Zarulium Chronicles I - Destination Nazca

by Christopher A Forrest

Chapter 23: Ruth and Anton – Aurica – February 20

  As Ruth drove north rather unwillingly to Anton's house, she recalled how routinely her morning had started, but how frantic and disjointed it had become. She had sat with Uncle Chauncey enjoying a typical winter morning breakfast of sausage, bacon, and egg on toast, and with, of course, tea.

  After that, Chauncey had adjourned to the patio to read the daily newspaper and smoke his pipe, while Ruth opened the drapes and the sliding patio doors to air her penthouse. It was sunny and mild – the perfect start to a late winter's morning in north Toronto.

  She was reading the entertainment section of the morning paper in her favourite chair when Anton called about a quarter to 10 and disrupted her perfect morning.

  As she changed lanes from the slow right side to the medium-speed center to pass a slow truck, Ruth replayed in her mind, Anton's surprising early phone call. It went:

  "Hello, Ruth! I hope you are well and I'm glad you're at home!"

  "Good morning, Anton! This is a pleasant surprise. To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"

  "Ruth, I need you to visit me today as early as possible!"

  "Cannot this wait, Anton? Only, I am due to hold an important meeting here early this afternoon. Then, you see, I have to pack before departing for the airport for my flight bound for Peru."

  "I forgot about that! When do you return?"

  "I have made vacation arrangements. After fulfilling my obligations, I will be visiting the Nazca Lines before taking in Machu Picchu. I shall be returning two weeks from Monday!"

  "Two weeks from . . . but that is 17 days from now!"

  "Yes, Anton, a bit of earned pleasure after I complete my business!"

  "That will be far too late!"

  "Too late for what, may I ask?"

  "I could never begin to describe such a complex thing on the phone, Ruth!"

  "Well now, Anton, that sounds serious!"

  "It is very important that you come, Ruth – urgent even. If you leave by 10 AM, you'll be here by noon, and I promise, I'll have you out of here no later than two!"

  "10 AM? But that is in 15 minutes; surely you cannot expect me to ready myself . . ."

  "Sorry! Yes, I know it is short notice, but I need you to be here. It can't wait!"

  "Can you at least please tell me what 'it' is, so I can make that decision for myself?"

  "There isn't time, Ruth! Please do this. Your presence here is critical!"

  In the end, she had agreed to visit him but only because she worried about what Anton meant by 'important'. She suspected it was another personal issue between Anton and his daughter. Ruth worried that he needed her direct support with another Natalia problem.

  As motorists whizzed by her, Ruth noticed the weather had suddenly changed from sunny and mild to sleet and rain. She tried to focus her thoughts. How unfortunately changeable the weather can be in Ontario!

  She returned to wondering what Anton's problem might be. Then she decided that she really should not speculate negatively about it. Instead, she smiled and laughed to herself that she had somehow managed to end their call at 9:50, dress herself in a suitable ensemble by 9:57, and then start her car engine by 10:01 AM! She imagined herself as a competitor in a car rally race, only one that required fashionable clothes!

  As Ruth drove responsibly in the right lane, a centre-lane motorist roared by her at a very high speed. Ruth shook her head disapprovingly and continued to think positively about her burgeoning friendship with Anton. She admitted to herself that she relished following along with Natalia's progress. It was nice to feel personally needed. All of her other philanthropic work she conducted from a distance: she rarely met any of the masses of people she helped.

  Suddenly another motorist whizzed by at a speed sufficient to cover her windscreen temporarily with a thudding splash of grey slush. It so shocked Ruth that she said aloud, "Oh, bother!"

  She wanted to think positively, but this blasted weather combined with her not knowing why she was driving up the bloody #400 highway, caused her to think negatively again. Why had Anton been so uncharacteristically terse in refusing to discuss his reasons for urgently requesting her presence? This had better be good, Anton!

  She thought again, about how quickly she had left her penthouse. Before she left, she had to enlist her uncle to inform their new employees of her rearranged plans. The team Dr. Henderson jokingly named 'Chauncey's Angels' would now have to meet at the airport for a final review.

  She calmed herself when she remembered the flight was over 6 hours in length; thus, she could even review their plan on board the plane. I am going beyond philanthropy today, Anton!

  Eventually she arrived at his exit in Aurica, turned south, and drove to his driveway turnoff. As she drove down Anton's long and winding driveway, she noticed it was twenty minutes before noon. She saw him emerge through his front door wearing his lab coat beneath which she could see oversized, fur boots. For his piece de resistance, he wore a black ski mask over his face.

  In Ruth's imagination, he resembled a guilt-ridden doctor wanting authorities to catch him after his Arctic bank robbery. He was too absurd looking for her to remain cross with, and so she told herself not to mention how much he had inconvenienced her to come here today.

  "Good, Ruth, you're early," began Anton, in a business-like manner, as she stepped out of her car. "I may need a few extra minutes in the end!"

  With playful cynicism, she replied, "Well, 'hello to you too, Anton' and 'yes, thank you, I have been well, and yes, the drive was lengthy but incident free'!"

  "Oh, sorry, Ruth," began Anton. "I hope you are well. Excuse my brusque nature; however, I am incorporating into today's variables your previously stated need to depart as quickly as possible. Your time is very valuable!"

  Rather addled by his continual scientific-style speech, Ruth responded, "Well, yes, I am well, and I thank you for considering my schedule in your . . . computations, Anton."

  As he guided her into the farmhouse quickly, Anton said, "Yes, Ruth, I appreciate you offering your time today. I predict you will find attending today's demonstration rewarding."

  Expecting something quite different, Ruth inquired, "Demonstration, doctor?"

  He walked her to the top of the stairs that led down to his basement laboratory. Gesturing as an usher might for her to go down the stairs, he revealed, "I am ready to explain a breakthrough, and then demonstrate it."

  Smiling suddenly, Ruth responded, "By all means . . . Doctor Yakushev!" She was imagining a shiny new engine that he would soon show her!

  As they entered his lab, he added, "I will avoid the technical aspects and speak of the events as we know them."

  Security was a concern with revolutionary jet engines. Ruth repeated, "We?"

  From an ersatz looking control room, Natalia shouted, "Hi, Lady Ruth!"

  Ruth declared, "It's Friday, Natalia!" She asked, "Shouldn't you be in school?"

  Then, a male voice unfamiliar to Ruth, emerged from behind Natalia, saying, "That's true, Ma'am, but I suppose this sure beats hell out of school, eh!"

  Surprised, Ruth answered, "Indeed!" When a male youngster emerged from behind Natalia, Ruth asked, "And you are?"

  Noticing Ruth's surprise, Anton provided a quick introduction, explaining, "Joe, this is Ruth Clarkson-Smythe, my sponsor. Ruth, this is Joe Painted Sun."

  Completely confused, Ruth repeated, "Painted Sun? Well, of course . . . I see . . ."

  Interrupting, Joe stated, "No, actually, Ma'am, you can't see it."

  Still lost, Ruth inquired, "Can't see what, may I ask?"

  Joe answered, "My painted sun. You see, it's a birth mark, eh."

  Sensing an opportunity to tease Joe a bit, Natalia interrupted, "So that's the secret of your name, Joe. You never told me about it!"

  Feeling guilty, Joe replied, "Oh, well, I never had a reason to, I guess."

  With one raised eyebrow and a mischievous grin, Natalia continued, "And you never
showed me. I mean, I think my best friend would have showed me his birth mark before he told Lady Ruth about it." She paused, and then to make him feel as uncomfortable as possible, Natalia dramatically concluded, "A woman, I add, he doesn't even know!"

  At that remark, Ruth fired a squinted eye glance Natalia's way. Natalia was uncertain suddenly, if Ruth meant it playfully, so she defensively added, "Well, no offence, Lady Ruth."

  Confused, Joe interjected, "Why do you keep calling her 'lady'? I mean, it's obvious she's a lady!"

  Recognizing Joe's unintended breach of etiquette, Anton leapt into the conversation next, stating, "No; no, Joe . . . it's my fault, sorry, Lady Ruth!"

  "No, Anton," began Ruth in earnest. Magnanimously accepting the blame, she continued, "It is entirely my own fault, for I asked you to call me plain Ruth."

  Subserviently, Anton continued, "But we are in mixed company – I should have used your title."

  Sincerely, Ruth confessed, "Actually, Anton, it delights me without limits that this youngster seems to have no clue as to my identity!"

  With a shrug, Joe explained, "I just figured you were friends, eh."

  Natalia considered the two adults her prey, moreover, she had prayed for them to get together, so to speak. Here's a chance to have fun! Looking at her dad and Ruth, Natalia teased, "Well, yes of course they are friends, aren't you guys?"

  "Yes, we are friends, Natalia," interjected Ruth, intuitively. She continued, "I agree, friends enjoy finding out things about each other."

  "So," began Natalia, with high hopes.

  "So, Joe Painted Sun, Natalia is a bit upset you haven't shown her your birth mark," began Lady Ruth. Continuing to focus on Joe, Ruth asked, "Would you like to show it to her now?"

  Joe considered his options. He had no idea who this crazy 'lady' was, but thought she deserved fair warning, and answered, "Okay, but I recommend you better not look, lady."

  Confident, Ruth asked, "Why ever not?" She stopped feeling this way when she saw Joe quickly pull the right side of his trousers down six inches to flash Natalia his birth-stained upper backside.

  Shocked, but maintaining her British stiff upper lip, Lady Ruth attempted to steer decorum back on course, demurely stating, "Thank you, Joe. Perhaps now would be the moment to move on to the demonstration, Anton?"

  Natalia interjected, "I think Joe just gave a pretty impressive one of those, Lady Ruth!" Then, Natalia began laughing until she reached her snorting point.

  Her snort repetitions became so frequent that Lady Ruth leapt to her feet, assuming Natalia was unwell. She enquired, "Oh, my dear, are you having an asthmatic attack?"

  Unconcerned, in unison, the two males explained, "No, it's just her snort." Then each male looked inquisitively at the other. Their unintended comic timing caused Natalia to snort more, which in turn caused Ruth to laugh. When both Anton and Joe began to laugh last but still together, Natalia let out an upgraded snort – a rip snort – that seemed to all others to sound painful even. In fact, this caused both Anton and Ruth to gasp slightly, but Joe to laugh harder.

  Eventually, Ruth managed to advance the conversation, asking, "So Anton, shall we get on with whatever you want to call it?"

  "Certainly, Lady Ruth. I am sorry for the delays!"

  Reminding him, Ruth evenly stated, "Two hours – you promised me!"

  Anton began, "It will be easier to understand, Lady Ruth, once I have explained everything from the beginning."

  Ruth repeated, "Two hours – you promised me!"

  "Yes, Lady Ruth," replied Anton.

  With her own interests in mind, Ruth requested, "Let's all promise . . . no more interruptions . . . unless of course, we do not comprehend something."

  Plainly, Natalia responded, "I suggest we all just zip it then, Lady Ruth!"

  Anton protested, "Natalia, that's rude!"

  Natalia explained, "I meant well, dad. If she needs to get out of here in just two hours, then you'd better give the abridged version of your presentation. Crap, last night it took you almost four hours – and I still understood zip of it!"

  Gently reminding her, Anton commented, "Natalia, watch your language, please."

  Natalia quickly responded, "Oh, shit! I'm sorry, Lady Ruth!" Then she covered her mouth.

  Seemingly missing that Natalia had sworn, Joe genuinely added, "Yeah, she's sorry, eh."

  Ruth demanded, "Please begin, Anton, before this turns into a farce!"

  Everyone quieted down, Anton cleared his throat, and then he began, "I was born in Chernobyl in 1972, 18 years before the fall of communism in the Soviet Union."

  "Oh, shi –" began Natalia, but managed to stop herself. Then she rolled her eyes, and requested, "Cut to the part about how you got out, dad!"

  Somewhat resenting needing to heed her advice, Anton responded, "Very well, in the interest of saving time, I'll move forward." Then he restarted, saying, "Before the fall of communism in the USSR, the Soviet government offered scientists and soon-to-graduate students, the opportunity to solicit for work and education in the West, because it intended to cut its scientific labour force in half." Then he asked, "How's that, Natalia?"

  She replied, "Excellent, dad. Now tell her about how this affected you personally."

  Catching on, Anton responded, "Yes!" Then, as if he had finally comprehended how to proceed, Anton continued, "Well, you see, I was about to graduate, and I had performed well enough in school that the Massachusetts Institution of Technology offered me a scholarship."

  Unimpressed that he had downplayed his past successes, Natalia interrupted, "'Well enough'? Dad, come on, toot yer horn a bit! MIT? Are you kidding me? Shit!"

  Giving her the bad language glance again, Anton stated, "Natalia!"

  Understanding it, she replied, "Sorry, dad."

  Encouragingly, Joe suggested, "Tell her about the freaky way you got smart suddenly, Dr. Yakushev!" Then Joe turned to Ruth and with an enthusiastic whisper, said, "This story really rocks, lady!"

  "Yes, well," began Anton, "I suppose it might seem freakish, especially in hindsight. Anyways, after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, the government relocated the survivors and moved my family to Moscow. Soon after, I began to experience headaches . . . at first mild ones, but then severe ones, like migraines."

  Ruth protested, "How awful for you, Anton!"

  Joe continued, "Tell her the weird part, doctor!"

  "Uh, yes, well, my grades began to rise despite the headaches," continued Anton. Then he revealed, "And eventually, I scored perfectly in all my subjects at school."

  Complimenting him, Ruth stated, "All of them? Bravo, Anton! Bravo!"

  Candidly, Natalia interjected, "Usually when I get a headache, I feel like barfing."

  Ruminating as he spoke, Joe admitted, "I usually only barf if I eat too much junk food and shit like that, eh." Then he quickly self-admonished himself, saying, "Oh, my bad! Sorry for swearing, lady!"

  Urgently, Ruth requested, "Carry on, Anton!" The rude words did not trouble her half so much as the incessant interruptions.

  Anton continued, "Right, then . . . news of my success eventually reached the Soviet government, who in time turned me into a 'hope and renewal' poster boy for Chernobyl."

  Natalia interrupted, "It disgusts me when they exploit people like that!"

  Ruth agreed, "Indeed!"

  Anton continued, "Anyways, the headaches stopped, and this became another miracle."

  Joe interjected, "I'll say, eh. The master himself, Stan Lee, would have trouble believing that story!"

  Ruth inquired, "Who's Stan Lee?"

  Stunned by her ignorance, Joe questioned, "Comic book writing legend, Stan Lee?" Then he answered, "He's the God of Marvel Comics, that's all!"

  While Joe spoke, Ruth glanced at the time on her watch. Recalling that in her haste to leave Toronto she had almost forgot to wear her watch; Ruth took a second to admire its delicate thin band, and its wealth-understating silver metal. She smiled knowing her earrings matched
it perfectly and she could monitor the time discreetly. Hearing Joe finish, she responded, "Indeed! Tally ho, Anton!"

  As he gave Joe an admonishing glance, Anton began, "Okay, so, word of my strange and improbable story eventually reached NASA in the USA. The next thing I knew, MIT offered me a scholarship."

  Curious, Ruth asked. "So, that was the origin of your relationship with NASA?"

  Anton replied, "Yes but, what no one knows about, is the deal I worked out with them."

  Ruth asked, "What was your deal?"

  "They wanted me to study astrophysics to the exclusion of all other sciences, but my interests were far too diversified to accept that restriction."

  Ruth reasoned, "But, eventually you must have accepted, Anton."

  He explained, "Yes, but, sensing that I would turn them down at the time, NASA's operatives offered to fully fund any summer projects I was interested in, beginning before I even entered the institute."

  Enthusiastically, Joe interrupted, "Tell her about the cash grant, doctor!" Then he confided in Ruth again, saying, "You won't believe the big bucks they gave him, lady!"

  Anton continued, "Ahh, yes, Joe . . . they granted me a budget of a half million dollars per summer . . ."

  Repeating him, as if finding it amazing, Natalia stated, "A half a million per summer!" She shook her head in wonder and added, "And that was before any of us were even born, right dad?"

  Quickly, Ruth added, "I'll take that as a compliment!" Then she smiled demurely at Anton.

  Because Ruth's smile had easily distracted him, Anton asked, "Ahh, where was I?"

  Ruth had a thought, and interrupted, "A moment, Anton, for a point of clarification; how did a Russian-speaking teenager negotiate his way through a deal like that?"

  "Oh, uh," began Anton. Then he admitted, "As a 14-year-old, I learned English after a tech friend of mine discovered how to hook up American television stations via satellite in Moscow. I mostly watched science fiction shows with a dash of MTV – as you can imagine teens would."

  Admiringly, Joe declared, "Excellent choices!"

  Mischievously, Natalia inquired, "Was that illegal, dad?"

  Pointing his finger upwards for emphasis, Anton explained, "Well, yes . . . of course it was, Natalia, but I considered it scientific research." Then, he continued, "Anyways, I used the time during those summers, and the money, to begin my research."

  "But later," interrupted Ruth, "the scientific community ostracized you for identifying that you were researching . . . what was it? Time travel . . . or something ridiculous like that. They said your ideas were as absurd as anything they had ever heard."

  Anton nodded knowingly, and then sighed slightly as he replied, "Yes in retrospect that would appear to have been a mistake on my behalf. I should have learned from the wisdom of Nicolaus Copernicus . . ."

  Natalia interrupted, "What did he do?"

  Very quickly, Joe replied, "Postulated that the Sun was the center of our universe and not the Earth, eh."

  Interested, Natalia asked, "Was he a Russian like you, dad?"

  "No, Polish," replied Anton.

  Joe asked, "Polish are Catholic, right?"

  "Yes," said Ruth.

  "I bet he got in some shi . . . trouble, for that idea then," remarked Joe, catching himself this time.

  Nodding knowingly again, Anton explained, "To my earlier point Joe, the church did not reprimand him because he chose not to print his treatise until almost his death. I, unfortunately, more resemble Galileo Galilei. He chose to support Copernicus' findings in his work, and the Inquisitor ordered his house arrest. He spent the last 10 years of his life restricted."

  Innocently, Natalia questioned, "Sort of like you here, dad?"

  Everyone suddenly realized her question might have unintentionally severely offended Anton. The audience fell silent awaiting Anton's response, but before he could do so, Natalia jumped out of her seat remembering, "Oh, sh . . . oot! I put a big pot of water on to boil for tea before you arrived, Lady Ruth! I’ll be back in a minute!"

  Before she could escape, Anton replied, "In answer to your question – yes, Natalia, your question was entirely fair, but it requires no answer! You see, fortunately, in this century at any rate, we are all free to be madmen or geniuses while the rest of the world ignores us!" He concluded his response in an airy, carefree manner, and, then continued, "But let me get back to my story . . ."

  Ruth interjected, "Please do, Dr. Yakushev!"

  Pleased that Natalia's comment had not diminished his enthusiasm, Ruth began to anticipate something even more special than tea was brewing, if such a thing were possible!

  Anton continued with his story, explaining, "In 1990, NASA spent the vast majority of its budget on the Space Shuttle Program. The public seemed happy enough with the program; however, the reality was that even to this day, NASA's greatest period of public support occurred in 1969 when the US beat the Soviets to the Moon landing."

  Ruth asked, "So why did the Americans eventually abandon their Moon landings?"

  Anton explained, "Well, Lady Ruth, the government realized that both the scientific returns on Moon voyages, and their public popularity, diminished far more rapidly than it expected. Public support for the program began to wane."

  Joe interjected, "Bummer!"

  "Well enough put, Joe," remarked Anton. He continued, "The important development during this period, however, was something that did not happen . . ."

  Enthusiastically, Joe interjected, "Is this the part about propulsion systems, Dr. Yakushev?"

  Anton replied, "Indeed; well remembered, Joe! You see, there had not been any measurable improvement in rocket propulsion systems, globally-speaking, for decades."

  Clarifying, Ruth asked, "You were head of the Mars space team, were you not, Anton?"

  "Yes, Lady Ruth. NASA bade me work on propulsion, but . . ."

  Ruth interrupted, "But what, Anton?" She was suddenly concerned that this demonstration might be about something other than her new engine.

  Anton continued, "You see, I never deviated from working on propulsion while employed by NASA. I reserved researching my time travel studies to my own free time, except for the work I did during summers at MIT!"

  "So, the newspaper reports about you embezzling and wasting taxpayer monies . . ." began Ruth.

  He interrupted, "Were uniformly, either lies or supposition!"

  Ruth smiled, and decided an immediate opportunity existed for Anton to prove his honesty to her. She stated, "Anton, I need to inquire of you, something very particular!"

  Evenly, he asked, "Yes, Ruth?"

  She explained, "You expensed a total of $104.53 in paper clips this year, yet have never expensed a penny in five years previously for paper."

  Confidently, Anton replied, "Of course I haven't billed you for paper, Lady Ruth." He explained, "In compliance with my own environmental initiative, I file all my data on compact disc. I would never bill you for paper: I have little need of it."

  Nodding her head in agreement, but sporting a confused visage Ruth responded, "Top marks there, Anton, but then, that simply makes the paper clip expenditure even more mysterious."

  Evenly, he continued, "There is nothing mysterious about it, Lady Ruth. It was simply the only way to do it economically!"

  "Do what, may I ask?"

  "But of course, Lady Ruth," began Anton. "I needed the paper clips during the early stages of my biophysics experiments involving both bionics and cybernetics."

  Impressed, Joe declared, "Wicked!"

  Weakly, Ruth asked, "Siberian . . . ethics? What have they to do with propulsion?"

  Sensing her confusion, Joe tried to explain things to her in simple terms, saying, "No, lady; Dr. Yakushev is talking about humans and machines joined together, eh? Like in the movie Terminator!"

  Polite but also dismissive, Ruth responded, "Sounds thoroughly repugnant, I'm sure!"

  "Anyways, Lady Ruth, let me continue since you have asked," began Anton.
Ruth wanted to interrupt him to say she was satisfied with his report; however, Natalia had just entered with the tea, and distracted her. Thank goodness, tea!

  "You recall I expensed a hydroponic reservoir about a year ago," continued Anton, oblivious to the tea ritual. "Well, I grew water lily plants for the purpose of advancing my experiments on plant-animal fusion with an aim towards eventually moving on to the more complex, animal-to-machine version of the same thing. The lily plant, you see, produces pads at a prodigious rate, thus allowing me to conduct six experiments running continuously over several days."

  As she offered the cookie tray around, and trying to be helpful, Natalia explained, "Dad's growing green and red peppers there now, Lady Ruth!"

  With mild exasperation in her voice, Ruth demanded, "But to the paper clip explanation, Anton!"

  He continued, "Yes. You see, Lady Ruth, I needed a high resistivity electrical conductor to properly execute my experiments. I needed a considerable volume of these, and frankly, my only other option was to deploy pre-filling stage canning closures."

  Helpfully, Joe asked, "Would those be described as 'soda pop tops' to the layperson, Dr. Yakushev?"

  Anton replied, "Precisely, Joe!" Then, he continued with his explanation. "I would have had to source the pop tops from the US, which meant extra duty costs, and I would also have needed to modify them to function properly thereafter – a great waste of time for me; thus, I selected the paperclips. In fact, the high resisting steel paperclips proved a perfect conductor over the low resisting aluminum pop tops."

  Rummaging through a drawer, Natalia produced a handful of paperclips she previously had noticed there, and then commented, "Hey, Lady Ruth, here's a bunch . . . pretty colours, too!"

  "Yes," remarked Anton. "The plastic coating in multiple colours cinched the deal. The plastic enhanced the resistive capacity, and the colours meant I could avoid using a time-consuming hand-written numerical system that would have been more prone to my making errors with as well."

  As she discreetly dipped her chocolate cookie in the tea, Ruth dryly announced, "Anton, I will never again question your need to spend $104.53."

  "In the interest of your time, I suggest we move on, Lady Ruth," added Anton.

  "Pray do so, Anton," replied Ruth, and then she sipped her tea.

  Anton resumed, explaining, "After I concluded my early practical experiments during the summers at MIT, I returned to the computer for several years. In fact, I spent most of the first three years of your sponsorship, Lady Ruth, immersed in theoretical study before beginning practical experimentation again. Although I made a significant breakthrough a few months ago; nevertheless, it was not until Joe offered an opinion a few days ago, that I realized what the answer to safe human time travel was!"

  During her entire adult life, Ruth could not recall disrupting a tea party herself with such a breach of its required protocol as she did next. She leapt to her feet; spilled a large dollop of tea on the lab floor; and then shouted, "Time travel?"

  Mistaking her response as being overjoyed exuberance, Anton excitedly replied, "Yes, Lady Ruth; I have conducted time travel successfully and safely, but not with a human subject . . . yet!"

  She repeated, "Time travel?"

  Still misreading her response, Anton continued, "I know it sounds . . . 'absurd' and 'ridiculous' as you said earlier, but I have succ. . ."

  She interrupted, "I'm not here to see your innovative engine design?"

  Instantly disheartened, Anton verbally stumbled, "Uh, well, Lady Ruth; I do continue to work on propulsion occasionally; however, about 18 months ago now, I diverted . . . some of my resources . . . and time . . . to time travel – and I have succ . . ."

  Deflated by what she now recognized was not going to happen, Ruth interrupted, "Dear me! I'm sorry, Anton. I had a different expectation. I'm sure that a time travel breakthrough must be a wonderful thing also."

  "Indeed, Lady Ruth," began Anton, trying to hide his disappointment. He asked, "May I presume to accept that this is why you had a concern about expenses?"

  Ruth did not want him to think of her as petty or suspicious: that was not her intent at all. She answered, "Anton, please forget about that issue. I am content that you have used your time in a positive pursuit, and that you expensed things accordingly!"

  Candidly, he asked, "But you would have preferred a fast new engine today?"

  Ruth did not want to dwell on that negative issue, and suddenly had an idea. She asked, "Anton, does your time travel device . . . fly?"

  He admitted, "Ahh, no, Ruth. At this stage I have created a stationary holding vessel only."

  Still hopeful, she continued, "I see. One does not fly to the past and then fly back to the future?"

  Joe interrupted, "Excellent movie choice, lady, but he was called 'McFly'!"

  Deflated, Ruth asked, "Whatever is this youngster talking about, Anton?"

  Anton explained, "It was just a science fiction film; but no, the machine does not fly."

  Ruth smiled and then produced a sign of her indomitable British spirit, by saying, "Science fiction? Well, the fiction part is outdated then! How did you make fiction obsolete, Anton?"

  Thankful for her change in attitude, Anton confessed, "Actually, I must give full credit to my young assistant, Joe Painted Sun. If we are eventually successful in moving to the human travelling stage, then his input will have been instrumental!"

  "Just a moment, Anton," began Ruth slowly. "What do you mean by assistant and to that end as well, the word we?" Ruth could not recall the hiring of any assistant. She reasoned that she probably would have approved such a thing, but would have appreciated knowing in advance. After all, she paid the bills!

  Anton comfortably explained, "Yes, Lady Ruth; Joe Painted Sun qualifies as my assistant as of a few days ago, and even Natalia has busied herself in a support role!"

  Somewhat taken aback, Ruth replied, "I don't believe Canadian law allows for an employee this young, Anton!"

  Anton furrowed his brow as if incredulous hearing her comments, and explained, "But, Lady Ruth, I did not hire Joe per se. There is no financial compensation!"

  With no degree of humour, Ruth declared, "Worse and worst! If you aren't paying someone for their services, even if they are a child, then you are little better than a slaver!"

  Stunned by Ruth's accusation, Anton marvelled at how she could describe Joe as his slave. Anton wondered if something else was troubling her.

  Sensing tension, Joe broke the silence, explaining, "No problem, lady. I work for under-the-table pizza, eh!"

  Natalia smiled at Ruth as she presented her with a refreshed cup of tea, and this softened Ruth's concerns. Then, Ruth turned to see Joe with a large grin, and his missing tooth. The child looked as if he were the happiest of humans alive. This made her smile. Acceptingly, she began, "Very well, I shall turn a blind eye in this case!" With a righteous finger point, she explained to Joe and Natalia, "In other parts of the world children, this would be a serious offense!"

  Anton stood watching the exchange, formed his hands into fists, and then positioned them on his hips. He was trying hard to stay on course in order to meet Ruth's time mandate, but these constant diversions, especially this latest, made him feel frustrated and disappointed. He especially did not appreciate her accusatory remarks regarding slave labour! After all, Ruth was the person who told him to make new friends and 'bring in fresh blood'.

  He watched as she smiled now and sipped her tea, as if she were satisfied that a storm had passed. He decided her sudden acceptance of the work relationship was insincere. Anton felt he still needed to justify his selection of his entirely willing youthful assistant, because Ruth still secretly thought of him as a slaver!

  Somewhat indignantly, he stated, "In fact Ruth, I discovered that the best thing I did in over a year was to take Joe on and listen to his ideas – fresh blood!"

  Sensing the situation remained tense, Joe jokingly stated, "There he goes with that vampire th
ing again, eh, Natalia?"

  Having formed the same conclusion, Natalia added, "Yeah, we've got to get him out into the night air more! Let him feed more, or something!"

  Replete with clawing hands, a terrible Transylvanian accent, and his missing tooth, Joe attempted his best movie vampire impersonation, declaring, "I vant to suck your blood!"

  Natalia laughed at his foolishness, and remarked, "Well, you won't suck much with that hole in yer mouth, Dracula!" Then she presented him with the tray, and asked, "Cookie?"

  As Joe returned to himself and accepted a chocolate chip cookie, Anton began laughing. He realized at that moment that in his heart he felt the rest of the world could go and hang itself, but he thought these two kids were delightful. They were enthusiastic and without worries. If Ruth could not see this too, then she must have some hidden issue that he could never have surmised previously.

  Ruth, although the last to do so, nevertheless began to laugh also, after she saw Joe nibble his cookie, and then flash a warm smile. After the laughter died down, she sincerely asked, "Anton, what did Joe discover?"

  Anton burst into a smile and replied, "Joe's idea concerned DNA. He suggested that a time traveler could overcome most of several theorized paradoxes if he could only alter his own DNA before traveling!"

  As if the answer were obvious to anyone, Ruth commented, "Yes, but of course that's the answer!" Then she admitted, "Actually, I am certain that you understand I really have no idea what you are talking about, Anton."

  Anton sympathized, stating, "Indeed, Ruth, but actually, you would sit in company with the vast majority of people who would also be in that position." Then he added, "However, you rise above them because you admit it."

  After he spoke, he winked at her. She enjoyed his winking praise immensely.

  "I'm right there in your group too, Lady Ruth," interjected Natalia. Looking around her, she added, "All this equipment looks to me like stuff you need for a rock concert!"

  Ruth smiled and motioned for Natalia to sit beside her. She explained, "We ladies will stick together on this, my dear! Anton, please explain in… ladyperson's terms, what you mean by all that scientific tommyrot!"

  Joe whispered to Anton, asking, "What's 'tummy rot', doctor? Is that like having a tapeworm?"

  Anton whispered back, explaining, "It is possibly anything complicated that someone British does not understand, Joe, but I am unfamiliar with some of her jargon."

  Natalia inquired, "What are you two whispering about, dad?"

  Smiling fraudulently, Anton answered, "Nothing important, dear, just a point of linguistic clarification between Joe and me – nothing further."

  Anton felt a bit guilty that the science-geek boys had just performed a mental fly-by past the girls, so to speak, and so he decided it was time for the demonstration to begin. He announced, "Lady Ruth, in the interests of your time, and because this really is in danger of becoming farcical, how about I simply send something travelling through time, and fill in the details as we go?"

  Ruth clasped her hands elated, Natalia copied her, and Joe helped Anton pull the curtain back. Behind it sat an odd-looking device about the size of Ruth's smallest piece in her trendy luggage set.

  Ruth gasped and stated, "Goodness, Anton! You cannot mean to suggest that a person could travel through time in this microwave oven!"