“You don’t?”
“No.”
“I think you do.”
“Think what you like.”
“Which one of you is the Captain?” asked Dunfield. He looked at Ramirez and Gowan. “You are both too young. I’m guessing it’s between you two,” he said, indicating Ogden and Stiers.
“I’m no captain,” said Ogden.
“That leaves me,” said Stiers. “Okay then. I’m the captain and if you don’t leave I intend to make my spaceship magically appear and zap you into oblivion. You’d best leave now.”
“Sarah nursed me through after my motorcycle accident,” said Dunfield. “It damaged a small part of my brain but mostly I am okay.”
“No,” said Ramirez. “You are definitely brain damaged.”
Dunfield grinned. “Fair comment,” he said.
“There is no ship here,” said Gowan.
“Which part of your brain was damaged?” asked Lillishenger cautiously.
“I am no longer susceptible to suggestion,” said Dunfield. “And while you have been arguing your case I have seen your poorly disguised spacecraft sitting there at the far end of the building. It certainly is small to have achieved what you achieved in that rescue.”
“Alpha brain damage?” whispered the Professor.
“Yes,” said the stranger. “I can see your ship as a white outline.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
At that point Gowan gasped at the security monitor and Ramirez stared at a car, which having pulled up near the gates, disgorged a girl in her early twenties wearing a halter top and the shortest shorts he had ever seen outside a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie in which the latter had ridden a bicycle. Until this point in his life he had measured every woman’s legs against that vision but now he was having to reassess his standards.
“Is that your girlfriend?” he asked, slightly breathlessly.
“Who?”
“At the gate.”
“Yes, that’s Sarah.”
“I’ll let her in,” said Ramirez and was out of the door before the Captain could pull his thoughts together.
“Wait…” he said but Ramirez was gone. On the screen they saw him running for the gate and unlocking it. He grabbed the girl around her shoulders and steered her inside after closing the gates.
“That may be the last we see of him,” said Gowan and wondered how her legs would look in the briefest of shorts.
“It appears we shall all be together as one happy family,” sighed Ogden.
“You will need us,” said Dunfield.
“I think not,” said Stiers. “I expect we can zap your girlfriend at the same time we do you.”
“You’re not the zapping type,” said Dunfield. “But I sense you are the Captain.”
Ramirez plunged through the door wearing a silly face and with Hugh Dunfield’s girlfriend in two. “This is Sarah,” he announced.
“Thank the Lord you’re here,” said Stiers. “Your demented boyfriend seems to think we are aliens who have a spaceship parked in here somewhere.”
The girl looked around. “I can’t thee anything,” she said, “but he hath everything exthept a wild imagination.”
“There is a spacecraft, Sarah. It is stationary in the other half of this building. I suspect there is some form of cloaking because even I can’t see it well.”
“Are you thure there’th thomething there?” Sarah asked.
“Yes.”
“I want to thank you all if you are the oneth who rethcued me,” she said.
“We’re not,” said Gowan, already a little jealous of this new girl and the temporary loss of Ramirez’s affections. The pronounced lisp comforted her though.
“There is a craft down there,” said Dunfield.
“It mutht be very thmall,” said Sarah. “Ith it behind the workbenth?”
“Of course not.”
“Have you had another fall from your motorthycle?”
“No.”
“Watch this,” said Dunfield and picked up a piece of plastic tubing and sent it flying in the direction of the ship where it hit the side with a dull clang and flew off to the side. “Convinced?”
“Lord,” she said. “There really ith thomething there.”
“It’s cloaked,” he said. “And there is something else but I can still see a fuzzy outline.”
The girl leapt from her chair and ran over to the ship with her arms outstretched. She ran into the side of the craft and almost tumbled over, bending low to regain her balance. Ramirez watched as she stooped and felt a familiar stirring. It never crossed his mind to consider she had been born a century earlier than him. Gowan watched him watching Sarah and felt a slight pang of regret.
“Jethuth,” said Sarah. “I banged my head.”
I wonder, though Gowan, if I can persuade her to say ‘she sells sea shells on the seashore’ and if that would blow a few of her diodes.
“You have a lithp – lisp,” Lillishenger said to the girl.
“Yeth. Ith it notitheable when I thpeak?”
“Barely,” said Ogden. “Just slightly maybe – on certain words.”
“I’ve had it thinthe I wath a child.”
“We can probably cure it,” said the Professor, “depending upon what medical facilities we have.”
“An operathion?”
“Barely,” said Ogden. “Merely some corrective plasma. About five minutes should do it – if it bothers you.”
“It doesn’t bother me,” said Ramirez.
“Nor me,” said Gowan.
“I expect it doesn’t bother any of us,” said the Captain, “but it is correctable – before we have to kill both of you, of course.”
“Kill uth? Why?”
“You have stumbled upon our secret,” said Stiers.
“You’d really kill uth?”
“Probably not,” he said. “We don’t want to start something that will wipe out mankind in a thousand years.”
“Where are you from?” asked Dunfield.
“About a century in the future. We were knocked back in time while defending Earth against ugly, big aliens. We sort of stumbled upon the aircraft Sarah was on and we had to save it. I hope it wasn’t too big a mistake.”
“Lithen, I’m very grateful,” said Sarah.
“We have been figuring a way back and to defeat the aliens before they seriously damage our planet,” said the Captain.
“You’re from the future?” the girl said.
“Temporarily, I hope.”
“How big is your thpacethip?”
“It fills most of that end of the building.”
“Can I thee inthide?”
“It’s a bit late now for anything else,” said Stiers. “We’ll be going back in there very soon.”
“Can you keep your trap shut?” asked Ramirez. “We don’t want to turn into Disneyland.”
“Of courth. My lipth are thealed.”
“I expect the Professor will demonstrate how we can cure your lisp.”
“Too damn right,” said Lillishenger who was more annoyed than anybody by the speech impediment. “First thing.”
As Gowan was first to approach the Challenger the tag on her uniform signalled her DNA to the vessel and a portal formed so they could enter. There were gasps from Sarah and Hugh as they entered into what was familiar territory to everybody else. “It’th like the movieth,” said the former.
“It’s quite basic,” Ramirez assured her.
“Big thithe,” she said.
“Ramirez glanced at her hips. “I wouldn’t that. I would say they are just about perfect, lady.”
“Myth,” she said.
“I wouldn’t say so, lady.”
“Myth.”
“It’s not a myth. Your thighs are pretty much perfect.”
The girl seemed puzzled. “I thaid the thithe of the thip ith big.”
“Oh.”
“And I am a mith, not a lady. Mith Booker but you can call me Thara
h.”
“Had your parents heard you speak before they named you?” asked Gowan.
“Of courthe not,” she said and laughed.
“Could you follow me?” asked Lillishenger. “I need to take you to medical and fix you up with a tiny plasma correction. We’ll be done in a few minutes.”
“What’th it for?”
“It will help our hearing,” said the Professor.
“Okay.”
The rabbit hunting and skinning Sarah dutifully followed Lillishenger into the medical area where the Professor aligned a computer sensor close to the girl’s mouth and plotted the correctional surgery.
“Will thith hurt?” asked the girl.
“It will help,” the Professor assured her.
“I wath thixth when it thtarted,” Sarah continued. “It doethn’t theem to bother Hugh.”
“It does bother me,” said Lillishenger, never one to mince words.
“I didn’t mean you. I meant Hugh.”
“That’s confusing. I’ll just ignore you. Now keep still for about thirty seconds.”
“Thirty thecondth?”
“Say half a minute,” insisted the Professor.
“Half a minute?”
“Sounds better already.”
Dunfield asked of nobody, “Do you really think Sarah has a noticeable lisp.”
“You are a man in love,” said the Captain. “Men in love don’t notice everything about a woman.”
“Yeah,” agreed Ramirez. “My cousin now, he married a girl with a huge ass and no tits. Believe me, no tits is unusual for a Hispanic girl. They are built to breed. Mind you, he noticed her ass on their wedding night when he got dumped out of bed three times.” He caught Ogden’s scowl and considered shutting up but wisdom won out and included the desire to make amends. “Not that your girl has anything but a great ass and perfect tits.”
“Kind of you to say so,” said Dunfield.
“No problem,” said Ramirez and this time a glare from Gowan did silence him.
Lillishenger said to Sarah. “Can you try saying there’s many a slip between cup and lip?”
“And between skirt and panties,” said Ramirez. “Anyway, get her to say the sea shells one. That will be a good test.”
“Say ‘I say my sermon to a solidly packed state service,” suggested the Professor.
“I say my sermon to a solidly packed state service,” said Sarah flawlessly and received a round of applause.
“Well, that’s all fixed,” said Lillishenger.
“You guyth are thuperb,” said Sarah and looked at their depressed faces. “Sorry, I was just joshing you.” Gowan found herself beginning to like the newcomer. Sarah added, “Can you fix Hugh’s brain?”
“I don’t know,” said Ramirez. “Pop it out and we’ll take a look.”
“I like my brain as it is – slightly damaged and all,” said Dunfield.
“Where are you living?” asked the Captain.
“We have a small trailer back of Sarah’s grandma’s place,” said Dunfield. “It’s very small but it will do us.”
“How do you fancy a job for life?”
“Really? Doing what?”
Stiers said, “Professor, could we clear out that old dining room of yours and make it a bedroom?”
“Sure – we’d need a bed but the room would be no loss; not with the facilities we have on board here.”
“You see, I’m thinking we’ll require somebody here on Earth to protect this area and watch over things while we are gone. It occurs to me that is Sarah and Hugh really wanted to help us they would move in here and be our guardians while we are travelling. Once we go they can have the entire house to themselves.”
“Where are you going?” asked Dunfield.
“Nowhere except forward through time if our plans work out,” said the Captain.
“Don’t you have to do a slingshot around the sun for that to happen?”
“Not by any science I know,” said Lillishenger. “We just need to be moving at faster than light speeds. We’ll just move through time. You see, Earth is under threat and we have to get back to save it or none of our futures will mean anything.”
“Simple, isn’t it?” said Gowan.
“We need this place to be protected for a hundred years,” said Lillishenger. “You will probably live for at least half that period. We can worry about the remainder later. We plan to make the journey in short hops of about a decade. That is all I can say right now.”
“And if we threatened to leave here and blab?” asked Dunfield.
“We would have to up and move,” said Stiers, “and the future of Earth would be even more in doubt.”
“We’ll help and we’ll say nothing,” said Dunfield. “But you will have to take us fully into your confidence about how you actually got here in the first place.”
“That’s easy,” said the Captain and began to tell the story. For the next half hour Sarah and Hugh sat spellbound as between them the crew members told their tales and how they had come to meet and subsequent events.
“It’s vital you get back,” said Sarah. “I want to have children and grandchildren and I need to think of them being safe.”
“Why couldn’t you use chemical weapons in your own time – use them against the aliens?” asked Dunfield.
“There are none,” said Ogden. “They were all destroyed along with most of our nuclear weapons. We don’t even know for certain what formulae were used.”
“And nuclear weapons so close to Earth would have been unacceptable to most nations,” said Gowan. “Anyway, how would they be delivered.? We still have no real space capability.”
“This is fantastic,” said Dunfield, “yet I always knew from the beginning this was an odd affair.”
“We don’t want to be here,” said Gowan. “We all have families back home.”
“Trust me, we’re nice people,” said Sarah. “We will help however we can.”
“There are ways you can help but in other ways you would be best out of it,” said Ramirez. “We have to raise money in whatever way we can.”
“This place is bought and paid for except for a tiny mortgage,” said Lillishenger. “It will be yours, but there are still running costs to be considered for the next hundred years.”
“Is that how long it will take you to get back?” asked Sarah.
“I am hopeful of achieving that in months or less in our time,” said the Professor. “However, as we will be travelling through time from here it will take us almost a century of Earth time.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You will.”
The next few hours were spent explaining the science to Sarah and Hugh until they understood what the team were trying to do. Hugh, once he had grasped the principle, was constructive with ideas. He had a long chat with Sarah and they agreed to move into the house with the others, and the two bathrooms that were not en suite were reallocated as guys and girls. The dining room was cleared, most everything being moved into the concrete building, and efforts were made to tidy and clean it. Lillishenger took off into town and returned with a double bed, sheets and duvet set, which they soon had in place, and the new bedroom was born.
The revised bathroom arrangements did not meet with the approval of Ramirez, who was still suspicious of Dunfield. “Hey,” he complained to those who had not turned deaf ears, “this means three guys sharing one bathroom. What do we have to do – give notice when we need a pee?”
“Use an eggcup,” suggested Gowan.
“Very funny,” said Ramirez. “I notice you and Sarah get to share one between you. That’s two people to our three.”
“Look at that – the monkey knows maths,” she replied. “Would you feel better sharing with us?”
“No, that would still be three sharing. In fact, whatever way we go and whichever bathrooms we share, I’m always going to be the third person.”
“Like a ménage a trois without the sex?” was her response.
“Kind of. Maybe I would prefer to share with you and Sarah.”
“I’d like to share with Sarah,” said Dunfield.
“Yeah, but that means Gowan would have to share with me and the Captain.”
Stiers looked up wearily at the mention of his rank. “You can always sleep onboard the Challenger,” he said. “That way you wouldn’t have to share with anybody.”
“Then I’d get lonely. And it’s a long walk over there.”
“Just go find a vat to boil your buttocks in,” said Gowan in frustration.
“Don’t we have a planet to save?” asked Lillishenger. “We have three bathrooms in this house and four on board ship. I suggest you use the first one that comes free if you need to evacuate your bladder.”
“That’s okay,” said Ramirez, “unless it means hopping across that yard at 2 am in the pitch dark.”
“Nobody – apart from you – will be using the bathrooms at that time in the morning.”
“Look…” said Ramirez.
“He’s just concerned he’ll have nowhere private to polish his lovestick,” said Gowan.
“Look…”
“Can’t he do what he normally does?” said Ogden. “Play with it while he’s working?”
“Look…”
“He shouldn’t play with it at his age anyway,” said Lillishenger. “He’s not a child.”
Ramirez said no more about the bathroom arrangements. However, when Sarah and Dunfield drove to their trailer to collect essentials and personal items, the crew of Challenger sat round to discuss this latest move.
“My point,” said Ramirez, “is that we said we’d be as secret about this as we could. Now we seem to have invited half the town to watch us undertaking a project where we as yet have no concept of success.”
“You’re right,” said Stiers.
“So why are we doing this?”
“It is obvious Dunfield was curious,” said Ogden. “Inviting him here should have been safe but we had no idea he had damaged the Alpha part of his brain and would see through the cloak.”
“It worked well with Sarah,” said Gowan.
“Yes,” agreed the Captain. “Very well indeed. But it seems Dunfield overheard us and smelt something happening. The dude genuinely seems only to want to help us.”
“And we will need it,” said the Professor. “We can’t just travel through time and leave this place unattended for a century. This could turn out to be a blessing.”
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