The Mission of No Return

by Frank Cereo

  “That’s not the direction to the time machine.” Amanda responds.

  “Exactly, if they find the time machine we will alter the past again. Lets lead them in the wrong direction and then we will loop back around to the time machine.” Huey says as he starts to huff and puff.

  Both Amanda and Huey stop for a minute so they can bandage Huey’s gunshot hand. He rips the sleeve off the left arm and wraps it tightly around the hand. Meanwhile the diesel engine is moving closer as trees can be heard snapping by heavy tracks from what sounds like a tank. You can see the headlights as the tank is heading right towards the time machine.

  “We need to create a diversion to change the path of that tank.” Huey says.

  “How do you intend to do that?” Amanda asks.

  “Here pull the pistol out from the back of my pants.” Huey says as he turns around.

  Amanda grabs the pistol and hands it to Huey.

  “Listen carefully I’m going to fire the gun. They are going to follow the sound and flash and come this way. You need to run back to the time machine and get it started and up to full power and if I’m not back, leave without me. We cannot let the Nazi’s get their hands on that machine because if they do the Axis powers might win the war.” Huey says.

  With nothing being said Amanda runs off back towards the time machine as Huey gives her a head start. He counts to thirty in his head and then he fires the pistol twice at the oncoming Nazi tank. At that point, Huey runs southward and when he knows they are following him he will make the turn westward back to the time machine. He watches as the tank turns and starts to follow behind him in a southern direction. The German soldiers that were following the tank moved up along on the side of the tank and began shooting at Huey. He knew that he only had a few more minutes and Amanda would be back at the ship. Then the Panzer stops, but the bullets were still whizzing by. Huey knows what’s going to follow as he hits the deck and a loud explosion rips a small crater to his left. The machine guns from the tank are still shredding the trees and grounds around him. Huey plays it smart and crawls into the crater from the tank shell knowing the Germans are not going to shoot in the same spot. The second blast rips apart a large pine tree just ahead of Huey. The tree falls down towards Huey as he rolls out of the crater and starts crawling toward a small ravine.

  “It’s time to move west now,” Huey says to himself as he keeps low preventing the Germans from seeing him.

  As soon as Huey clears the area, he uses the wooded area for cover and bolts toward the clearing where the farm is located. The Germans continue to shoot the area up with gun fire and tank shells thinking the two Americans are still in the woods. When Huey reaches the clearing he sees the time machine and sprints towards it. It feels like an eternity as he stumbles towards the ship. When he reaches the ship, it is not running but he can hear something being said in German. Huey takes his time as he carefully looks around to the entrance to the ship. He sees a German soldier with his rifle at point blank range aimed at Amanda’s forehead.

  “American spy, you will be shot for treason.” The German soldier says in broken English as he cocks the hammer on his rifle.

  Before the Nazi takes a shot, Huey pops out from behind the ship and pops him clean right in the forehead with one shot from the pistol. The German with a look of surprise on his face drops straight backwards as his body bounces a few times before it comes to a complete rest.

  “I hope he didn’t do anything during the war or after it.” Huey says while out of breath.

  Huey grabs Amanda before she lands on her knees in shock.

  “Come on, we got to go.” Huey says as he helps Amanda underneath the ship and up the ladder. They get inside and Stephanie is still out from the bump on her head. Huey hits the power button and watches the power building as he buckles his shoulder harness. He looks over at Amanda who is just sitting in the seat staring into space.

  “Amanda, buckle up.” Huey yells at her.

  Amanda looks at Huey like she is high on drugs or in another world. Huey keeps yelling at her to buckle but she seems like she is not in control of her senses. Her eyes look like they are glassed over and she is dazed. He looks over as the power surge has reached seventy percent just as a shell from the tank hits to the left of the ship. The ship rocks from as the shock wave from the explosion. This seems to bring Amanda back to her senses.

  “Amanda, buckle up! We are close to full power and that tank is reloading while we are talking. I can guarantee you the next shell from that tank won’t miss a sitting target.” Huey yells in panic.

  Amanda sitting grabs her harness and pulls it over her head and clasps it. Just as the power surge reaches one hundred percent, the ship is gone with a bright flash just as the second shell from the tank hits where the time machine was located.

  All that the Germans saw was where the flash came from and the tank shell exploding. They were confused all to hell not knowing what they had just witnessed.

  The time machine raced towards a more recent time period just around the time Amanda was born. She is the eldest of the three surviving crew members.

  Chapter 24 - 2210

  As the time machine raced into the future, the date was set for March 27, 2210, Amanda’s birthday. The goal was to make sure that both Amanda and baby Amanda could survive together at the same time. The time machine never accelerated to super speed due to the short time span it was traveling towards. The years were clicking about one year every two seconds which meant the journey of two hundred and sixty seven years would take about nine minutes.

  “Can you believe we landed somewhere in Nazi Germany during World War II.” Amanda says.

  “One thing we do know is the time traveler doesn’t stay in one area. It moves with every jump we take.” Huey adds.

  “What did I miss? What happened to me?” Stephanie says as she rubs her head.

  “First of all you panicked and you tried to jump ship as we were traveling through time. I had to tackle you and restrain you. Sorry about the bump on the head. You kind of hit it on the floor. Secondly, Amanda entered a date in the twentieth century during World War II and we landed in Nazi Germany. We barely made it out alive.” Huey responds.

  As the timer keeps clicking the year is now 2010 and moving forward. The three surviving crew members make sure they stay buckled in their seats not knowing where the ship will land randomly.

  “There has got to be a button or something that can indicate where we are going to land.” Amanda says as she looks over all the control buttons.

  “If there is such a button or guidance system, we better find it within the next six and half minutes or we will be randomly landing somewhere unknown.” Stephanie adds.

  As the years click forward to 2098, time is shortening on whether they can guide the craft to a safe landing zone. Another question that needs to be answered is can two bodies of the same person live in the same time period. Amanda will be the guinea pig for this experiment. You can see in her eyes she is a little leery of what may happen.

  “What do think is going to happen when we reach my date of birth?” Amanda asks.

  “I don’t know how time travel will affect your body as it enters into the same time frame as your birth.” Huey says.

  “Why can’t we move to your birthday Huey?” Amanda asks as she seems to be getting a little nervous about what may transpire.

  “Both of us will pay because both of us would have passed through the time barrier as our births approached or something like that. I don’t know what will happen, what more can I say.” Huey explains.

  “So since I’m the oldest I being used as the guinea pig.” Amada says with disgust.

  “If I were the eldest I would be the guinea pig. That’s how it works, get use to it.” Huey says.

  “Will you two quit fighting? Nothing will probably happen.” Stephanie says.

  The year is 2208 as the time machine begins to slow down where the months are being revealed. Still nothing has b
een found to guide them to landing in a specific spot. They all knew there had to be some kind of guidance system as Captain Bridges had landed preciously where he needed to go to find them in the past. Now the calendar showed on the display February 27, 2210 as the days were clicking forward to meet the date set in the computer.

  “I hope we land in a safe place.” Stephanie says.

  “I second that motion.” Amanda replies.

  As the display clicked from March 26, 2210 to March 27, 2210 the ship didn’t come to a complete stop. It was moving in an up and down motion.

  “This isn’t right.” Stephanie says.

  “I’m going to check outside.”Amanda says as she bends down to open the hatch.

  “Don’t touch that lever.” Huey says.

  “Why?” Amada asks.

  “It feels like we are on a bed of water. If I’m right and you open that hatch it will flood this compartment in seconds and we’ll all be dead.” Huey says as he tries to get his bearings.

  “What do we do?” Stephanie asks.

  “Boy I wish I could see outside this ship. Look around for a camera feed or an escape hatch.” Huey says.

  At this point, the ship is riding on what feels like a roller coaster. Up and down, up and down, and the motion was increasing. The three look around for camera feeds or an escape hatch. Huey looked around on the front left as Amanda looked on the front right side. Stephanie took the rear of the small bridge. She sees the hatch that goes to the rear of the ship where the holding compartment where Captain Laird and Josef had been locked up, imprisoned by Captain Bridges. There Stephanie sees water leaking through the bottom of the oval hatch.

  “Huey and Amanda you got to see this.” Stephanie says.

  Huey and Amanda arrive at the same time and stand on the side of Stephanie.

  “The back compartment is flooding.” Amanda says.

  “What are our options?” Stephanie asks.

  “We cannot stay onboard the time traveler because she will sink to the bottom of this body of water. We need to find a way out quickly.” Huey says with a sense of urgency.

  “There has got to be another way out.” Amanda screams.

  “Let’s not panic, stay calm. We have a little time before this ship sinks.” Huey says as he continues to look around for an escape hatch.

  You can still feel the ship riding up and down on the large waves which indicated that they were still above the surface.

  “Huey there is no way out on the bridge with the exception of the hatch. Why don’t we go through the back and swim through the hole in the hull where the water is coming in.” Stephanie says.

  “That’s a great idea why don’t we just flood the compartment and swim through the hatch.” Amanda says sarcastically.

  “They are both good ideas but we don’t know how big the hole is in the back compartment and if we can fit through it. If we flood this compartment we know we can swim through that hatch.” Huey responds.

  “Don’t we have to wait for the compartment to fill before was can swim out.” Amanda asks.

  “Yes we will, but we need to find some type of raft or emergency floatation devices.” Huey says.

  They looked around the bridge for the emergency equipment. Low and behold in a small compartment next to the rear hatch was the emergency equipment. There were five life preservers, a first aid kit and a two liter water bottle.

  “How convenient, I guess they didn’t know how to drive their own machine either. They have life preservers knowing it could land in water.” Amanda says.

  “Do you think they might have had emergency equipment just in case the landing area was under water? No one knows where you go in the future or the past if an area once was or will be under water.” Huey says.

  “Never thought of it that way” Amanda responds.

  The three put on their inflatable life vest as they prepared to flood the bridge of the time machine. Then they felt the time machine start to pull from the rear.

  “The rear compartments are full of water and they we are sinking. We need to fill the bridge with water now. It’s only going to take about thirty seconds for the compartment to fill up. At that point get a last gasp of air and swim through the hatch. Do not, I repeat do not pull the string to inflate your life vest until you clear the hatch.” Huey says as he turns the wheel on the hatch.

  With the girls standing behind their seats Huey unlocks the lever that opens the hatch. At that point, Huey backs up as the water pressure pushes the hatch wide open and the water comes rushing in. Huey moved over to where the girls are as the compartment filled with water. They swam to the top of the bridge as the water filled it rapidly.

  “Remember take one last long gasp of air before you swim down and through the hatch. Do not pull your cord until you have cleared the outside of the ship.” Huey says.

  As the water slowly made it to the top of the compartment, all three took one long breath of air. You could see the frightened looks on each of their faces as they breathed in as heavy as possible. Stephanie went down first followed by Amanda and then Huey. The water was cold and salty as they swam as fast as possible. Stephanie reached the hatch first and swam through. Amanda was close on Stephanie’s heels as she went through the hatch. Huey had the first aid kit and water bottle in a small cloth bag that he put over his back. As Amanda went through Huey followed, but the small bag got hooked onto the hatch lever. Huey struggled until the bag broke loose and the first aid kit and water bottle ripped away. Huey grabbed the bag before it could sink to the bottom. As Huey cleared the hatch he looked up. He could see Stephanie and Amanda had pulled their cord and inflated their vest as they floated to the surface. Huey pulled his cord and inflated his vest and rocketed to the surface. As Huey looked down, he saw the time machine sinking as it slowly disappeared in the murky deep water. This was another obstacle that to confront but on the bright side they were still alive.

  As they surfaced, they all swam towards each other. The water was frigid and the waves were thirty to forty feet high as they rode up and down.

  “We don’t have the proper clothing to be in this water. We are going to die of hypothermia within fifteen minutes if we don’t get out of these sub freezing temperatures.” Stephanie says as her teeth are chattering.

  As they crested on a large wave, a land mass could be seen about a half a mile to the east. The three turned and swam as hard as they could as the cold water bit into them like nails. Time was of the essence and they swam as hard as they could. You could see Amanda starting to fade due to the cold water and her age.

  “Come on Amanda swim. We are almost there.” Huey says trying to encourage Amanda.

  The one advantage they had was the current moving in their direction along with the tide. Stephanie didn’t lose her stride as she swam hard with long deep strokes. She was about fifty feet in front of both Huey and Amanda. Stephanie reached shore first and she collapsed on the stony beach. With about forty feet to go Amanda started to go under as Huey grabs her and ties the emergency bag around her neck and pulls her to shore. As they came in on a large wave that crashed onto the beach, Stephanie waded out to aid Huey and Amanda. The three reach shore and they know they need to warm up as hypothermia begins to take its toll. Amanda was already out with shallow breathing and both Huey and Stephanie were beginning to lose their train of thought.

  “We need to get a fire going.” Stephanie says.

  “Agreed,” Huey adds.

  They both pull Amanda into the tree line that consists of evergreens only. They gather broken branches and twigs along with dried pine needles for kindling. As Stephanie builds a small pile of dried wood its base is filled with the dried pine needles. Huey goes through the first aid kit and finds a book of matches that he uses to ignite the fire. It takes only a few minutes to get the fire burning. Stephanie and Huey created a blanket of pine needles on the ground for insulation and Amanda was laid onto the bed of pine needles. The fire burns stronger by the minute. They use the
large pine trees for cover as they all snuggle together and use body heat and the fire for warmth. With fire burning hot and the flames reaching three to four feet up in the air the small camp area warms up. Stephanie relaxes and falls asleep right next to Amanda while Huey gathers a few more logs for the fire. Huey stood awake for a few more minutes as he sat to the left of the girl’s heads. Huey threw on three of the ten logs he gathered and he laid his head on one of the logs to his right and fell fast asleep.

  Chapter 25 – What’s Next?

  With the fire crackling and burning, the surrounding area warmed up. You could hear the waves crashing upon the beach as daylight began to fade. The three had been sleeping for more than three hours and the fire began to burn down, Stephanie woke up all of sudden from a sound sleep. Huey sleeping was soundly against the log, but Amanda was nowhere to be found. With darkness fast approaching she moved over and began to shake Huey from his deep slumber.

  “Huey wake up, have you seen Amanda?” Stephanie asks as she turns her head from side to side looking for Amanda.

  “Huh, what’s wrong?” Huey responds groggily since he was just woken up.

  “Amanda, have you seen her?” Stephanie asks.

  “Last time I saw of her she was laying with you over there.” Huey responds as he gets up and rubs his eyes.

  Stephanie stood up and rushed towards beach as Huey slowly followed. Stephanie pushed through the pines and made her way to the stone covered beach. There on the horizon the sun looked like a red ball as it began to set onto the cold wavy ocean. There standing on the beach with the wind blowing through her shoulder length silver streaked dark brown hair was Amanda with her hands folded together in front of her admiring the beautiful sunset. Stephanie ran to her side as Huey stood just in front of the tree line.

  “Are you alright?” Stephanie asked with a concerned look.

  “I’m just enjoying a beautiful sunset.” Amanda replied.

  “Why didn’t you wake one of us to let us know where you were going?” Stephanie asks.