Lost In Time

by W M Wiltshire

  They made their way up the boarding ramp and were escorted by the purser to their cabins. Once they had stowed their luggage, they all gathered in Amelia’s stateroom.

  “Well, my friends, I guess this is goodbye,” Amelia said.

  “No, it’s aloha,” Mona corrected, as she gave Amelia a big hug and put a lei over her head. She moved away to continue the tradition with Fred and Harry.

  “Besides, it’s not goodbye. You’ll be stopping by here again when you resume your world flight,” Chris said optimistically.

  “So true, my friend. Until then, aloha,” Amelia said, hugging Chris.

  All too soon, a blast from the ship’s horn signalled it was time for all who weren’t sailing for the mainland to leave the ship. “Thank you, again, for our wonderful accommodations and the meals were, as usual, exquisite,” Amelia said.

  “And everything will be waiting for your return. Be safe,” Mona said. She and Chris left the stateroom and went back to the pier. As they watched the S.S. Malolo pull away from the dock, they waved at their friends, who lined the railings, all eager to get home and try again.

  82: Sunday, March 21, 1937

  “Where do you want to go?” Mila asked Daric shyly. Yesterday when they dropped Mila at the shop, she and Daric had agreed to spend today together.

  “I don’t know. You decide. I’ve never been to Hawaii before.” Daric smiled charmingly.

  “Really? Someone like you?” Mila truly thought Daric was pulling her leg. She reached down and clasped his hand and walked down Fort Street.

  “Really. And what do you mean, ‘someone like me’?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. You seem like someone who gets around.” Mila immediately realized how that sounded once she said it out loud. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. What I was trying to say is that you seem well educated and worldly, I guess. Not someone that lives a sheltered life like me,” Mila mumbled sadly.

  “If you could do anything you wanted, what would it be?” Daric wanted to know what inspired this young beauty.

  “I’d like to do something like Miss Earhart. Something that most women wouldn’t dare dream of doing, even what most men wouldn’t dream of doing.” Mila’s eyes were alight with her imagined future of possibilities.

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know. I haven’t given it much thought. I just know I want to make a name for myself, like Miss Earhart. I want to make a difference. I do know I don’t want to run the gift shop, but that’s all my mom sees in my future. She’s grooming me to take over from her someday, soon, too, I think. She doesn’t get around as well as she used to and she gets tired real easy.”

  “My mother has always said you could do anything you put your mind to. I truly believe that. So don’t give up on your dreams. Find something you’re really passionate about and go for it wholeheartedly,” Daric encouraged.

  “And what is it you’re passionate about?”

  “You,” he whispered, as he leaned in to steal a kiss. A shadow caught the corner of his eye as he pulled away from Mila’s warm and inviting lips. He wasn’t sure what he had seen, but decided he would be more attentive to his surroundings.

  Mila and Daric walked down Fort Street to the Aloha Market and spent the afternoon walking amongst the stalls, hand-in-hand, enjoying each other’s company. As the sun started to set, it reminded Daric that he had to get back to the Holmeses’ estate. He and Dani were leaving for California in the morning.

  Daric walked Mila back to the gift shop and stood outside. He held her hands and looked deeply into her warm brown eyes.

  “I’ve really enjoyed today,” he said sincerely.

  “Me too,” Mila agreed.

  Daric leaned in close and whispered, “Don’t look too quickly, but casually turn your head around and look at the guy with the long brown coat.” She did as she was asked. “Do you know him?”

  “No. Why?” Mila asked nervously as she turned back to face Daric.

  “It’s probably nothing, but he’s been watching us all day. I thought maybe your mom had sent him to make sure I behaved,” he said jokingly, trying to lessen Mila’s apparent concern. The guy looked like a native Hawaiian to Daric; he certainly didn’t look like Case.

  “I don’t think she would do that,” Mila said hesitantly.

  “As I said, it’s probably nothing.” Daric leaned in and kissed Mila, who returned his affection willingly. “I’m so glad I got to know you, Mila.”

  “Me too.”

  “I have to go.”

  “I know,” she said sadly. “I’ll be down at the pier to say goodbye tomorrow.”

  “You mean aloha,” Daric teased as he pecked her on the cheek and left her standing in front of the store. She watched him walk away. As she turned and climbed the two steps to enter the shop, she took one last look down the street to where the stranger had been. He was gone.

  83: Monday, March 22, 1937

  As promised, standing there on the wharf and looking like a Hawaiian princess, was Mila. Daric got out of the Holmeses’ car and ran over to her. He grabbed her around her narrow waist, swept her off her feet, and twirled her in the air amidst a stream of giggles that spilled from her lips.

  “Put me down, silly. You’re causing a scene,” Mila scoffed half-heartedly.

  “So what?” Daric shouted, still twirling Mila. “I don’t care if we cause a scene. I’m thrilled you came down to see me off and I want everyone here to know it.”

  “Put the poor girl down, before you make her dizzy,” Dani cautioned as she walked up. “Hi, Mila.”

  “Hi, Dani.” Mila laughed as she finally found there was ground under her feet again.

  “Here, I got these for you,” Mila said, as she placed a lei over Daric’s head and another over Dani’s.

  “Thank you,” Dani said.

  “Give me a minute,” Daric said as he ran to Terry and Paul.

  “Keep a good eye on that plane for us, okay?” Paul directed as they shook hands.

  “You bet,” Daric replied. “We’ll see you in a couple of weeks, when you get back to the mainland.”

  Daric turned to Chris and Mona, just as Dani walked over. “Thank you both so much for your generous hospitality,” Dani started.

  “Yeah,” Daric added.

  “You’re both more than welcome,” Mona replied, embracing first Dani and then Daric.

  “And the invitation is still open anytime you want to come back to Hawaii,” Chris said, as he shook Daric’s hand and bent to embrace Dani.

  “Thank you, we might just take you up on that,” Daric replied, looking over his shoulder and smiling at Mila.

  A blast from the ship’s horn ended all further conversation until its sound stopped resonating.

  “Okay, you two, get going,” Chris insisted.

  Dani and Daric finished their goodbyes, made their way up the boarding ramp and found a place along the Promenade’s railing. It didn’t take them long to single out their friends among the crowd on the wharf. They all waved as the ship slowly pulled away from the pier.

  “What’s Chris doing?” Dani asked.

  “Waving. Why?”

  “It doesn’t look like a natural goodbye wave to me.”

  While Chris was waving to Dani and Daric, as the ship pulled away, he saw a man standing at the railing of one of the First Class balconies. Something about the man was familiar. Chris strained and looked at him more carefully. Then it hit him. He knew the man. He had to warn Daric and Dani about him somehow.

  As the ship left Honolulu harbor, Dani pulled her lei from around her neck. “This is a tradition,” she said as she indicated to Daric to follow her example. “You toss your lei into the sea. Legend has it, that, if the lei floats back toward the island, it means you will return one day,” Dani explained.

  “
One . . . two . . . three . . .”

  Daric and Dani threw their leis into the sea and watched with anticipation. The ship’s wake washed over the leis; they seemed to just hang there, neither going ashore nor drifting out to sea: as if they were suspended in time.

  84: Tuesday, March 23, 1937

  The first full day onboard the S.S. Lurline was relatively relaxing. She was one of Matson’s White Ships and a sister ship to the S.S. Malolo, but she carried fewer passengers.

  Daric had gone up on deck several times, since leaving Honolulu, to check on the Electra and the fourteen boxes and crates loaded on the Aft Deck. Every visit was the same: he would check to make sure that the fuselage was as he had previously left it and that all the crates and boxes were still properly sealed. While he was on deck, he would scan the area to see whether he could spot anything out of the ordinary. There was never anything amiss.

  Dani and Daric were just finishing dinner in the Main Dining Room. The tables all had white linen tablecloths and centerpieces with fresh-cut flowers. Daric wiped his mouth on the white linen napkin and placed it on his empty plate. “I’m going out on deck to check on the plane again. I won’t be long,” he told Dani, as he excused himself from the table and left the dining room.

  Dani finished her dessert and coffee and decided she would go out on deck, too. It was such a beautiful evening, and the air was still tropically warm. She knew it wouldn’t be in another day or two when they would be getting closer to Los Angeles.

  Dani strolled around the Promenade Deck. She spotted a few other guests heading back inside. On the forward deck, she found a couple on one of the lounges, huddled under a blue-and-white-striped blanket, enjoying the fresh evening air. She smiled and carried on toward the aft section of the ship. If she was lucky, she might find Daric still checking over his precious cargo on the open deck below.

  As Dani approached the aft part of the Promenade Deck, she thought she could hear faint voices below. When she peered over the railing, her heart jumped into her throat.

  Oh my God! Think! Do something quick! her mind screamed.

  85

  Daric was just finishing his inspection of the last two crates stored at the back of the deck’s cargo area. When he looked up, he was staring into the barrel of a gun. Holding the gun was Rick Barak Case.

  “So good of you to make my next task so easy,” Case sneered, as Daric slowly stood up.

  “And what task might that be?” Daric grunted, trying desperately to muster some bravado.

  “Getting rid of some loose ends, of course.”

  “Why are you doing this? What did I ever do to you?”

  “You stuck your nose where it didn’t belong, one too many times.”

  “But why are you trying to stop Amelia’s flight? What could it possibly have to do with you?” Daric was trying to stall as long as he could, hoping someone would catch what was happening and swoop in to rescue him at the last minute, just like he had seen in so many old movies.

  “I couldn’t give a damn about some dumb broad trying to prove she’s man enough to fly a stupid plane around the world. It’ll never happen, anyway. As for why I’m doing this, it’s for the money, of course, and lots of it,” Case proclaimed.

  “So, is killing me part of the deal?”

  “Hell, no. As I said, I’m just tying up some loose ends.”

  “Look, I won’t say anything. I promise.” He sounded pretty lame, even to his ears.

  “Yeah, right. Now, back up just a tad, would ya, back against the rail like a good kid.”

  Daric took a few slow steps backwards, looking for anything within reach he could use against Case. Movement from above caught his attention. It was Dani. He slowly shook his head no, but he was sure she hadn’t seen his signal, since she had already disappeared from the railing.

  86

  It seemed to take forever to find the stairs, but, once she did, Dani raced down them, two at a time, flying down the three flights to where Daric was being held at gunpoint. She didn’t need to be a genius to know what fate had in store for Daric.

  Dani knew Daric had seen her. She hoped he would know enough to stall as long as possible. Her plan was to sneak up on Case and, then, run at him, grab his gun hand and knock him down. Daric could grab the gun and then they would escort Case to the ship’s brig. She hoped ships in this era still had brigs.

  When Dani reached the Aft Deck, she was out of breath. Knowing she couldn’t sneak up on Case while she was gasping for air, she took a few moments to settle her breathing and her nerves. She could still hear the faint conversation.

  As Dani crept along the bulkhead, hidden among the shadows, a movement to her left made her freeze in mid-stride. A man had emerged from the exact spot where she was heading. His attention was focused on the two people at the stern of the ship; he didn’t even notice Dani concealed in the shadows.

  The man stealthily moved toward Daric and Case. As he slowly and silently closed the distance, he reached under his long dark coat and pulled out a gun.

  What happened next was a complete blur. Dani hurled herself from her hiding place and screamed for all she was worth, “NO!”

  She crashed into the man in the coat, just as his gun went off. The crash knocked the man to the deck, but Dani kept her balance and never missed a stride as she raced toward her brother.

  Dani’s scream distracted Case, who turned to see what the commotion was. The shot that had been aimed for the back of his head grazed his forehead instead. When Dani plowed into him, he felt as if a high-speed locomotive had hit him; then, his world turned upside down.

  87

  “DANI!” Daric screamed as he lunged in desperation after his sister. He watched in horror as Dani’s momentum and Case’s dazed off-balance state propelled them both over the stern rail.

  Daric looked over the rail into the churning black sea below. He hoped to find his sister, all the while knowing a fall from this height would have killed her. But he kept looking and hoping, anyway.

  “Help me,” a panting voice pleaded.

  Daric looked harder. He finally spotted Dani; she had a precarious grip on a broken rail. In the same instant, he saw Case hanging from another rail, swinging his body like a pendulum; at just the right moment, he let go and landed on one of the first class balconies.

  “Dani, grab my hand,” Daric yelled, as he hung over the railing, trying desperately to reach his sister.

  Dani reached up with one hand and grabbed Daric’s, but she couldn’t get a secure enough hold. Daric wrapped his legs around the railing and reached further over. “Grab my wrist. I need a better grip to pull you up,” stretching his other arm lower for Dani to get a better hold.

  “The bands, they’ll touch. We don’t know what’ll happen,” Dani cautioned.

  “Well, we know what will happen if you don’t. Now grab my wrist,” Daric insisted.

  Dani reached with her other hand and grabbed Daric’s wrist. The travel bands touched and, instantly, everything went black.

  The man in the long coat who had been trying to locate Case, watched in disbelief as the two vanished. He figured the shadows and the moonlight were playing tricks on him. They must have fallen overboard that’s all. Now, he had some unfinished business to attend to.

  88: Present Day

  “Professor?” Hermes whispered. He didn’t want to wake Sandra.

  “Awroooo,” Bear yowled at that strange voice, stirring the occupants of the bedroom.

  “Again, Hermes? What is it this time?” Quinn mumbled, still half asleep. It seemed like just a couple of hours ago that Hermes had interrupted their sleep the first time. Quinn rolled over, opened one eye and confirmed that it was exactly three hours ago.

  “Professor, they’re on the move,” Hermes announced.

  “What?” Quinn bolted upright, quickly acti
vating the comm; Hermes appeared, instantly. “Where?”

  “I first realized they were no longer in California when the coordinates had them a significant distance to the west of that location,” Hermes said.

  “Quinn, what is it? Who are you talking to?” Sandra mumbled, pulling herself up into a sitting position. “Oh,” she said, seeing Hermes’s 3D image in their bedroom again.

  “Sorry, Dr. Delaney, I was hoping I wouldn’t wake you,” Hermes apologized. “But apparently Bear made that unachievable.”

  Bear had cautiously made her way to where Hermes image was projected and sniffed.

  “Is it the kids?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then wake me,” she ordered. “I have to know what’s happening.”

  “Go on,” Quinn pressed.

  “When they first appeared on my screen, I had them at 34.2006°N by 118.3586°W. Then, they were stationary for a while at 21.3069°N, 157.8583°W. Because their vital signs didn’t change significantly, I didn’t want to disturb you.”

  “And now?” Quinn asked, anxiously.

  Bear realized it was the same guy who had visited earlier and decided he wasn’t worth expending any more energy on. She returned to her spot by the French doors and soon fell back to sleep.

  “Well, it seems they moved from Burbank, California to Honolulu, Hawaii. They spent some time there and were moving slowly on an easterly heading. When they reached 24.7035°N, 155.8793°W, they were suddenly at 51° 30’ 30” N, 0° 4’ 25” W. I can only deduce that the travel bands were activated, taking them from the middle of the Pacific Ocean to London, England.

  “When?” Quinn asked.

  “Just moments ago, Professor,” Hermes said proudly, on top of the situation.

  “No, not when it happened. When in time are they?” Quinn demanded.

  “Oh, my simple mistake, Professor. The chronometer indicates they are in 1888.”