Time Storm

by Philip R Benge

  “It is alright Marcia, John Cassidy has a strong body and he will soon recover, he was just stunned by a Phaser blast from a space pirate. Why don`t you sit here and look after him while I attend to the other wounded men.”

  Marcia `s heart beat had risen again when she had caught sight of John Cassidy lying unconscious on his bed, and she once again forced herself to keep calm. She sat down by Cassidy`s bed, taking his hand in hers she bent forward and gently kissed his lips. Luckily the marines had a few spare beds in their storeroom out back, and it was on one of these that Cassidy was sleeping on.

  Suddenly she realised that her father had no idea where she was, and that if he heard of the attack on the science complex he would become worried for her, as he knew that she had fallen for one of the marines and might worry that she had been there during the attack by the space pirates. She let go of Cassidy`s hand and phoned her father, but he was out, so she contented herself by leaving a message instead. It would be three hours before Cassidy came round to see the angel who was looking after him.

  Chapter Three

  The Year 50,000 BC

  Interplanetary War

  While Mankind was still living in the Stone Age on their beautiful planet Earth, the leaders of one small quadrant of the galaxy were the people of the Planet of the Light. A mainly peaceful people, they had a small space fleet that they used to travel around the small sector of space near to their own planet. Unfortunately at this moment they were about to meet the might of the barbarous Heliot empire who hadn`t thought about peace for some time.

  The leader of Heliot was Generalissimo Divilio, and he and his motley band of Heliot troopers were more likes the pirates of Earth, than a space faring race from a technically advanced planet. They all stood around six feet in height and wore the latest in heavy duty body armour, emblazoned with bloodthirsty pictures across their chests. The mere sight of the troopers was enough to scare most of their enemy into submission, and those that resisted had to go up against a trooper whose body armour was protection against all but a heavy duty Phaser pistol. A Heliot trooper knew no mercy, and as he was armed with weapons that were the best of his time this meant that he needn`t worry about such a concept.

  The Heliot fleet of superb starships dropped out of hyper-space as planned just ten million miles away from their enemy, this massive fleet of starships then flung themselves towards the enemy fleet that was waiting to meet them, whose crews were all ready to die rather than surrender their planet and its people to the barbaric Heliot nation.

  **********

  Far off in time and space, a massive space storm, crackling ferociously with energy, moved slowly through the loneliness of space. Its lonely passage through space was about to change when the rampaging Time Platform appeared in its midst, and its powerfully charged electro-magnetic envelope, energised by the full power of an out of control fusion reactor, wrapped itself around the storm like a lover and then disappeared with it into the depths of eternal time and space. It reappeared soon after, but now it was just behind the Heliot space fleet. Just when all had seemed lost for the Planet of the Light, the massive space storm swallowed the Heliot fleet up, and as suddenly as the storm had appeared, it and everything in it disappeared just as suddenly, leaving a bewildered fleet of starships jubilant but utterly bewildered.

  This of course all happened a long time ago, when the Earth was very young.

  Chapter Four

  May 24th in the year 2014

  Into the Netherworld

  In a world totally removed from that of dealing with the problems of the universe, of Colonel Bragg, of Richard Jameson and his group, and whoever was behind the android attack on Orion, Saturday had arrived. Now Saturday is Tyler`s favourite day. Thankfully the world and, as far as Tyler was aware, the Cosmos, were running smoothly, well as smoothly as mankind would allow it to. It was only one little section of it that troubled Tyler. For this Saturday was different from the ones that had preceded it, for this was the first day following that eventful moment that had left him unemployed? It all started yesterday with his arrival at the office where Tyler was employed, an office which was set in the heart of Westminster, London, which had its finger on the pulse of governments everywhere. The firm always knew exactly what was going on, members of the government and business community consulted it on all and everything to do with the workings of the world.

  On his arrival at this hub of research and communication, Tyler had been informed by his erstwhile bosses that the firm that had employed him for seven years as a research assistant was in financial crisis i.e. bankrupt, and that they could no longer afford to keep him on, sorry! Now, and like so many other poor and unemployed Londoners, Tyler would have to either find another place of employment or sign on the dole, as it was once termed. As a research assistant maybe Tyler should have researched his own firm, but Tyler hadn`t. There had been no sign telling him to look to his future, and Tyler sure as hell hadn`t heard any dramatic music that always warned the audiences around the world that the heroes of the cinema screen were about to encounter impending peril. Nothing at all to tell him that he would be better off staying in bed for that day, and maybe the next few days as well. Sure his firm had given him some redundancy money, not exactly a golden hand shake but something to live on for the next couple of months, and which Tyler had decided to pay into his building society immediately after breakfast on Saturday.

  Tyler looked at the alarm clock that would now not be required to go off for some time. `Ten thirty already`, Tyler groaned loudly and moving a little too quickly for the state that he found himself in, immediately flinched, for a large bolt of lightning shot through his head. This was the onset of the worst headache, or was that hangover, that Tyler had ever had, and the light shining in through his bedroom window didn`t help matters at all. Tyler lay in bed afraid to move in case he set the lightning bolts off again. He had his head buried beneath the blankets to keep out the daylight while he tried to find hidden resources inside of himself. This was not for some dangerous mission into the unknown, it was so that he could drag his body out of his bed, but with even the smallest of movements there would come more of the shooting pains. Time went by and Tyler was slowly recovering, enough now for him to recall that he had to get shaved and washed, and then out before the building society closed, for Tyler was to pay his redundancy cheque into his account. However, every movement brought with it the shooting pains, and all of which then travelled around his head remorselessly, and without pity, so that all of his movements had to be very deliberate. Finally gathering up some hidden willpower from somewhere, Tyler slowly crawled out of his bed and into the small bathroom that led off his bedroom, only to see a haggard face looking back at him from the mirror.

  Tyler was twenty eight years old, not tall, about five feet nine inches in height and on the slim side, weighing only a shade over ten stone. He had dark brown hair, a chin that was a little too square and a nose that was just a shade to large, his normally big baby blue eyes were his best part, all the girls like them. That had been what had attracted Annabelle, though today he would not be able to attract a dead rat, he looked a state. His hair was a mess, his head ached, his blue eyes were red and haggard, and whilst only in his late twenties, today he looked more like fifty. Last night he shouldn`t have had those last few vodka`s, he knew his limit and had surely surpassed it some two hours before he had left the others of the old firm, all who were also trying to forget their woes now that the unemployment blues were upon them. He was unmarried and Annabelle had decided he would stay that way, ‘enough was enough’ she said, ‘all you think about is booze and football.’ Well maybe she was almost right in what she had said, although his main interest outside of those two things was archery. Since the age of two Tyler had accompanied his father to the archery range, and from the age of four he had been an active though minor member of the Coulsdon Archers. Tyler was now a star amongst the archers of Southern England, and had competed in many a competitio
n. However, as far as marriage was concerned, he was still not ready to settle down, a steady long term relationship, even with a girl as lovely as Annabelle, still stretched him. Annabelle had complained about the drinking, and maybe he did drink a little too much, but no more than most of his friends. Oh and yes his friends, they were another sore point with Annabelle, she didn`t like any of his friends either, for they were a poor lot and he was welcome to them. Goodbye.

  This had happened halfway through last night and in his befuddled state Tyler had immediately resolved to forget her, for he could soon enough find another woman. Now, on a semi drunken morning, Tyler realised that he had rather liked Annabelle, and more than he had realised, maybe it had begun to be just a little more than that. He certainly felt much more for her than he had felt about the other women he had known. This afternoon he would go to see her and try to patch things up, to promise to cut down on his drinking, on his many nights out with the boys. They were beginning to tell anyway, because the boys were certainly younger than he was. Maybe Annabelle was right…maybe. Depressed as he was due to losing his job, he had noticed the added depression caused by the thought of losing Annabelle.

  Finally he washed and dressed in jeans and a white shirt, the next thing for him was to try and eat some breakfast, now breakfast for him was as always burnt toast and marmalade followed by a black coffee. Just as he sat down to eat his meal there was a clatter at the door of his small flat that he rented over a news agents in Coulsdon, Surrey. The papers had finally come, and he glanced at them while he munched on his toast and drank his coffee. The Daily Mail first, for the local free paper hardly had anything in it worth reading. It was the start of the summer months, so not much in the way of football, and after a half hour reading the mixture of sporting articles at the back of the newspaper Tyler glanced at the headlines. On the front page, ‘hmm all doom and gloom again’ this time regarding the weak Euro which was due to more behind the scenes deals by the German and French governments. ‘Well enough of that for now, let`s see what`s in the local.’ In the middle he noticed an advert and decided on the spur of the moment to take advantage of the offer.

  The newspaper advertised a special offer from Bluebird Airways, half price introductory flying lessons. ‘This is just what I need to brighten up my life when I most need it.’ Tyler said to himself. Now maybe he shouldn`t have decided to take up the adverts offer, but his destiny had already been decided by the Fates, so what could a mere mortal do? Tyler walked to the front door and pulled on his black leather jacket, but as he left the room he saw lying on the table a silver cigarette lighter that belonged to his friend, Jake. Putting it into his jacket pocket he decided that he would drop it off at Jakes house after seeing about the flying lesson, maybe they could have half a pint or two down at the pub.

  With the trip to the building society forgotten, and before he could change his mind, Tyler was in his old second hand Peugeot coupe, and within a half hour was at Keston aerodrome. The aerodrome had been home to a RAF fighter wing during World War two, later a glider club took up residence and now Bluebird Airways had joined them. Tyler should have changed whatever sort of mind that he possessed that groggy morning as soon as he saw the office of Bluebird Airways. The office was in urgent need of repair and a new coat of paint, the one window which let in light was so covered with dust as to be as near to being opaque as to make no difference, and the door needed the urgent attention of a carpenter or glazier, or maybe both. The door opened as he approached it and someone stepped out, almost walking into him before realising that anyone was there. The man, for it was a man who had nearly bowled him over, was about fifty years in age and completely bald, although Tyler thought this was partly due to design than for any other reason. He was large, somewhat over fourteen stones and at least six foot tall, his oval face seemed tired, as if life had taken its toll of him, and worry was etched across his face. He looked up as he realised someone else was there, and his brown eyes forced a smile as he apologised.

  “Sorry friend I didn`t see you for a moment.” He stopped for a second and hope seemed to well up on his face as he continued. “I`m Captain Masters of Bluebird Airways; can I help you at all?” Masters was also dressed in a leather jacket, but his was brown, and he had on a smart pair of grey trousers to go with his own white shirt.

  Before Tyler could speak or decide to run for it, for Masters had seen a look of apprehension in Tyler`s eyes as he looked at the mess of the office through the door, Masters carried on hurriedly.

  “Are you here because of the advert?” Something in Tyler`s expression must have indicated yes, for Masters took his arm and began to walk him hurriedly away from the office.

  “Good well you are lucky because although I was fully booked, I have just had a cancellation due to illness.”

  Tyler should have wondered about the other possible reasons behind the sudden cancellation, but he still needed cheering up. Anyway he was not going to let a lack of decorating deter him, he didn`t like painting either which was another source of annoyance with Annabel, for she thought that his flat could do with a bit of brightening up, and this had led to another bout of arguments.

  Masters led him towards a large hanger some one hundred yards from the office, parked in front of the hanger Tyler was presented with his first glance of the pride of Bluebird Airways, a single engine blue and white aircraft with the words Miles Finch painted just below the cockpit and Bluebird Airways along the fuselage.

  “Well here we are, we have a nice little aircraft for you as you can see, and she will take four passengers plus a small amount of baggage.” Masters said offering this free of charge information.

  Now Tyler had little knowledge of aircraft, but it looked as if this was where Masters spent all his spare time, for the craft seemed in excellent condition.

  “It is a Miles Finch as you can see.” Masters said with some relish, and from his face Tyler could see that he was obviously very much smitten with the aircraft.

  “I got her some five years ago, but she is still as perfect as she was when she was new.” He stopped for a second as if waiting for some comment from Tyler, so with this feeling that maybe something was expected of him Tyler offered up a few words.

  “Hmm Miles Finch aye, looks all right, a nice plane.” Masters seemed a bit miffed by Tyler`s apparent dismissal of his beloved craft.

  “She`s a bit better than all right friend, she flies like a dream, you`ll see.” Masters said fervently.

  “The flight plan was already booked for the cancelled flight, so if you will just fill in this form for insurance purposes we can take off straight away.”

  Masters pulled out a form from the soft briefcase he was carrying, and after getting Tyler`s name and address, and of course the payment for the flight, which he almost snatched from Tyler`s hands, he smiled and indicated the door by Tyler`s side.

  “No delay at all, Hey! Lucky aren`t you, your timing was just right my boy, we`ll take her up now, in you go.” Tyler could see that the Miles Finch had indeed four seats, and looked a lot like his Peugeot car but with wings and a tail.

  The Miles Finch engine caught immediately, and after the usual permission from the small control tower they were soon moving away from terra firma. Below them was a beautiful view of the countryside that stretched out like a gigantic multi coloured carpet. They flew over a castle of some ancient feudal baron, over farmhouses with their fields full of crops, then across gentle rolling hills. Quickly all this beauty began to get into Tyler`s very soul, lifting his cares and depression aside. Now Masters began to show Tyler the workings of the plane and allowed him to take a brief control of the aircraft. With the joystick in Tyler`s hand he could feel the wind and the air as the plane moved through this environment, normally so alien to Man. For the moment there was only the moment, and life was once more a joy. The rest of the world no longer existed up here. Tyler could feel his blood pulsing, and all he knew was the purr of the engine, the sound of the air rushing by the fu
selage, and the feel of this marvellous new world through the joystick. Glancing towards Masters he couldn`t help the grin that spread across his face, even Masters seemed refreshed now he was away from the ground, away from civilisation, he grinned back at Tyler, happy to allow this man to share his world. Theirs was the freedom of the birds when they too spread their wings and flew higher and higher, over the hills, forests and streams. Tyler knew that come what may, he would have to do this again. Just when things couldn`t get any better Masters intruded on Tyler`s thoughts.

  “I am sorry Mr Burrows but I will have to take back the control of the aircraft.” Masters said in a worried voice, and with that Masters once again was controlling the plane.

  “Look over there Mr Burrows and you will see the reason why, a storm front is racing in from nowhere.” Masters said seeming rather agitated. However, when Tyler looked in the direction that Masters had indicated he could see why. The sky was filled with black clouds, all racing towards them, black clouds with a strange orange glow, lightning crashed continuously out from within them, it seemed to be one very angry storm.

  “What on earth?” Tyler began, his voice filled with consternation, but Masters cut in.

  “I am sorry Mr Burrows, but this weather front has come from out of nowhere, when I logged this flight plan there was no mention of this kind of weather, it was supposed to be sunny and hot for the rest of the weekend.” Masters` words came out in a rush as if to assure Tyler that it wasn`t any fault of Masters.