the advantage by immediately heading in the opposite direction on a course towards Jonstown. Bobby maintained a run for the first mile or so as his feet crunched on the frozen snows until he was out of breath, and then slowed to a walk whilst keeping watch for any approaching shiny metal sphere. None came.
He walked the remaining ten miles to Mister Weston’s farm unseen and without seeing anyone or anything aside from a few crows pecking at the frozen remains of a rabbit. By the time he arrived at the farmhouse just after eight, Miss Candice and Mister Weston were eating breakfast by the fire eagerly awaiting his return. The moment they saw him, their faces lit up like children about to be entertained with stories of wonder and full of anticipation.
“Miss Candice and Mister Weston, how splendid to see you awake and so brimming with energy.”
“We are at the ready Mister Bobby. Mister Weston and I have worked hard since you left us.”
“I can see Miss Candice. You did leave the last note string in the piano didn’t you Mister Weston?”
“As you requested Mister Regal.”
“Good, because I have proven its value to us in this time travel venture we are to embark upon. Our day is ahead of us and we still have much work to do.”
“As Miss Candice advised Mister Regal, we are at the ready and also willing.”
“I am glad you are both of such ilk for without you, I would be burdened so much one could consider oneself to be at a loss almost entirely and without recourse against the women at the bordello.”
“Then allow us to make the most of our available time Mister Bobby and so commence building this time machine of yours.”
“Of ours Miss Candice.”
“Of course.”
“Firstly I suggest we commence construction of the main components so we have but one item to address. Then we can move on enabling its operation.”
“Well thought Mister Regal. I have prepared our parts in such an order we may immediately commence as you say.”
“Splendid work Mister Weston. Now I will construct an induction coil and solenoid. Attached to these will be a capacitor and a switch of sorts. I would like you Miss Candice, to make the switch and capacitor whilst Mister Weston winds theses wires around this magnet. I will make the coil. Are we alright to proceed?”
“Oh yes Mister Bobby, you have picked me to carry out the very task for which I was hoping. I studied your sketches most keenly late into the evening.”
“Well done Miss Candice. Your tone of confident voice is reassuring to me knowing I can trust those tasks to you.”
Bobby turned to speak with Mister Weston, but he had already commenced the task he had been asked to carry out.
“I see you have made a start. We must be aware of one thing as we work. Those women will likely come back to this house looking for me sometime today, so we require an alertness to their presence and a sense of wit sharp enough to stave off any intrusion they may attempt.”
“Miss Candice and I did discuss such things last evening during your absence Mister Regal. Be rest assured we are alert to any intruders.”
“Thank you for your confidence Mister Weston.”
By mornings’ end and the coming of noon, they had prepared the spheres and their respective components of the time machine to the best of their perfections. As the time for lunch arrived, they each felt a ravenous hunger after a solid almost four hours of work. Mister Weston had attended this requirement in advance, having prepared a lunch of fruit, cheese, bread, and some pickled vegetables. Bobby was most taken with these in a sandwich with bread both Miss Candice and Mister Weston were eager to try themselves.
“I say. I had never thought of making such a sandwich Mister Regal. Something our friend Mister Wills could take on in his cafe.”
When the last morsel was gone, Miss Candice tended to a pot of tea whilst Mister Weston and Bobby discussed the small steam engine.
“Attaching this geared grinder to the drive shaft is our issue Mister Regal.”
“Indeed a challenge Mister Weston, however, I have a solution. We can make and attach a shroud to circumvent the grinder handle and fasten it with wires left over from the piano and some of those brackets you found. Coupled with the electrical discharge from my car, we should have enough power.”
“It will need to be very tight, otherwise it will fly away.”
“Hence we require your fire to be stoked Mister Weston. It is time for some blacksmithing.”
Both men worked the fire into a high heat building a bed of coals into which they thrust the parts being used to make the shroud. They sought not to melt the metal, rather to make if more malleable to their requirements for a snug fit. Miss Candice had served them tea and was now at the ready waiting just to the side with a full bucket for the newly shaped parts to cool rapidly upon being thrust into the icy water.
Hiss and steam erupted from the bucket causing her to gasp a little before she became used to the sudden and violent actions required during blacksmithing. At the fourth instance, she was entirely comfortable taking time to notice how the metal changed colour and form, appearing to have small thin fragments peel away from the surface. Now as Bobby fitted the last part of the shroud, she assisted Mister Weston immediately thereafter in winding wire around its outside to hold it in place.
“Mister Bobby. The two women are coming.”
“Thank you Miss Candice. I will go outside and approach them. We do not want them to know of our recently completed machine do we?” he replied as he fixed the last wire to complete the entire time device. It consisted of nine small spheres, the last piano note, and one large sphere with the induction coil wired to the steam driven grinder.
“Certainly we would not want them to find our machine Mister Bobby. They look like harlots.”
“Come now Miss Candice. Let us be scarce so Mister Regal can do what he needs.”
“Of course, but we will be watching Mister Bobby.”
“Stay hidden though. If you are discovered, they might see a threat and they have weapons...electric weapons.”
Bobby waited until the women were just a few feet from the front door, before he surprised them and then closed it behind him as he directed proceedings. It was essential he held the upper hand from the beginning otherwise Beth and Valeena would try some trickery.
“Of course I returned here. I have no further wish to remain at the bordello. There is nothing for me there.”
“We are there Bobby. There is so much lust to be shared...come share it with us.”
“Are you bored? Not enough to do?”
“There is much to do Bobby and as such, there is much expression to be experienced to retaining an overall balance.”
“A balance to suit your own perception of self appreciation.”
“What else is there in life Bobby? And now you are back in this time, surely you must see this as your best alternative. After all, you are stuck here to live the rest of your Earth years.”
“And how long is it you are stuck here Valeena?”
“Not nearly as long as you Bobby. Come back to us before we leave and experience what you wi
ll never find in this time. Humans were so prudish in these times weren’t they Bethany?”
“Yes Valeena and so full of nothing they failed to find their own expressions of self beyond what they consider their best capacity at the time...any time.”
“See Bobby. Soon you will be forced into submission where your sex life will be almost non-existent and drab at best.”
“Then drab it may as well be if I am stuck here as you say. There is the inevitable and I find no feeling of wanting to delay this on the count of staying a night or two with you Valeena and Beth.”
“You might not be so sure. We are not finished here yet Bobby and we are hungry.”
“You told me of this hunger within Vindor women and I still have questions why.”
“Such details cannot be revealed. Do not attempt to placate us Bobby. We have some time remaining here and it is almost our period of annual ...never mind. We shall have what we require as we already have done.”
“Then I suggest you leave as you have what you need. This want now is not a need but merely your ego becoming bored. Be careful as you might make a mistake Valeena.”
“None can be made Bobby for our main objective is almost complete. Soon you will see and by then it will be far too late.”
Miss Candice and Mister Weston watched the two women walk back into the snow laden landscape to disappear around an icy stand of pine trees at the corner with the road. They had both heard everything spoken and to now hear people not of this world speaking, the concepts this beheld onward from this time, finally set into their psyche. They had advanced in awareness now well beyond what any others in Jonstown could expect to ever know during their lives, as they also accepted the notion they were not to remain in this century.
“Come Miss Candice. Mister Weston are you there?”
“Yes yes Mister Regal, we have been watching and listening. I must say those women could pass for any normal type of human.”
“They are harlots.”
“Not the type you imagine Miss Candice. I do recall this period of history where women saw those who wear makeup as harlots. Be assured Miss Candice, in my time most women wear makeup to highlight their beauty.”
“Oh really, it sounds interesting Mister Bobby.”
“There are many interesting things from my time Miss Candice. Perhaps you will get to experience some of them.”
“We were hoping weren’t we Mister Weston. We think our destiny lies in your time Mister Bobby.”
“Perhaps it does Miss Candice.”
“What next Mister Regal? Are we to assume it is safe to proceed with this experimental device and travel the times?”
“There is certainty yet to be had Mister Weston with both those women and with the device. You must understand our attempts to travel time come at great risk and it is my duty to take these risks and forfeit my life should the circumstance arise. I cannot allow these women to be victorious in what they are doing for I know they have something else hidden from me I am yet to find. Hence, I must attend their bordello one last time in stealth Mister Weston, to destroy whatever it is they are doing.”
“What do you mean by destroy Mister Bobby? Do you think they have a monster or machine or something?”
“I am certain they do have a monster of a machine in the least Miss Candice, and again it is my duty to find whatever it is and to destroy it.
“When are you going to do this Mister Regal? Surely you must first do this before we try this machine.”
“You stand correct Mister Weston. I will depart immediately after the midnight hour and travel by car. Then I will find their creation and do what is required to release any grip it has or will have upon life and upon the Earth.”
“Oh Mister Bobby, you make it sound so dramatic.”
“It is dramatic Miss Candice. Very dramatic for the future of the entire human race may be at stake.”
The first test was a resounding success – Bobby knew what he was doing and had spent many months studying electronics and Vindor technology. Recent knowledge from reconnaissance elevated his engineering concepts even further. A static charge coursed over the entire set of spheres, supplied by the steam engine running at three quarters capacity.
“Is there any way we can extract more power from this engine Mister Weston?”
“I can bypass the steam relay and open the channel to take everything it has, but it might mean we could lose the engine if it runs for too long.”
“Then we will have to ensure we have our timing right Mister Weston, for one attempt is all we have and we must make it count. I will have to release all the remaining energy from my vehicle simultaneously as one discharge as well.”
“You were right Mister Bobby. When you conducted the test just now, a strange patch appeared in the night sky as if all the stars there had been extinguished. It appears as though your theory on the displacement is correct.”
“When I saw it at the bordello, my mind did tend to sway to the conclusion you have now confirmed Miss Candice.”
“Is there anything else we need to prepare?”
“Only yourselves Miss Candice. If you dare try this machine with me and fulfil the destiny I can see rising in both yours and Mister Weston’s eyes, then you will require all of your wits and the tenacity of bravery.”
“Then we are almost ready for I am most willing to undertake this adventure.”
“As I am Mister Regal. Miss Candice I agree there is something else awaiting our arrival well beyond the confines of Jonstown. We both feel a willingness to embark upon this adventure with you.”
“Then be at your ready for when I return tonight, we will do our best to make this machine take us all on a journey we could never have imagined.”
As the evening wore on, they discussed their lives in effort to know each other on a more personal level – there was nothing they could do other than spend this time waiting for the moment when Bobby would drive to the bordello in the dead of the night. Moon rise would not be until the cold pre-dawn hours began, long after they hoped to have journey forward through the years to Bobby’s time.
Miss Candice and Mister Weston spent some time each off on their own thoughts about leaving their time behind. It would likely be forever without any recourse back to their origins. Despite the suddenness with Bobby’s arrival and the dependencies he placed upon them, both felt compelled to embrace this outcome and go forward with him eighty years in time.
Chapter 13
Three snow owls abreast on one branch greeted Bobby when he looked up after hearing a soft hoot. The old oak tree beside the shed in which he had parked his car, was a haven for such activity almost every night, for it stood over a vast rabbit warren these owls and others often perused looking for a meal. One thing troubled him and it was how Valeena and Beth had transported the entire bordello and its surrounds back in time – a feat he could not even repeat in the least for taking his car back with him.
He would have to leave his beloved Cadillac behind for the machine was only large enough to take a few or perhaps five people. Self destruct was a feature built into the car and so it would be with lament, he would engage this sequence for the annihilation of the vehicle down to its’ atoms. Speeding across the snowy landscape on a direct course for the bordello, Bobby took it to maximum altitude at just over one hundred feet as his course demand he go up and over trees until in the distance, he could see the faint glow coming from the upper most room of the bordello – a space he had been denied entry to by Valeena.
No doubt this room was his target. Of all the suites he had seen at the house, this one room had remained out of reach, even when during a late night vigil, he found its door securely locked. As he drove on, strange senses came to him. There seemed to be some energy in the air he thought almost esoteric. Then his feelings relaxed as he took in what he thought were harmonious melodies yet there was no sound. Inside somewhere, Bobby began to feel a deep sense of relaxation and of contentment just being near the borde
llo.
After parking the car and beginning to walk towards the house, he was still lost to these feelings as they welled up more the closer he walked. When at the last he was near resigned to allow himself and be taken in by the energy, Bobby came to his senses knowing this was the allurement of the women. They were maturing their seed and as such, evoked energies humans barely understood as they took their heart and psyche beyond expressions humans had come to know in all their existence. It was mystical, magical, and invigorated his heart and Bobby fought to quell these rising feelings. He could sense whatever the women were constructing, made for a distinctive presence amidst the deepest sub-conscious from where it would rally kinship and lure anyone who came close into love.
A weapon more powerful than any electrical discharge device lay awaiting its final stages of growth before commencing its conquering of those it would lay to waste at its’ feet. Somehow he loved it and it loved him for they were of the same matter and so held a relationship beyond any the being would suffice to create in the future under orders to procreate.
This conflicted Bobby at his deepest level. He felt as he was father to this apparition soon to be made before him as yet unseen. He could feel its presence more than any vision would allude to and within this presence came sentience across the stretches of space and time – it was of the universe and of the first sentiency for a new race. It was a special moment and a place of birth as the entity inside the lit room also felt Bobby’s presence nearby, and so by its nature, began to call out to its’ father, and to its’ mothers.
Valeena did not know what it was at first drawing her attention away from kissing Beth. They held each other in passionate embrace gently kissing and reassuring each other of their location in time and in place. The entity would soon be fully grown and as its mothers, they had begun feel the process of separation as it began to understand itself individually.
“What is it Valeena?”
“Something of the life Beth. It is changing and aware of Bobby.”
